After the Fire

It is amazing how the Earth regenerates after a fire or any major natural disaster.  In the disaster zone that fried my blueberries I had Borage plants to attract the bees and they were totally wiped out, or so I thought.  I removed the dead plants and tilled this area and added 6" of a really good mulch and the first plants to appear were the Borage!  It is claimed that the more you curse this plant, the harder you are on it and the more you neglect it, the better it will grow.

View to the right of my desk

   Maybe my office is the same?  I removed everything from it, scrubbed and cleaned and painted and put it back together differently and I like the new look.  I didn't struggle over paint colors and went directly to the mismatched discounted paint selection at the local home improvement store.  Some kind of lavender for the walls and a pale blue for the ceiling.  The end slate wall after a good cleaning remained the same.  I gave one desk to a neighbor, that extra desk was just a catch all anyway.  My new office is roomier now leaving more room for "art".  I even have an easel in this room!

Slate wall and widow in office

   The next door studio room is coming along.  I added bookshelves in a couple spots which helped clear out my office and adds a touch of interest to that room.  It is still a working studio where I can splash paint and make a mess without fear but has some added elements of interest.  It is not finished.  I still have some areas to develop but it is clean, just needs a bit more organization.

 Bookshelves added to Studio wall.

Studio wall and exit door, still too much clutter!

The office!

   It took a fire to get me to do this.

Studio, view from office.

I have made a couple trips to the dump and a couple to the recycle yard, given away "stuff" to the neighbors and even sold a few things and I still have too much "stuff"!  It is amazing how we acquire STUFF.  In over 35 years as a remodelling contractor, that was my job, making houses bigger for the addition of more stuff.  I do the same but I think of it as an illness!  I seem to be putting off the major cleaning of my shop.  It will be a huge task and I am not sure what is even in there!  I will take some before and after photos!  I think in my next reincarnation I will be a minimalist.  We work hard to "get stuff", to keep stuff, provide a place for stuff and we don't even know what we have!  Pretty crazy.