remnants

...is the name of V's art concentration this year. One of her paintings depicts a dead chipmunk, but there are many interpretations of the word remnants, I'm assuming/hoping. Today my love and I worked on another type of remnant, a desk that was purchased at a second-hand (or who knows how many hands) store originally for E, then ended up in our bedroom when she swapped it for another multiple-hands desk which I bought a long time ago from friends who were moving (who had bought it at a garage sale I believe).

We sanded it down, removing all the written messages that had gathered on the painted surface over the years. The top turned out to be pine wood, to which I admit I am partial- pine trees and pine wood and tonight we did have pine nuts scattered over the red bell pepper salad.

I did my walkabout in the yard, and the pictures are really sort of remnants of that experience too- I can't 'picture' the sounds of fall, the singing woods, the crispy leaves under foot, the cats rustling through the undergrowth, the wind rattling the drying leaves...

There are some plants still flowering, the catnip (see above) and the forget-me-nots, the lavender and the black-eyed-susan. I am also processing some remnants from the past week of work, particularly Friday- it was an exceptionally stressful day, a sad day too, and for the first time since I started this job I am having some trouble putting it all to rest in order to fully enjoy the weekend.

November skies in October

This morning, T had the last piece of the Engardiner Nuss torte for breakfast before he left for a visit up north where his girlfriend goes to college. This evening, my love and I had dinner put together from left-uncooked things in the fridge- I severely dislike throwing unused fresh food away.

When I look around our home, I see many pieces with memories attached, some with past histories we will never know about. To the right of me my great-grandfather's 'smoke-table', to the left of me a small chest of drawers we bought at a garage sale from a couple newly wed (I remember them because they were so much in love that I felt we were intruding on their privacy by even looking at them).