Big Girl Playpen

Big Girl Playpen

Ever see a content toddler in a sandbox? Or a little one banging pots and pans completely happy with nothing but a wooden spoon? Well, I don't think we ever really grow out of those moments. We just either overlook them, or we are convinced our "toys" just get bigger, more costly, and just don't keep us occupied enough to justify the time and energy to engage them.

I am getting my camera back in hand, and I am discovering "toys" all around me, which is nice, as I really need to sit a lot on the sofa, with my knee still secure in a brace for hours at a time. So, I find my "playpen" to be wherever I happen to be, and in this case, it was on the sofa of my good friend's home, Debbie Dusenberry. One early evening, she had fabulous light coming in near her fireplace, and I found all sorts of "toys" to play with within arm's reach, and out came my camera...

I shot these photos in an "old world" style, as I am craving old England lately. My barber husband and I have been online watching some fabulous documentaries and I realize how I so miss certain design elements of the old world that I experienced while living in Europe. And this chair, the plaster, and the sun coming in as it did, gave me a moment of playtime and some daydreaming as though I were living in another era for a moment.

I think sometimes, we forget that the simplest objects around us are made beautiful by the simplest of all things: sunlight.

Sometimes, I wonder if dawn and dusk are mother nature's Botox...

...because no other light could make a simple oil can seem regal. 

I think old objects get even better with age. I am not one to want the new and the shiny. I think because I like a good story and the new just haven't been around long enough to collect one. I hope you enjoyed my little playtime with my "toys." I took several more photos that I may share with you later. It is very late, and I realize that I am still "playing." 

My mother used to tell me often that I was a "night owl baby." She said I would wake up about midnight and yell from my crib, "Hey! Hey! I want to play!" And my dad said I would keep yelling this until one of them would pick me up and carry me downstairs to a special playpen that they set up just for me for my night owl outings. Mom said they could hear me banging, and laughing and gurgling all night long, all content. Then about 5AM, she said, my banging of toys would get slower and slower, as I finally nodded off, just in time for them to wake up and come down and get me to take me back upstairs to my crib again. She did everything she could, she said, to get me to sleep. I would be up again about 8AM, playing all day long. I have been this way my entire life...a true night owl...playing long into the night.

Except I don't bang around so loud now...more like tapping on my keys of the computer. But in my head, I do feel like yelling sometimes late at night, "Hey! Hey! I want to play!" But my barber husband isn't a night owl...heck he is barely a dusk owl! So, like my toddler days...I play contently alone late at night and I am happy. It is quiet (but no Botox sunlight to play with!) and peaceful.

Here is to your playtime - day or night. No big toys needed...just a little playpen and some time to look around a bit...and then go have a ball...or two, or three...or...

from my house to your house,

Elizabeth

Moments of Yesteryears Today

Hello!

Today I thought I would share with you some of my metal utensil treasures.

I say "metal" and not "sliver" because while a lot of what I have is silver, a lot of it is also silver plated, some are pewter, some are bone-handled and some, I really would just have to guess, because I just let the stuff tarnish beyond recognition.  However, I collect pieces here and there, and yes, I truly use these beyond just photographing them. What I admire so much about these little beauties is the weight. Something about holding them as I butter a roll, or stab a piece of meat, or spoon out a little jam, it just feels so neat to have such a weighty utensil in my hand as I do such a simple everyday task.

This is my little silver sugar bowl filled with assorted butter knives, that sits upon my counter, near the coffee area where I use these daily. I love to be able to grab them for all sorts of reason....to open up a flip-top can (my nails are too weak), to butter bread, to stir something, spread jam, you name it. I have had these for so many years, I can't count. 

Once upon a time, these utensils were brought home brand new, and with excited hands (from a bride perhaps?) they were unwrapped and carefully placed into the china cabinet drawer. Now, we can find these little gems in antique stores for only a few dollars each, depending on the quality, make, and so on. 

But in our very fast-paced world where I think most people crave to slow down, I think finding little ways to bring the past into our present helps us to remember that while today isn't bad, in fact, today is so good, we should maybe slow down so we can enjoy  our present moment all the more.

But the irony in all of this, I think, is that while I take great joy in using these old items of the past to slow me down, I am almost sure that some bride or excited wife of the past, was probably in a great rush to get these exact items onto her table, washed, polished, and ready in time for her guests.

Have times really changed that much? 

While the women of the past might have used these items in a rush just as much I try to use them to slow myself down, I feel a little happier using them.

Maybe it's the weight of them...?

Maybe it's the history...?

Maybe it's the fact that I hand wash them after I use them...?

Or maybe it is just the simple fact that I can pick and choose which pattern I feel like using...?

I think the most important thing is that these lovely little ladies are used just about daily. I personally don't "collect" just to collect. Using what I own is really important to me. It gives more meaning to me personally when my treasures are enjoyed with much use and not admiration from afar, stored safely away. 

And maybe that is it right there...maybe that is wherein my real joy lies. My joy is not in collecting, not storing, not admiring, not securing them, but rather in using and in sharing them. 

Over the years, I have been told that if I use my items, I will ruin them or chance breaking or losing them. Whether it is my very old linens, ironstone, silver, vintage clothing, and so on. 

And they were right. I have chipped a plate, stained a table cloth, misplaced a fork, and ripped a vintage top.  But with each  incident, there was a story. 

A good story. 

Usually a party, a gathering of friends, or a fun dinner with a loved one. A story that makes life the kind of life worth slowing down for.

Slowing down doesn't mean escaping. It doesn't mean looking back. It simply means being in the moment without being so concern with the next moment.

You know, it just isn't possible for most of us to just stop our lives, pack up and move to the mountains, and leave all the noise, violence, cultural white noise (as I call it), problems, and shut the door behind us. 

And if we are content and happy in this season of life, then all the more reason to slow down and enjoy this time in our lives before it passes. 

And if all it takes is using a little, antique butter knife to butter my biscuit and a French spoon to dab on some jam to put me in the moment just to the feel the weight of the utensils, and to feel how the butter just glides ever so smoothly onto the old butter knife...

...well, then being in that moment is worth slowing down for! 

I have to ask you..when was the last time you truly noticed how fresh butter really glides so nicely onto your butter knife?

If you can't remember, then I challenge you to pick up some freshly made butter, and let it sit on the counter to soften a bit, and then get some fresh bread, and feel just how great it is to slice a really nice butter knife into fresh butter and see how pretty it looks as you smooth it onto the bread.

The moment you do that?

Is the moment you realize just how good it is to slow down for the tiny moments in life and not wait for the big things like vacations or holidays. 

It is these tiny daily moments that keep us all present, I believe. I hope taking this moment with me today was worth it for you, as I always feel my moments with you are always well spent.

From my house to your house,