I’ve put off really making this house look more like my “home” since I wasn’t entirely sure my aunt wouldn’t be coming back here to live. Although no one can read what the future holds with any certainty, it is likely she won’t return here to live…just to visit, perhaps. Anyone who followed Marshmallow Ranch in October 2014 knows I came here originally to live in TOW-Wanda on the family farm to help my aunt who was living here alone. That arrangement lasted until I made the mistake of hanging a painting she didn’t like in the dining room. That was the beginning of the end of my stay. Which was fine. She just wasn’t ready to have someone here with her and I had other things that needed doing. Now that she is unable to live here alone, she is with her brother and I am the caretaker at the old homeplace.
This is the home of my heart and even though it has taken me off the road for awhile, it is a welcome respite. And now I’m feeling free to make some changes that better reflect both my personal tastes and the character of the place. This cupboard has been in the family since I was about four years old. My mom and grandma took me to an auction down the road. I was young enough to be pulled in my little blue wagon. They bought me a hotdog for a nickel and I happily became addicted to auctions as I munched away, eyes as big as saucers with the activity. Grandma bought this cupboard for $5.00…an amount not easy to come by when you’re pretty much living off the land. It was painted with several coats of white enamel paint. Being mechanically minded, I was curious when Pop-Pop started stripping it. He let me “help” and I can still remember how the paint wrinkled as I pushed it with the scraper I held in my chubby little-girl hands. I not only became addicted to auctions, I developed an instant adoration of anything old and the magic of bringing it back to life. There’s only one thing out of the entire farm that I absolutely want as my own someday, and that is this cabinet. It holds so many beautiful memories for me.
This piece gets moved from the kitchen to the dining room and back…with the whim of the occupants of this little red farmhouse. Yesterday, it got moved back into the kitchen “where it belongs”. That’s where it was when I was growing up. So it’s back home. I used to hate the color Pop-Pop painted on the inside. It was undoubtedly a bit of leftover paint he had under his workbench, or perhaps something he picked up from a neighbor. It used to be this garish orange. Now it has darkened to a beautiful deep pumpkin color. Perfect for a country kitchen. I steam cleaned the floors and scooted it into place, leveling it with paint stir sticks. Soon I’ll retrieve my dishes from my friend’s basement and place my treasured antique crocks on the top of the cupboard.
Step by step, my meditation of the mindfulness cleaning and decorating brings me is creating a safe haven for me. I’m creating a place of comfort for visitors to share a cup of tea and a word of friendship. A place where I can write. A place filled with love clear to the rafters. It feels really good in here.
❤️
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Colossians 3:23-24 NIV