What I See

On a daily basis now I contemplate the same things. I think we take many things for granted in our lives today and we move through our days in quite a hurry, from task to obligation to chore. I have now the experience of slowing, of taking in my surroundings in ways I previously missed, mainly for lack of time. I have a bedroom where much of my time passes, the large glass doors frame a piece of the outdoors that I watch at times to see what is shifting in the garden. In my area, winter means some browning but some blooming, the mild climate allows things to stay alive and put forth some new bits. There are few colors to capture in picture but the sparse blooms bring hovering hummingbirds and the rosehips feed multitudes of tiny birds.

Opposite the glass is my wall of stash. As knitting and its accoutrements began to develop (read: dominate) in my life, I found the collection of yarn I had growing and growing, and as I am sure many of you know, it can become embarrassing at times. I had it under the bed in a rollaway clear container, I would pull it out and sort and dream of this and that. Then I found the wood boxes at Target for a clearance steal and promptly bought all I could find from the three Targets in my vicinity (three all within minutes of each other, sigh, suburban blight.) This was about a year ago and over time I have re-arranged, destashed, added, and schemed about all things knitting each time I look at this wall. My husband, being the virtue that he is, never complains of the presence of my knitting weakness being there on display and occasionally chuckles at my fascination with staring at the wall and its possibilities. It has helped me stay committed to certain projects, plan to use wool that I might otherwise neglect and in general aesthetically pleases me so very much.

This wall houses our small TV set with local programming only. And yes, rabbit ears. I joked with Tim that I would demand cable access if I did get to the bed rest stage, but a part of me just does not have the desire to plunge into that world. It rots your brain, you know? Do not get me wrong, at any time when I am near a set with all those channels I grab a remote, find TLC or the latest home reno show (or Little People, Big World, I love that show) and glaze over.
But for now an hour of Martha and an hour of Ellen seem to tide me just fine through the day. By the way, if you like the wall treatment behind the TV, instructions are here. It is literally a) brown paper b) wallpaper paste and c) this amazing sealer called Drawtite which can basically take any paper product and turn it into a wallpaper. I love it and it works wonderfully in bathrooms (more on that next post) and heavily abused surfaces.

The adjacent wall holds precious memories of the day we were married. It was a really, really good day and when I glance over that way I am flooded with feelings of joy and love. We were lucky enough to celebrate our own way, high in the Sierras with a handful of family and friends that came together in ways I thought not possible. My mama made flower arrangements, my friends made cakes and bbq and my brother married us. We all had cabins within walking distance of each other and we capped off the night with a rousing game of hide and seek, during which I hid in a closet and fell asleep from exhaustion (romantic, eh?). I was eventually found so as my newly made husband did not have to spend his nuptial night alone. All that from looking at a wall.

Behind our bed we hang a few prints from my husbands work. We discovered the joy of film photography during an extended stay in Oz.
At the time point and shoot digi was all I knew, but he was intrigued by a shot of his dad at our wedding and found a used Nikon slr. Our passion just grew and he has been shooting black & white film with his Pentax 6/7 ever since. My favorite is from Bodie, California. The town is preserved as is, no repairs, no cleaning up. It is an eerie place with a turbulent history. It was once the second largest city in California and is rumored to have one of the richest veins of gold still unmined, meandering through the hills surrounding the ruined town. The prints are his rejects, I guess it is always hard to see ones work as done. I mounted them pretty crudely but I still love them.

The next few months will likely bring multiple changes to this space as we make way for the beans. I will have to organize those scissors and pesky pins, clear space for a co-sleeper and other baby bits. For now this is my haven, my sanctuary. It feels like home and although it is rarely in complete order, it contains that which I need to be.