Quote du jour/John McGahern

On this very hot and humid late September day, I am sitting in front of a fan, reading How Many Camels Are There in Holland by Phyllida Law. She says that she read the following quote on the flyleaf of a book she bought at an Oxfam shop. I think it is just wonderful.

The best of life is life lived quietly where nothing happens but our calm journey thru' the day, where change is imperceptible and the precious life is everything.
-John McGahern

I had never read the name before so looked him up, and he is a well-thought of Irish writer. How could I live this long and never have heard of him?? You may read more here. I am interested in reading That They May Face the Rising Sun and his autobiography called Memoir.

Quote du jour/Pearl Bailey

My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry meaning that transfers from the past and bridges to the future.
Pearl Bailey

This quote is in my birthday book. Yes, even in these days when various social media and our own phone alerts can tell us when it is someone's birthday, I use my book. I keep it open to the next birthday coming up, and when that is past, I go to the next one.

The Susan Branch drawing that accompanies the Pearl Bailey quote.

Isn't it wonderful? I love this kitchen. I want to peek in the drawers and cook on those green tiles. Pretty much as different from the kitchens I see in magazines as is possible. Mine is more like this one. My butcher block counters and lower cupboards are from 1981. I don't expect I'll ever change them. I did get rid of the upper cupboards years ago, and Tom replaced them with open shelves, which I love.

I was just saying yesterday that most of my favorite things are in the kitchen -that new-to-us kitchen table and my aunt Mabel's cupboard I told you about earlier this summer,

the Larkin desk, and the Hoosier.

Together they make the kitchen homey to me.