...Ramblings About Psychotherapy and Whatever Else Comes to Mind...
I kept thinking of that line from Isaiah this morning as I watched coverage of Ted Kennedy's death. The Kennedys have been a integral part of my political development. I became a democrat when I was 14 when JFK ran for President. And I had hoped to cast my first vote for RFK who was assassinated the day I graduated from college.
I went outside and saw this lily had just opened and was filling the air with its sweet scent. The timing seemed so right.
Lobster prices are still down -- remember last fall when they were low enough that I even made lobster pizza? Well, we are getting 1 1/4 pounders for $5.00 a piece from a local lobster guy. Which means that for now, lobster is taking the place of pizza on the weekend. This was dinner Saturday
I promise I won't post pictures of this every week!
We don't do heat very well here in Maine. But most years we get a few days when the temperature goes to 90 or a little higher and the great wilt begins. And it doesn't end until our usual summer weather returns. That happened yesterday morning. I was sitting here talking with a patient when I felt the change. The wind direction changed from the south to the west and the humidity dropped rapidly from around 90% to 40%. It was still hot yesterday but that oppressive combo of heat and humidity was gone. And today, we have a delightful breeze and it is in the 70's. Can you hear the sighs of relief?
During the hot spell, the cats moved about the house flopping in one place and then another seeking cool. Roscoe chose windowsills:
Can you believe how much bigger he has gotten?
Our tomatoes aren't doing much but today tomatoes were in at Chase's. Chase's is a vegetarian restaurant and a greengrocer -- they own their own big organic farm. I called my husband as soon as I heard and he went right over to get some. Because I NEED tomatoes!
Oh and here is a look at Hydrangea -- coming along really well. It was too hot and sticky to knit for a couple of days this week, but I expect to make good progress again now.
Now I am going to eat some tomatoes -- with some salt, lime juice, and a dash of cayenne pepper.
Lots of pictures and not too many words today.
Here's how Hydrangea looks today --
I am in love with this!
Outside, I have had one tomato ripen -- and I have my fingers crossed that it won't be the only one. We haven't seen any signs of the late blight that is afflicting so many gardens this year, but all the rain certainly has not helped anything. The tomato was delicious, by the way.
And the lilies I planted have started to bloom --
as have the scarlet runner beans --
For the past 4 days the barquentine Peacemaker has been in Belfast. This morning it sailed, well motored actually, out to go on its way.
And finally, here are Moe and Spike quietly vying for space in the sun yesterday afternoon --
To my great delight, my daughter loves the pale olive Aeolian. And that inspired me to look for a pattern to knit for my future daughter-in-law -- he and my son just got engaged a week ago. Normally I don't like the color orange. I never wear it. But something about this color from Colourmart --a 55/45 cashmere and silk called Jam -- attracted me. It speaks of India to me. So I thought I might see how it looks in Susan Pandorf's Hydrangea. Now this is a fine lace weight, so I am knitting on a size 3, which is probably bigger than the ideal because it is a little airier than I like. And I am using a mix of gold beads and sun charms in place of the dagger beads on the garlands. I like it. A lot.
I like to think about spaces and home and I think about them a lot. I've written about therapeutic space here and I even have made a start at a little research project on therapists' offices. I read about spaces and home -- books in this area that I really like are:
Yi-Fu Tuan's interesting little book, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience
Clare Cooper Marucus' House as Mirror of Self: Exploring the Deeper Meaning of Home
Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space
and I read a book years ago about changes in home design reflecting the place given to women in the house -- I think it had Doll's House in the title but I have been unable to find it. If anyone of you know it, please please tell me.
Anyway, a post on La Belette Rouge set me to thinking more about home and I decided to answer the questions she sent to a number of writers.
1. Where is home for you?
For an Army kid, this is an interesting question. When people ask me where I am from I always feel awkward because in a way, I am from nowhere though I am deeply rooted in New England where my people have lived since the Pilgrims came here.
For the most part, home is the house I live in. And this house, that we rent, is very much home for me. Having my stuff around me makes a place home for me, or so I thought. But that was not the case for the four years I lived in Michigan, where I never really felt at home.
Maine is home for me. I always feel good when I return after having been away. And on a smaller scale, Belfast, Maine is home for me. I feel more at home here than any place that I have lived.
2. What is the difference between home and house for you?
I have lived in many houses in my lifetime -- 22 I think -- and a few of them have been homes. There is a subtle interaction between place, the actual house, how my life is going, and my things around me that makes a house become home for me. This house that I live in now is small and old and is not a dream house at all. But it is in the most beautiful place, so my eyes are happy every time I look out the window. And the scale of the house suits me and my husband really well. The house works with our somewhat cluttered way of living. It's cozy and even though we rent, feels like ours, like we belong here.
The house in Michigan was also small and cozy but I was never happy with where it is. And what I saw when I looked out my windows was not inviting and I never felt like I belonged there, that I fit in. So that house never really became home.
3. Are you at home now?
Yes, Very much so. We just got rid of our couch, which I never liked. So our living room now has 4 nice comfy chairs. Kind of eccentric but it fits us.
4. Have you always felt at home?
No. I didn't feel at home when I was a kid and we lived in Kentucky or when we lived in Pennsylvania. I didn't feel at home when I was first married and we lived in Phoenix and then in upstate New York. I didn't feel at home in Michigan.
I am deeply at home in Belfast, Maine.
5. What makes a place a home for you?
Seeing my pictures on the walls, my books on the shelves, my baskets of yarn. Having my cookbooks, the cupboards in the kitchen arranged the way I prefer and stocked with things I use. I need to be able to look out the window and see places and people I like. Plants. Cats. My husband. A bird feeder outside the window.
6.How has where you lived impacted you? Have the homes you lived in changed you in any way?
I want to think about this. I know I am changed because of where I have lived, but I need to reflect on this a while to answer this.
7. Do you think you can go home again?
Not really. I lived for 19 years in Portland, Maine. I loved living there. But when I came back to Maine with my new husband, I knew Portland was not the place for us, because it had been the place of my former married life. So we came to a town where neither of us had history. And it is home. Maine is home. My home in Maine has not always been in the same place.
8. How did you find your home?
In the online classifieds of our local weekly paper -- I found it when we were still in Michigan and we rented it sight unseen because we figured that given its location, it would have to be a hovel to not be a good place. We took a leap of faith and wee rewarded.
9. What is your ideal home?
I don't think I really have one. I daydream about what I would do if I owned this house and had a lot of money but day to day I am content here.
10. How many homes have you had?
I think 22 over my lifetime.
11. What is the style of home that you feel most at home in( even if you have never had such a home)?
So the sun is out after a couple of days of clouds and rain. It's warm without being hot, there is a lovely breeze. The rain washed the air so everything is clear and sharp. When I hear voices just outside.
So I go to the window to look and I see a large white plastic thing on the hill. Then I go outside and what do I see? A bunch of guys, probably mid-to late-20's making a huge slip 'n' slide on the hill outside my house.
a crowd gathers
© Cheryl Fuller, 2007. All rights reserved.
