“At home by the fire, whenever I look up, there you will be. And whenever you look up, there I shall be”. Gabriel to Bathsheba in the novel 'Far From The Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy.
I have always felt this was a romantic line and in the last few years, I have discovered that it is so much more.
On one end of our kitchen table, there are pieces of brasswork, soft cloths cut from an old pair of my pyjamas, and a tin of Peak. Tim is starting the winterisation of his steam engine, where he strips her down and everything gets cleaned, repaired and renovated. On the other end of the table is an array of luminescent watercolour paints, cards, tiny foil pieces, and paintbrushes, as I create Christmas cards.
On the footstool in front of our sofa, Tim's reading glasses rest on top of some books and magazines. All related to steam engines. On the other side of the footstool is a collection of yarns and handwritten patterns for knitted facecloths. From balls of one-dimensional yarn and a pair of needles, pictures of unicorns, hearts, ducks, teapots, roses and smiling faces appear.
In a cupboard, English teabags nestle beside packets of Latte coffee mix. Hot drinks are made in an 'I love my lathe' mug and one covered with a white and blue seaside scene.
Opposite Tim's lathe, a unit full of tools and a milling machine in the workshop, is my bench with essential oil bottles, air-dry clay, paints, sparkly items, glue, brushes, cards and paper.
Our walls are a mixture of paintings and artwork lovingly gifted, family and friend's artwork, photographs and pictures of steam engines and railways.
There are tiny pieces of shiny glitter foil everywhere. ✨
May we all have a loving space to lean into. 🩷