Day 423 - 434 The Heart of The Home

What conjures up a home? 

Surely it must be the sounds and smells emanating from its kitchen.

Home is the tranquil song the tap sings when water runs through a colander of  potatoes and fresh greens;

the tenor and bass in rhythmic staccato when a chopper goes through a juicy chunk of meat;

it is the chorus of the pots and pans clanging in anticipation of some sizzling crescendo;

culminating in the sweet sweet sense of bliss when chicken broth is boiling on the stove.

It took me a long while to build this kitchen, a week and 5 days in fact. 

And as my kitchen is fully exposed to the elements, things aged really fast.

But the romance of washing the dishes on a rainy afternoon,

or watching dusk falls on my steps of succulents as I am making dinner,

 I will not have it any other way.

My kitchen may only be a stretch of table along one wall

But with it, Abandoned House is finally a Home.

Day 419- Still Life

"A Small Blue Table" 

by Sans!

October 2014

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A small blue table sits at the east of my abandoned house, right under the rambutan tree. It is a still life not because it is a work of art in any way but because it succinctly describes the state of my mini life.

It has been close to a year since I last made anything and more than since I blogged.  The silence was mainly due to love; then loss and finally in 2016, life.

A Small Blue Table - detail 29 Jan 2017

I remember it was also after a lull when I went to work on the table 2 Septembers ago. 9 months into 2014, and I have only made Painting Nature and a rambutan tree.

It was not easy. Starting again after such lack of practice. But I wanted to make a table to display some gifts which I have received from blog friends. Some of these gifts were received so long ago that, regretfully and quite unforgivably, I simply cannot recollect who they are from...

like this wicker which spoke to me in volumes when it said bash me

or the blooms in a bead

or the littlest, and my absolute favourite, perfume atomiser.

Then there is this plastic can.

One of the challenges I gave myself was to rust this plastic. Alas, 9 months of no practice was telling in the results. I didn't like it then.

But now it sits as a gentle reminder to myself not to leave my mini world for too long. It is never far though. How can it when it is already a part of my very real world.