Our wood cottage sits on columns at about 9 feet high from the ground...
a little like living in a tree house
at 30 feet wide by 28 feet deep, including the 10 foot deep veranda...
it is not too big and not too small...
just right for my husband and I
below our main quarters on the ground floor...
are an extra bedroom with full bath and a laundry/sewing/tool room...
each at 12 feet deep by 15 feet wide...
giving us room under the cottage for working space and hanging laundry
before we moved in, Don planted a tiny ivy plant at the base of a column
I didn't even notice it until he showed me
he said it would grow and cover the columns and probably grow over some of the cottage
I looked at this tiny plant and thought, "that will be a few years"
in 2 months after we moved into the cottage...
it had grown to what you see here in the photo below
yikes...a bit faster than I expected
I wasn't the only one who noticed
if you look carefully in the above photo, see if you can find the bird nest
it is on the right hand side inside the ivy, a tad above half-way up
and there she is...
a cute tiny finch who waited patiently while her mate built that nest for their brood
they seem to have no qualms about our being so close by...
and it was a wonderful opportunity to watch all their sweet little doings
they had two...
who opened their little mouths wide whenever I came by to peek in and see how they were coming along
it wasn't long before they fledged and left the nest for good
birds aside...
this is about The Ivy
the cottage looked like this while the ivy was small
in just a few months...
it had crept up along the veranda rail and along the screen
and more quickly made it's way along the walls and windows on the road side of the cottage
it was time...
time to trim The Ivy before it got out of hand
I am not able to reach up that high even on a ladder...
so I put the ladder against the cottage...
and set the shears on the ladder step
and since my husband was planning on this chore, anyway...
he took the hint...
and trimmed The Ivy from off the windows and veranda
it really didn't take long, and now...
the breeze blows in a little better through the shutters...
and I can see outside so much easier
yes, much better
it looks cleaner and tidier from the top of my rock garden
and so much sweeter from under the hibiscus bushes
and now when people walk by and see it from the bamboo fence...
the cottage doesn't look neglected
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord:
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:
they will be still praising Thee. Selah
For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psalm 84:2-4, 10
May the Lord bless your day, or night with His grace.
