Homemaker

Coming home from a trip is so invigorating! (After you get through the exhaustion, anyway!) The first thing I did after being gone two weeks to visit our two daughters was to arrange my "souvenirs," things I had picked up along the way.

I couldn't wait to see how a large, wicker tray Amy and I found would look on my coffee table. After trying several vignettes, I placed a framed "Hello Autumn!" stitched fabric pumpkin collage (from Georgia) near one end of the tray, a cluster of candles encircled with fall leaves in the center, and a little farm bucket from Cracker Barrel filled with a small floral spray of leaves and feathers (from a shop in Jonesborough)at the other end.

Since there was still room on the big coffee table, a crockery bowl holding decorative balls was moved to one end, my new seasonal magazines from the mail were stacked in the front corner, a small photo of my red-haired granddaughter in a novelty rocking-chair frame at the other corner, with my stacked wooden coasters balancing out the other end.
My husband loved the new look!

I had at first tried a graceful, old cup and saucer with sugar and creamer arranged on crisply-ironed, embroidered napkins from an estate sale, but they looked better on a side table in front of family albums and books.

Starting our considerable accumulated laundry, we left for the grocery store and spent $99.71 to re-stock our (almost) bare fridge and cupboards. We were so tired of road food that I had improvised on a home-cooked meal the night before with the last of some chicken I found in the freezer, a smattering of frozen peas, and two microwaved small potatoes. It tasted good with the quick pepper gravy I made from a mix!

I remembered our dryer had quit before our trip, but it was a beautiful, warm and windy day outside and Howard helped me hang the wash on our umbrella clothes dryer. Everything got dry before the predicted weather change, which brought thunder and lightning in the night, if no rain, and temperatures in the fifties this morning.

I may not live in Kansas (although it's only 25 miles to the state line), but I feel like Dorothy in saying, "There's no place like home!"