When i got married,many a moon ago,the women of my extended family threw me a bridal shower as demanded by our customs. this shower was no buy cake, invite your girlfriends and play naughty games kind of shower.
this was like all kinds of female relatives singing dancing,ululating and dispensing questionable sound advice for marital bliss as well as assembling a trousseau.(well maybe not so different from your every day shower).
The upside was that i made out like a bandit in the gift department. Down side, what do you do with 60 assorted tea mugs with every pattern from wolves(true story) to golf trivia? Have you ever seen golf trivia transfer ware it will give you the sads.
Some relatives wisely decided to go time tested classic. I recieved hand woven baskets ,clay pots and all kinds of calabashes and gourds to kit out my real kenyan wife kitchen.All these am glad to report hold places of honour in my house. If my house ever caught fire and all the people were safe, i would go back for these.
the hand made baskets in my living room the orange/brown one near the window was given by my mother
looking at them reminds me of child hood visits to my grandmother 's rural home. In the morning all in her kitchen ( a round mud hut with a smoky fire underneath a pot held up by 3 stones) and she would blow on the fire to make the tea boil. Hanging from the rafters were baskets just like mine only bigger which were a pantry sort of. One held maize meal another millet or sorghum others delightful surprises for her citified grand children -a giant paw-paw sweeter than candy, a sweet potato to buried in the embers of the fire to roast, some eggs, just bounty from the land given with love to her children.
she also had a big ass gourd whose contents were so sought after, so valuable, it had to stay locked up in her bedroom.the gourd contained soured milk -so delicious sweetened and eaten with maize-meal.Whenever she came to visit the gourd full of sour milky goodness came with her. sadly she is gone now and the baskets and gourds gone with her. I feel sorry for my children who have missed out on the experience of having an old school grandmother-their grandmothers come to to visit with chocolate and cash to buy treats . sad.
these are my gourds they live atop an Armoire in my bed room the largest one (wearing a fedora) reminds of Alice kavula my grandmother
Anyway my point? fill your home with things you love, things that have meaning to your family. make your own regardless of whether it is trendy or not
sorry about the fuzzy photos....let me show you what i use for a camera
totally state of the art maybe even cutting edge equipment
Two befores to help me stay on track.the first a table i bought to define my awkward enrty way as usual i only remembered to take photos after taking it apart and starting stripping the finish.
the table top wasn't in bad shape but i am anti stain everything mahogany so it had to change
the base it's metal and pretty i like the details at the bottom
the white stuff is soap i remembered to take photos mid wash
my trusty accomplices
my entryway also masquerades as a toy station not pretty
will post afters real soon. I know this ostrich is really rather gabby!how does one get her to shut up?
love to all autriche
No comments:
Post a Comment