Your Peaceful Retreat

Thanks to Rivka, blogger of Coffee and Chemo, for this thought:

A few nights ago, my eldest and I spent some great time together.  Somehow, we got to talking about our "Happy Places." I was pleased to discover that she has such a place.

Everyone has their own "Happy Place," where they can escape within their own mind. Not everyone knows how to find it.

My Happy Place is sitting on a small hill, under a willow tree, overlooking a lake, with a small forest off to the left. (Read more here)

Rivka asks for daven (the uttering of Jewish prayers, loosely translated) after every post.  And when I read her blog, I definitely send prayers for her and her journey.  You might be interested in her story and life; she is a thoughtful writer.

It is important that we each have a Happy Place.  It could even be a short moment to stop and embrace the moment of thankfulness.  The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a favorite book that, if its principles are learned and applied, helps one "move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air."

Here are some places where I stop to breathe a lighter air:

Where is your peaceful retreat?

Begonias in Brussels

Brussels in Bloom (older pictures, but absolutely gorgeous in case you have not viewed these before)! This is the original website to see all the pictures, courtesy of The First Post.

Close to a million begonias were used in laying these flowers down based on a medieval design.

Bathroom Redecoration in Bordello Red

A few weeks ago I decided that our powder room needed a facelift (the PR, referred to with those inititals hereafter, is available to anyone, but actually used a LOT by those people who do not sleep in our bedrooms).

Back to the facelift of the PR, here is the only video I could come up with regarding bathroom redecoration:

That video was relatively useless regarding redecoration.  Our PR does not have an olympic sized tub, nor is it 100 square feet in size. And it does not look out to an ocean view.  In fact, it is a wee room...no pun intended.

So I decided to make a real statement and paint the entire PR red.  Yes, RED.  In other words, I made it my "bordello bathroom".

Here are a few photographs of the PR in all its red glory, along with lots of yellow and red accent accessories, and a few paintings that mirror the colors:

If you look carefully, you can see a knitted toilet topper beneath the flower arrangement.  It is from my Ravelry collection and knitted from an orange and red wool (two strands held together).  The pattern is actually a face cloth recipe, but I modified it to make it smaller and knit it up in wool.

Now who says using a PR can't knock your socks off?