volume one hundred and thirty-seven
my future home looks like this
📍Written from too-hot-for-this-time-of-night/year Wathaurong Country, otherwise known as Bacchus Marsh, while the pets and I slowly became puddles on the carpet around each other, trying to melt away from the heat.
Lately, I have been asked:
Where do you want to live?
How long will you be doing this housesitting thing for?
Will you ever settle down?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. A huge reason (among many; financial, personal, adventurous, minimalistic, creative) of me giving myself a year of housesitting is so that I do not rush into these decisions as I have done in the past. Many times I have chosen the geographical cure, picked the ‘perfect’ place for me, only to realise once the magic wears off, or once I got used to it, or once I was actually living there, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t right.
I quite like that now I get to treat every place I go to house sit both as my home and as my holiday. I get the best of both worlds and I am not quite sure I am ready to give that up. After the year I have allocated is up, maybe I will have visited somewhere I know I am meant to be. Maybe I will be craving a space of my own. Maybe I will be enjoying all of this as much as I am right now and I will extend the year into the beyond.
My future home will have a space for working and a space for creating, keeping the two separate.
When I arrive at a house sit, I set up my desk, usually at the kitchen table if there is no inspiring office space. I host meetings and work from there. When I write, create, read, or enjoy art I sit outside in the garden, on the lounge with my legs stretched, on the floor with the coffee table as my desk and my knees under my chin, in the bed with hot coffee as my company, or I leave the house entirely and arrive in a park, at the beach or in a library.
My future home will have a large garden that I will tend to and feed myself from as much as possible.
When I house sit I get to learn what vegetables grow better in various climates. I understand how to care for herbs that are new to me. I memorise what time of day is best for watering in this season and place. I enjoy what dinner tastes like with ingredients I bring in right before starting to prep. I get inspired to look up things or attend online workshops on what I do not know so that the owner returns to a garden as happy as they left it, if not happier.
My future home will have a large pantry stocked with all of the essentials I need to have on hand to make my delicious meals.
While I have been moving from kitchen to kitchen, I have been able to try out different appliances and recipes I might not have otherwise. My horizons are expanded with what is possible, and my skills are tested when things are not. My years of cooking under the influence of “just eat to soak up the booze” dinners resulted in being very uninspiring at mealtime. As I have recovered, I have discovered an even stricter kind of uninspired that came with my food allergies. Seeing what others create when they cook for more than just themselves, and seeing what others consider kitchen and pantry essentials, combined with what is in the garden and available at the local market means I no longer have the same dinner two nights in a row. (But usually if I do not gobble it all down, there will be leftovers for lunch.)
My future home will not have a TV in the lounge room.
I love watching television and I especially love rekindling my love affair with all of my favourite Australian programs. But it is obvious to me, the more I enter, how many people have made the TV the central part of the home. I have my laptop to stream from a comfy spot when the desire calls, but it does not have to be a nightly occurrence. More often, it is not. I also enjoy going to the cinema alone and frequently, making a date of it. When I visit a home that instead prioritises a view, a bookshelf, or a space to play games, plenty of seats to eat or gather, or room to relax and chase sun patches through windows, I know I am in an inspiring place.
My future home will have multiple bookshelves. (Or at least one really big one.)
I won’t lie to you, and neither will my texts. This is the one thing I struggle with while living this lifestyle. I miss having a bookshelf of all the words that have inspired me to change, to reflect, to escape, then write my own… While I am housesitting, I am able to borrow from other shelves and visit worlds I might never have known, or have been meaning to know, or that the owner knows so well.
My future home will be close to markets.
There is nothing I love more than a local market where I can collect my produce and my bread and some flowers and, of course, some snacks to eat while I am there. One of the first things I do when planning my time and space around a new house, is find the markets and block that time in my calendar. I have discovered artists, entrepreneurs, growers, makers and changers. People who are passionate about what they make, the recipes they create, the food they grow and the people they sell it to light my soul on fire and I carry that light into my recipes.
My future home will be wise about waste.
With every state I visit, even every country, I am amazed at how differently we are all treating our waste. Some places are not set up to recycle or for green waste. Others have chickens ready to snack on leftovers or compost ready to renew the scraps. A home that puts everything in one place is a home I do my best to change, even if it is just while I am there and even if it isn’t possible.
My future home will be decorated with pre-loved items that are very loved by me.
I get to try on different tastes and themes (or lack of) in each home I am trusted with. I get to think “Wow! What a brilliant idea to arrange this room this way!” or “That is a perfectly sized dining table!” or “I love this idea for hanging art in this way in this space!” or “There is no such thing as too many floor cushions!” or “Why on earth does this room have no window?” or “There are no vibes here at all.” or “Who knew these colours would go so well together?” or “So that’s how you get the afternoon light!” or “I will happily spend an hour every week watering the plants if this is the result!” or “Strategically placed ornaments meant to look random but absolutely are not are everywhere and they rock!” or “Window sills are not to be wasted! They are extra shelves!” or “Overhead lighting as the only option is offensive!” or “My knife and fork in no way need to match for my food to taste good!” or “I never would have thought this piece to be this versatile!”.
My future home will be by the water.
I need to be close enough to a body of water that I can walk along it on cooler days, and dive in on warmer ones. I have carefully planned my future house sits accordingly and I get to experience the wonders of different daylights at different hours, the way the moonlight illuminates rolling waves or how when it is quiet enough you might just hear insects landing on the surface.
My future home will be shared with a furry friend. (Or ten.)
While housesitting I have fallen in love with so many cats and many more dogs. There have also been birds, lizards, guinea pigs, chickens, fish, rabbits and ducks. I have cried at every goodbye and thanked them with kisses on their little noses (and an extra treat for the road) for our bond created. My love for these animals has also made me a more compassionate pet friend. I have encountered so many quirks, fears, loves, illnesses, habits, ages and routines. I adjust my own day to suit them all. I put their happiness first and in return I am shown unconditional love and play time. I know I am acquiring the skills to one day be able to open my home to the first baby I fall in love with, no matter how much they might be labelled as ‘difficult’. Every animal is worthy of love.
Right now I have the best of both worlds and I am in no rush to rush through that.
Lovely reader, head into the comments and tell me what makes your home, yours?
hi, lauren deborah! will always be free🪩
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here are three things i struggled with this week:
🙉 Setting boundaries. Even when it doesn’t feel like it, I always have a choice.
☀️ Okay, okay. I am not complaining about the heat because I chose to leave the cold for this. But 42 degrees Celsius in mid-March? We are all just slowly cooking while the world keeps spinning and rich people get richer making decisions that will cook us faster.
🕰️ Going easy on myself. To quote the Creative Mornings newsletter recently: You can do it all! Just not at the same time.
here are three blessings from this week:
🎩 THE WORLD CAN BE SUCH A HARD PLACE SOMETIMES BUT FOR THREE MINUTES AND TWENTY-NINE SECONDS WE CAN HAVE AN ELIXIR! Cowboy hats and the iconic top hat? IT IS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH! What kind of lesbian am I if this makes me bisexual?
✍️ I wrote a good chunk of an entirely different newsletter to you this week. It was a list of things I thought were useless, yet my memory was able to hold onto them instead of doing what I hoped which was to make room for what I deemed to be more worthy. I came to a point where I realised I liked having all these ‘useless’ things swirling in my brain. They made me — and make me — who I am. So I select all > backspace in a swift move and feel better for it.
🤠 Go back and revisit the first blessing because one is not enough. You deserve it.
here are three goals for the coming week:
🖌️ Finish up week 2, start week 3 of The Artist’s Way.
🥤 Drink water.
⌨️ Write one line a day in my novel. Baby steps of easing back in after time away being spent elsewhere.
pics or it didn’t happen:
I love you. Now I am off to prepare for my next Artist Date. Small country towns with one main street, the highlight of which is the post office? I am going to find inspiration in every corner and I will be sending postcards.
So delightful and I love that you are off to the post office! (Also is there a cool thrift shop?)
This made me adore you more, Lauren! I have a feeling that your home library will be glorious :)