Thursday, July 24, 2014

The view from here

Our house is not pretty but the light and the views are stupendous. After we’d bought it, but not completed and not moved in, we would drive up the limestone edge a mile behind it and sit on the grass verge and look at it through binoculars, and poke each other in the ribs and say  - “That’s our house!”

This was the year of the mastectomy and the warehouse fire that destroyed 95% of our possessions, personal and domestic. The house was our happy ending.

And when we moved in, we loved its setting so much that we felt as if we were living in a holiday cottage, despite our lack of so many basic things like dining tables and sofas. In fabulous summer weather like we have this month, that feeling returns. Last evening we were sitting on the bench looking out over our front wall and our neighbour drove up and said “You look so contented.”

“We are!” we said in unison. It is rare, it is very rare, for Dave and I to say anything in unison.

IMG_7787

 

Unless we are talking about Gaza.

I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t turned away my gaze, and I hope that you haven’t either.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't disagree more. Your house is one of the loveliest I have had the pleasure to be in. LRH

Sue Hepworth said...

Thank you, LRH!
I love it too. I think it's lovely inside and it's lovely looking out. And actually, I think it looks OK from the road, but there is someone in this house (and I only live with one other person) who has always called it "The ugliest house in the village." Having said that, he recently admitted it looked rather nice from the road.