Jessamine Cottage
I wish I could say I feel at home in you, but I don't. Not yet. But I'm grateful for the sanctuary you provide while we negotiate the minefield that is house selling and buying in this country. You've sheltered families over 300 years and parts of your structure bear witness to this passage of time. Some of your loft beams are clearly tree branches, still with bark intact. What changes you've seen. What dramas, large and small. You'll be here when I'm long gone. Who will shelter within your walls 30, 50, 100 years from now? I'm pleased to have been part of this continuum. To be your mistress for just a while. To clean your windows and brush your floors and fill your rooms with flowers. I think we'll get along just fine, you and I, despite your wonky plumbing and crazy electrics... your low ceilings and even lower doorways. I'll learn to duck in the right places. We'll look after each other, for just a while.
