My Summer Place

A couple of weeks ago, I rearranged our home office/scrapbook/whatever- we- don't- know what- to- do- with- goes- here- room, and made it into my writing space, leaving the home office stuff on the other wall where I can't see it.  Who can be inspired to write great things while looking at piles of unfiled stuff and file cabinets ? Not me, apparently, as my makeshift table/desk faces the opposite wall. I'm still looking for a desk that inspires me, which befuddles Steve, who wonders why that matters. He's a great guy, but those left-brainers don't get us artist-types sometimes. He says, let's stick a piece of laminate countertop in between some base cabinets, and to that I say, ugh!! No way! I need wood, old if possible! When I mentioned needing to paint the walls and add some inspiration to the wall because the light color was blinding, he said, how about a giant chalkboard wall? Yeah, that's a great way to keep the teenagers away. So, no.

Even though I do have a quiet spot in the house to do my writing, it seems as soon as I get in there, my services are suddenly required. The phone rings, or someone comes in to "file" something, or someone needs to "check" on me, and Angel requires the door to be open at all times so she can wander in and out. So, I'm never really alone, which is good and sometimes not so good. I kind of need a place to be completely alone so I can really dig in and work sometimes.
Bless his helpful heart, Steve has always supported my interests the best he can, and he did say something that made perfect sense.

"Do you think we need to add on to your writing cabin?" Did I just hear angel's sing?
The writing cabin he spoke of is the former treehouse that we all built together years ago. If I wasn't so lazy, I would have referred you to links in this post, as I'm sure I've blogged about it in the past at least a few times. Last October, Steve and his dad with help from my dad, moved the treehouse from the trees, and pulled it into its current location, snuggled in some pines just off the trail, but still close to our house, because the woods are scary at night, and well, no bathroom. The original plan was that we would get it ready for me to work in, but other projects got in the way, and it's just sitting there looking cute. Late in the fall, I saw a mouse in there. The end.

It's pretty small, since it's original function was a treehouse for 2 small girls, and it worked great for that for a time. Then the mice moved in, ate a pillow, peed on a sweatshirt, freaked out the girls, and they stopped going up there. The mice, however, did not.

It measures about 8x8. Not much room, but I don't need much room for a desk, chair, a few shelves, a hot tub, a bathroom, refrigerator,oh wait...it's not like I want my own apartment,hmmm....

So back to Steve's original question, "Do you think we need to add on to your cabin?" Well, we tackled that question on our way home from Ann Arbor yesterday when I had him trapped in the vehicle during a traffic jam on 23. He first pelted me with questions, to which I couldn't answer because he didn't give me any time in between!

"Do you want it bigger? Maybe 12x16? 16x20?  That way you'd have room for a couch maybe if you wanted one. A loft? Do you want to move it somewhere quieter? How about a woodstove? I can get a small one. Do you want screens for the windows? How about some cabinets? Do you want more windows? And on and on my "contractor" went until I stopped him in his tracks.

"Okay. Wait a second. I don't need a couch and I don't want to be out in the woods by myself. That's spooky." I added a few more responses to his ideas, finally landing on the most important features I desired. "This is it for me. This is the biggie. No holes. No cracks. No leaks. No creaks. No flaps. No gaps. No pitter patters of feet unless they are mine. No bugs. No slugs. No critters. No things that rhyme with critters. No bats. No rats. No stray or feral cats. No spiders. No hiders. Nothing that slithers, sneaks, clatters, or peeks. Can you guarantee this?"
"I think I got it. You want that sucker sealed."
I think my contractor and I are going to have a very long and successful partnership.

So, I probably don't need an addition after all, except for the addition of a desk that can be hinged so I can remove it in the winter to protect it from the cold. I'm hoping to make it out of an old door we salvaged from an abandoned house on the property. I am looking forward to a quiet place to write in the summer when the house is less than quiet. There's really no need for heat, but some light would be nice, so he's going to run some electric for that and for my laptop. I'm not holding my breath for this project, as we do have a very busy summer coming up with Natalie's graduation, but it's fun to plan, and it's moving up the priority list.

Having my own little getaway could be quite good. Quite good indeed! Did I forget to tell my contractor I needed a big lock for the door? I will get right on that!