Home. What a place huh?
For something that means such different things to different people, a concept loaded with connotations, the idea of ‘The Perfect Home’ is equally alluring and pressurising.
I will admit to indulging a little too often in that guilty pleasure of sitting down for a dose of classic afternoon-tv with “Escape to the Country”, or window-shopping the property pages of country lifestyle magazines.
Maybe for some, high-rise city-living, or swish glinting modern design may be their ‘thing’ but for me, it’s herbs in the garden, a kitchen with a walk in pantry, a front gate onto a quiet lane, and sunlight on the doorstep. A picket fence squeezes my heart every time, and chickens? Well, you had me at ‘cluck’!
And after all… there’s nothing like a bit of escapism (especially in lockdown/covid times!), and sometimes, it’s simply lovely to dream.
In all honesty, I absolutely would not time-travel back to a time without my freezer and washing machine, but I do find so much joy in the traditional habits of shopping local, growing my own, cooking from scratch, and taking pride in the care I put into my home and relationships. (I have been told many times that I was ‘born in the wrong era’!)
With Covid restrictions slow to retreat, weekends are still being spent mostly within my own home; day trips and strolls around chocolate-box villages are still largely out of bounds.
But it has always been the simple things in life I enjoy most; freshly picked home-grown flowers in the vase on the kitchen table, picnics in the garden, chuckling at the antics of my neighbours chickens when they come pottering along the front gardens in search of extra pickings when I’m weeding.
So today, I am celebrating the little joys of home. Sure, the washing line might be wonky, the counter beside the sink piled high with washing up, I might’ve forgotten to get anything out of the freezer for dinner so looks like it’ll be pasta tonight (again), and brambles are taking over our little back garden…. but home is, well, Home!
