Extreme Wide Shot: Planet Earth. Through the atmosphere, through the clouds, North America, Canada, Ontario, Belleville, Lambert Drive.
Long Shot: My snowy house, from across the street, looking in the living room window. There’s me, sitting on the couch, scanning my laptop screen.
Full shot: Look at me. So here I am, sitting in our living rooom, scanning the CBC news online, feeling like spending an entire day in my dream business of a bookshop tea room called Biblio, regretting I don’t live in England, wondering if past lives are real, wishing I’d studied to be an archeologist, thinking about Wall-E, and anticipating my nice breakfast of boiled egg and spelt toast with Earl Grey tea and a clementine. Ah, Sundays.
Colin is in the next room, the kitchen, washing a dish. Lucy lies by the front door, feeling barfy.
Suddenly, Colin is standing at the front door peering through the window.
“Steph,” he says in a strange voice, still looking out. “You have slippers on, you can go outside. There’s a ten-dollar bill on our lawn.”
It takes me a second or two to register this because I’d thought he was going to say “you have slippers on the lawn,” which would also be bizarre.
“Shut up,” I say, but in the next minute I’m outside, pulling a tenner from the snow. It’s not mine and it’s not Colin’s and unless Lucy has a secret, she didn’t drop it either.
I look up and smile.
“Thanks,” I say.
Okay, so that’s a year-old pic of our house, not a recent snowy one from across the street. This was the pic we saw online when shopping for houses last year. I kept it because I knew we’d be making lots of changes, and indeed, the front doesn’t look much like that anymore! At least the gardens and the mailbox. And we plan on shutters and a new front door…but anyway, there is the lawn on which the aforementioned ten smackers was found!
Hi Steph – It’s your ghost. After my friend Phil died, and then visited me (I blogged about it at Halloween) we found dimes everywhere, deliberately placed. There was even one in the aisle of the airplane between us on our way to Alaska. I love this story! Yay!
Betsy: I LOVE the thought of having a ghost! Especially a benevolent one.
I have a feeling Janet, one of the practitioners I work with at the naturopathic clinic, will be able to tell me more when she does Reiki on me for the first time. She’s very (amazingly) intuitive.
Colin found a coin a week ago, and I said, hey, next time it will be even more…and here we are. I feel taken care of. I know I need to stop worrying about being bankrupt and C not having a job anymore.
I loved this post. : ) And your house is very sweet.
That’s so cool that there was a ten dollar bill on your lawn. I wonder if perhaps they were given out by someone?
There was just a story on CNN about an anonymous man giving out one hundred dollar bills in a thrift store. I love stories like those.
As for the ten spot, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.
Em
And p.s. — I just wrote a post similar to this one yesterday, saved for the next posting — insert twilight zone music, here, lol.
Em : )
P.S.S. and I *love* the tree in the front. It must be beautiful in spring and summer.
Hi Em,
Thank you!
PS. Interesting, I’ll check out your next post for sure!
PS. The birch is beautiful, yes!
Everyone else has maples, but ours lets in dappled sunlight and the birds love it.
PS. Hey, when you see good news stories like that one you saw on CNN, shoot me an email with the link. We can post them on the Woohoo! Report.
YAY!
So whattya gonna do with your windfall?
(You should treat yourself to a chocolate cake or something…)
Steph,
Cool! Found money is always so much more fun.
(Set aside $2 and buy a lottery ticket – hey, you never know!)
I got your chat from last night, and I’ll send you an email soon. I’ve been down for the count with a really nasty fever.
-Brett
Congrats on the ten bucks!
Nice house pics too!
Paul
Hmm…something about this post seems…so familiar. Can’t put my finger on it.
See? The shots DO tell the story. I’ll have to finish up so you can add some mediums and close-ups.
Good for you Steph. That was a sign of things to come.
Oh, what a great post!
Your home is adorable and very cozy.
That money story is wonderful. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I know it was put there for you for a reason
This story belongs on The WhooHoo Report!
@Rebecca
Oh, come on…how do you how cozy and adorable their home is? You only see the outside.
Maybe Steph and Colin live knee-deep in their own filth. Or mabye they share the house with 100 critters and everything smells like cat-pee!
(I’m only sayin’ that ’cause I haven’t left a smart-ass Friar comment here in a while)
Now that you mention it, Friar, you’re probably right. Steph does seem the type to live in squalor …
@Rebecca
Maybe she’s like the Cat Lady from the SImpsons.
“Yahhhh-hah-ha-ha-HAHHHH!” (as cats are thrown).
@Friar: We haven’t decided yet what to do with it. Part of us feels guilty for wanting to treat ourselves with it, as though we are given a gift of help and instead we’re out to blow it. But it seems silly to put it in the bank, too. I’m thinking we can put it toward a Christmas gift…
@ Brett: I know; you totally can’t beat found money!
@ Paul: Hey, thanks!
@ Karen: *BIG GRIN* See how much you influence me?
I hope I got them right! I was actually worried!
@ Rebecca: Hey, yeah! Our own personal good news! How come I didn’t think of that?
@ Friar and Rebecca: Hahahaha! Man, you guys are just egging me on, trying to get me to comment, right? I mean, my mouth hangs open: you could not be further from the truth! I do not love squalor!!! I HATE squalor!! I’m a neat freak, a clean freak! My home is cozy…and CLEAN! I’m into home decorating mags (my friend gives them to me). No cats (Colin’s allergic or I would have two), and no filth! It’s hard to be as clean as I want to be with a dog, but Lucy will be gone all too soon, and then I will be lamenting the lack of dog hair and drool marks on the floor and furniture, so I just hug her tight and forgive all…and follow her around with a cloth and a dustpan.
@Steph
You’ve been so strict and disciplined with our money for so long…this is a windfall (literally!).
TREAT YOURSELVES!
@steph
Typo. I meant “…YOUR money”
Friar: LOL the crazy cat lady. Despite her comment, I can totally see her in an overcoat throwing mangy cats at passersby …
Steph: Of course we’re egging you on! From what I know of you, I’d assume you’re a major neat freak (and your house looks very cozy).
Steph, whoo hoo! That’s my kind of Sunday morning surprise! Awesome post too!
@Steph
I know. Give the $10 to Little Timmy.
(He just fell down a well, you know)
Friar: Oh ho, I see! You want it, don’t you?! We all know Timmy is actually your nephew you keep locked up, using sob stories about him to make a little extra on the side…
Rebecca!! For shame. I would NEVER throw a poor animal! Now little kids…maybe.
Karen: Thank you!
@Steph
Awww…you can throw a cat. They always land on their feet….
That house looks very nice–just the right size–and it grows money! What more could you want?
Friar: Yes, but that’s beside the point!
Beth:
It WAS just beneath the birch tree…maybe money will start growing on trees here!
And it is the right size. It’s perfect for us, about 1100 square feet. One day I would like bigger, but it’s only because I want to always be able to accommodate family when they come. One day I hope to host everyone, my three sisters and their families and my parents. That’s for our dream house, which I posted here somewhere way back when…
Yeah, around 1,000 square feet is a nice size for two. We have over 2000 square feet with a huge yard, and it wears us out. Plus, neither one of us particularly wants to paint and texture and such, though I love to garden. That’s the main reason I want to stay here–the garden. And the panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains doesn’t hurt.
Yeah, see, the thing about getting a bigger house is, who gets to clean it, right? Me, that’s who. When we’re rich, I’ll be outsourcing, you can bet on it.
View of the Rockies! Wow. My view is of the houses across from us. Still, we have a lovely quiet street, and behind us is a big field, rather than more housing. Yay for marshland and green space in town!
we love gardening too. But I am into home decorating. Well, I know what I want, though I would rather hire someone to do the painting and stuff.
I hope to be outsourcing housework too, one day. Sigh. A woman has to dream, right?
It’s heart-shaped rocks, that’s the post that reminded me of yours.
I love trees, and yours is quite lovely.
I saw the story about the anon man handing out hundred dolar bills on tv, on CNN last weekend.
Em
Lovely. Glad you came back.
BrettHead: that’s it? That’s all I get from you? Lovely?! Since when are you so proper?
I was a little tongue tied staring at yer you know what.
My house, you mean? Oh, I know! I love it too.
Yes, Steph’s sweet warm well manicured home. That was it!
Steph, it’s been way, way too long since I visited. I love your thought pieces, but I found a special beauty in this little vignette. You have a talent for sharing real moments. Thanks for sharing this one with me.
Beth: Wow, that was such a wonderful thing to say. Thank you! You’ve made me feel really awesome!