The Domain of Peace

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Inside my New Home

How quickly one settles in when it seems so natural to be where one is; it has only been four days and yet I feel as if I have always been here or never left. The house is comforting. The walls are chalk white and rough, complimented by unfinished wooden beams on the ceilings. The floors are mostly tile some decorative and some red like clay. The wooden doors are all rough and painted in colors that fade in and out like the northern lights. Every room holds a story, every item has a secret from some other place that it bares within it.
My favorite part of the house is the staircase which winds upward like a double helix cavern. There are three floors. The first is a dark entrance flanked by two bedrooms which are separated by heavy woven curtains. Each room is like a sanctuary, quite and dignified. The room on the left from the entrance is all white and reserved for more guests arriving tomorrow. The one I occupy is on the right and has a black and white photo taken by Atoussa somewhere while she was abroad in Africa. There is a mobile made of feathers, nuts, sticks and pine cones hanging from the ceiling. A sofa welcomes a sleepy reader and my bed is a mattress on the floor. There are scarves covering the side table, coffee table and part of the sofa to throw some color about.
If you don’t bother to stop by the clandestine rooms you go down a narrow hall lined with Moroccan tile and hung with decorative lamps. There is a step down and to the left a bathroom with a generous decorative tub. Straight on is a small courtyard filled with seedlings and herbs ready to be planted at the farm. To the right one walks up the stairwell to find an alcove immediately set into the wall with a Buddha statue awaiting offerings.
On the second level is another bathroom and the wide bright kitchen with a table that seats up to eight. A huge double window dominates the far right wall letting in light and a view of the hills and gardens beyond. A small gas stove occupies a space behind the door and a wooden counter hugs the back wall and corner displaying sink and lower shelves holding a mass of mixed dishes. A small fridge occupies another corner beside double doors that lead into a living room.
To your left is a fire place and bookshelves with a door beyond leading to Atoussa’s sons room. Straight on is another large window looking out onto the next building and the narrow one way street. There is a computer in the corner, a white sofa in front of that with low wooden coffee table and an assortment of rugs from around the world. A flat screen TV makes its presence known on the wall opposite and paintings hang on the wall beside it.
I spend most of my time in the kitchen if I want to work on the computer. My room is dark and no one hangs around downstairs. The third floor is Atoussa's private apartment and as I remember from last year wonderfully decorated with her own paintings and plenty of comfortable places to sit.
All in all it is easy to pass ones time here and peace is never far.

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Comments

[Gillian]

I so understand.... one could take a deep breath there and know that they are home. It looks like a really beautiful place to live and raise a family - I'm so glad that you're there taking it all in and sharing it with us!! Je t'embrasse! Gillian