Dear Lucina.
We dedicate this message to Lucina. Thank you, your review was a catalyst for a story we have been trying to tell since falling in love with this land.
Thank you for your stay. Your review prompted a great opportunity to share some context for future guests around our vision for House Kinlands and The Cottage. We hope this helps to frame your experience, and the experience of all who choose to spend time and resources here. For over twenty years Jen and Luke have been fascinated with life experiences that are deep, meaningful, life-giving, and reciprocal. We have found there are patterns, “languages” of sorts that begin to emerge as we have slowed down to observe and witness life unfolding. Speaking and revealing these “languages of life” is our passion. Long ago, we began to understand that in order to become fluent in life, with all its many dialects, we must learn to immerse ourselves in its expressions in raw natural form. To accomplish this, we found that we could not learn them from books but must learn to use our whole selves to feel into spaces and, when there, adjust ourselves to what they have to say. Over the years, we have found that some “languages” resonate with us more than others, some places seem to be more alive, have more to give, are more fulfilling to us, more supportive, more magic, more willing to offer their power to support our lives, and more willing to receive back the love and power we have to give. We dreamed of building a place like this, where we could reveal what we are coming to know so deeply, to practice reciprocity and manifest into the world a place of our own expression. We wanted to add to the growing library of enlightened, intentional places we have hungered for and scoured the web for to visit in support of our personal passion for discovering and magnifying our felt purpose in life.
Bow, Washington is one of the most enchanting places we have ever experienced and the property you were drawn to visit is a place we believed we could begin a life’s work in curating a full-feeling pattern of life, a living place with that quality that cannot be named, only felt. The Cottage is where we began to express a curated point of view. It was likely this intention that drew you to choose our place to stay. We appreciate that you found it to match the pictures. This is intentional and in line with our vision described above. The Cottage, the pictures, the writing, this space, the colors, the textures, the hardware and the special items we found are carefully selected to inhabit this space to augment and magnify its unique life expression. These are invitations, secrets, hidden treasures, and intentions. They are here to be complimentary, even flattering to the grace that plays out across the land outside. They are not staging for a listing and this is not an extra unused space we decided to outfit for guests to make some extra money. What we have curated are personal, energy filled artifacts that compliment the personal feelings we have for this property and how it speaks to us.
This property and its homes are not new here. This land has been inhabited by human residents for well over 120 years and before then for unknown time by the wild things. What they have built here is seasoned by the weather, proven in the storms, and infused with the magic of the mysterious delta of the Skagit river. These homes have literally conformed and settled into the land, they are dusted by decades of cool sea breeze, tempered by the cascading rain and softened by the animals, the birds, the crawling and furry, the leafy, and the fuzzy. This place is watched over and protected in the shadows of the Blue Face volcanic mountain (Mt. Baker). In contrast to many properties listed online for accommodation, this place is not merely an accommodation. There is a vision playing out here, this is a story, an invitation.
You are now beginning to understand the vision. This place wasn’t built with the goal of being sealed, controlled, easy to clean, and unbreakable as a crash pad or simple layover hostel. It was, also, not built and curated to simulate a typical American production home that you can find built by the large developers all over this country. Our sense of “home” is connected to the beautiful reality that this Earth is our true home. In this way, and especially here in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) the residences at House Kinlands may not feel the same as the home you are accustomed to where you come from either in terms of its construction (related to weather conditions) or the conditions dictated by your own family environment and culture. It was, however, built true to the spirit of THIS land and intended for rest, for relaxation, inspiration, connection and for deep comfort for our whole being – mind, body, and soul. Our vision plays out in a home that honors the life connection, and the many voices speaking in ancient voices by letting the outside in. The weather, by design, does affect this home. Everything you need to be comfortable is here, just maybe not in the places you are used to finding them. Explore with us, go there with us a bit and see for a few days without the barriers and walls we have built up around this Earth to keep the outside out and control the environment to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of our exacting human mind. The land will always ask you to notice, and we hope to compliment that loving care the Earth has for us as a part of the circle of life.
Here at The Cottage at House Kinlands, the loving care of the land takes form in the light and airy curtains to draw across the night breezes that float through carrying coyote calls, cricket chirpings, pattering rain, and singing frogs. If the curtains are too shear for your comfort and privacy please find the roller shades on all the windows that can be drawn when seeking a more tucked in feeling.
We’d like to take a moment to address a few of your specific concerns.
SNOW. As you mentioned, yes, here in Washington the weather is front and center. When the wind blows, it's often not subtle, when the rain comes it can be drowning, when it snows, it’s deep. What have also witnessed, which we love, is that the weather is never the same, it brings new energy, mood, and perspective not even just daily, but minute by minute. We adore that The Cottage you stayed in is a place you actually can get snowed into.
FREEZING. I believe you hail from Texas. Compared to back home for you, I bet the PNW can feel FREEZING. In the PNW COOL is the word. It never really gets hot here. Those who live here have a thicker kind of blood and enjoy the clothing that supports their comfort in any condition. They also know how to stay warm and comfortable. World renowned, premier clothing companies such as Filson and Anian would never have arisen anywhere else. Before you visit, if you are new to the PNW, visit their websites and purchase an heirloom for yourself to wear when you visit. Whatever you buy will be a solid companion for you here, and when you return home it will remain a support and active souvenir from your time in the enchanted Puget Sound.
WATER. The water heater is modest as is the space, a 30 gallon unit perfect for a couple to enjoy back to back showers with modest shower time. The hot water will become depleted with heavy use. We suggest modest thoughtful consumption of water and energy resources.
HEAT. The Cottage has passive, efficient, electric heat that is soundless, supporting the wonderful piercing quiet we love about this secluded property in the Flats. These heaters are supported by our onsite solar array, carried by the dairy parlor that outdates any other structure. While we do have additional heaters for those new to the PNW, we still suggest keeping the home COOL, it is invigorating and awakens our bodies miraculous powers of self-comfort and temperature regulation. The COOL air moves us around physically and mentally and moves us under blankets, towards the tea and coffee we have waiting in the cupboards and maybe a nip of whiskey from the decanter atop the pie rack. The COOL drives us into the luxurious robes hanging in the closet and teases us to linger longer on the perfectly soft, organic Avocado mattress and snuggle deep into the European linen and goose down.
We do understand that it is uncommon to have the opportunity to practice this lifestyle, which is precisely why we are unapologetic about having created it, held it, and called out to you with it on many web platforms. It is something that requires a curiosity, an open mind, a desire to experience something new and enriching. For a great example of this, check out a recent review by @MelissaFindley on Instagram who is a professional documentor of this Earth-bound lifestyle we love.
We hope that all who choose to visit House Kinlands will be prepared, and come ready to experience what we have developed. It sounds like you yourself may have been attuned and were likely the one who searched for and found us a match for your interests. We have found, as you suggest, that even those closest to us are not always ready to see what we see, as is evidenced by your report of your husbands' annoyances and discomforts. We also know that it is not a great fit for children given that it is a one bedroom designed for an adult getaway. The truth be told, your stay has been one of the most expensive to us in terms of the additional cleaning and resetting of the space we were required to do to prepare our careful intentions for the next hopeful guests. We want to be clear, we welcome all who feel called but we also know that our goals are not a fit for everyone. It is a calculated risk for us to set out our hearts this way, knowing that not everyone is accustomed to the lifestyle we seek and knowing that out of sync guests could easily damage the space and its intentions. We do, however, know that those who take the time to tune into our intentions, and take the cues from what is here, experience a high level of enjoyment. Here are a few examples of how our intentions manifest: WHITE moves us to clean and prepare ourselves with warm water and scented soaps, to remove shoes and feel the ground with our bare feet. COOL moves us to comfy animal furs and thick cottons, linen, and wool, shearling slippers, good whisky and concoctions of earthy tea. ANTIQUES move us to consider timeless stories, careful touches, and once forgotten, careful craftsmanship in items as simple as a door knob. Handle all these carefully and softly and they will stay where intended, and even guide you into stories unknown.
In conclusion, while you may choose to visit The Cottage at House Kinlands, she may not choose to visit you. The land is always outstretching its most precious, not holding back any subtlety of expression for fear of being hurt as we humans do. The land puts up no walls, has no army, no lawyers, and no police. The land, though we often scar it, defile it and dig at it for our own pleasure and thrill never stops being true to its Nature, a Nature we share but have forgotten.
This space holds fast in its timeless expression and asks for patience, for openness, for a kind witness, and an observant loving partner. As our favorite band Lord Huron sings in The Yawning Grave, there are rules which, if followed bring us closer to life and the feeling of being alive, and when disregarded leave us needlessly alone and disconnected.
We see House Kinlands (HK) as a patient, grounded young lady of the land. We found her and love her for her strange, wild nature and hope to flatter her with what we do and with those we call and those who answer. She is not a fortress, she is a cottage in the windswept flats in the company of trumpeting swans, calling snow geese, chirping coyotes, munching badgers, roaring mountain lions, swimming red salmon, and soaring bald eagles. Here, we promise comforts but also wonders and strange things you may never see in a typical home. All that you see is intentional, nothing is forgotten or overlooked, nothing is here by chance all is here to invite and entice, to move to a different heartbeat. HK welcomes you to stay awhile to watch and learn her strange ways. Often this may be soft light and warm breezes, or at times it might be a torrential wind, a blanketing snow, a taunting dark night, a cry breaking the silence or something lurking behind the trees. What makes it so wonderful is that it is real and raw and still wild enough here that when you wonder, “what was that?” it may actually be something wild. Come feel safe behind these walls and come attuned and ready for a new experience. Stand here with us, your arms outstretched and your hands open and let it in! If you are not ready now, stay home, stay safe and prepare, for soon something will ignite within you, and we will be here, holding a space open for your visit. We have learned from our lady here at HK, like most fine ladies, she requires you to see her, really see her, and when you do she returns the favor tenfold, and more. She is not a pushover she is a deep nurturer, a connector, an abundant giver and a lifelong teacher. Leave some of your modern conveniences behind, just for a time, and come meet us here on this ancient land.
Sincerely,
Jen and Luke