People just love that I live in an old farmhouse. They “ooo” and they “ahh” over the floors and the plaster-and-lathe walls. They comment on the potential and the possibilities. They reflect on how different life was when my house was built.

This is all well and good, I remind them, when they’ve been here long enough for some of my salty insight into the matter, but there are challenges to actually living in an old farmhouse. There’s the lack of outlets, the cracks that allow bugs free reign, the general oldness of it all. Dust seems to breed in my house, and I was confirmed that I am not quite insane when a friend mentioned that her parents’ old home had more dust. “Must be something in old houses,” she remarked. (I thudded my head for a good minute-and-a-half on her table before the relief set in.)

But my old farmhouse is a source of inspiration, and this week, I link it to Our Lady of Good Counsel, a title of Mary that’s quaint and lovely, just like my house. You can read it at Today’s Catholic Woman, and I’ll bring the tea. 🙂