Oh, April - I'm just so sad to read this now. Thank you for letting us know.

This is just horrible. I very much enjoyed reading her posts. She was full of spunk and was the greatest at picking out wallpaper, pillows, and rugs. She will be missed....

Oh no. I am so very, very sorry about this sad news.

What sad news. Thank you for letting us know, April.

Oh that is so sad... I like her so much and have often wondered how she was!

What sad news. Thank you for letting us know. My heart goes out to her husband.

I too am so sad to read this. She will be very missed.

So sorry to read this. Condolences to the family and you April. Havingfun you will be sorely missed.

I’m so sorry to hear this. My condolences to you, April.

I didn't "know" havingfun and I don't really "know" anyone on this web forum. But I am so impressed with the real love and care shown for fellow members. Pretty amazing. Safe travels havingfun...

Such sad news, my condolences to her family and friends, and you too April. Thank you for letting us know....KB (aka lukki)

This is very sad to hear. Thank you for letting us know. I am glad you had communicated with her April.

That’s so sad... it was so considerate of her to ask her husband to let us know (I remember that) and so loving and strong of him, to do that while his grief is so raw.

I think..he kept their agreement..it was so important to her. This site. Letting us know. She loved us..

I always felt her warmth. she was an incredibly warm person.

So I think..he went to her account..and by pure coincidence, my message from way back, it was the last one..

I understand them.. me and my husband, we also have some agreements..promises he gave me.. what to do if I'm gone

To have somebody dear next to you who will remember that and will honor that, especially when he grieves so much..

Yes, very loving, and very strong.

I don't even know where they live..

I just saw this, how sad, but what a testament to friendships formed at GardenWeb...

Oh no! It seems like she was just here, chatting away. I’m so, so sorry.

guys..if you think, if you feel that a separate thread should be opened..I humbly ask you to do so..I myself am still at loss, and I'm not sure I'm the right person...somebody who knew her the most, and all..

I felt her sun, her inner sun very strongly.

And now there's a cloud, and fog, and I don't know how or whether to open that thread.

This is very sad. A light is lost.

Thank you for sharing the news April, I know that is a burdensome task. May your heart be lightened by the fact that we are all now thinking of our friend and the universe is full of echoes of the smiles she gave us.

@kelly_hatton - it's disgusting that you chose to SPAM this thread. Stop it.

by Adriana Duque (seen on artsy.com)

Good news is hard to come by, bad news travels fast - Aneta is in love.
The lodgers have been whispering since the break of day, and eyes are all askance.
None could have heard of it first-hand, and none has heard, but things are clear to all -
In love, indeed. Well, isn't that too bad? Besides, the fog from early on.

The next door flutist burnt the pieces of his flute - Aneta is in love.
Who needs this "Turkish March" today, what sense is there now in the treble clef?
He's pulled the thing out of the suede, pressed somewhat harder - and the flute is gone.
A slender maple once, a craftsman's labour - all just ashes, ashes now.

It's such a complicated day today - wreaths, mourning, carriages, the knell.
The tyrant's dead, the city weeps and cries for him - Aneta is in love.
Why God should choose this one for me to have been born in... What a place, I say!
The seventh corpse in seven years, they should be used to it, but still they cry.

Come in, dear stranger, be my guest, sit down, I'll have a wine-jug brought for us.
We've got a real-life circus here, you'll simply laugh - Aneta is in love.
There's not much hope that she'll address me by my given name while I am here.
Still lesser chance for that to happen in that place where soon I'll be, alas.

Oh well - a complex day, the army, wreaths, the fog unlike a year ago.
At least the flute was somewhere whistling then, today instead there's just the knell.
Look at my birds - they're petrified within their cages, making not a sound.
You ask me who's a thrush, a finch, but now I cannot tell you which is which.

I'm sad and nothing interests me anymore - Aneta is in love.
Take any one of these two glasses, they're the best, but meanwhile drink alone.
No taste in wine, the fog is thick, the capital keeps mourning on and on.
Rue not Aneta, but the flute, though what's a flute - an ex-tree, after all. (c)

.. stumbled upon a website. half of it is "price upon request" or so it seems. but I loved many things there. maybe you know it. anyway..if you don't, check them out. just for the fun of seeing some very cool things..

www.thefutureperfect.com

it's hard to save pictures from there...

that's one of the chandeliers..it's called a " Double Stone Rose" or something

In all my years of communicatig in internet, paricipating in very different forums and platforms, not a word of mine was deleted by moderators, much less a thread

Well I guess there's first time for everything, because I (after long, long contemplation, and being really shaken) posted a thread here and in two other subforums ('kitchens" and "Baths" to be exact..I'd add one or two more, but one can choose only three as you all know)

I made it a separate thread for a reason-I realized it was a bit of OT, I didn't want to make a mess in the thread that finally set me off (wich was in the "Kitchens"), and-i wanted people to see it.

After posting, I was still pretty shaken, so i closed the Houzz window and left for the day

In the evening I found out that while I still could access the thread from my email-it disappeared from every forum it was posted to. I guess it disappearred almost right away.

You know me by now-I'm a very non-confrontational person. I've nothing personal against folks that seemed quite happy with jokes and comparisons, while clearly realizing "double entendre' (I hope of course it just seemed to me, yet that is how it came across). Actually it's not even between me and them. It's between them and them. Which is what I was trying to convey.

I didn't seek to start wars, discussions, I didn't expect to get comments, nothing. I had to write it because otherwise I'd despise myself for staying silent.

I don't quite understand why the post was pulled. It's not offensive. It's not rude. The subject is heavy, right-it had a potential to make people upset. good. some things should make you upset. I guess. Or at least show you the context, the perspective that's a bit different maybe.

In any case-slim chance anybody would become more upset, more torn, more shaken, than I already was.

I saved the post in the late evening, when I realized that probably people didn't see it, after all.

I don't have it in me to re-write it, These things get written once. I just going to repost it as it was. Let's see whether it stays. I'm reposting it only here, in my own thread.

And if you see it Houzz-ask maybe proprietors of this site to think-would their grandparents approve of this post staying, rather then disappearing in a matter of minutes? Because I strongly suspect they would.

So here is the post at the time I saved it:

Double entendre(c)

aprilneverends 11 hours ago

It's been years already that I read here about "gas chambers". I don't say anything, all these years-I think: okay, people write it without second thoughts, they don't mean any malice, they don't make connection, they don't have same mental imagery as i do. It's fine.

But one of the latest threads hit me especially hard because some start saying there how funny and clever this term is, how accurately coined.

So I feel complelled to say-not for myself, but in memory of those, who went with black smoke into the skies, leaving behind them heaps of clothes, and glasses, and walking canes, and rag dolls, and hair that was cut off their heads to be reused-the hair lost its color already, you know? many years passed by, and only red hair still can be somehow still distinguished in these huge heap of human hair. Can still read as very faint red..

I feel complelled to say, like it's on me to say it, because if not me-then who, and if not now, then when?(c) -this term, it's not funny. It's as far from being funny as can be. And frankly, it's not clever either.

For clever people, they know, that one day, their jokes might be on them, but literally on them, weighing heavily upon them, crushing their hearts and bones and lungs, not letting them breathe.

Clever people realize that next to some times and circumstances, even being on autopsy table(that also was used as a comparision to other house feature, and got its share of laughter) can be, in a very weird and very horrid way, a good thing-it means after all you're still seen, you're still considered for who you were-a human. A person. Not some insect, some pest to be exterminated on this huge industrial level...

Somebody still gives a damn about your humanity..

And as strange and awful as it is-it's not a given.

So. Use the term if you so wish, I'm not here to teach you how to talk. just maybe don't ..don't come across as if you revel in how funny and clever and double entendre it is. You are visionaries after all.

Extend your imagination a bit more-and maybe you won't laugh..at least you won't laugh that loud.

It was incredibly hard and painful for me to write this post. If I felt I had a bit of an inner choice-I wouldn't write it.

But it feels like it is my only choice because..because I can't breathe. I had to write it. I had to.

And if you made it this far-thank you for reading it.

Email Save Comment 1 Like 2 Edit Delete .

now it's time for a most recent find..

which is-I love you guys. Many of you, I love dearly, I highly admire you, I learn from you tons, and if somebody's sharing his pain here and i see the thread and don't comment-it never means I don't feel this pain. i just feel I can't say anything useful..

But I really question right now my presence on this platform

no, I'm not losing my religion(c)

even though I, too, I guess, perhaps said too much. But believe me-I didn't say enough either.

oh (((April))) - I know, at least in some small way, how much it took out of you to write that. Similar thoughts have rattled around in my head and heart from time to time but unlike you, those thoughts sapped all my energy to even begin. Why did they pull it? I have no idea but then we all know there is little rhyme or reason, (or at least consistency) for many things here.

You are an amazing person, april. Your ability to see, feel, and lead is a gift to those of us you choose to associate with in any measure. I am always surprised when people are prepared to allow suffering, and inhumanity to pass into banality. Thank you for writing those words and reminding me what it means to be truly moral.

PS I hardly ever open this thread because I need no additional temptations to shop. I am so glad I caught this.

PPS I wrote a lot more than this and then erased it.

:( :( April, I'm so sorry. You're absolutely right about that term. I've never used it but I see it often here without seeing it. We forget the origin of expressions. Words matter. We need to do better.

(Perhaps if someone is intent on renaming a WC such, it's time to visit a gastroenterologist? Serious suggestion.)

You are such a compassionate, enlightened soul, dear April. Your presence here matters very much to me. I would be terribly saddened if you ever left. You know how much I admire your creative and talented perspective in this forum. And your writing! :)

(PS. Are you sure your post was pulled? I ask because one of my innocuous posts (and update) in the Using Houzz forum never appeared. I wonder sometimes if there's an automated filter or something.)

Tartan, I just went to april's profile page and clicked on the threads she started tab- and no sign of the above.

april, and definitely, no losing of religion. I think that helps keep our humanity safe.

Didn't think to do that, Rita. Smart.

Like Rita, I don't come to this thread much because I don't need the temptation, esp since we're not quite done with the new house. But something compelled me to open it this afternoon.

I'm so sorry about the thread being pulled, April. I can take a guess, but I don't really understand it, just as I don't understand a lot of the official decisions around here.

Edited to remove family info, just in case : ) .

I would miss you very much, april. I can understand taking some time away to deal with this, but I hope you would come back. If we all say something when see the use of the term, I think that may work better to change its acceptance, rather than leaving. Thank you for reminding us to be and do better.

april, just wanted you to know I edited my post above to remove the personal family info, just in case...

I am not trying to distract you, but I came across this IG and it has your name written all over it- it's for a company that sells botanical wallpaper and fabric- maybe everyone has heard of them already- they are new to me- and I thought I would share just in case:

Botanic Trading Company, by Debby Tenquist Indian, Ottoman, Chinoiserie & Botanically inspired textiles and wall paper. Inspiration & spaces that fuel my designs. Bespoke designs on request

https://www.instagram.com/botanicatrading/

April, thanks so much for reposting, that was very eloquent. The term is wrong on so many levels. You, however, have a remarkable way with words.

Rita, you are a temptress.

I appreciate your eloquence and courage, April. Thank you. I am working on cleaning up my language-avoiding saying hurtful things or allowing them to be said in my presence without calling it out. You know-terms like “pow wow”, that have become part of our language but mean something significant to marginalized people.

And the use of gas chamber on this forum completely passed me without notice. I am knit proud of that, and i want to thank you for calling it out.

april, I think I would suggest contacting off-list those regulars who make regular use of the term. It came up just yesterday in a Building Forum "critique my plans" thread, but those new posters tend to be so skittish anyway -- especially when they start getting negative critiques they weren't at all expecting -- I'm loathe to bring up the subject for fear of scaring them off entirely. It's not their fault, sigh.

I'm sorry your thread got pulled, too. And I'm glad you reposted it also. Sometimes you have to get the thought out of your head.

Bravo for making your voice heard. It takes a lot to do that, I know. Try not to be discouraged by humanity's inhumanity (I know you know what I'm talking about)....look for goodness. Sometimes hard to find, true, but still worth looking for.

April, hugs and much love, with great admiration for your quiet conviction and eloquence. Please don’t leave us. i understand your desire to leave this forum but you’re one of the reasons I frequent this forum.

the original post showed up - at least in the convo forum.

..you know that my favorite Ardmore Ceramics apparently has a furniture line?

The Iguana seems to be theirs as well

also, I "travelled" a bit on Etsy, and saved some creatures there..maybe I went by colors I don't know. Some of them are scary, some of them are funny, some are sad..

Nepali Hedgehog

Praying Mantis

Swallow playing the piano

Furred..somebody. Wouldn't want to meet him somewhere in the woods

and this presumably a sea monster

To me he seems very sad. Not monster at all. I called him Nigel.

Because of the song about making plans for Nigel

..I wanted to open a separate thread to share with you some pics from the Dolls' exhibition we were lucky to visit when in Jerusalem, but te site didnn't allow me to upload pics. Trying my luck here..

.okay so big troubles with uploading, I'm going to stop here espcially as I'm not sure you're even interested.

But we were impressed so I wanted to share.

Now, the dolls, most of them, were available for sale..and it was last day of the exhibition..and as I didn't have present for DH on time I told im he'd pick whatever he likes on our trip..and we started conversation with one artist, who had a flight back to her home country in 40 min, and got really involved..in short now we're proud owners of two dolls(for the price of one. lol))

and it's my own personal victory over myself because one is espesially scary and comes with a fairy-tale to match, and the artist said I'm the only person who was willingly looking to hear the fairy tale to its very end lol..and you know, I feel quite comfortable with them in the house..to my own big surprize. Even though a little stupid..))

When kids came for a short vacation, and saw the dolls, my son remarked sceptically that our house starts reminding more and more the one in "Coraline"...

Those dolls are all amazingly evocative. I will have to come back and spend more time looking at them.

What a treat to get to meet one of the artists and learn more about the stories behind her work. Thank you so much for taking us along with you. I wish his could hvae been its own thread, so people would for sure notice it.

PS Love Coraline and all things Neil Gaiman at my house. Did you watch Good Omens? Great fun.

thank you Zalco!

yes, it was quite fascinating

And the fairy tale the artist told us, I asked her who wrote it and she says "Me". I almost fell. I was sure it's somebody well known..

I did open the thread couple days ago but the pics wouldn't upload there at all, for some reason, so I deleted it, obviously

This little piggy went to market..

Interesting website there btw

https://www.serax.com/en/home

I missed the update on this thread! (Why is Houzz so glitchy?!?!) Those dolls are art but some are a bit too creepy for me, I must admit. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I had had a conversation with the artist. What a lovely opportunity for you and your husband, April! Now I'm going to listen to that song. It's a fave. (I'm familiar with XTC's version. Never heard of Nouvelle Vague.) ETA: That's a haunting rendition of Making Plans for Nigel. Thanks for sharing, April!