after work last night....
I didn't go directly home as usual..

instead, I went to a place...an area...I haven't been for a very long time....

Sierra Madre Blvd....

invited over to a special friends house for dinner and a bit of knitting (as it turned out...we need much more time than an evening to address the knitting portion of the activities)

the foothills, street names, and trees brought back a flood of memories...
some sweet...time with my brother as a little girl....
my first dog...
and that's about where the sweetness ended...

a wrecked childhood....
latchkey kids long before they ever came up with that name...

I was relieved when the directions turned me away from the Blvd. and the Catholic churches...
finding the street, a left turn and ahead peacocks.....
a flock of peacocks in the front yard of an adorable home on a street lined with century old trees...

she's a knitter, my friend...
and artist, and cook, and camper....

her 1908 home was owned by her husband's family, complete with a summer kitchen outside...
hens, a clothesline, vintage garage, windows and fireplaces inside and out...

much like the trees that line the street outside...
I could have taken root right there in her dining room....

sometimes you walk into a house...
and it feels like nothing more than dry wall and pre fab flooring...
this house.....has a long story......and she's so very lucky to call it home.....