I've nurtured a new habit this summer of completely clearing off the kitchen table every evening before going to bed. It isn't always easy because it is such a hub of activity during the day.
But being the first one awake most days, it has become a beautiful way to start the day. While I wait for the coffee to perk, I get set up to do a bit of school work. Yes, I'm a teacher on summer holiday but I spend an hour a day prepping and planning for the coming school year as well as reading about approaches to education to improve my teaching practice. I like staying in touch with my teacher-self during these months "off".
This table gradually gets cluttered through the day as various children read here, draw here, snack here, and play games here. Sometimes a friend comes by for lunch.
Violet reads here every morning, often wearing daddy's protective ear muffs (usually used for chain sawing but Violet has adapted them to block out the noise of her siblings so she can completely enter the world of the Greek Gods and Goddesses).
Since my return from France I've more consciously used this table as a canvas for culinary creations, and find myself dreaming of kitchen equipment and place settings to enhance the many dinner parties I imagine myself having in the years to come. Meals have been simple and nourishing as the extreme heat we've been experiencing deters me from using the oven.
The table is a place to rest and connect, to create and to count our blessings. This week? We discovered that our adopted mama hen has started laying, not just ordinary white or brown eggs but delicately green-tinged eggs. A jam jar of wildflowers and a handwoven table runner are as fine as linen, crystal, and china.
My daughter loves the Percy Jackson series, as well - she's completed them, now - but continues to be a Greek God and Goddess encyclopedia. I am excited to be back near Ottawa so that I can take her to the museum to learn more about Greek history. If only it were so easy to whisk her away to the country itself! Soon, our favourite kitchen table will become the same bustling home of activity of every sort (and not just my temporary office space). I am looking forward to it all. Thanks for sharing... ;)
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is returning to teaching after a hiatus of child rearing. Now that the littlest of the gang is in school full days, my daughter is working at their school. She is taking courses all summer. I can't for the life of me figure out HOW she is managing to do that with her band of hooligans.....and forget the dining table.
ReplyDeleteWe get beautiful pastel colored eggs from our egg lady in Rankin. Some days I hate to crack them.
I love this post... so absolutely true about my table as well...and the coffee table, sewing table, office desk. Any flat surface becomes the place for art to happen or a new story to be written. I spend my day doing many things including picking up, picking up again and clearing off. Soon it will end though... and it will be too soon.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great habit!!! I try also but I'm not always sucessful! A friend recenty came over one morning when my table was actually clear and she though I'd done something new in the room but couldn't quite put her finger on it!!!
ReplyDeleteYour dinner table looks beautiful - it's making me hungry (it's 11.30 am here in france) I think our lunch is going to be inspired by your meal!