Thursday, April 14, 2011

Home-making

I'm a domestic person. I like cooking, sewing, and moving furniture about. I learned to knit a few months ago, and have entertained fancies of all the scarves and socks I could make ever since. Gardening and preserving are in my future as surely as time moves forward. To some extent I even like cleaning and putting things in order--organization is peaceful.

But did you know I'm also, literally, a home-maker? During this week of packing and preparing to move I came across a doll-house I made when I was a kid. Hidden on a top shelf in my old closet, the house is constructed of shoe box cardboard, roofed with a cereal box, and held together with scotch tape and Elmer's glue. I wouldn't have the patience to build such a house now, but I once put a lot of work into my little domestic dream. Just look.
The kitchen was my favorite room then, and it's my favorite room now. What could be nicer than a table holding a plateful of donuts? Or a soft, sunset-colored rug underfoot? Or a calendar over the stove featuring a whiny, orange-haired child? I, for one, would buy a calendar composed entirely of scowling children over a calendar featuring sleepy kittens any day.

Anyway, I'm moving in a few days. I don't know what I'll be doing in Chicago or where I'll be working, but it will be a chance to make exciting new decisions. In the coming months I think this blog will focus more on my movements in a new setting--an unfolding story of my doings for the friends and family I leave in Ohio.

In the meantime, I still have to finish packing so I can get this show on the road and make my home in a new place.