What is your view from your kitchen sink when you are standing there working? (Or not working, as the case may be, in the case of you fellas.)
I don’t know about y’all, but I spend a lot of time at my kitchen sink. A lot. At least, it seems that way sometimes.
Of course, I used to spend a whole lot more time there years ago when my children were small and growing up. But even now, it seems I’m often there while cooking, rinsing dishes, or washing up a few dishes, pots & pans that won’t go in the dishwasher.
Do you have a kitchen window? If so, where is it in your kitchen and what do you see when you look through it?
Me? For years and years I had a window over my kitchen sink in four different homes and loved looking out my kitchen window to see what was going on. In the first home – for 14 years here in Picayune while the kids were growing up – I saw woods out my window, past our oyster shell, circular front drive and small front yard (huge back yard with pond beyond). Our house faced east, so I saw the morning sun shining through.
Then for two years, my son Mark and I lived in a “tree house” (the first floor up 16′ on pilings) off the beach in Long Beach, Mississippi, and I saw the tops of majestic old oak trees out my kitchen sink window, which faced west.
Tom and I got together and moved to Slidell for me to go to law school in New Orleans. The view from our little duplex was of the kitchen window of the neighboring duplex far too close for comfort. The kitchen window over the sink faced east, but I wasn’t there much to look through it for three years. My nose was stuck in law books the entire time.
Law school graduation brought the means (although we were very frugal – and very blessed by God) to be able to move into a house in Slidell, in which we lived happily for another 14 years. There my kitchen window – and breakfast area window – faced north on the side of our house, toward our favorite neighbors (two in a row, the first our minister at Bayou Oaks Church of Christ! Talk about pressure to be a good neighbor! ha!).
I won’t count our apartment while building this house. (Although, it had a kitchen window facing west.) Instead, I move on to our beloved home of two years now. Here, my kitchen sink is on a bar between our kitchen and breakfast area at an angle. At the sink, if I look straight ahead, it is toward the southwest.
But, as most of you know, I have three windows to look through surrounding our breakfast area, facing southwest to west. The view is wonderful, full of hummingbirds, the plants on our back porch, including my bright red geraniums, and the back deck beyond, with southern cardinals and many other birds at our bird feeder.
What, you say, do all the different views from my kitchen sink over the years have to do with “story tellers?”
Here is the connection:
These two images are of the same view from my kitchen window here in Picayune in a different house many years ago, the lower one drawn by my older son, David, when he was 11, in 1975, and the upper one photographed by me as a silhouette for my college photography class the summer of 1984.
Here is 11-year-old David’s up close:
And, here is mine, some nine years later:
As you can see, the plant is different, and David’s representation is much more minimalist, but they are obviously depictions of the same kitchen window.
Today, they both hang in our breakfast area, where I can view them when I stand here at my kitchen sink.
Thus, the past and present merge to give me one coherent view.
This is one of the stories of my life. My view from my kitchen sink. From this I learn that the best of the past should be kept, remembered and treasured, while the residue thrown away as dross. God stays with me always and is captured in my view of service from my kitchen sink.
What is your view?
Many blessings to each of you today! Dee
Dee Andrews
We have five 3ft x 5 ft-10in. windows in our dining area that face the woods. And the woods are literally about three feet from our patio. My kitchen faces the dining area which faces west.
It’s a beautiful setting and we often see deer right in our back yard and many beautiful birds. We have bird feeders everywhere. We are both huge tree and bird lovers.
I love having a view from the kitchen sink as I too spend a lot of time there. Enjoyed your post and the memories.
I don’t have a clue which direction our house faces, which would be the direction I’d be facing while standing at the kitchen sink. My view is our dining room, which was built to be a den or family room. There is a widow on the other side, but we keep the shutters closed most of the time just for privacy from the very nosey neighbor kids.
If I turn my back to the sink, I’m looking across the kitchen to a sliding glass door. That, too, is most often blocked by blinds because in the afternoon the sun shines right in and heats up the kitchen. (Hmmm, that being the case, I suppose our house faces somewhat east?) When I do look at that door, I see grass that needs mowing or Chipper looking in to see when I’m going to come out and play.
Years ago, when I was a kid, I was standing at the kitchen sink in our house in Orlando, FL and looked out the window (it was dark, sort of late in the evening) to see a man’s face looking back at me. Scared the bejeebers out of me. I’ve been too traumatized since then to actually do dishes, so it worked out to my advantage!
I have two strong preferences for my home (after having been a military wife for 17 years)and both #1…a window above the sink and there be enough windows I do not feel claustrophobic. After all, I spent the first 21 years of my life in the wide open plains of flat, West Texas and washed many dishes by hand and without running water.
My townhouse home for 22 years fits my preferences for which I am very grateful.
I loved this post, Dee. Wonderful thoughts about the merging of past and present.
I choked on laughter when I read Greg’s comment.
My kitchen window faces east. I can’t actually see the sunrise because houses and trees obstruct the view, but I can see the sun as it rises high enough to shine through the trees, and it’s very pleasant. I see a wooden fence dividing our property from the neighbor’s, and squirrels run up and down that fence, flipping their tails and making me laugh. And I see our neighbor’s house and think of Miss Rubye.
Greg -
Your comment is SO funny and interesting that it’s gotten me to thinking about how funny and so much alike all you guys are (I’m thinking of you & Tom, in particular). So much so, that I now have a whole post started for next time that I’m writing in response to your comment here.
So, you MUST join us here next time to see yourself (& Tom & whichever other of you guys might think the shoe fits) featured.
Cheers!!
Dee
Right now, I don’t have a kitchen window above the sink-it’s just a wall. Our last house had one, and I really miss it. If I’m standing at the sink and turn right, I can look past the eating area and look out the tall windows to our back yard. We get a lot of sun in those windows since they face south.
I need to put up a pretty picture to give me something nice to look at while I’m working!
My view and unlike windows (not really), I do dishes. My view is our pool patio, used to be Steven at times, and now is our two cats.
Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles » Blog Archive » Boys & Their Wonder Toys // Sep 28, 2009 at 12:16 pm
[...] response to my last post ‘‘Story Tellers 2 – View From my Kitchen Sink,” Greg (England) wrote a comment, as he most always does. It was not only funny and [...]