Tables, Tenements and Tchotchkes

There's something traumatic about having a dining table separate from the kitchen. I love the old fashioned farm kitchens with tables in the center. This is a big deal because I love to cook and feed and have the ability to jump up and grab the salt or pepper and offer hot helpings from the stove not to mention shew the cat off the kitchen counter.

A few years ago we turned the back office into a kitchen by sitting at our old enamel table in there. This room was frequently too cold and too hot depending on the season and overlooked a loud parking lot. I hung half curtains but then the little bathroom sink off the office broke and the ceiling sprung a leak and fell down so now it is closed until further notice.

Our friend who finds props for films gave us an old round oak table and we were overjoyed. We put it beside the couch and it has become our kitchen table. It's as close to our galley kitchen as we can be. We're seated against the big front windows. We have great light and a layer of shrubs protecting us from the street. We call our dining room table dinner theater because there's always lively dramas with multiple characters on the three layers of porches opposite us.

One day walking home with Lily, our neighbor was gracefully placing a candelabra on the sidewalk. She was moving in a slow motion dance. She is tall and gentle. I asked her if she was throwing it out. Yes, would you like it? It was from my mother in Canada, she said. I said Yes, thank you and we have become friends and the lovely Danish candelabra from Canada lives, lit nightly with white Sabbath candles on our round oak table.