Life, Cats, Creativity
Regal Mr. Bisou, A Very Pretty Drink, Selecting Paint Colors, “Did I Really Wear One Slipper to the Doctor’s Office?,” Paperwhites, the First Camelia, Bread like A Biscuit, and Uma Tries Caviar
A few weeks in photos
“I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.” ― Frida Kahlo
“I hear the question upon your lips: What is it to be a colour?
Colour is the touch of the eye, music to the deaf, a word out of the darkness. Because I’ve listened to souls whispering — like the susurrus of the wind — from book to book and object to object for tens or thousands of years, allow me to say that my touch resembles the touch of angels. Part of me, the serious half, calls out to your vision while the mirthful half sours through the air with your glances. ― Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red
I like to think that this lovely drink was my reward for a few weeks spent immersed in home improvements.
I do, actually, love (to the consternation of my husband, and to our pocket book) to re-vamp things around the house. Our home, built in the early 70’s, was basically a blank slate when we moved in because it was in a terrible state of disrepair.
We had no qualms about ripping out the old pink vinyl flooring in my office, or about texturing over the flocked silver wall paper (which might, funnily enough, actually be back in style these days!) in what would become my yoga room.
It has become a two-decade-long project though because it seems like as soon as you finish fixing one thing, the ceiling leaks and you have a buckling wooden floor. Or you realize (as we did) that the beautiful bay window and French door you put in twenty years ago have dry-rotted. Yikes!
Well, this story started a few weeks ago when my husband had back surgery. It went very well. Uma was glued to him while he was recovering. But, one day, while he was stoned on Norco and listening to spa music while watching the apple TV screen saver and dozing, the painter who’d been working on our neighbors’ house knocked on the door.
We knew we had a problem with that bay window, and we were really worried because two contractors had already told us that it needed to be completely replaced, which was going to seriously mess up the kitchen. So, when the painter said he could fix it, we said, “You’re hired!”
While we were at it, we decided to finally re-paint my yoga room, which has morphed over the years into the “Hemmingway Room” because it is the hub of all things creative, including my professional photo printer and all of my paper and camera equipment.
Under that red paint lies the old, flocked wallpaper. We never could actually remove it because it was stuck straight to the wallboard. So, the texture on the walls was “not ideal.” Miguel said he could re-texture this room and the guest room and repaint them. I was excited.
Bisou did not feel quite the same way. That room is also his “bachelor pad.”
At the height of the chaos around here, I had a doctor’s appointment. When the nurse told me to change into a gown and left the room, I looked down at my feet and said, “I didn't!”
But I did. I somehow managed to leave the house with one slipper and one shoe. Black and white, no less!
When I was a kid, I accidentally left my shoes at the bus stop one day after playing jump rope. It was mortifying. This wasn't quite as mortifying. But it might have been close.
But in the midst of it all, my Paper Whites began to nudge their way up through the tender earth of their little pot in my bay window.
Freyja has not been too excited about the project. The kitties have all been locked into the bedroom during the day.
But she has her fireplace. So, it’s not really all that bad. Her nickname is the “asbestos kitty” because she loves to sleep in her heated bed in front of the fireplace.
The “Garden in the Sky,” our “catio balcony” is just off of the yoga room. So, I wanted the colors to flow. I decided on green. But which green? It was such a difficult choice.
In the end, I went with “Citrus Leaf.” It looks like the new green in the leaf veins in the spring. I decided it was a great color for a fresh start to this room.
After two decades of leading “mentor meetings” and teaching private yoga lessons in this room, I transitioned away from teaching yoga during the pandemic and went full tilt into writing and photography. I felt like this room needed a fresh color to bring in some new energy.
And that bay window? Miguel managed to save it — and the French door too.
In the end, we realized that it was time to repaint all of the windows and light fixtures and to put a new stain on the garage doors and the other outdoor wood, and to re-paint the eaves. Let’s just say that this project snowballed.
If you’ve noticed that I haven’t been so active on medium this month, this is why. I’ve been clearing out rooms and putting things back together and just dealing with a myriad of little decisions. But these are all good projects.
I’ve been on a bit of a rampage in recent years to give away anything that we do not use or that is not meaningful to us anymore. And there is nothing like remodeling to force your hand.
In the meantime, the Paper Whites have gotten taller.
And we had a lovely bouquet of amaryllis.
And the first camelia burst open.
On the weekends, Bisou and I have been enjoying a little quiet time in the “Garden in the Sky.”
And I made bread the other night, for the first time in a long time. It sort of turned out like a biscuit. But it tasted good.
Uma tried a little caviar one night. It did not appeal to her. She preferred the catnip.
The yoga room is almost all put back together. Alton realized that it matches his favorite shoes! And Bisou has decided he likes it after all. He’s back on his perch in his bachelor pad again.
Here he is surveying his domain. He looks good in green, doesn’t he?
The wall behind him is going to be my “art wall” for my photography.
We’ve got a ways to go before we’re done around here, but we’re closing in on it. We decided to rip out the last remaining original cabinet (in the upstairs bathroom) and redo it and the sinks. And we’re touching up the paint in the kitchen and getting the travertine floors cleaned (which meant emptying out everything in the dining room).
I’m up to my elbows in my great-grandmother’s china and am sorting through all of the years of placemats and table linens I’ve stuck away.
But it is going to feel so fresh when we are done. And I think that we will be done with home improvements for quite a while (at least that is my aspiration, fingers-crossed!). Freyja really hopes so too!
I got a bit behind in my “Weeks in Photos” last year, so I’m working on a “Year in Photos” summary — stay tuned!
If you enjoyed this, you might like checking out some of the other “Week in Photos Tribe” from around the world. I so enjoy reading about people’s lives and seeing what is happening in other parts of the world in real-time each week. Dennett started this a couple of years ago, and it has been fun to keep up with.
Dennett /Anne Bonfert /Lisa Bolin /Tracy Aston /Kim Zuch /Barbara Dalton /Susan Alison /Ellie Jacobson / Pene Hodge /Jillian Amatt — Artistic Voyages /Mia/ Sandra B/ Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms)/ Penny Grubb
(I know some new folks have joined in, and some have dropped out, so if I’ve missed any of the “week in photos” tribe, please let me know! And let me know if you don’t want to be tagged anymore).
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.
