little touches

i like having time for the small touches of domesticity. well watered, happy plants, ball jars and budvases filled with freshly clipped herbs sitting at the ready on the counter. i like snipped flowers from the garden on the dining room table. the hidden accomplishment of a well organized cutlery drawer. fresh votive candles with the wicks up, ready to be lit. one of the reasons i'm in love with baking my own bread is because i know it means i basically have to be home for the 3-4 hours it takes to mix, rise, and bake the loaves. it is an endeavor you can only accomplish if you slow down and allow yourself the time to do it. i've found there are so many little tasks and embellishments to be done around the house that make me feel good, useful, and in better control of my life when i complete them.

i'm not afraid to admit that i love martha stewart and her entire empire, but i usually am bothered by the absolute set decorated perfection of her homes and all that she seems to so efficiently accomplish. that being said, all the things i mentioned above are things you might find on martha's monthly calendar which they show each month in her magazine. her calendar always says amazingly specific things like from this month's issue "raise lawn mower blade as the grass growth slows as season gets drier" or " give bolted lettuce and scraps to chickens", "dust ceiling fans". i love to ridicule that calendar and adore the artist ida applebrog's droll interpretation of it in a series of her paintings which contain to do's: design aprons for nuthouse, plan cure for ugliness, change god's phone number, etc. but i must confess to loving the way martha gives pride of place to those little tasks and home management chores. sure, if you have 4 homes you would need to be quite organized to keep them all functioning and lovely, but even with 1, i think i could use a little reminder to turn the compost bin or clip the mint patch for july mojitos. why not elevate those little household moments to something you can check off and accomplish in your daily life? something that makes your individual and family's surroundings more beautiful and inspired?

i think we set a nice tone to our day today by making time for one of those little touches i'm talking about....we took the time to pick cherries. yep. my neighbors have a tree that is drooping with the weight of the little ruby beauties and i have been feeling a bit jealous watching the birds devour them. my neighbors were kind enough to offer as many as we wanted to pick , so we walked next door in our pjs this morning and picked a colander full. cleo loved the act of picking and choosing and finding the sweetest, darkest ones she could reach. i loved watching the morning sun dapple in the leaves and light flynn's blonde head as he strained to reach a limb. it was a really nice, fulfilling experience and the colander full of beautiful, ripe cherries is the perfect, nearly "set decorated", touch of summer on my kitchen counter.

viva the little things!