April 7, 2021
On the very cusp of celebrating
the joy of warming temperatures known as springtime, Mother Nature sent us a
week of very cold weather, with rain and ice and even snow flurries, too. Of
course, nothing that was white that landed on the ground stayed beyond the
event, but holy moly, it sure was cold!
I think the old bag just
wanted to remind us that it would be spring when she declared it was spring,
and not one moment before. None of us, I am certain, really needed the reminder
that she’s a persnickety bitch. I, for one, never just accept that it’s time to
put away the woollies, not until at least the middle of May.
And even then, being the cautious
and anal person that I am, I ensure that those woollies are always within reach.
Here in the Ashbury household,
we are in a state of flux. Our new freezer arrived as scheduled last Wednesday,
and it is wonderful. We emptied the old one into the new one and realized we
have a lot of room left. This is good, because we hope to get some produce at
the market this year and freeze what we can.
A year later than hoped for, I
still think it’s a good idea to build up our food stores. We don’t know what
the future holds and having supplies on hand should the supply chains break
down is a good thing. This freezer is larger than what we’d originally decided
to get; but it does allow us to stock up, eliminating one worry. And the most
important fact of all, of course, is that the appliance is here, and not…on a
ship in the middle of the Suez Canal.
Our new freezer sits where the
sideboard that I called our “breakfast bar” used to sit. The sideboard, which
we purchased more than a fifteen years ago, held all our cutlery and most all
of our cooking utensils—spatulas, knives, flippers…well you get the picture. It
also held the toaster, the food processor, the fruit bowl…it held a lot and
right now all of those things are either on top of the old freezer that is
cleaned out and unplugged, or on the one end of the kitchen table, the end
where no one sits.
My mother always had a cluttered
kitchen table. The table was pushed against one wall, with three chairs attending.
There could be anything on that table, and at one point in all the years I
lived with her, there probably was. Tools, the carburetor from the gas lawn mower
the time it broke down, a square of drapery material…. yeah. Each night you had
to shove everything there against the wall and out of the way in order to set our
three plates down so we could eat. I hated it so much growing up that I
vowed that I would never have a kitchen table that looked like that. I’m 66 and
have been true to that principle—until now. I keep telling myself that this is
only a temporary clutter, but that doesn’t help the feeling of ick I’ve had
since last Tuesday.
Once the freezer was in place,
I ordered a new sideboard which looks almost exactly like the old sideboard,
except it’s not falling apart. It needed assembly, of course. The plan: put it
together and then set it where the old freezer has been since we bought it. Space-wise,
this had to happen because the new freezer can only fit where it’s sitting now,
on the north wall in front of the 2 of the 3 kitchen windows (and in the place
where the old sideboard sat).
The sideboard was scheduled
for delivery yesterday and arrived early afternoon. Rather than wait for
morning, David decided to tackle the assembly after his nap. Reading the
reviews on this product, I learned the consensus was that it was relatively
easy to put together. I certainly hoped that proved to be the case. The
sideboard would extend past the door frame to my office by just a couple of
inches. I have two doors in my office, one leading to the entrance hall and
living room (straight ahead) or the bathroom (to my right); the other opens
into the kitchen.
All the time I was looking for
this new sideboard (I’ve been searching since last June just after we ordered
the freezer that never arrived) I had strict dimensions for the piece given to
me by my husband. I couldn’t find any that fit those measurements and suited my
purposes. Some were pretty, and some were pretty expensive. But the purpose for
this piece, aside from storage, was to serve as a working surface, since its
place is beside my stove. So I made an executive decision: I didn’t care if it
blocked the entire door from office to kitchen. I had two doors and can only
use one at a time, anyway.
This sideboard (referred to by the seller as a kitchen
cart as it has wheels) features a steel top, my favorite feature of the last
sideboard. I’m excited to have an actual work surface beside the stove, one
that will not be damaged by a hot lid or a hot roast pan.
I have also ordered a shelf
with brackets to fit above this sideboard; on that shelf will go the items that
won’t fit into the sideboard’s storage space or on its surface. My challenge
will be to make that only a few items, to stow the rest, and get rid of the
general sense of clutter that has taken over my kitchen.
I know I can do it. And once I
have my kitchen set to rights, I will take a few days—maybe even a few weeks—to
appreciate and accustom myself to the new (and clutter-free) configuration of
my kitchen.
Just until, sitting at my
place at the kitchen table, I no longer try to reach behind me for what is no
longer behind me but now available about three feet to my left.
Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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