ever since the baby became mobile–oh, a year ago!–i feel like i’ve been a little behind. he would gain a new skill, and i would scurry to move things to safer, higher ground. after a while i ran out of higher ground and just started tossing things onto the sunporch.
ah, the sunporch! it’s one of my favorite things about this house. it’s totally unfinished: no heat or insulation or even a door to close against the basement cold. but it has pretty windows and a door that closes it off from the main living spaces. i love that i can use it as a holding spot for items till they can get put away permanently. when we visited Devonshire years ago, we stayed in a house that had a similar space. they called it the conservatory. it had a woodstove, bookcases and greenery. it was where we took our tea and biscuits. it’s the place i think of almost every time i enter the sunporch, a place with potential even if you have to do some creative cropping to not see the extension cords and bird seed.
the children were in need of a place where they could work without Joseph having complete access to their needles and Sharpies. for a while now Nicolas has used a desk out on the porch as Playmobil Central. but that table was holding a lot more than just his toys. it’s almost cleared off now, and i added a table on the opposite side of the room for Mabel…it has a great view out the east facing windows. and Joe? he’s always moving, always getting into things.
i love it! 🙂
our spaces have evolved and morphed pretty constantly over the years. it’s amazing how much things keep changing — needs and interests. somehow the making of the space (the making of the possibilities, really) becomes a big part of the work of pursuing projects and meaningful work.
wow! the possibility of the space-making being a part of the projects + meaningful work is so exciting + encouraging to me.
it’s really part of meta-learning — learning how to create a space that fits your current needs, helps you do the work you want to do, inspires you, reminds you, and so on. the environment *does* have a huge effect on helping us do what we want to do (or preventing us from doing it!); the longer i’m at this, the more i realize how much your tiny daily choices affect what kind of life you live. you can make such small changes to the environment and see such big changes in what happens in the room!
ah! tiny changes! something approachable.
i was thinking of his conversation as M was playing with old project work from months ago that i moved into this new space: new space=new energy + interest!
thank you for such wise, careful encouragement.
I remember that cottage in Devon and the space between the main house and the extra room. Your sun porch does have great potential and it looks like you are using it. And Joe our little nomad is on the go looking for new routes to the Orient.