Friday, May 31, 2019

Story of a table

The house is full again. It feels sort of festive. My husband says we need to get a calendar to keep track of everyone's comings and goings at what he calls the Arrindell Arms Bed and Breakfast. The good thing about even one other person being here is I get up and get myself dressed every morning. No more working all day in sleep clothes. I did this even when it was just my own kids still living at home. My darling man is the only one who routinely gets treated to pajama days. There are also a lot of puzzles happening in this house lately. My daughter, my two nieces, and I are all puzzlers. I notice also that whenever I'm working on a proposal, trying to figure out the story's narrative arc, I tend to have a puzzle going. It's a kind of meditation, and sometimes connections happen in the background of conscious thought.

That's a new dining table from Restoration Hardware by the way. It is a sturdy, well-built thing. My newlywed niece and her husband didn't want to take it with them when they moved to Dallas last week, and so they asked if we wanted it and delivered it to us gratis. It came with two grown up looking brown leather chairs that are incredibly comfortable. So now the rickety but persistent cherry wood Ikea table that my dad and my husband assembled while I held my newborn son in my arms 27 years ago, and which served us so well through many puzzles, manuscripts and magazine stories, not to mention homework, science fair experiments, art projects and Thanksgiving feasts, is no more.




14 comments:

  1. I love that table! I love Restoration Hardware, too.
    You guys and your puzzles! I don't think I could do one of those if you threatened me with prison. Enjoy your loves!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The table looks beautiful, and that puzzle is truly grand. I like the connection of puzzles and creativity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful table! That was a lovely gift, I love Restoration Hardware.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a handsome table - how nice of your niece and her husband.

    If I don't get dressed first thing in the morning, I feel like I can't accomplish anything all day. It's really at odds with the rest of my personality, which is quite slug-like - ha

    ReplyDelete
  5. haven't had a puzzle on the table since last year's visit from the youngest grandgirl and her friend who is a puzzle enthusiast. I do short ones on my phone with an app when I feel the need.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've inspired me to get out a puzzle and start working on it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My husband just put a puzzle out but it is an old one and hasn't captured us.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's always hard to say goodbye to a table. So much of our lives happen around tables. That new one looks great, though! Glad the house is bustling and you're enjoying it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think puzzles, like weeding, or walking or baking, allow one part of your mind to be busy and still allow your mind to wander and make connections. The big guy paces and smokes when he's thinking.

    The table is lovely, as is the orchid and the lovely green outside the window. When the big guy isn't home I can end up in my pyjamas until just before he gets home from work, no shower either. I either do it right away or not until late afternoon. When I was a young woman I used to wonder how some women could go out shopping a mess and in their pyjamas until it happened to me one day and I thought, that's how it happens. Children, school, necessity:)

    Have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am so inspired by this post, I went into the garage and pulled out an old table , went to the charity shop , bought a puzzle, and am now staring at the tiny pieces of whatever this puzzle thinks it is when complete. The metaphor of puzzles and being forced to calm down long enough to make sense out of separateness and chaos settles my overactive worry/fear mode of the day. Thank you for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  11. That was a lovely gift to you and it looks like you are using it well. What became of the old table?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm very emotionally attached to my furniture, it all gives me comfort no matter shabby nor chic. I remember where every piece came from and even how much it cost.
    Here's to more puzzles...in incredible comfort.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I know there were so many memories tied to your old table. It served you well and you still get to keep the memories. The new one is absolutely lovely. The whole layout of the flowers with the puzzle looks so inviting. Makes me want to go break out a puzzle myself. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. How nice to get a new table and leather chairs in that way as a gift. I like your orchid, I have a table full of them.

    ReplyDelete