October 25, 2004 Under My Roof

Inspired by entries by Mandy and Chiara, I decided to walk around my house with a camera. This is my bathroom window. I love my bathroom. The walls are painted a color called harmony iris. I think I have the prettiest shower curtain that ever was. My sister gave me this handpainted wooden cross from El Salvador, only the top of which is visible in this picture. Shelley gave me the oil burning candle. The curtains are by Martha Stewart; may she be incarcerated in peace. As for that mother-in-law's tongue that S. and I affectionately named after his mother years ago, somehow it is still alive. This is the prettiest shower curtain that ever was. I mean, come on. Just look at it! These are the magnets I bought last summer at Unoppressive Non-Imperialistic Bargain Books. They make me happy. My favorite is definitely Naked on Roller Skates. The high school where I taught in Florida was giving tons of books away while cleaning out its media center, one of which was The Official Fonzie Scrapbook. If any other teachers or students thought they were going to walk away with Fonzie, they were mistaken. This bookcase is in my dining room, which opens to my living room. Sitting on top of the bookcase is my grandmother's paddle. I have my grandmother's paddle. It's dated 1932. Different students' names are written on it. It's possible that this paddle was just a joke. But somehow I doubt it. This is a set of snack bowls I bought at the estate sale of my dad's former boss, otherwise known as the most awesome estate sale I have ever been to. He was very old. The kitchen was full of cool stuff from the fifties and sixties. Sometimes I wish I could plan an entire party around these bowls. They actually fit inside each other and have a little top. This is my kitchen window. I love my new plantation shutters that were a hand-me-down from a friend. They make my kitchen really bright. The valance is from Target. It's from the same Waverly Vintage Rose collection as some of my sheets. I'm trying to root a stem off of a plant that I love in one of the glass bottles I got at a garage sale. Behold: one of my new knobs. That's the one I burned my fingers while installing. Outside the window you can see some viberna, some confederate jasmine, and some crepe myrtles, none of which are infested with white flies anymore. Hooray! As you can see, my perfect set of snack bowls is proudly displayed in the corner. This is a row of glasses sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets. People always think they are candles. But no. They are glasses. And I got them at a garage sale. And I love them because they are just kind of odd, and I like to imagine how if I had had them as a child, I would have made up identities and stories for each person pictured. This is another bookcase in my dining room. On top of it sits the Mahogany Miracle, which my mother bought me after we both read and loved The Secret Life of Bees. I had no idea what to make of it. So I decided to display it, and clearly it belonged on top of Harry Potter. It reminds me of the book's black Mary and how she and this book were such a balm for me during the saddest time I ever knew. I closed my eyes, and in the coolness of morning, there among the bees, I felt for one clear instant what she was talking about. I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to wake up and forgive us again. Each day I visit black Mary, who looks at me with her wise face ... I never get tired of looking at her thick arm jutting out, her fist like a bulb about to explode. She is a muscle of love, this Mary ... she goes into the holes life has gouged out of us. I like the idea of a strong and good female spirit filling up the holes inside, even if that spirit is really just me. This is little bookshelf of children's books in my bedroom. It contains many of my favorites, my L'Engle and my Blume and my Danziger and my Cooper and my Pullman and my Konigsburg and my Lowry and my Ellen Emerson White and my Crutcher and my Voigt and my Creech and my Alexander and my McKinley. It sits near my bed for easy access. If you can't lean over and reach some books without even getting out of the bed, you're really in a pickle, and you might as well not even have a house at all. ::: About this time in ... 2003 10/23: My friend Shelley and Oprah are telling me that I need to step out of my box. Fighting the impulse to reply, "I've got your box right here," that's what I'm thinking about doing. 10/22: And I feel helpless to stop it, and I can feel myself becoming someone who is gradually ceasing to be interesting to know. 2002 10/23: He kept his eyes locked on mine and just started talking about how he knew there was something special about me from the first time we ever talked to each other, and how I am amazing and beautiful and intelligent and kind and the sound of my voice and the sight of my face fill him with joy and that he can't imagine spending his life without me and that he truly loves me. 1999 10/22: Thank you for showing me that it's ok to be uncertain and unsure and exploratory at thirty-two and that you don't outgrow confusion so I won't think that once I hit thirty, everything will be peachy-keen. get notified. journal archives © Copyright 2004 elb

Click on picture for larger image. And in other glorious developments, the first season DVD of The O.C. is coming out tomorrow.