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Florida, United States
Southern born, Southern reared. It's a quirky place and we are unique folk... These are my people and these are my stories.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The "Real" Road the Testament (Day 2)

The first time I went to the real Decker Ranch, I was taken with what Sharon Decker called "the cottage" out back and up the hill. A converted barn, this now two-bedroom two-bath comfort zone had been Sharon's place of refuge after her mother's passing.
I could easily see why.
Sharon has a good eye when it comes to decorating, and--as The Cottage soon became my own hideout and writing haunt--I didn't want to lose the home-effects she'd created when making it a character in my book, The Road to Testament.

Remembering how I felt the first time I saw her, I wrote the following:
~~~~

I’d found it. My new home. There’d be no turning back now saying I couldn’t find it.
Heaven help me.
I made a hard left off the asphalt road into the rutted narrow driveway, which disappeared under a canopy of skinny-trunked, green leafy trees. My car rocked back and forth as it tilted upward, upward, past deep ravines on both sides. I crossed a manmade stone bridge built over a lazy stream flowing atop glossy river rocks. Just as I despaired my car would simply topple backward and I’d be found upside down in the little creek, the landscape cleared. A sloping yard led to a white-brick house on one side and a shimmering blue swimming pool and pool house on the other.
I followed the driveway to the back of the U-shaped house, stopping beside a classic Jeep, an Acura, and a rather decrepit looking Dodge truck.
“Wow,” I said. I felt a brow arch. A two-story unpainted cottage stood farther up the hill and at the end of the drive. Sky-blue Adirondack chairs, a settee and footrests had been arranged on one side and oversized planters spilling over with flowers on the other. The entire setting was both grand and primitive. “Wow,” I said again.
~~~~~

Have you ever found a place like "The Cottage"? Somewhere you found comfort, as if the house or place itself were giving you all that you needed to get through? 

Tell me about it! 
And stay tuned ... I'm going to offer a contest soon, and you'll want to be a part of it (I hope).

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