aww ~ 9/25
non-subject: "leaving home"
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I sit in our dining room which we no longer use for dining. Instead, I have the maple dining room table flush against the east wall. I use the table as an office desk. My mother-in-law sold us the table for three dollars over twenty-five years ago. Three dollars; she's funny like that. One time we paid her one dollar for a car, a Buick LeSabre.
There are no windows on the east wall of the dining room. Vertical-lined stripped wall paper in alternating hues of greens and maroons and taupes stretch from the cream-colored chair rail to the cream-colored molding at the ceiling. Beneath the chair rail the drywall is painted a cream color down to the cream-colored floor molding. The floors are natural oak. Natural oak toe molding lies at the base of the cream-colored floor molding.
A black iron candle holder, with a mirror at its center and a cream-colored candle in front of the mirror, hangs in the center of the east wall. Catty cornered to each side of the candle holder hang two different five-inch by seven-inch gold-framed prints; a couple red roses in each print. On the south end of the east wall, a Thomas Kinkade cottage puzzle print hangs in a gold frame. The unassembled puzzle came with our house purchase when we bought the house in 2003. I assembled the puzzle, glued it, framed it, and hung it.
I sit at the end of the table on the south side with the Kinkade puzzle print to my right. The wall perpendicular behind me extends our for about two feet. Then a six-foot wide doorway opens into the living room. But there are no doors and no evidence of hinges, just an open doorway. The wall picks up again for another couple feet to corner at the west wall of the dining room which we no longer for dining.
Flush against the middle of the west wall sits the china cabinet that I inherited from my Aunt Flossie. Or maybe it belonged to Uncle Bright. The wood is dark; I guess a cherry stain and maybe cherry wood. I don't know enough about the design to know if there is a known design label for the handles on the drawers and lower cabinets; they are an oval-shaped metal with oval indentations. The same pattern was prevalent in Mom's furniture. I speculate the style was once in the Drum family. Drum was Mom's maiden name. Mom was one of thirteen children. Flossie was her oldest sister; Bright was one of her brothers. The china cabinet displays china and crystal behind its glass doors.
The south corner of the west wall catties a small cabinet, about chest high, light-colored wood. I picked it up from Mom's place after she died and my siblings and I sold the home place. It holds some office supplies.
In the north corner of the west wall is another doorway, large enough for a single door. There are no hinges or evidence that there ever were hinges; just an open doorway that leads into the kitchen.
From my chair I face the north wall. Two paned window sets rest in the north wall, twelve panes in each set. I have no curtains in my home; I have blinds. I don't like curtains. These blinds in the dining room which we don't use for dining stay fully drawn so that nothing but transparent air covers the windows. I have a tassel hanging from the hardware of each window set. A two-and-one-half inch by one-and-one-half inch glass art piece hangs with the tassel on the west window. A small tree is painted on the small glass art piece.
Both windowsills are lined with ten pieces of miniature block art made by various artists, most of whom I know. There is one small bronze sculpture of a soccer player and another of a small boxer; each sculpture was made by some village folks in Africa. Two colorful wooden bird whistles sit on the windowsills, one whistle on each sill. Both whistles were made by some folks in Nicaragua where my husband visits and will sometimes bring home small tokens from local Nicaraguan artisans. Two small sculpted vases sit on one windowsill.
Except for the whistles, all the art pieces on the two windowsills are crafted by Artomat artists; so is the small glass art piece that hangs from the hardware in the west window.
On a music stand in the middle of an right beneath the two windows, a twenty-four-inch by eighteen-inch black framed photo is displayed. The photo was taken by my son. It's an incredible photograph of a lake mirroring the giant mountains and sky from his backpacking trip to Glacier National Park in 2012.
To the left of the photo and music stand, a small empty thigh-high curio cabinet sits on the floor. A salt lamp which I seldom turn off sits on top of the small cabinet.
To the right of the windows, a lawyers book shelf with glass doors catties the east corner. I bought the book shelf and put it together. Right now, children's picture books line one of the shelves. It's the only piece of furniture in the room that I paid more than three dollars for; well, except for the music stand.
On top of the book shelf a giant oriental fan is spread displaying its floral print on gold paper with bamboo reeds. In front of the fan sits a potted ivy silk plant; an Artomat block miniature painting of my dog-friend Jethro; and an analog table clock that ticks.
I like the sound of the tick-tock.
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