Pink Roses and Olive Leaves

I have a dark little secret and it is dark because this Diario di Design is supposed to be all about light and color and design of course and joy and if you remember 2014 =7 and that means it’s going to be a kick-ass year. I will not be one of those people who write kick-a**.  You have no idea how my profanity is in check on these posts.

My secret is I hate the darkness of this time of year.

I count the minutes of light that are arriving.  Here in Umbria this is the break down, we are gaining about 1 to 2 minutes of daylight a day.  This means that by January 20^th we will have found 15 more minutes of “enlightenment”.  Right now the sun rises at 7:41 (way late) and sets at 4:50.  Any sunset that has a four in front is just wrong.

Yet when I have traveled to places in the world like Ecuador or Indonesia that are close to the equator, it is so strange to have an even 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark all year round.  So my dark secret is that I'm a hypocrite, becasue actually I love the changing days and looking forward to the sun rising higher in the sky.

olive leave and pink roses - bliss

As of tomorrow school starts again and that means we start waking up at 6:30 a.m.

My solution and it truly helps, is to fill the house with flowers and candles.  I try to have the candles lit by the time the girls get to the kitchen table in the morning.  Get the coffee on and tea water to boil and then I sometimes even cheat and plug in a space heater for a few minutes.

What are your solutions to get through the dark days?

I love the idea of olives leaves (peace) and roses (love) together.  The bright pink roses and slate gray-blue of the olive leaves is a great color combination. 

Nature always has the answers for me.

peace and love all around

With affection,

Natalie

I'm linking with these parties:
Between Naps on the Porch
Creativity Living Blog
French Country Cottage

Houseboats - Alternative Life

Hello everyone, Happy New Year! 

As promised I am going to show you some wonderful Houseboats outside San Francisco, California.  In a little hillside town called Sausalito.

I get all silly headed when I think about living an alternative life.  I think my fantasy has to do with something about beating the system.  What system, you may ask?  Well that is still unclear (I said silly headed), maybe the world of pressure and conservatism, the rat race, paying ridiculously high energy bills (as we do here in Italy).  Becoming trapped by a mortgage.

I love loft spaces, organic gardens, solar panels, making your own things, tiny cottages/sheds, big old rambling houses that need love.   I go crazy for color and I love white and gray and brown too.  I like the idea of living off the grid and then I also want to be able to go to a café and have a good cappuccino, often.

many of the houseboats have names like boats
  this one the ANSWER is pretty great

Houseboats and Mt. Tamalpias

Sausalito, Ca Houseboat

this one is quite huge, because they are all bigger than they look

When I went to Design School in Brooklyn I really wanted to move into one of the architectural masterpieces that were burnt out in that ghetto which was then my neighborhood, Clinton Hill.  I really wanted to be a squatter, but not a homeless type, more of a well-designed squatter.  I was also very scared of the rats I knew would be living in abundance there. I’m not tough.  During that time and even now I know in my heart that I would like to own a pink cashmere coat.  Do you see my dilemma?

this houseboat the roof is a deck garden

I understand that to some our life here in Umbria Italy living in this huge Gothic Palazzo is already a bit alternative.  To me having two feet thick stone walls is still weird.  Interesting that for me girls it probably normal.

this guy is even further off the grid, she has to row out

Do any of you out there know of blogs that seem to be about an alternative life?  I love and follow the blog Soule Mama www.soulemama.com.  Soule Mama is homesteading in Maine and knits and has a garden and makes honey.  She understands the simple life.  I also like the Tiny House Blog http://tinyhouseblog.com.   I am so impressed with these people who can live big while living small.

 

this houseboat has copper panels that have a gorgeous patina

it's a long pretty walk down the dock

this lavender paint job is fantastic,
the color is blinding in it's perfection and hue

My mother lives in a houseboat.  I left my mother's house out of this post to respect her privacy.  I will say that her space has lots of windows and skylights, it is quite modern and airy.  The front door enters into one big room that is the dinning room, kitchen and living room, then the bedrooms are downstairs at water level. 

I love this tiny houseboat full of color

What is your alternative life fantasy or are you already living it?  Interesting that alternative is just a perspective.

Un bacio di Umbria,

Natalie