Here at Home

It is a pleasure to spend time with my family--and to drop my bags and know they will stay put, though I cannot say I am going to be in one location for the entire summer. We spend our time between the apartment in the city and the cottage in the woods. I like my parents' place. It is an eclectic collection of odds and ends from all over the world, truly a reflection of who they are--watercolour paintings of Mount Fuji, decorative umbrellas from Thailand, teak furniture from Singapore,

chairs from my grandfather's house, rag rugs from Ikea, geraniums on the windowsill, my mother's favourite flower;

and clay cups from India, used to serve chai in the early hours of the morning. I hardly give these things a second glance; they are, after all, quite commonplace to me, but I realize that everyone else may stop and wonder. I'd like myself to have a stop-and-wonder house someday.