Weekly Photo Challenge: Home

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.

~Henry Van Dyke~

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one;
stronger than magician ever spoke,
or spirit ever answered to,
in the strongest conjuration.

~Charles Dickens~

For those of you who follow Artist of the Everyday, I’m quite certain you’ve noticed my posts have been few and far between for the last while.  As you know from earlier posts,  my mother died a month ago, and  we’re moving from Seattle to Santa Fe in six weeks.  Given that death of a family member and moving are big life-stressors, I’ve decided to take a break from posting; or it might be better to say, I’m giving myself a break.  I’ll  still write when I comfortably find the time, but am taking the pressure off myself to do it consistently and often.  It’s  time for my inner critic  (the voice of should) to take a breather as well, so I’m sending here on a little holiday and, if I’m lucky, she won’t return!

The last photo above was taken from a park bench.  The girls and I walked down to the waterfront a few days ago, and I decided to sit and do nothing, to follow my breath and enjoy the view – something I haven’t done much lately.    It occurred to me that taking time to just “be” is what I need to be doing more of  these busy days, to keep myself healthy on all levels, emotionally, physically, spiritually.

The top photos are of the house we’ve called home for the last three years.  We’ve been happy here and will miss many things about the beautiful and vibrant city of Seattle; however, we are so very excited to be moving to Santa Fe and into our dream home (middle photo).   I look forward to sharing our journey with you in the coming months.