Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Respite
Posted by Cheryl Thompson at 5:39 PM 2 comments
Friday, June 5, 2009
Artistry in Homemaking
Tea cozy knitted for my dauther-in-law.
Sometimes housekeeping is like putting pearls on a string with no knot at the end...or shoveling snow while it is still snowing (thank you, Phyllis Diller). The tasks are repetitious and the results are often short-lived. Every homemaker knows what it is like to get the kitchen all cleaned up just in time to meet the next demand for snacks or a meal. The laundry hamper fills up again even as the dirty clothes are being carried out to the washing machine. Sometimes there isn’t time to fold and put away the clean clothes before someone is wearing them again.
I have used several books on housekeeping to learn what to do with these challenges over the years. I learned a 3X5 card system, a binder system and a simple list system. Once I got the hang of what needed to be done around the place, I settled for making simple lists that I use and toss. However, I could not have known all of the things that needed to be on those lists without the detailed information I found in a book like “Is there Life After Housework?” by Don Aslett.
Homemakers have to learn how to keep a house. Either we learn from someone who does it well or we educate ourselves. I had the advantage of a great mom and two grandmothers who taught me about keeping a home using the “learn by doing” method. I didn’t always appreciate those lessons at the time, but now I draw upon that knowledge with gratitude. They taught me the ways of the women in our family who have made homemaking into an art.
My female ancestors provided meals, clean clothes and a sheltering environment for their families, but they also brought beauty and joy into their homes. Some were fantastic bakers, some made quilts and clothes, one was a weaver and others put together tasty and healthful meals using the most ordinary ingredients. They let their creativity shine through so that their homes were fun, welcoming and beautiful.
Housework can be draining and can steal your joy—or you can make it into an art. Maybe you are a storyteller or you love nature. Maybe you love your friends and are a good neighbor, or perhaps you actually are an artist who makes beautiful things. Let the things that bring you joy enter into your homemaking and become your signature as a homemaker. Those who live with you will bless you for it.
Posted by Cheryl Thompson at 1:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: homemaking arts, womanly arts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
State of the Art...State of Mind
No one would call this a “state of the art” kitchen. In 2004 I got a gas stove for it, which was a welcome improvement, but the rest of the appliances and the space itself are definitely showing their age. I wish there was more counter space, but here have always been more important things to spend money on than a new kitchen. On the other hand, the walls here resonate with happy memories and the space is so familiar I can move around in it with my eyes closed.
Homemaking is a state of mind that doesn’t really require state of the art anything. My kitchen has produced countless nourishing family meals, been the center of years of holiday celebrations and often been crowded with my daughter and daughters-in-law chatting and laughing as we prepared a meal together. We have served meals to as many as 30 people at tables in three rooms of the house at Thanksgiving. Lots of noise and lots of fun.
My mother-in-law once pointed out that all a good cook really needs is a good knife, a large fork and a big spoon to stir with. Of course, a cook also needs a few pots and pans, a big mixing bowl and a cutting board, but she knew what she was talking about, having made her first home as a bride in post-World War II England when even the most basic of kitchen equipment was hard to come by. She and my father-in-law didn’t go out for meals. She cooked and he joined her at the little table right next to the stove in their tiny kitchen where he gratefully ate what she prepared.
It’s not the gear in the kitchen, but the heart in the homemaker that makes for memorable meals. M.F.K Fisher summed it up this way:
“I, with my brain and my hands have nourished my beloved few.
I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish
to sustain them truly against the hunger of the world.”
Posted by Cheryl Thompson at 8:22 PM 1 comments
Labels: Kitchen equipment, meals, nourishing
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wisdom from Yogurt
"Nothing in Creation is so like God as stillness."
~Meister Eckhart~
We recently decided to bring back the healthful benefits of live-culture yogurt to our home. Good yogurt helps repair sick tummies and it revives the natural little flora that make digestion so much easier. It is a dietary superstar after a round of antibiotics or the ravages of a virulent stomach bug, both of which we experienced in the past month.
I found this little yogurt maker at a local store and this morning I pressed it into service. First the milk had to be boiled and cooled to room temperature, a mildly fussy process that took about 45 minutes of intermittent attention as I tidied the kitchen from breakfast. Next, I stirred 6 oz. of live-culture yogurt into the milk, blending it well. I poured the mixture into the little glass jars and put the lid over it. The last step was to turn the maker on and set the timer. It takes about 11 hours in a still and warm environment for yogurt to develop. I glanced and the clock and was relieved to see that it will be done before bedtime tonight.
Meister Eckhart, a thirteenth century Christian mystic, furnished the quote I used with the picture above. I keep these words in a small frame in my kitchen to remind me that I need to cultivate stillness in my life so that God may speak to me. Each day, as I plan ahead and allow time for homemaking tasks, I create spaces in my life for encountering God, too. Part of that time is spent in spiritual practices and part of it is spent in letting my spiritual life grow quietly within me. When I am making yogurt, planting petunias, sweeping the floor or folding laundry, there is a kind of stillness I cultivate within that allows me to hear the voice of the Other who is always with me.
This practice of reflection and quietness does not take the place of Bible reading and study; it does not replace times that I set aside for ordered prayer; but these times of stillness are the moments that God uses to develop new life in me. Bible study and prayer are the times of preparation --the flurry of activity that gets the "culture" of spiritual life started in my heart and mind --the stillness is where it grows and becomes life-giving within me.
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Proverbs 20:27
"The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man;
it searches his inmost being."
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Posted by Cheryl Thompson at 10:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: prayer, stillness, yogurt making
Monday, June 1, 2009
Thinking about re-purposing this blog....
Pansies in the rain, my garden, February 2009
If I really, really wrote from my heart, this blog would be all about what it means to make a home for a family. I am now an empty-nester and I have been told all my adult life that I would lose interest in homemaking by the time the kids left home, but I find that I am more into it than ever.
After almost 35 years of experience in the fine art of making a home, I am delighted to discover that I finally have time to do it right. I can plan meals at leisure and surprise my husband with something nice to eat. After I spend the day cleaning the house I can go on an errand and come back to find it just the way I left it, tidy and welcoming. I have time to create things with my hands and time to organize the clutter of family mementos I have saved up in boxes. My garden is finally shaping up to be the little bit of paradise I always wanted it to be.
Maybe I will blog about home and family for a while.
Posted by Cheryl Thompson at 10:08 PM 1 comments