Simply..home as haven....

9/1/2016

A haven from the cold - we had to scrape the ice from the car before leaving my sister's this morning.

A haven from the world's business and busyness. The lilies are a kind of purification after Christmas - even one shelf in the house as simple as this makes me feel good! The decorations are not all away yet, but I intend to spread this feeling of calm and order through the house tomorrow....and will think afresh about each thing as I put it away.

I love that I decide, mostly, what and who comes into my home - the stuff, the people, the media presence. It could become another useful question - Do I really want this extra item/that noise/that thing that belongs to someone else/this clutter/this dull painting/this news bulletin/that junk mail/that junk food/that person (add your own..) in my haven?

Is your home your haven?

17 Comments

Lotta link

9/1/2016 02:13:34 pm

It will be soon!
Welcome home to your haven Freda. I can feel a sense of it from your picture. I love that the lilies are not out yet - they look beautifully simple and fresh. Sometimes the sense of life feels stronger when flowers are in bud than when they are in full bloom, or maybe it's just a different kind of freshness/vitality. Anyway, they're lovely.

Freda

10/1/2016 01:45:24 pm

I do agree about the different kinds of vitality - at this stage there is the added attraction of the anticipation!

ChompyChipmunk

9/1/2016 11:12:18 pm

Home as haven - a lovely idea.

I haven't lived in a house I felt was a true haven since I was a child. There have been many enjoyable places, and many beautiful places, but they weren't places where you could feel that you were completely sequestered from the world -- at least for a period of time.

It really hit home with me that home, as lovely as it was, wasn't a haven when I lived in a flat in London that was in the same building as George Orwell lived while he was working on 1984. He wrote a lot of it on sojourns in Jura, but the flat in London was his base. As much as I enjoyed cultural life in London, the security cameras everywhere (over one million of them in the square mile alone ten years ago!) was disconcerting, and made me think of Orwell frequently. And now it's everywhere where there is WIFI.

Freda

10/1/2016 01:49:04 pm

What an interesting place to live! Though I can see it had its down side. Privacy is an issue that I think we should be paying more attention to. Meanwhile we must make our homes our havens in all the various ways we can.

Sarah link

10/1/2016 01:11:23 am

Your shelf does look a haven or peace and calm. Our conservatory always feels a haven. There is no tv or internet and just views of the garden and fields. Sarah x

Freda

10/1/2016 01:50:03 pm

Your conservatory sounds a lovely haven within a haven Sarah!

Penny L

10/1/2016 01:46:51 am

Home as a haven. I'm going to think about that as I go about my day tidying up the aftermath of children (adult, but still at home in between uni terms) ,Christmas decorations and general busyness. I'm working for the next two weeks, and would really love to return to a haven. Thanks Freda. Pennyx

Freda

10/1/2016 01:50:47 pm

Good luck Penny!

elaine link

10/1/2016 03:35:05 am

However nice it is to be away that is always good to come home. Just think how you will feel after your soujourn in Venice!!!

Freda

10/1/2016 01:51:56 pm

East West, hame's best!

ChompyChipmunk

10/1/2016 04:46:04 pm

That's an expression my grandmother from Caithness used to use all the time -- it's been a while since I've seen it with the Scots pronunciation. The funny thing is, she was one of the most peripatetic people I've ever known, and a bit unusual for her generation.

cath

10/1/2016 08:31:12 am

Someone said to me years ago 'make your home your sanctuary', home as haven is just as important.

Freda

10/1/2016 01:52:27 pm

Perfect.

Liz

10/1/2016 12:42:33 pm

I love this idea and I love my home. The novelist Carol Shields in her biography of Jane Austen says just about every novel is about a character's search for a true home...

Freda

10/1/2016 01:53:41 pm

That is a fine thought - the search for a true home. I wonder how many of us find it, or create it.

Cristiana link

11/1/2016 12:31:29 pm

Home as haven - such a beautiful concept (and feeling). Yes, my home is a haven to me, especially after spending about half a year working to make it that way! As hard as it felt at times, the process itself was very rewarding and I am now enjoying the results!

Freda

11/1/2016 02:52:02 pm

How wonderful that you feel all the hard work was worthwhile!

Simply..home as haven....

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