I Know What The Walls Would Say If They Could Talk

They would say

anita pelayo rivera les dames dabord

Because from top to bottom

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

left to right

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

inside 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and out

anita pelayo rivera les dames s'abord

 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

my husband has

painstakingly hammered

permanently inscribed

his affection


with every timber, measured detail 

and stroke of his brush 

that reads 

like 

Are you fluent in the language 

a friend
a parent
a partner
a spouse
a neighbor

uses to communicate their admiration?

I Found it 40 Years Ago

Los Angeles - Boston - Minneapolis

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 All these cities have been where 

we've lived.

But no matter when the time comes

that

we will no longer

be together

you will always be

my 

forever home.



To my husband.

 

How Do You Graciously Say Good-bye

 

to someone you love 

but who's

out-stayed their welcome?

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 With flowers, of course.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 Because

now it's time to prepare

for 

a new house guest

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

whose arrival is extolled on every 

street corner

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and in every 

celestial - earthly place.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Preparations are intense

as we greet the most fleeting

yet most 

profound season

that comes 

THEN

in the blink

of

a heart beat

takes 

your breath away.

anita pelayo rivera

Remembering Why I Started

I didn't celebrate it.

But I just looked back in my post archives

to see when I first hit the "publish" button

and 

now I remember

why I started.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Ten years ago this month

I began to share what I know best:

where I live.

Soon however

the four walls

I call home

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

began to expand into 

a 

poetic vision

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

of merging realities 

with ideas.

Then

something extraordinary happened.

I met you.

Many blogger friends

are gone now

but a friend here in town 

said something

truly remarkable to me today

on my Instagram page:

"Memories 

are 

forever gifts 

that friends give 

to 

each other."

It's been an outstanding

ten years

and though some of you have 

moved on

I remember.

Remembering

Solitude 

does not mean

you are 

alone.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

I actually crave 

the empty chamber

of 

my mind where

people dear to me

come back over and over

through the rhythm 

of 

a piece of music

from behind 

the pages of a small story

written

or  

in between the intricate weaving 

of 

ordinary materials

shaped into art.

I've got a four-day weekend 

to 

sit down 

and remember all of you.

Keep it Simple

anita pelayo rivera© les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera© les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera© les dames d'abord

When life becomes art

Winter's nightgown

spreads

across a dormant

April countryside

that refuses to rise.
 

les dames d'abord

But it's from the inside 

where spring

flowers

in 

Minnesota.

At the farmhouse of a friend

Clara and I played

with 

French antiquities

les dames d'abord

les dames d'abord

and petal-thin frocks.

les dames d'abord

The more the three of us experimented

les dames d'abord

the more we realized 

that our lives are

a 

masterpiece that shape-shifts

the light beams that meet us.

les dames d'abord

Glorious morning

we search outside

of 

ourselves 

for spring
 

les dames d'abord

and come back

finding it within.

All photos taken by me, anita pelayo rivera©

Model: Clara from Clarabel Vintage/Antiques, Minneapolis

Antiques and property courtesy of a friend in the countryside

It's Ubiquitous

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and there's no doubt

that

great beauty in any form

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shapes what I value. 

I know exactly where to go find


what piques my senses

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or so I thought 

until I read this:

quote via

 Now go hunt in 

  the most unlikely places

that harbor

  what you are yet to value

and 

what will shape you into someone more

that only courage can see.

All You Need Is

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Go out and happen to 

somebody.