What better post to make on Friday, the 13th?
But one about magick.
When we went looking for our new home, it was mid-summer and the real estate market was in prime 'sales' season. Houses were not lasting long on the market. Anywhere. We knew we would have to act quickly when we found a place we liked. We didn't want to live in town nor out on the eastern plains. So to the mountains we went. We looked at a lot of places. But we kept gravitating back to Cripple Creek.
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| The Painted Lady |
We made an offer on a cute, newly remodeled home built in the early 1900's. But someone else had put in a bid at the same time. They got the house. So back to looking we went. This time we decided on a house only a block from the first one. We wondered why no one had snatched it up. It had been on the market for 5 months. It had been remodeled in 2000 and was nice inside and out. There was a fenced yard, nice flower beds, and needed next to no work done on it. We decided The Painted Lady had been waiting for us.
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| Viola a.k.a. Johnny Jump Up |
Upon closer inspection of the yard around our new home, I discovered an abundance of violas. They were growing everywhere! Violas belong to the Violet family. And I have found that the homes we have lived in where 'magick' was afoot, there were always violets or violas growing. Interestingly, Violets are associated with death and rebirth. Very much like what we were going through - a symbolic death and rebirth. A new life in a new home.
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| Violets |
And herbs were growing wherever they had a mind to grow. The flower beds, the parking area in back, even surviving the constant nibbling in the front flower beds (outside the fence). I have yarrow, comfrey, horseradish, chives, mint, and probably several others I haven't discovered as yet. And by the old fashioned mailbox near the bottom of the steps is a very large clump of white sage.  |
| Fox across the street |
Animals are frequent visitors. The first night we were in our new home, Hubby went out to the truck after dark to get something when he was run over by a very robust raccoon. And when I say, "Run Over", I mean literally. Hubby had turned to close the door of the truck when a raccoon ran into his leg. Thinking it was a dog or cat, Hubby reached down to pet it and turned his flashlight on the animal, only to be quite surprised to see the nocturnal wanderer. Deer have come to my back fence to partake of the trees and bushes I had in pots. A fox sits across the street almost every evening, staring at our dogs in the yard.
Almost like a faery tale, but this time there are no trolls or ogres.
Next week, I will post about the enchantment of the area and how our house got her name.
Your place does sound quite magickal! The raccoon story made me laugh. Johnny-jump-ups have always been my favourite flower, ever since I first saw them when I was a little girl. I saw them growing in an old lady's yard and talked to her about them. She dug up a little clump for me to take home and replant. They grew like wildfire, of course, throughout the whole flower bed for many years afterwards. I always think of that old lady when I see Johnny-jump-ups. She lived all by herself in a little house close to the train tracks. Mrs Douglas was her name. "What is remembered, lives" and so she lives forever with johnny-jump-ups in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in a very remote area and have never
ReplyDeleteseen a fox - wolves, bears, wolverine, deer.
My friend near Golden sees them all the time.
I think they all moved to Colorado! :-)
Yay! A house! I love your fox. We have a brown vixon that does something similar in our neighborhood
ReplyDelete