May Day

 

Today is May Day, an ancient celebration that marks the start of summer. Celebrated in many cultures around the world in many different ways. Dancing around a maypole. Gathering wild flowers to make crowns and garlands. Setting up bonfires. 

My cultural heritage the celebration was called Beltane. The Celtic traditions included lighting bonfires or candles. And making offerings to the aos si, or fairies to stay in their good favor. 

How do I make my own May Day?

With my home still under construction, I’m having a hard time celebrating this year. There is dust covering every surface downstairs. I made my best effort to clean the upstairs and get ready to move back in last week but, sadly, that didn’t happen. 

Floors are still not complete. Moldings not finished. Plumbing is not connected to our sink, dishwasher or refrigerator. In fact, our refrigerator is still in the garage. Our furniture, pillows, pictures, chairs, dining table, dishes, glasses, cookware and laundry are still packed away in a secure storage facility. Somewhere. 

So it’s a little hard to celebrate Beltane right now. 

May Day…May Day. 

I’ve always been proud to be independent, self-sufficient and strong. I hate to ask anyone, family, friend or neighbor for help. I don’t want to impose. But it’s become clear to me that I can’t do all of this myself. 

Many, many people had to be called in to clear out, repair, install and reconstruct my home. I’ve seen so many skilled hands at work: crafting cabinets, setting countertops, putting in tile, installing the oven, cooktop, microwave and sink. I’m very grateful for all the craftsmanship that went into re-making my home. 

Seeing the light. 

So today, I’m going to celebrate Beltane anyway. 

I’m going to gather some flowers and put them in vases. 

I’m going to light a candle or two.  

I’m going to make offerings in honor of all the helpers:

Friends, family, craftsmen and even, a fairy or two. 

 

Glimmers of Light

I cried. But this week, they were happy tears. I walked into my demolished kitchen and saw a wall of newly built and installed solid wood cabinets. They looked so beautiful. I am amazed by and grateful to the wonderful local cabinet builders. 

When we helped design and build this house, we knew what we wanted, solid oak cabinets. We’d worked with a local builder and cabinet maker to design and build red oak cabinets, desk and island. Yes, we paid more but it was worth it. 

So after all the water damage, we fought to make sure we had the same local cabinet makers and quality wood cabinets again. It was a difficult fight. But it was worth it. 

Natural beauty. 

As an artist, nature and earth elements are a big part of my creative work. But I realize even before I started working in clay, which comes directly from the earth, nature was my inspiration. Coastal landscapes. Rocks. Trees. Clouds and skies. 

My first painting class was from a local landscape painter, Charles Mulvey. His work focused on coastal scenes that I knew and loved. But what I loved best was his ability to work wet into wet creating beautiful soft skies and balance it with trees and rocks. 

When I look at wood, whether it’s trees, floors or cabinet doors, I see shapes and images in the grain. The flow of the color and texture inspires me. 

Light after the fight. 

I don’t like fighting. As a child, I was surrounded by it and I hated it. I tried to find quiet and peace burying myself in books, making mud villages in the yard, riding my bike to the woods. The woods were my safe space. 

That’s why having real wood cabinets and floors in my home is so important to me. I can see now, why I got so mad when the insurance company refused to give us the money to replace our real oak cabinets.

I had to fight. And the fight was worth it. Finally, over 8 months after all the water damage, mold and demolition, I see the light. My home is being rebuilt. 

My woods are back. And I get to see them everyday. 

February Love Story #4 - Heart and Home

About 30 years ago, I took on a big scale creative project: designing and overseeing the building of a new home. With a growing family, we needed not just more room, but rooms that were open allowing for a better flow of family life. 

We toured many new homes for sale but none of them really felt right. After much thought, we decided we needed to build our own home. We found a plan close to what we wanted and I set about redesigning it. I’d worked in an architect’s office during college where one of my many tasks was making blueprints. This experience taught me how to read plans, how to change plans and how the basic building process worked. 

The biggest requirement: an open floor plan. We wanted the main floor to flow from kitchen to dining to living rooms. We wanted a ‘homework’ and home business desk area. And I wanted a room where I could expand my creative side whether that was drawing, writing or painting. 

Difficult and delightful. 

I enjoyed the creative side of re-designing the plans. Moving a doorway here. Pushing out for window seats in all three bedrooms. Turning the kitchen island around to allow for a downdraft cooktop, stealing space from the downstairs bath for a bigger pantry and reversing the washer/dryer area to give me a laundry room window and sink. 

Staying on budget with surface selections was sometimes difficult. But we did it. Finding colorful countertops, tile for the island and backsplash, carpet, vinyl and wood flooring. Best of all, beautiful custom red oak cabinetry, yes that was extra but worth every penny. 

Many years of love.

My son was 6 and my daughter was 9 when we moved in. With the open floor plan, we’ve been able to be flow and grow with them. Lots of birthday parties, sleepovers, family dinners, holidays, bridal showers have been celebrated here. 

My husband and I have marked many anniversaries and weathered many life changes under this cozy vaulted roof. Jobs. School graduations. Open studio events. Covid. Sheltering our children during life changes. Working from home. 

Now our children’s children play with trains, dolls, puzzles, crayons and paint here too. Our home has moved, changed and embraced it all. 

And now: tears and fear. 

In July, we woke up to a flood in our kitchen caused by a newly installed plumbing valve failure. As usual, we took care of our home: mopping up water, calling the plumbing company and insurance company. 

We had mold. Then we had flooring, countertops and sink torn out. We washed dishes in the laundry room sink(who knew how much I’d need that sink when we built the house). We tripped on 3 layers of uneven flooring. I learned to balance between it all to load and unload the washer and dryer, cook and yes, clean my home. 

Nine months have passed. I’ve lost so much sleep. Crying over the losses. Fearing more damage every time I hear the sounds of water. Angry at how much I have to fight the insurance company over everything needed to try to get my home back to being a home again. 

Estimator after estimator has come to measure and assess the damage. Totals sent to the insurance company are rejected time and time again. We get more experts to explain the situation to the insurance company. Weeks and months go by with rejections or no response at all from the insurance company adjuster. Who, by the way, has never actually come here to see the damage or what a beautiful home we had. 

It’s hard enough to see the heart of my home destroyed by a plumbing company/valve failure. But to be told by a distant insurance adjuster, your flooring which you loved, will have to all be ripped out and replaced, then to not be given enough money to get it done right? 

It’s the heart of my home. 

It’s a labor of love.

It’s no wonder I can’t sleep.