Look Backward, April

Sunday.
Howard and I are home today, doing some fiddly house things.
The windows are open; it's lovely to have fresh air
breezing through That Old House.

As we lingered over coffee late this morning, I noticed that one of our lilac trees is just about popped.
I can't wait to bring in armloads of soft, airy, fragrant lilacs.

I wrote this post, below, about two years ago.
Here it is, again, as this lazy lady's Sunday re-run.

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(From April 27, 2010) -- Who can resist chopping off some lilac limbs
and bringing them inside to enjoy their heady fragrance and simple, artless grace?

They arrange themselves, the little darlings.  A pile of this --

-- trimmed of its lower leaves and plopped in a vessel --
drapes itself artistically in graceful swoops, and does this:

Pair lilacs with a bit of old handmade lace, a classic Staffordshire china dog
(a recent garage sale find), a tiny portrait of a child and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel,
and an ironstone plate piled with grapes and strawberries  . . . .

And your Tabletop just says, "Spring!"

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Now, a question:  Do you have Sweet Spots in your house?
Places where you love to set for awhile, because you like what you see; you like the view?
It just plain makes you happy?

One of my favorite Sweet Spots in That Old House is in our Parlor.
This room is far from finished -- no permanent rug, almost no artwork, furniture layout in constant flux,
but from my favorite seat in the wing chair to the left of the fireplace, I just never get tired of seeing this:

I love looking out of the doorway, to the front hall -- the newel post, the stairs that have felt the tread of feet for 180 years, the goofy old brass switch plate with the embossed eagle, the wide board floors . . . .

I look to my left, I see the fireplace:

The other wing chair:

And a peek into the dining room, where the clean plates from the most recent dinner party (in this case, the past evening's gathering of ten) are often waiting on the sideboard, all ready to be put away:

What are the Sweet Spots in your house?

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I hope you enjoyed this glimpse back at April 2010;

not much changes here at That Old House, does it?

Within a few days we'll once again have lilacs spilling out of vases, 

scenting our home and making us smile.

Enjoy your own favorite Spring things!  -- Cass