Enlightenment

Peter and Chantal left a day later than planned and headed to Paris instead of Stockholm. That’s the beauty of travel ad lib.

Eloïse is back at playschool after half-term and loving every minute of it. Wanda told me that Eloïse now almost exclusively speaks Dutch while she’s there. It’s both surprising and pleasing how fast the transition has occurred. Sarah even caught Eloïse speaking to herself in Dutch whilst playing on her own the other day, which really shows how natural it’s becoming for her.

Possibly our most pressing furnishing need was answered yesterday morning when our dining-room lighting was delivered and mounted. We purchased a couple of Lumina Galileo lamps from a local shop and are very enthusiastic about the results. To my great delight, it’s now possible to read the paper after 17:00 and the lamps add a sleek, classy touch to the room, especially when combined with a dimmer switch.

I had first wanted a different kind of light (a horizontal mounting bar with three adjustable hanging lamps, each of which is turned on, off and dimmed by holding and releasing the 12V wires on which it hangs), but I decided to ignore my appreciation of the engineering and make a purely aesthetically based decision. Sarah’s conviction that the Italian Galileos were the better choice also played a vital role, of course.

We’ve also ordered a standard lamp for the living-room. It has a dark wooden base and will be crowned by a lampshade that we’re having hand-made from horsehair by a local craftswoman. It sounds dodgy, but it’s an obvious choice once you’ve seen an example of the finished product. Her lampshades and, indeed, other pieces of art made from horsehair are absolutely beautiful.

The three of us continue to feel very content in the house. The weather has become quite chilly over the last week and the house has a lovely, cosy, warm atmosphere to it. It’s simply a joy to spend time here, reading a book, watching TV, eating with friends… whatever. I find myself very much at ease here and continue to be surprised and slightly perplexed at the fact that it feels so perfectly our own home. Possibly that’s due to the painting we had done; possibly it’s just the fact that the house is dead right for us, anyway. I don’t know.