A Verandah

The first bluebells  are out in the bank at the front of the house. From the landing window they look a bit like hyacinths - especially their leaves. But having looked them up they are of course Spanish bluebells or wood hyacinths.   So they must be of the same family as our regular hyacinths. And so different from English bluebells. I don't think any of those are going to come up in this garden.

After a three and a half hour meeting with  my architect this morning, 

I need to walk up the hill,

and get some perspective on all the things we talked about,

in relation to the Feng Shui report, which is quite similar to one of his original sketches,

but including some other radical options. The main one being re-positioning the front door, 

to the side of the house in the North sector where the garage currently stands, including a porch,

a small extension to the dining space and the most exciting part for me,

 a verandah running along the back of the house. I've always wanted to live in a house with a verandah - probably my colonial African upbringing and the memory of a holiday house in Knysna by the sea -  so it could be making a dream come true, albeit in a small Devon village.

The knock on effect of moving the front door is that the best place for a downstairs loo/shower is under the stairs and into the current front porch. An idea I'm still getting used to.

But mostly I feel so much more positive about the plans, and that it actually could happen -  maybe not till the end of year and depending on finding an available builder.

But after today the logjam in my mind has started to break up and  the clear water  of possibility is beginning to flow again. 

Now I can hear the rain pounding on the windows and the wind rushing around in the trees, and I'm imagining sitting on my new teak bench on my new verandah on a warm summer morning  listening to the sound of the stream and the crows calling in the trees beyond the fishing lake and wondering what I'm going to make for lunch.