October 09, 2010

Brassac France - Visiting Judy

Kitchen Window View
On a clear day ... the Pyrenees Mountans

 BRASSAC FRANCE

So.  We are on top of the world.  It is windy up here.  Often windy, Judy says.  Yesterday it was a brisk breeze.  Drying the the laundry - the blue jeans dancing a jig and doing the twist - while I sat in the sun with my book and a cup of tea, at a small table overlooking the patchwork of fields in the distance and the dried corn stalks just beyond the yard. When the wind picked up, I found a small corner on the other side of the house to shelter my chair so I could read in comfort.  Here too, I was right next to that field of waving corn and under a vast expanse of exposed sky.  The sky is huge and visible everywhere!  With wonderful white clouds today.  A marvelous contrast to our heavily treed city yard back home in Rochester!

So Much Sky!
'On a clear day you can see forever,' my heart sang!  I had seen photos and heard much about this small 1837 farm house our daughter purchased three and a half years ago. We've followed the progress of a wall taken down in the living room and an unusable room with a rotted out floor and moldy wallpaper, made new with the help of her friends.  Much of the work she has done herself.  Freshly painted white walls and ceilings every where.

The hired work or costly materials have taken time - moving along as she could afford it.  Some was bartered; some was a gift. Her friends are amazing. Readily loaning and borrowing tools.  At one point, needing to put in a cement floor, she purchased a small cement mixer. She would need it again for future projects, and in the meantime it would be a good tool to have available to loan out.  But somehow, focusing on each accomplishment and story, we hadn't realized the amazing view she has of sky and fields and sparsely populated country side.  Now finally we get to see first hand the dream that is unfolding and the wide open setting it is in.

Kitchen Nook
The old house has unfinished corners, out buildings and a barn.  One building has emerged (with a great deal of effort) into the beginnings of a beautiful studio for working with fabric and quilt making.  Like everything else, it is still a work in progress and at this point functions as a work shop, but the dream beams through!  Large windows are positioned to catch the best light.  The roof is tight and the beautiful slatted wood ceiling she installed sort of blesses the place.


Garden Bounty

The soul of my daughter echoes here!  Her love for the place.  Her hand on the hammer. Her self in the work. Her vegetable garden providing nourishment.  Her shoulder and wheel barrow removing rocks from the lawn.  Her shears trimming oddly placed boxwoods and her pick pulling them out.  Her voice telling the story and its potential delights me!  Renewing this old place is her palette.

-JoMae Spoelhof
Written 10/4/10 - Monday