Funky Junk Interiors

Recap Part 5 / The TV Fix

Waking up to a gorgeous day, I grabbed my fresh brewed coffee, and started to wander through the house. Approaching the sun filled picture window wrapped with vintage moulding, my eye caught movement outside… and I froze…

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Back home, if you looked out the front window, you’d see houses and a road. If you looked out the back window, you’d see a pretty mountain view. No surprises there. But not so when you are spending time on dreamy cottage grounds.

So let’s morph into the land of the remote for a moment. We are on top of a mountain! With forest in our backyard. You never know what awaits you at any given moment. This is nature. We are ‘out there.’ WAY out there.

And that’s when I saw it. Him. Her. Them. Two precious little deer were munching on the front lawn mere feet in front of me. With just a window separating us, I froze in my spot, not wanting this moment to flee. Somehow I managed to grab my camera without scaring them off and snapped a few quick shots while hyperventilating. And then with the blink of an eye, the moment was history.

Opening the front door, the sunlight and heat greeted me with a bang! Woa… the house was amazingly cool despite what was going on outside. And then as my eyes adjusted to the dazzling brightness, I heard them. Oh my word guys, I heard THEM!

Cicadas! Do you know what a cicada sounds like?! Most of you do I’m sure. When I first heard them down south, I thought they were birds. Boy was I mistaken when informed by a local, “Those ain’t birds, them’s LOCUSTS!” Oh I adored her accent.. and her honesty. 🙂

My ears filled with that amazing southern sound I thought I’d never hear again. Having no idea BC even had such things, I spun around in the sunshine with the biggest smile on my face! Pajamas, coffee, sunshine and cicadas! YEAH!!! I was so excited, I deemed the cicadas as Miracle #6.

But I wasn’t alone out here. The horses in the front pasture spotted my freakish moves, and came to check things out. How perfectly lovely! Horses in a front pasture, to pet and appreciate. Did I ever tell you I grew up with horses? If you are a horse person, you’ll understand that I had to lean forward and smell them. Ohhhh the smell of a horse is unlike anything else in the whole wide world.

Miracle #7? I’m losing count.

And that’s when a wave of gratitude swept over me. Wiping a tear from my eye, I looked, I mean, REALLY looked where I was standing. How is this possible? Mere days ago I was dreaming of taking my boy somewhere cool. The next day an email came with an offer I couldn’t refuse, the very offer I had dreamed about. And today, I was right in the middle of it all. Unbelievable.

So with coffee and camera in hand, I walked the property and captured special moments that spoke to me. And enjoyed every second of it.

The front driveway.

The cottage. There’s the chairs still in place from watching the full moon the night before.

And then there’s all the cool outbuildings, barns, sheds. It was like every corner you turned, the little maze of buildings appeared. This area ended up being the beginning of our evening walks. We’d walk towards the far evergreen trees along the fence, keeping the horses company. I really cherished those evening walks with my boy.

These are metal ‘somethings’ on a stump. It was just cool.

During this VERY hot day, we also had a visit from the horse vet and horse owner and their two dogs. One dog swam around in the horse’s trough while the other stayed very busy bringing us his stick to throw. We sat under the huge shade tree and let the dog do all the work.

And then I found an old tractor in a lean to. Giddy! Dear tractor, when a blogger has a camera in her hand and you’re in the line of fire… smile.

 Good job, Red!

 I was so delighted to find a pond near the house! I ended up sitting here reading a few times during our stay.

That metal siding was most certainly calling my name… and those tires? All I could think about was filling them with flowers. Good thing I didn’t stay longer, hey Gary? (I’ll get’tem next time, Karen!)

Later on, there was a knock on the door. Huh?! Out here?! Apparently Karen was getting some work done on the house and the builders would be by every day to create a back porch. Builders. Tools. Watching and learning… this could be goooood.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the guy’s presence became a huge source of comfort. If anyone hangs around me long enough, they learn quickly I’m inquisitive. I want to know things I don’t know. I had builders to talk to any time I wanted, plus ask them what the locals do in the area. How perfect is that?

Miracle #8, you were so good to us. I no longer had to fret about being alone for the rest of our stay.

We had a quiet evening ahead of us. We were looking forward to chill with a little Duck Dynasty or making even reading a new book while trying out some new snacks. Imagine opening your cupboards to all new things… we jotted down replacement groceries like crazy. Gotta admit, this was fun. 🙂

Speaking of books, there’s something I haven’t told you about the cottage yet. There are stacks of books all over the place. No wait. I don’t mean stacks. I mean STACKS upon stacks.

They were stacked on the coffee table…

… on some side tables, footstools, the floor, bedside tables …

… in the tiniest nooks and crannies …

… and beyond.

 It was as if the little stacks spoke to you with, “Go ahead… crack open THIS cover! I dare you…” Being a blogger, reading novels was something I was out of the habit of, but knowing well what a good summer read can do for the soul, I started snooping at the titles.

I found a pretty cover, cracked the spine and started in. But my mind wandered… nope, this wouldn’t be the one. I decided the library in the other house would be the best place to snoop. When that didn’t work either, I head towards the door and spotted a bag on top of yet another stack of books. I’m not a good snooper, but there was something about the bag that drew me in. This would no doubt be a recent purchase of some sort… was it more books? It was! So… what did Karen find lately?

I didn’t recognize the first, nor the second. But the third one I did.

I couldn’t remember if this was a good book or one to avoid. So I cracked open the cover, and started to read. And that’s when I got a chill up my spine… I was most certainly holding Miracle #9.

Find out what it is in Part 7!

About “Our Summer Adventure”

A blogger who mentally can’t pause her social media world. A boy who lives for video games. This is the story of how an absolute miracle brought a mom and her son into a much quieter, simpler world, far far away from their own internet driven world. With no wifi. Will they survive? You’ll soon find out!

Visit all Summer Adventure instalments HERE