How personal is my blog ? How much of who I am - my tastes, my beliefs, my views do I really share on here ? Mmmmmmmm ..... I rarely show personal glimpses of my life on the blog, or glimpses of my home ..... but here are a few to share with you today, because a few of you have asked .... and because I, too, like peeking into people's homes and seeing what I can tell about them from the things that they keep ......Above ..... a shelf of recipe books in my kitchen ...... Whittard of Chelsea hot chocolate tins (now empty) were a gift from my sister & brother in law in the UK .... I use these to keep spare coins in, for buying local village eggs ..... an invitation to a local political event for our region in the party's colours .... a babies monitor .... photos of a long passed but still beloved cat .... a message scribbled across it in desperation when she went missing one day .... a message to her - along with beaded charms and things given to me by a wise old man .... charming her back home again. (She came).
Below .... a 'spirited' spice rack .... it holds all my spices (I cannot live without these with all the cooking I do) and once had a life of it's own .... we had been living on the farm for only a few days when a shadow passed behind me one day & then the spice rack jumped off the wall and the spices were flung far and wide, scattered about the kitchen by ??? This was not the only odd thing to happen to me here .... but everyone - everything - is at peace here now ..... and I've kept the spice rack up. To show that I am not afraid.
Our kitchen table ..... rowdy family lunches, homework, writing Christmas cards, casual meals with old friends or family from afar, giggly girlie chats over cups of tea, tipsy dinners over bottles of wine .... laughter, arguments, love, tears and food .... always food ..... precious framed baby foot prints on the wall behind, children's artwork, vitamins and omega 3 high up out of little people's reach, fruit bowl, bread bin and wine rack of lovely reds ......
Tears in my tea. One of the first rituals of my day ..... I make tea and talk to her, she's with me always and sometimes I still can't believe that she's gone. A photo of her in her happier, younger, cancer free days. A ball in her mouth, her eyes begging me to throw it for her. I will never get over losing her ......
Part of one of the many bookshelves in our home ..... a favourite framed Taung mask from the Cameroon .... medals from North Africa ..... photo of hubby & I on our wedding day ..... photo of my sister and I on her wedding day. She lives so far away. I walk past her photo several times a day & think of her. (I miss you !)
Mantlepiece over our fireplace in our main lounge. Flowerless in this photo, I'm afraid ..... framed prints above bought in Mauritius on our honeymoon, framed photos of family below .... my niece and nephew .... candlesticks and clock from a market in South Africa ..... a silver dish I bought in Doha, Qatar .... hedgehogs from my Zimbabwean childhood ..... an old brass bell from Tanzania's past .... photo frames from Zanzibar ..... a secret box where 'emergency' cigarettes were once stashed ... now forever empty .....
Carved Malawian dining table, with monkey balls in woven basket plate atop .... hand carved Tanzanian Mninga chairs ..... too heavy to lift almost ! Brick fire place peeking out behind ..... oh, the stories this table could tell, if only it would speak ! Most recently .... privvy to late night chats and melting candles - and melting hearts .... the tears and anguish of a friend in need, hubby and I sat up late into the night offering our support to him ..... and the next morning, a full table of bright, cheerful children (too many of us to fit around the kitchen table today) fighting for the cornflake box and golden flakes spilling happily into all the carvings on it's surface ....
My favourite time of the day .... late afternoon, just before the the sun sinks below the horizon and night falls .... when the shadows are long and the rapidly diminishing light is a deep golden colour ..... the view out of our veranda doors, with my favourite little man crawling happily across the floor ....
It must be these cold Winter months that prompt me to write blog posts like this one. If you click here you can see a similar one I wrote last year, about my favourite Winter things ......
