A Peek into Our Kitchen

With all that’s happened and is still happening in Japan, it’s been difficult to think about blogging about small things like crafts and writing and whatnot. It’s one of those moments where you feel the need to say something profound or nothing at all, and I’ve been sticking to nothing.

I still don’t have anything profound to say, but if you’re looking for ways to help financially, NPR has compiled this list for us.

A blogger I read, annekata, wrote this post with some other creative ways to help.

The picture above is from our kitchen here in Hannover, just to give you a little peek into my surroundings. It always looks like that, with fresh flowers and teacups and no mess. Ha! Totally untrue, but still, it is our kitchen.

The fabric wood block print on the wall, a favorite, was purchased in the community center of a township outside Cape Town. I bought the plates because they reminded me of some from Puebla, Mexico. Our china is a vintage pattern called “Blue Onion.” You see lots of variations of it here in Europe. I just love blue and white china. I bought a lot of it at a tag sale at my old church in Florence, South Carolina. The rest were wedding gifts (we registered at Replacements, Ltd).

Daffodils courtesy of the bulb season beginning in the Netherlands. Cheap daffodils everywhere! And I believe the vase, a gift from my mother-in-law,  is from Simon Pearce.

Makes me want to settle down with a nice cup of my favorite Rooibos Caramel tea. Still reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and I picked up an old favorite, Lorrie Moore’s short story “How to Become a Writer” last night. It’s infinitely quotable, so much so that I can barely stand to read it silently.

I’ll leave you with this quote from it, suitable for describing the events in Japan:

“About the last you write nothing. There are no words for this. Your typewriter hums. You can find no words.”