Change of Scenery

Sometimes at the beginning of the year, one just feels like changing a few things.  We changed our walls.  Specifically, we hung two beautiful oil paintings of the Palouse over our piano.  They were both created by our friend Noel, an artist here in town.  One painting my husband gave to me for my birthday; the other one I gave to him for Christmas.  We hung them both two weeks ago, and I love looking at them. 

This painting is of Tomer Butte, which is very near our home.  It reminds me of all those late summer and fall evenings at the cyclocross track.

 One day I'll have a real piano!  Maybe I'll even play again!

I switched out the artwork in our bedroom as well.  Large, single botanical prints, to go with the northwest fish motives.  Now almost all the art in our home is either southwest or Pacific Northwest themed.  Oddly though, the southwest bedroom has the northwest art, and the north-facing office has the southwestern art! 

 

Trainspotting in North Idaho

We are a rail family.  I grew up in a household of model trains; my husband grew up watching big trains in southern California.  Our son loves trains, and fortunately North Idaho affords lots of trainspotting activity.  We were in Sandpoint, ID for the long weekend, and caught this BNSF freight train coming through at sunset.  The engineer leaned out the window to wave at our son.  

The Sandpoint lines are very busy.  In addition to BNSF, Union Pacific also has an active North-South line running to Canada, and the Amtrack Empire Builder runs through twice daily.  My dream vacation is to take the train across the country, or better yet, across Canada.   A little history, and a trip where part of the adventure is the journey.  Awesome.

 

 

Clean Slate

I am in an intense declutter frame of mind.  I don't know why January makes me want to go through every drawer and closet in the house, but it does.  Perhaps it's the soft snow falling outside, covering up the winter garden.  Perhaps it's triggered by putting away the Christmas decorations.  Wherever the feeling is coming from, it's intense!

In the interest of full disclosure, I will have to say that decluttering is not a habit I came by naturally.  My husband has taught me everything I know about the art of the purge.  Living in a small house also helps.  And I still fight with myself sometimes about what to keep and what goes, so I had to come up with some ground rules.

1. If I haven't worn it in a year (or it doesn't fit), it goes.  Of course everyone says this, but it's amazing how clothes can hide out in your closet as if they know that if they make themselves too obvious, they will find themselves in a Goodwill bag.  I do allow a few exceptions, like my suits, that I may only wear every 18 months or so.

2. If my son hasn't played with it in a year, it goes.  Come on people, we're not getting any younger here! 

3. If it's a seasonal decoration that I didn't use in a year, it goes.  

4. If there are electronic (and backed-up) versions of the document, it goes.  This rule also applies to children's art projects.  I will keep a select few pieces (emphasis on few), but it's easy to take photos of artwork and then save those for posterity, rather than letter N's made out of noodles that the bugs will eat.

5. If I haven't used it in a year, and the probability I will use it again within the next year is less than 10 percent, it goes.  I just purged my shorty wetsuit today after being surprised I still owned it.  Even if I started diving again, the shorty wetsuit, while totally appropriate for the southeast where I grew up, is useless in the Pacific Northwest.

These rules apply primarily to articles of practical and recreational significance.  Heirlooms are a bit harder, but even then I try to a) use them (such as quilts, vases, or dinnerware), b) repurpose them (I am making jewelry out of the rock collection I inherited from my grandparents), or c) take a hard look and potentially get ride of things that seem to be decreasing in sentimental value as they age. 

A repurposed casserole dish, given as a wedding present, now used as a planter!

 

Happy New Year 2013!

I am so excited about the start of a new year!  We traveled to Seattle just after the first of the year to visit our good friends and experienced the most beautiful January weather I'd ever seen for Seattle!