personality and a home.

More than a few times I have probably mentioned how much I enjoy vacations where we rent a home especially through VRBO. It's good because you connect directly to the owners, although sometimes it's a manager of properties. What it feels like, when you get to such a house, is you are living where you are visiting. With my dislike of hotels, stores, businesses, etc., this is a big plus. 

So because it was being remodeled, we lost out on the home we regularly rent at the Oregon Coast. The manager of several properties suggested an alternative. The four of us took one look at the photos and agreed. So last week we were there for three nights and had one of our best rentals ever.

Now the house was not fancy in terms of modern granite drainboards, furniture from Sears, etc. Well it might have had some of that. It was from the outside a rather plain home built many years ago and not much remodeled (other than required by storm damage). It had big windows, large living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, family room, fully equipped kitchen, and best of all, for one of our group, a cozy art studio (photo below with the guitar). It was well-maintained and depicted the owner of the home so much that even though she had been dead 11 years, the home still had all of her energy, helped along by the family desiring it to be so. It's still called by her name and inside were things she had collected that gave meaning to clearly an eclectic, fun, thoughtful, artistic lady. You cannot buy that kind of a home. You have to create it.

So for all our days there, we were looking at the various corners and niches with this or that and putting together more pieces of her personality. There were two photos that likely were her but no labeling; so cannot be sure. She had though books, and her art as well as what she collected. It was interesting enough that we did some research online to find that in 1978, after being widowed, she had moved to Yachats and the home that looked directly onto the beach. She lived there until her death. She was very involved in her community and left behind a home which shares a legacy that goes beyond money. It depicts a life.

What I loved especially was how so many of the things she had chosen told stories. They went beyond what they were to stoke imaginations. A good example of that is in the first two photos. Was it really from a sea going vessel? Looking at it closely and some research (the house had internet), it was a replica of Britania, which is in England. You can buy one to paint yourself. Perhaps that's what she did. The job, whoever did, made it look very old. It led to imagining a ship going down on the rocks off the surf, perhaps wreckers tricked it or maybe a storm. Did the villagers rush out to retrieve what they could? It's a story in an object. It was how the home felt.
 

Okay, I am running out of space. Next week the gardens which were every bit as fascinating.