We’ve been working on a renovation for a while – it didn’t start off as anything huge, just some foundational work to strengthen the house – and then, as projects do, it snowballed a bit. As we are nearing the end (fingers crossed), a bit of weariness has crept in, as only small changes are happening, as compared with the huge shifts that were the hallmark of the start of this journey.

And then the other day, I saw this scene that made me laugh: some items in the living room needed to be moved out of the way to make room for carpet to be unrolled, and one result was this: a striking tableau, in our bathroom, made up of various pieces from inside and outside the house. I doubt it was done on purpose; I think things were just moved to wherever there was space so the carpet could be put down. But in a quick moment of functional action, arose quite a good representation of our coastal house. And seeing that really lightened my day, and rekindled my excitement about getting back in there – whenever that happens.