day 296: i am in the walls

In the hutch in my dining room I have a mixture of things that define me.  There are dishes from my Vo (grandmother in Portuguese) that are blue and creamy white with horses and carriages and scalloped edges.  More dishes from my other grandmother that are soft green and have pictures of Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop. 
Tea cups and saucers and sugar bowls.  Gravy boats and soup bowls.  There are also clay creations from my children and glass vases that I pull out when it is time for flowers on the table.

On the very top of the hutch are books we have collected in our travels.  Mostly old grammar books and some classics.They are not used, so they gather dust, but I like knowing they are there.  It is comfortable and warm. 

Down on the main part of the hutch is where the action is.  Papers stacked up from school, report cards, pressing mail, photos, letters.  Then there is our family portrait, a small black wooden clock, and black-stained sandalwood bookends from Africa. 

I am all over the place in this house.  Each room has a part of me spread around it, and I live in the walls and floors.

7 comments

Robin | June 12, 2010 at 1:13 AM

I do believe you radiate throughout your house. And I love your hutch!

LisAway | June 12, 2010 at 1:14 AM

If you switch the shelves you would have a foundation of education and classic literature, traditions of family and keepsakes from your own children and then your present circumstances on top. Building, building.

mermaid gallery | June 12, 2010 at 9:38 AM

my home is the same way...a collection of our families life. Yesterday i went to the thrift store and saw a black panther ornament just like my grandma had. I grabbed it fast and then a little old lady came up and told me that it was a wedding present to her 54 years ago and it had sat on her windowsill every day since then. I told her I would treasure it and now it gleams in the sun on my windowsill. Her heart became part of mine.....

Jenny | June 12, 2010 at 12:16 PM

My home is very much the same way, minus the hutch. Mine are piled on books shelves and boxes that are in every room.

Charlotte | June 12, 2010 at 7:59 PM

My home is slowly becoming like this, too. Although it is hard because we are renting right now, so it never feels like it is really a part of me, or that I am a part of it.

Dedee | June 12, 2010 at 10:32 PM

Perfect.

Kimberly Vanderhorst | June 13, 2010 at 9:29 PM

You have such a poetic soul. Suddenly I'm looking at my own home and seeing it afresh...