Willow Manor is once again quiet after the whirlwind holiday weekend. As I go about setting things in order, it seems extra still, after three happy days of raucous laughter and general craziness. I told someone recently that I am orderly, but not compulsive. This faithful Goodwill shopper, as you can imagine, has her fair share of gathered objects, which logistically is a dusting nightmare, but a magpie will have it no other way. There is a certain comfort about having my things about me in my nest, like Mary Kate Danaher in The Quiet Man.
I don't know about you, but the way I keep house is often a result of how I deal with outside pressures. There is something about putting order to my belongings, which lends a feeling of control. Years ago, when the manor bubbled with a wild mix of dogs, cats and children, I often found great satisfaction in ironing huge baskets of rumpled clothing. Funny, now that the manor, apart from my personal magpie nest, is an empty one, the ironing board is rarely pulled down from the built-in cabinet at the far end of the kitchen.
Today I put away dishes and wash linens, ponder the joy in stacks of freshly folded white towels, and miss the laughter of my gathered family.
When I cannot bear outer pressures anymore, I begin to put order in my belongings...
as if unable to organize and control my life,
I seek to exert this on the world of objects.
Anais Nin, The Diary of Anais Nin
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| wisteria on the patio gate, Willow Manor, May 31, 2011 (click to embiggen) top photo: kitchen cabinet shelf, Willow Manor |
Nice gate. I could use one like that chez nous!
ReplyDeleteIt all makes perfect for a magpie. I think when we are orderly in our "nest" we are orderly in our thoughts. I like your quiet calm, in seeking order.
ReplyDeleteI so relate to this notion, being in the midst of nothing less than a room-by-room purge of my entire house, starting with the hell-hole of the garage! All this in response to stress and uncertainty at work. I think you and Anais Nin have it right about the control thing. And I do love your photo - makes me feel calm just gazing at it!
ReplyDeleteMy cleaning therapy is sweeping. When I have things on my mind I reach for my broom and sweep, sweep, sweep.
ReplyDeleteI'm absolutely convinced that the repetitive, rhythmic motion of these chores does, indeed, reorder our brains and our energies, as well as our homes.
Both your photos are just beautiful...very reminiscent of Mary Kate Danaher!
I have had so little housekeeping time this semester, I am truly longing for some quiet hours to buzz around the house. Lately I discovered that cleaning the kitchen instead of studying is quite fun, indeed! ;-)
ReplyDeleteA wild mix of dogs and children? Oh yeah.
ReplyDeleteI, too, love cleaning house. It cleans out my head and heart and provides instant gratification.
So glad you had a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the peace.
i love love love wisteria. hmm, i touched briefly on this idea of nesting using different words in my post today. i have not had a nest for 6 1/2 years and it is telling on my mental scatteredness and physical being. the disorder of not having a place of one's own.
ReplyDeleteOrderly but not manic is a wonderful description which I am completely going to steal. I am the same but lately I feel the need to free myself of more and more things. I think it has something to do with dusting which doesn't happen much around here :)
ReplyDeleteI let the city house get so bad the only option was to run away. I'm trying to stay on top of the country house.
ReplyDeleteI tend to reorganise things when I am putting off starting a new piece of work. But it does feel once the visible clutter is gone, the mind clutter is free to think about things. Not sure how they are related though!
ReplyDeleteSeems I have it all in reverse: When life is not quite organized, my surroundings fall apart. I don't have the gumption to set it all in place. Perhaps I need to force myself to work it out the other way....
ReplyDeleteIt all makes perfect sense - and adds up to your photograph of perfect tranquility.
ReplyDelete"Anais Nin, The Diary of Anais Nin"
ReplyDeleteHello! Willow...
I guess that you and Anais Nin, are on the same wave-length...I must say that your description Of your family gathering before and after...Unseen, [to the reader(s)] However, I'm sure people know how you feel.
The photograph is very beautiful too!
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D
[Postscript:
Odd, my father, use the broom as therapy too!]
Lovely post. I think it is a woman thing to spruce up our things when in a melancholy mood. I find ironing very soothing & love to slip into a bed of freshly ironed, crisp, clean sheets in summer.
ReplyDeleteSuch weekends stay long in the memory. We are in the same position and tonight is the first opportunity to look at the photos.
ReplyDeleteThe wisteria is lovely on that gate. The strong winds toppled our rose-laden arch last week...a gate like that would have withstood a gale.
Lizzy, I'm afraid ironing sheets is a bit over-the-top for me, although I certainly wouldn't mind sleeping in them!
ReplyDeleteSome of the objects I choose to live close to make no sense to me never mind anyone else. I have had an old glass marble with a dull orange streak rolling about on my desk for about a year now and I cannot face putting it away or getting rid of it. It rolls around between my books and pens - content, I always feel - and we co-exist in something close to harmony.
ReplyDeleteAlan, you would not be surprised to know that one of my objects is a beautiful vintage glass eyeball. Blue. I love marbles, too, but I'm sure you already knew that.
ReplyDeleteWhen family come to stay it's hectic and when they leave it feels empty and too quiet, even with three dogs and a cat.
ReplyDeleteWe live in perpetual mess and sometimes it drives us mad and we tidy up but soon more interesting things take over. My husband started a 'Paint a door a day' routine several months ago - to date, he's painted two!
my nest is quiet and ordered...my life, not so much and I don't think I could survive any other way :)
ReplyDeletegreat write
This past weekend we cleaned out the garage which made me feel all nice and calm. Organizing things helps me a lot as well. Oh, that and sweeping, it's very meditative.
ReplyDeleteas within, so without
ReplyDeleteanais was right~
Beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteI love the quiet after the storm...my favorite day of the year just might be Dec 26th...if it weren't for the storm the quiet would be meaningless....
It's a pity that Anais Nin isn't more appreciated in the world of words. One of my favourite quotes of hers for you to ponder M'lady,
ReplyDelete"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
— Anaïs Nin
Gosh, I love that, Bear. Thank you. I'm posting it to my FB wall. x
ReplyDeletehow true --
ReplyDeleteDear dear Tess,
ReplyDeleteYour peony is unbelievably beautiful and so is your lovely wisteria gate. I am sure one is transported to a different world when passing through.
I am in the midst of filling my garden with scents - some jasmine, scented orchids and kasidang (Vallaris glabra. My late grandmother's kenanga or Ylang ylang did not grow well in my garden so I will attempt to go back to Pekan to get another cutting.
Stress is catching up as the year moves into full gear and the garden and our kitchen offer sanctuary and solace.
I hope the Willow Ball will come around again!
Love the gate and the wisteria... such a lovely beginning to all things new and organized!
ReplyDeleteComplete identification here!
ReplyDeleteWillow, I do exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love putting crockery and linens away after guests have gone home!
What a wonderful world and manor (hee hee) you live. I can so relate to this post...beautiful pictures...I was thinking I would so behind in the Magpie Tales, only to find out you are putting things in order and have not posted yet...(sigh of relief)... I LOVE the movie The Quiet Man...I am in a state of adjustment from Spring to Summer and feel like I am balancing myself on a high fence...I just want to sit in the meadow and enjoy the movement of the wild flowers dancing in the breeze. I want to stare at clouds all day...and nipple on a picnic lunch of fruit, cheese and PB & Orange Marmalade sandwiches...mentally, I want to be barefoot...no confining shoes...that's how I feel...not ready for order...yet...
ReplyDeletehappy to see a bit of the wild side at the manor
ReplyDeleteI have always said that when my house is in order, I feel like my life is in order. I sometimes let it get a little out of control.
ReplyDeleteMy sister is the same way with the ironing. I find it interesting that you both did more of it when the house was full.
I feel the same way. I go a step further even though my nest is not empty and I started this business of parenting in midlife. I am the queen of decluttering to the dismay of my magazine loving husband. Love minimalism. Still, the nostalgia I find in glimpses of your home, keep bringing me back. Of course that and the Willow ball.
ReplyDeleteThere is a calm in your words today. I’ve actually slowed down and relaxed. We find order here, when quests are scheduled. I remember when we did so just for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYou clean when you're under pressure. I cook.
ReplyDeleteoh tess i've seen that control, that need for control in mothers, wives, children, colleagues and friends. if i stop long enough i even see it in myself. steven
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this.There really is something calming and comforting in putting order to our little bits of chaos. I really enjoyed reading this quiet piece, and loved the reference to Mary Kate Danaher, The Quiet Man being a favorite of mine. Your photos are lovely also, the gate with purple flowers just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis says it exactly. I am the same way.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos of the shelf and plates, and of the lush garden and gate, and also of the dew sprinkled flower in your previous post. Oh.
Willow Manor is a beauty.
I adore Bears quote as well! The noise here is hitting the roof as my oldest is home from school for the summer and kids no longer have any homework as school is almost over. I don't iron but I do vacuum and wash my wood floors. Makes me feel organized. :)
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteThe joy of having everyone home seems to "embiggen' the emptiness after they leave.
rel
Yes, Personal Harmony is the key I Think.A Balance needs To Be Struck......... Although personally, the Quentin Crisp Idea that dust gets no thicker after three years sometimes holds a great appeal to me!
ReplyDeleteTony, I like to think a thick layer of dust becomes a layer of felt after three years, that actually protects and preserves wood furniture. giggle
ReplyDeleteYes, I like the sense of order that comes from tidying away things we have been using.
ReplyDeleteJust returned from overseas, and am looking at empty suitcases beside piles of laundry. From one state of being to another, the purpose in the work is what appeals to me. I so get this.
ReplyDeletefantastic pics.
ReplyDeleteI love the quote.
"I don't know about you, but the way I keep house is often a result of how I deal with outside pressures."
ReplyDeleteThis is true. How we adjust in relation to the insistence brought by other people (or outside instances) we have to get by as well.
YES! I am doing the same thing plus getting rid of things as well- It feels great and everyone is wondering what the hell happened to me! Anyway, good timing, this post! simpatico!LOVE the gate!
ReplyDeleteAnais Nin said it straight, I do this nearly daily, seek to place order after a whirlwind weekend (and the circle continues...)
ReplyDeleteTiny wisteria hanging
ReplyDeleteon your stout iron gate,
and good china
all scrubbed and stacked
in stately manor cupboards
cannot fully compensate
for the emptiness left
in the house after
the children are gone
again.
A chipped cut green crystal,
ReplyDeletetwo small seashells
from Florida, and
a slice of moss agate
lie in a pretty pile
at the cluttered top
of my downstairs desk.
I tend to organize things as well when my life is not in order. its my therapy
ReplyDeleteHi, Tess! I have had problems with blogger recently and been unable to post. I enjoy organizing one room at a time. Closets, drawers, everything. When I was working full time, I liked to take a day off from work and throw open the doors and windows, turn on some music and start to work. I would stop at lunch and eat my sandwich while I surveyed the progress.
ReplyDeleteNo way I just said this same idea to two dear friends this week during this jammed pack season of life. This time of year being a school administrators wife things get crazy in these parts:)and I find so much satisfaction in taking a moment to scrub down the porch and all its furniture or rearranging a corner of the house.
ReplyDeleteI find ironing wonderfully soothing! And I know just what you mean by "ordering." My girls (plus friends) have been home all week for half-term. The first thing I do when they leave is wash all of the sheets and then smooth the freshly made-up beds . . . readying them for the next visit.
ReplyDeleteAnais Nin seems to have written every clever thing there is to say about living! One of my favourite blogging experiences is just this - learning about living by reading lives as they are lived... Real time education!
ReplyDeletegood quote by anais she did seem to me though passionate in her wrtings at times very reasoned and held.I have many of these controller types in my life who are incredibly tidy and orderly, and i always found it was as if they were also trying to keep their emotions and life at a clinical and closed/fixed state.Terrible for me as im so wild.Though I have found putting some things in order set my mind freer at times.
ReplyDelete