Crunchy Country Catholic: My Afterlife Mural

During our studies of ancient Egypt, the girls created "afterlife murals" for their parents. They were inspired by stories of the Egyptian royalty, who depicted on the walls of their tombs scenes of how they wanted to spend their eternal rest. (Don't worry, we talk about how this isn't what WE believe exactly, but it is kinda similar to our idea of Heaven, eternal happiness in the presence of God, etc.)

To give you an idea of what Caeley did for my mural:

This is me waving my "kerchief" from the door of the house at Ken, who is dressed in full farmer regalia. And pulling a wagon full of chickens. Does she know my fantasy or what?

Me feeding my ladies. Oh I miss them. At least they'll be there in my afterlife.

My garden. Notice the raised bed with squash plant growing out of the box. I'm picking sun gold tomatoes.

Cooking at the wood stove and serving dinner.

After a day in my afterlife, I relax by my fire with my (rather short) legs up. Reading a book, of course.

Fast forward a couple months...

We are on a "field trip" to Rose Hill Manor Park...a place I have been meaning to go for two years, but just never got around to it. And now I know why. Because I have found THE place that I would want to spend the rest of my (after) life. My idea of eternal happiness would be to live (in Heaven) of course, in the Manor House at Rose Hill. It is a federalist mansion built in the late 1700s, with huge rooms, a gorgeous garden, and the kitchen of my dreams. (I can't speak for what the upstairs looked like...we only saw the downstairs because the girls had a "microscope" class that took longer than I thought.)

To tell you that I nearly had heart palpitations in this place is an understatement. I felt like I had stepped back in time. Not just to any time, but to the time I really belong in. Anyone who knows me knows that I have always felt like I belong in a different era. My mom thinks I could be Laura Ingalls. My friends and I joke about the "Camish" community I want to start. This would be, obviously, a CAtholic AMISH community. And the Manor House at Rose Hill Park would be my Camish home. Something about the "olden days" and the simplicity, the importance of home, family, working together for survival...I wish I could try it sometime.

But I digress....When we walked into the kitchen of the home, I said to Caeley, "Isn't this kitchen awesome???!!!" Her response, and the inspiration for this entire post was, "Yeah! I should add it to your afterlife mural! And the garden too!" Well said, honey. Well said.

In case you wonder if I am over-exaggerating, which I have been accused many-a-time of doing, I challenge you: Look at these pictures and tell me you can't see me here!

The enormous hearth. All you need for cooking hanging right there. My biggest dream. (If I ever DO get to build that house I dream of, I really want a cooking hearth in my kitchen.)

Mini oven for bread in the back of the fireplace.

More pots and pans around the fire.

Kitchen "cabinets." (Also called really cool piece of old furniture! I love all the old fashioned dishes, pottery, and spice jars...)

The garden was phenomenal. My camera was running out of batteries, so I didn't take enough shots of it, but it was huge, well organized, and pretty, which incidentally, are my three requirements for a garden!

Can you imagine the work it took to build a fence like this back in the day???

No outlet or batteries required. And I bet these lasted longer than your last kitchen gadget.

Fake bread. But cool serving dishes.

I love that the hearth is REAL brick, and you could literally walk right into it. Not so child friendly, but how fun to cook over this!

The parlor next to the kitchen. Set up as the wool/spinning/weaving display. Makes me wish I knew a fiber art. Any fiber art would do. Just something crafty so I could pretend at being old fashioned...