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Quote of the Day: Nigel Slater

April 1st, 2012

Mrs Pearman’s house was a home in every sense of the word. A place where a daughter or son would suddenly turn up without warning, expecting, and getting, supper or Sunday lunch. Where every piece of furniture seemed to have a history and where every daily event was faithfully recorded in photograph albums. It was warm and happy, untidy and cozy. There was always a jug of garden flowers on the kitchen table and milk in the fridge. And like all good homes Mrs Pearman’s also had an overriding smell of golden retriever.

Nigel Slater from Toast


Around here it’s hit or miss. You can come to my house one day and it’s clean as can be or come the next and it’s a bit crazy. It all depends on what’s going on, how many seeds I’m planting, if I ‘m canning, or if we’ve been traveling all day for a few days. My house is usually clean, but it’s often a tad cluttered (there is a difference).


I used to be quite a neatnik, sweeping and mopping several times a day, especially after we first got the chiots. Then I lightened up a bit as I acquired more and more hobbies. Now I’m actually a little more comfortable when the house is a bit cluttered. When you live in a small house and the dining room table is the craft table, sewing table, seed starting table, work table, and the canning table it can get a little messy at times. I used to try to clean everything up when people came over, but then I realized it didn’t matter. People know we live here, and sometimes, life is messy.


If you ever stop in for a visit our home will look like people live here. A whole lot of life happens at Chiot’s Run and at times it really shows, especially on our dining room table! You can always tell how busy we are by what our dining room table looks like.

What part of your house starts to show life first?

6 Comments to “Quote of the Day: Nigel Slater”
  1. KimH on April 1, 2012 at 8:35 am

    My kitchen table is where there is a bomb exploding almost at all times. Yesterday I had it all nice & cleaned off and we even ate a late lunch there.. but within an hour, the flat surface disappeared from sight.. ;)

    Many years ago, a pastor used to praise my then sister in law for having such a clean house that you could eat off her floors.. and in my head, I always thought, “Yeah, but why would you want to eat off the floor?” LOL Obviously, you probably wouldnt want to eat off mine. ;)

    Love those tulips in jars… Im gonna have to run right outside & get some of my own for my table when I clear it off again today. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  2. Amber J on April 1, 2012 at 10:32 am

    I love how you say this, I sometimes feel like the mess of my life needs to be cleaned up for visitors. Sometimes not, just depends on the day. My kitchen is the room in our house that always shows people live and play here and eat and dirty dishes. :)

    Reply to Amber J's comment

  3. Maybelline on April 1, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Kitchen. Your phrasing of the question is interestingly diplomatic. Politics may be in your future.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  4. Marcia on April 2, 2012 at 12:26 am

    Kitchen, hands down! It also makes it easier to look messy by the fact that I have exactly one foot of counter in my tiny studio kitchen.

    Reply to Marcia's comment

  5. Rocky Top Farm on April 3, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    I love the quote, we live in a 1000 sf home and it is my husband and three boys, most of the time I love it, I do have my days :) but one of my boys once said “mom, our house may be small but it’s cozy” he will always remember that he grew up feeling warm and cozy, surrounded by nature, books and love. We don’t get lost from one another which is the most important thing to me, we spend most of our time together. I do at times need to be better organized but I am working on it :) your home has such a warmth radiating from it. Thank you for sharing your pics!

    Reply to Rocky Top Farm's comment

  6. Turling on April 5, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    Whatever part the kids are in. Or more accurately, it’s the first of many parts that will be showing signs of life.

    Reply to Turling's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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