Eye Cookies, I mean Candy

Yes it's Wednesday and no, I am not back to work yet. Tomorrow! Tomorrow for sure!

Today let's talk about one of my favorite favorites. Homemaking. I know, you had no idea. Although I'm not a tech fan, I have found my own little niche on the internet and it is that of those similarly minded. No, I'm not connected to nurses or middle-agers or Republicans or conservatives or even shared faith sites. I find myself, through no particularly intentional design, friends with women I've never met who all comment furiously when one of us mentions a new recipe or paint color decision.

So in between dramatic sighs of boredom and philosophical discussions with Donny about forsythia hedges I've done a bit of internetting the last few days to various blogs or sites to admire homes, decorating, gardening, etc. Although I spend lots of time thinking and blogging about bread recipes, soup and gardens; I have another homey weak spot. Eye candy.

I'm not all about function, although living in a very small bungalow requires the marriage of form and function if one is to avoid living in Grey Gardens minus the charming insanity. (We don't lack insanity so much as charm.)

I like old stuff. Stuff that I can either imagine in its former life in some other woman's kitchen or stuff that I specifically remember from my childhood. I'm more likely to make an impulse antique purchase than one at a department store. I believe in using my olde time treasures although admittedly, I can get a little worried that a break or a chip of a platter that is 40 years old cannot be easily replaced. Something I've realized about old stuff, it almost can't be ugly. It's like there is a line in time when an item goes from out-dated to charming. I like to think I too, have crossed that line. Wink.

For instance, I have this ugly platter. I bought it at an antique shop in Lewiston, where my parents cottage is located. Every year I buy a little something at that shop and rarely pay more than $10. This platter brings to mind late 1960s. It may be older, it might be a school project from 1998. But it's funky and I have decided it's old and probably worth a million dollars. Maybe not the million dollars part but it's funky and old. It's not pretty. But it's interesting, you gotta admit it's interesting.

I have a green candy dish on my desk I bought at the same shop. I am pretty sure it is simply a dish garden container from Thrifty Florist and I paid $1 for it. It's worth much less than $1. However, it's pretty on my desk and it reminds me of Up North and if it breaks, well, I can live with that.

I have other items that were on The Farm or belonged to my mom or grandmothers. Those I treat with a bit more caution but I still love to use them and enjoy them.

But eye candy can be more than antique glassware or vintage platters. Eye candy is a slice of lemon in my water and the forsythias along my fence and the blue souvenir goblet on my bathroom vanity where I put my face cloth.

It's the giant basket of books next to my bed. This is eye candy because it's something that I love, not because it's pretty.

Eye candy is family photographs all over that exceed the number that would be considered decorative and old afghans on my couch. It's the old rooster from The Farm and bird feeders.

It's the sock monkey night light in my kitchen.

So tell me, what are you loving looking at today?

Pic: Ugly valuable Up North cookie dish.