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10.23.2009

Running Down A Dream


There is this house in town that I have fallen hard for. It is an old farmhouse on D Street entirely secluded and dwarfed behind weeping willows and tall green fir trees, the kind of fir trees where house fairies and wood nymphs and toadstools live. The roof is a steep A-line covered in moss and pine needles. The side entrance into the kitchen is a charming dutch door, a broom propped up against the frame. The front door is cherry red. Fallen leaves clutter the porch and inside a warm lamp glows. I'm fairly certain it smells like fresh bread inside. Fresh bread and lemon wood polish. Next to the house there is a stable and inside live three friendly old horses who clomp out to the fence to say hello to the passing school kids. In the winding driveway between the stable and the farmhouse live a barn cat and a baby blue Chevy pickup who has seen better days. Behind the house is a giant, grassy field. At night the tame neighborhood cats slip away from their cushy homes to become wild tigers there, prowling for mice in the moonlight.

This little house lives on my usual running path and so I pass it up to four times a week. I always look forward to seeing it and sometimes when I feel like I'm getting tired I use the house as motivation. Once I get to this house I let myself stop and walk slowly, to catch my breath and drink it all in.

Today as I headed out my front door to run the clouds gathered ominously and the air turned to chill. By the time I reached my farmhouse in the trees the rain had found a steady rhythm and beads were collecting on my forearms. I slowed to my usual walk at the pasture gate and then stopped for a minute to tie my shoe and watch my breath collect in the air before me. The white horse slowly made his way out of his warm stable to say hello, and as I reached through the fence to stroke his velvety nose I could suddenly see it all as if it were very real.

A house dress, hunter green wellies, thick wooly socks and a sweater coat,
out to feed the chickens and collect the eggs,
the barn cat coiling around my feet.

A fire burning in the farmhouse fireplace,
smoke billowing out into the wet early morning air,
the day's fresh bread baking in the oven,
home-canned preserves and sweet butter.

Long runs and quiet evenings,
a baby on my hip,
soothing and shushing and rocking and sleeping.
It was delicious.

The sky thundered and I woke from my day dream. I was soaked through with rain as I said goodbye-for-now to my equine friend and plodded along the last of my route, where a hot shower, a bowl of oatmeal, and an Internet connection awaited me at my little shoe box of a house on B.

We graduate in May and I think I've decided I'd stay here in Moscow, my dearest red husband, but only if I can have that farmhouse, some wellies, and a good assortment of house dresses.

 And a hen named Bossy if you please.

57 comments:

  1. im gonna have to find this house after we work the Farmer's Market this weekend.

    hey you should stop by - Durfey Farm :)

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  2. May bossy produce an abundance of eggs so that the air in the neighborhood around that little red doored farm house on D St. will always carry the scent of fresh baked bread. Thanks for another fun read.

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  3. I am absolutely IN LOVE with your blog! This house sounds wonderful, I haven't even been there and already I'm jealous of not being able to run past that house (or at least having the ability to write as you do).

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  4. i sounds so lovely... it would be a perfect place to call home! i think my daydreams need some work :)

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  5. I'm also in love with your blog; it's become one of my absolute favorites. And that house is to die for.

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  6. Charming. Perfectly charming; the house and the blog. Thanks for entertaining and inspiring :-)

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  7. What a charming house :) Love your blog!

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  8. That house sounds magical and what a lovely day dream you had too,I hope it becomes a reality for you :)

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  9. Sounds like a lovely home! I'm currently living in a one bedroom in East LA in USC-owned housing. There are bars on the windows.

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  10. I really LOVE the way you write ! Readers are drawn into wherever you take them. And for this post, it is your day dream of your dream house :)
    It sounds really lovely and dreamy indeed !!
    I wish you the best in everything, and I want to let you know, I will continue to follow your "thoughts" and "ramblings" here :)

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  11. Yes, I dream too of a farmhouse with a huge rambling garden and hens! We're kin!! I love the name for your hen - I haven't named my future hens but I'm going to spend time thinking about it right now!!

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  12. Beautiful! Beautiful dream, house, photo, story!

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  13. Isn't it magical when you fall in love with a house you've never been in. Your mind runs wild with what nicknacks are on the fireplace mantle...if the old wooden stairs creek when you step on them....or what treasures are stored in the basement covered in a blanket of dust....?!

    I had a house like this that I always loved...Kind of reminded you of an old brick school house....very tall building, narrow and it had shutters, a brick house with shutters here is an oddity.

    I cried the day they tore it down and hauled in a modular home!

    Still makes me sad that I never got to spend even a moment of time, in the house I daydreamed about my entire childhood.

    ~hl~
    {www.hoscorners.blogspot.com}

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  14. I want that too. Not too much to ask for, right? PS Bossy is the perfect name for a hen.

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  15. It's a beautiful dream! I, myself, have the chickens and at one time there were 3 babies sitting upon my hip. I have yet to aquire some house dresses or the actual farmhouse. Let's just say I'm learning patience :) I hope your dream comes true.

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  16. Beautiful imagery once again Nat! My dream house was this tall yellow Victorian style home that I remember passing daily as a child. When I had my second child here in my city it lay right across the street from my hospital room. The next year they moved the entire house out of town! Can you imagine that? The home I always wanted to live in...gone forever.

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  17. That house looks dreamy. I day dream about living simply in the country. Love this!

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  18. Nice that you jog and exercise. I doubt that anyone else was found that interesting in your whole blog post ha. Idk, at this point in my life i suffer acute case of Shin splints caused in a wrestling bout and kills me when i attempt to jog.

    So my cardiovascular is gonna go down hill as i'm forced to take a break until my shins heal. Hopefully i won't gain weight either but overall i just miss the running.

    Other than that, i use to bike down the section of my city (Corpus Christi) called Victoria Lane where all the restored Victorian era homes where moved too. One of the houses reminded me of the one your fell in love with.

    In my case, i would actually venture in the garden area and take a rest from biking on the benches. I would do good bit of reading there as i would carry a book for the specific occasion i plan to rest there.

    Brings back memories as i read your blog. I look forward to your next post.

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  19. Sounds super special awesome.

    Congratz on blog of note!

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  20. GORGEOUS! Your daydream is mine, as well. I love your blog. It's absolutely charming.

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  21. This house has made me happy... thanks for bringing it to my life... i must see it for real now.. thanks. xx

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  22. That would be the Fosberg's house. He's a retired soil scientist. She's a retired nurse who worked at student health. When I was young my family would visit friends who lived across the street. At that time the Fosbergs had a great bit black dog named E.A. Poe.

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  23. Geoff for the win! My aunt Gini's dog had puppies once and we named them all after gothic writers. The one we named Edward Allen Poe drowned in the pond out back. Appropriate, no?

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  24. Can I move back to Moscow??? This post is making me incredibly homesick! If I've learned one thing this year and a half, it's that AZ and I don't get along very well.

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  25. It's so amazing that the second I saw teh picture of this house, I immediatly imagined my (yet to be planned or discussed) wedding there. I then, in many less words (because I am not as good as you are), thought of everything you just said.

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  26. What a sweet picture you have painted in my mind....thank you!

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  27. Good posting i like it

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  28. Hi, I found your blog when it was a blog of note and it is a real treat for me. I thought I was one of few that picture the olden times when I find a great old beautiful structure. I love picturing it. I am in Los Angeles now, but I am in love with a 150 year old house in Kirkwood, Missouri. Someday it might pull me back to the Midwest. :). Thanks for your wonderful writing!

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  29. um yeah, I'm glad we have one thing in common. I distaste board games too! and my hubby loves the (now syd takes afer....HIM! trator) just kidding. Anyway, that is the most charming house. Don't you just love white house, black accents and RED doors. something about them is so classy, sassy and perfect.

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  30. Rat, could you please write me a story that I could read to myself every night before bed. One that talks of old houses, elderly people that call eachother poopsie, comforatble knit attire?
    would you add some romance to make me want to curl up into a ball; stretch my toes out and arch my back when my husband comes home?
    if you dont mind also adding your snapshots of life as you see it to create a better surrounding of thoughts in my head?
    I think that you could make me a better person and a creative thinker...I just love reading your posts. wellies rock!

    be isatiable

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  31. Theres a house in Lake Oswego on Avenue A that I feel the simalarly about I used to work at the blockbuster nearby and drive past it every day- christmas time was my favorite- its an english tudor style with cool windows in what looks like a staircase and at night it seems like it glows. Its good to have dreams like that I think although they change overtime too- now I want a log cabin in Montana.

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  32. Jen, I know that house ! That is my favorite house in Lake Oswego! We used to live just up the street and I would daydream about that house every time I drove past. Ohhhhh you've made me nostalgic!

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  33. theres a house that i passed bby on my way to my old school, it was huge yet small, and it was just...so there...yet not. Almost fairy tale like. I loved that house with all my heart, and i plan on getting it one day. some day =)

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  34. Wonderful post, as is your custom.

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  35. that house looks old but beautiful

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  36. You took me back to a time long ago. I can see my Grandmother in that house and yes, she is baking bread and turning the last of the summer fruit into jams and jellies that we would enjoy all winter.

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  37. You're in Moscow?! O.O

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  38. It sounds so picturesque. I'd love to live that dream of baking bread, and making jam. That would be lovely. There are some nice houses near my school, but none of them are as good looking as that house.

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  39. Moscow has so many beautiful homes like this! When we lived on Blaine, we would walk up and down the streets, dreaming of owning one of those old homes that still had the carriage house out back. One of the many reason I love Moscow SO much more than Pullman!

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  40. I often imagine what my life will be like with my husband when we move out of the city when he finishes his masters in a few years. I think about having a little house and another dog and a baby. It’s good to know I’m not alone :) Cute blog Nat.

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  41. Great blog! Totally agree about the board games.

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  42. I have been enjoying your blog. :)

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  43. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  44. You write very well :)
    Come check out my blog? :)
    http://zehraza.blogspot.com/

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  45. I am so inspired by your ability to stop and really take note of the beautiful details in your surroundings. Even when I'm not rushing through the day, I'm so immersed in my own thoughts and worries that I don't recognize the beauty around me. It's something I've been thinking about lately and you've really motivated me with this post. Lovely writing. Thank you.

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  46. Well dear, That would be the Fosberg's house. He's a retired soil scientist. She's a retired nurse who worked at student health. When I was young my family would visit friends who lived across the street. At that time the Fosbergs had a great bit black dog named E.A. Poe.

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  47. OK Mrs. Fat Rat, You wrote this post on Oct. 22. It is now the early hours of Oct. 25 and there is no new post from you. I have only been reading you for about a week but I think I speak for everyone when I say that making us wait 2 to 3 days is cruelty. I do however hope that you are having a great weekend. Waiting anxiously.

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  48. nyc post wid awesome house...

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  49. This house's soooo beautiful *-----*
    and don't look so old.
    ____________
    Diário de Sophie
    sophielanquesnet.blogspot.com

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  50. Yeah, well, a house would be very nice if I could get out of this jail I'm in.

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  51. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the person that owns this house saw your blog and invited you in to meet them have a look around!

    P.S. I love the way you write. You should be writing books.

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  52. I adore your blog. Even mentioned it in my last post!

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  53. Very good article! You also can look at http://exactwatches.blog.com.

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  54. Very good article! You also can look at http://exactwatches.blog.com.

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  55. such a beautiful home. and a beautiful story.

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    Replies
    1. sorry, that comment was supposed to be on today's post :/

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  56. so I guess you've got to get a new one and name her Bossy now!

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