mantle

I am willing to bet that the Boston metro area has the highest concentration of non-working fireplaces in all of America. We have two. Here is the mantle above the one in our bedroom:


I like it. There are white, moon-like petals in a long blue vase. Two blue and white china-like candlesticks I found a long time ago in an antique store - I can't find candles to fit. The lady throwing her arms wide with birds on them... one of our lovely hospice chaplains got me that for my birthday. There is a reed diffuser, which I got at our work Yankee Swap this past Christmas. Tealight, angel, tealight. The angel I got at an antique store many years ago. I thought it was so special, but didn't think I should spend the money on something so blatantly unnecessary. Someone I was with told me to value the specialness, and now look - she presides over the mantle and makes sure all is well in the home. Next is a picture I took of an angel in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. I LOVE this cemetery. When my mom visited Boston I took her there, and she said she was relieved she saw it because she then realized it IS beautiful and no, her daughter is not a morbid, crazy lady. If I ever leave Boston, that's one place I'd go back to on a weekend summer trip to visit. The heart is a little painting I made for Gabe. The pelican. Gabe and I went to Florida two years ago to visit his grandparents, because his grandfather wasn't doing well. I remember a few things vividly. Gabe's grandpa, lying in bed in the nursing home with a fractured hip, in pain and out of it. He wasn't responsive at first when Gabe knelt down and told him he was there. But eventually he looked over and made eye contact. The first thing Gabe did was say 'I want you to meet Alysa'. I'm so happy I got to meet him, since he died soon after. Another thing I remember is cooking dinner for his grandma, and how she looked at me astounded when I didn't finish all the shrimp on my plate. She had a wonderful smile. This was the first and last time I would meet her, too. The other thing I remember is the pelicans above the ocean. When we came back from the trip I was at a home goods or other silly store and came across this pelican, and got it as a remembrance of the trip and his grandparents. The painting above the mantle I made for Gabriel. In the very, very early weeks of our emerging relationship I asked him if he wanted to go with me to Martha's Vineyard for a weekend - mom and Dave were there with some other couples. To my surprise he said yes. It was on a farm (sheep! goats! no streetlights!) and to relish the whole experience I wanted to sleep outside. There was a hammock strung between two trees and we laid there watching uncountable numbers of stars. I drifted in and out of sleep and remember the whole experience was so dream-like. The ruralness, the oddness of the hammock, and the unbelievable reality that Gabe, the hidden crush of mine - my ROOMMATE - was sleeping beside me. It was so surreal. So this painting commemorates that time, the beginning.

These are the things that keep me company. Good-night...