Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Talking House and other Urban Legends....

I found this house in the middle of the night. Wandered by it after being slowly, surely Moonie~washed by Kimbies..."Just drive by, you're gonna love it"......

I wasn't house shopping. Wasn't thinking of moving. Wasn't dreaming of trading my barely used 3~2 with the double garage, cathedral cielings for a money pit. For a little pink house. And then I drove by it. On the fourth of July, just past midnight. In the morning I called the realtor. Three weeks later, we were family.....

And she's been talking to me ever since.

For the first few weeks that I was the proud homeowner of my new found wreck, Persichetti and I slaved every night after work, scraping, sanding, peeling, painting. We set the FM dial to the same tunes we jazzercized to Monday through Friday....Baby Face, Bobby Brown.....and worked until the wee hours. And night after night the radio would go zzzzcccchlllippppppppppppp....... "enough is enough", and land on Rolling Stones. First loves are always the ones that come back to haunt you.......

I've lived here forever now. And both believers and Non know the voice of my walls. The sudden slamming of her wings whispering "Listen"......Chairs falling from four perfectly good legs in an empty room, blue smoke billowing, the soulful cry of an animal lost, right there, in the nothingness of the kitchen floor ....... random music pinking, tinking, melodiously playing.....four notes on the piano, eight, eleven songs in a row on the computer the night of Nadine's funeral.....butterfly charms scooching out from under laundrey room fires.....the smells, the breezes, the welcome arms of my home. We know now to pause....

All's quiet tonight. It's time to rest......

JSYK, the faces in the door were accidental.....And along the way, we've decided they're the bubble bath fairies......

33 comments:

Unknown said...

What a cool wall! I *love* it! Much rather a house imbued by the spirits of the people that inhabit it, than a soulless Tuscan eye-sore on Debt Hill...

singleton said...

Electric......That's our bathroom door! And amen to the spirits, may they roam free....and the folks that live here do the same!
Peace~love my friend

~Babs said...

Kimbies did you a big favor, huh!
Love this door,,,I know you painted it. Accidental faces are the best kind. Did you do the tile work too? It's amazing!

Feels so good to take a place and make it your own. Home.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Hahahaha, the face in the door looks more like some primitive iconic god than a bubble bath fairy, to me ;) You know if we could all keep secrets, and spill secrets, as efficiently as our homes ... the world would be that much more magical. ILYS...Little pink houses for you and me! ;) xoxox

Maithri said...

Its strange isnt it...

How people say "If these walls could talk..."

Im sure the walls say "If these people could listen... they'd hear us."

Heres to listening...to the winds...and to every painted wall of our bordered lives...

and to restful peace...

the kind that sneaks up on you, when you least expect and says... "Its gonna be ok".

Love and peace to you dear friend,

May it grow,

M

skinnylittleblonde said...

I love what Maithri said about if the walls could talk that they would be saying 'if these people could listen'... lol, how many times sister, have we talked about 'listening' to our homes? ;)

kj said...

what a cool door! i blew it up and delighted in looking at every stroke.

sounds like you have a house with a, um, shall we say...history. i lived in one too--though we never saw her, a old woman with shopping bags came and went, until one day she'd had enough of all the construction in her space and she slammed the front door shut once and for all.

hey, is everything ok with you?

PENDULUM said...

You are the spirit in the door.

eric1313 said...

Sorry, lost soul wandering through...

I had a good almost cry when I read your comments, all of them from all the people, from you to Skinny to Princess and She and all the rest. I'm sorry that I was gone for so long and without words or anything. But I had to move again when my car got running, had to follow work to the upper peninsula of MI, you know, so far north that I 75 ends. Escanaba MI. No internet, my cell phone hasn't been on in months, yada yada. But thats no excuse. I should have said something.

You were my friend, my writing partner and an inspiration in words and deeds. I still hope there's room for me around here. No place else do I feel so welcome as when you are at the other end of the keys, singing to the shadows and the storms and the whiporwills in the long winter night, coaxing them into patterns, coloring them with your light.

Hope to see you soon. BTW, I'm wearing love beads! I'll gift you in return soon. Every day I wear them and think of the person who sent them. You are very much missed, you know. This was my first stop, of course. I'll be back around, too.

eric1313 said...

May I? If only for a sec???...

Please!!!

Ahem...


The gold rush ended with no bang
no pearly gates slamming shut
no storm
no quake
no volcano
no sound or fury
or drama to be spoken of
when the children woke up to find
that all they knew, all they loved
was gone before the light.

The long winter nights grow short
as the streams swell their banks
only the devout remain
with gold in their hearts
if not in their pockets

Chris Benjamin said...

i hope i get so lucky with my first love house.

good to see some new eric1313 verse here too.

eric1313 said...

Clink! Butterfly style!

david mcmahon said...

Wonderful, intriguing and everything in between.

As always!

skinnylittleblonde said...

CLose your eyes sister... our imagination is our only limitation. Karma & I will meet you on the dance floor at a half past spin. ILY...xoxox

Unknown said...

Delightfully captivating!

Gill said...

Singleton
The houses are us. We are them. So glad you are in the right one for you.
We are always given signs, we just need to pay attention. Chairs, computers,,,it is all placed there as alarm bells for us to wake up and realize that this brilliant blue ball we dwell on holds greater promises than we ever dreamt of.
There is more, so much more. I am glad you are here to colour our "now" though Singy. You are one of a kind....
xo
Yes, Rolling Stones for-eva!

Lola Starr said...

Singy, we felt you clinkin' and I had so much fun! I have a wonderful picture of the two of us to post on Monday. So wish you could've been there too!

Skinny told me bout the below post tonight and since I haven't been around, I didn't know. I know how this sort of thing goes and I'm so sorry you had to go through it. I hope everything is well now. Much love and peace to you.

skinnylittleblonde said...

JSY, ILY&HBS!

SHE said...

singtome: -you are a welcome sight to any empty canvas..

i picture houses and walls fighting over you

"pick me!" "paint me!"

so pleased -the chosen ones-
-the lucky ones-

where such creative and colorful spirit manifests

the very essence of transcendence

"to true colors!"

much love,
peace & prayers, ~s.

singleton said...

Babs...Kimbies cooed me, wooed me, lured me into driving by.....And I stopped in the street, a doe in headlights, and saw what she saw....My Home.....I've thanked her a million times...And I think these walls have, too.... And yes, accidental faces are the best, we see a Cat King and a Pirate there, spooky to the rest of the world, but somehow....Our Cat King and Our Pirate, and like everything and everyone else that lives here, right at home! Peace, Girl, I love your new commission.....I've been peeking through curtains lately, but not writing, commenting, living on the wire......

skinny...JSYK, I love you sisterchild!
And yes, for us, the walls are peoplewhisperers.....They know secrets, histories, stories before our times, kind of the "been there seen it" syndrome....Must be something about living in old houses, those with souls.....And something about making peace with them, old friends with them, family with them.....And then feeling they're arms, they're umbrella of safeness, haven of peace......You rock, sisterlove, and our houses are the bomb!

KJ....Houses, like lovers, have histories.....Stories and loves and baggage before our times....This little baby and I came to terms, me in the hallway, and her all shook up.....And we've been family ever since.... It's been really cuckoo here lately, so if you find me camped out on your porch poring over every lost page, I'm just catching up, taking a second breath.....Peace, my friend, I've thought of you on this sometimes hiatus....

singleton said...

Maithri....My walls have been whispering forever, a lullaby somedays, a drumroll, a tornado siren others.....And you're right, if only we'd listen.....
JSYK....I would have never guessed that come a day, a half a world away the words, the strength, the reminder I needed to hear.....to keep believing....would come on butterfly wings, kite strings....Thank you my friend, for being the walls....for listening....and reminding me to do the same.....you and Skinny echo each other in ways you may never know....a chorus in the wind....
Peace~love my friend

singleton said...

Reckless....LOL! I might not be the one now, but come a day, another lifetime from now, I can pretty much so betcha, I'm still gonna be wandering these halls....

Eric....That's my friend! Sneaking in the bar,
backdoor open just so
to feed the cats,
slinking in,
sliding in,
right at home
like he never left....
And I'm smiling,
peacing out,
laughing,
because maybe after all
it was
just my imagination
and
you were here all along....
So very very glad to see you're OK and round these roads again.....You've been missed friend.......

Benji.....I hope your first house, your middle house, your last house is LoveHouse......In fact, I'm clinkin' that wish right now!

Peace~love my friends
Say the words

singleton said...

David....and I didn't tell you have her stories! I'll be by soon, gotta lotta catchin' up to do!

Saintly.....:) She talks, she walks, she dances....these walls....

Blue....sweetie, you've got it! And yeah, rock on Rollin' Stones....It's funny, I loved 'em as a teen, fickled out for David Bowie and Skynard and a dozen others, and then came home again...And now on Fridays, just three notes in, I'm flying, Mick Jagger style onto the dance floor...How the hell this house could have ever known......

Karma....I so wished I could have been there, laughing, spinning, whispering with you .... in Friday night cahoots! There's always tomorrow, little one, and I've gotta feeling we're gonna make it count!

She...JSYK....I've thought of your courage tattoo a thousand times lately.....
the reasons, the whys, the how comes, and why nots.....
And there will probably
come a day,
a Saturday morning rising,
when the treasure on your cheek,
the sign of times and strength,
comes to live here, too,
climbing the walls
like rampant ivy....
reminding me....
to believe.....
Peace~love my sweet strong Friend

Daryl said...

Loved this ..

David sent me ..

Cath said...

Came over from David's blog.

And this is the second beautifully written post I have seen tonight. Such imagery. Great walls too! Great memories you have.
Thanks.

i beati said...

my friends sent me a wonderful poem today about hjouses never need to be clean , but they do need pet hair and artwork , and spills and laughter. that's mine but its getting hard to afford..this economy smonomy

eric1313 said...

Scratching...

At your back door

a tin pan alley cat
with silver bullet teeth
coming up for air
for the light
for a long windy night,
and the kind of warmth
that sticks with you
and only comes from
one lonely little
flub-dub heart

not of gold
not of ice
but a tin pan alley heart
pink spray painted blue

the choice is all you

scratching love songs
at your back door

eric1313 said...

clink!

singleton said...

daryl e.....thank you sweetie. And David, too! I've been a little lost lately, but I'm playing catch up....pedaling as fast as I can!

crazycath....I have just got to get back into the sync! It sounds like David is throwing some good parties! Welcome, and thank you sweetie.....I'll be coming round the bend, just as soon as I make it up this mountain!

Ibeati...I dont know why, but that reminds me of a cross stitched poem from when my babies were babies....."cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, for children grow up, we've learned to our sorrow....." Sometimes we just have to enjoy the Now and worry about the damned dust bunnies another day!

Eric....tin pan alley cat! Can I tell you how much we've missed you....your words....your thoughts...that little moniker on the right saying "I'm here!" We have sooooooo gotta have a porch party, friend.....

Peace~love my friends
Without it, the world is flat.....

eric1313 said...

Right on! (what you said to sandy) Forget those dust bunnies and make memories with your joy, because there sometimes aren't enough good memories.

Looking around and waiting on that porch party... One day soon, I hope. I'm just glad we can still talk like this to each other!

I knocked at the door--
the seashell
and bottle cap mosaic
and the music
beyond
dusting my knuckles
after a walk
that felt like forever

I knocked again
tapped a rhythm
with my black 13's
and smelled the
barbeque from
the back yard

I waited as
the song changed
and knocked again...

And remembered:
if the house is a rockin'...

So I stepped inside
to a home I've never seen
in a place I've never been

and I belonged for once
in the many blue moons
that I've known
there on the barefoot
dance floor...
spinning gold
with a friend
who knows.

eric1313 said...

Another one on the house!

Clink!

Me said...

I'll be honest with you; while the Jesus-cross creeps me out the wall and door is simply amazing. I do hope I own a house sometime soon so that I can kidnap you and force you into slave labouring the decorative features of my home. I will of course return you. Promise ;)

singleton said...

ERic....Ah, friend, how did I miss this! A true blue ode to the porch, to the nights, to Michelob lights! Clink~a little late, but maybe meant to be. I needed this to make me smile Today! Thank you friend!

Orhan...:) Oh hell, you don't have to kidnap me or slave labour me....Give me free reign and you'll be lookin' to get me outta there as quickly as possible....
Clink! Friend! Missed you...

Peace~love boys