Monday, May 27, 2013

A peony for your thoughts

I've been pondering the things we keep to remind us of our past.

They're memories mostly.

Images in our minds of a place or a person.

Maybe the scent of something baking in the kitchen.

Perhaps a song that takes you back to another day and time.

Every once in a while, though, it's something tangible.

Something that you can touch.
A real, physical connection to the people and the places that are gone.

Before the city tore down the house that my grandparents and great grandparents had lived in for over 40 years, I took a knob off of one of the kitchen cabinets.
I also have a brick from the front porch.
They're nice to have, but they just sit in a closet. 

But every spring, when I look out my window, I see peonies popping up in my garden.
And when they bloom, there will big beautiful flowers in shades of pink and purple.

They're the peonies my Gram and Great-Grandmother planted so many years ago.
The flowers from these plants were cut and taken to the cemeteries every Memorial Day. 
Their flowers were put in a vase on the kitchen table as the prelude to my Gram's roses every summer.








 

They're more than flowers.
They're a connection to my past.
They're living reminders of the memories I hold in my mind.










And if I ever leave this place where they grow now, they'll go with me.



Friday, May 10, 2013

Everything old is new again

The kitchen. 

The heart of the home.

Everything from pop-tarts to gourmet dinners come out of this room.  We become obsessed about its design.  I've spent hours upon hours thinking about the most cost effective way to bring this space up to date.

I want it to be current.  Modern.  Efficient.  Timeless.
And yet, I still want to leave it semi-original. True to the age and the style of the house.

So what do I do?