Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all heard the expression “every nook and cranny?”  It is certainly an expression I use a lot since I lose things a lot…like car keys. I used to leave sunglasses at everyone’s house but then I went and actually bought a very expensive pair, instead of my regular Dollar General “specials” (bought by the gross) and “Viola”… I still have these sunglasses  five years later.There must be some lesson to this story but it eludes me.

I was just probably so embarrassed to have spent that much money on a pair of sunglasses that it is the first thing I check my pocketbook for these days – to make sure I have them…even before car keys. (I must admit that sometimes the glasses are sitting on top of my head…awkward pause.)

If I am late arriving for lunch with friends or any other engagement ….99% of the time it is because of my car keys. I always say about the same thing….“I am sorry I am late…I lost my car keys (again.) I  looked in every ‘nook and cranny’ without any luck, until I went back out to the car and there they were under the driver’s seat.” 

(I had hurriedly dropped them in my pocketbook (or so I thought) only to discover that they never made it in but instead fell between the console and driver’s seat.)

The origin of “every nook and cranny” originates from two Old English words:

This metaphoric idiom pairs stem from nook (which means “an out-of-the-way corner” -stemming back to the mid-1300s -and cranny, which means “a crack or crevice” since  1440. One rarely hears them used separately…

Nooks and crannies are like magnets to little children…I remember escaping to the wide-open-space under Grandmother Wilson’s farmhouse with my dolls to set up a hospital.

Another favorite place was the cellar where meats cured and certain vegetables dried out….it always had a funny smell to it…but that didn’t deter me or David from exploring it from end to end. We pretended  to shoot the hanging sides of pork or beef with our stick guns….and we both wanted safari hats for Christmas. (Don’t remember that happening…)

*I birdwalk here but the picture of “Old Blacky” makes me smile. I swear that dog must have broken the Guinness Books of Records for longevity. From the time I learned to literally walk (and did so beside the dog)…  I knew his name only as “Old Blacky.”

Bless “Old Blacky’s” heart, he must have passed on when I was in high school or college. That is when Grandmother’s health failed to the point that she had to live in a nursing home. By then “Old Blacky” needed a nursing home worse than Grandmother I suspect. I sure did love that dog. He was the faithful companion on all our childhood adventures.

But now….back to nooks and crannies. Today, instead of hiding in nooks and crannies….I like to decorate them. There is something special about a little piece of space that invites imagination and lures our eyes to its uniqueness.

Here are some of my nooks and crannies around the house. (The title photo is located in a corner of the Happy Room….decorated with dried flowers, a Pink Ribbon wine bottle, and a flowery-decorated magazine holder.) Here are some others…

I found this wonderful, wooden bookshelf ladder years ago and placed it in this nook in my bedroom. Adding white lights to shelves evoke a cozy, snug feeling for this area of the room for family photos and other mementos.

This nook is just perfect for storing quilts in the guest bedroom…especially using an old-fashioned portable crib to do it.

I love this nook in “The Happy Room” because it catches the late afternoon sunlight so beautifully. My whimsical nook and cranny.

*The painting, below, is found in the restroom at Castillo’s restaurant and it pulls me into it every time I gaze in its direction….it must trigger some unconscious memory or whimsy but if I had that furniture in my bathroom…believe me…it would be my greatest nook and cranny,

But for now…on our mid-winter chilly nights…it is the old Franklin Stove ‘nook and cranny’ insert that delight my eyes, secures my soul, and warms my body.

So until tomorrow…Let us all find a special “nook and cranny” where we can talk to God and “lay our troubles down.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Libby let us know last night Trey now has strep throat and Scarlet Fever. He’s been on antibiotics for the osteomyelitis for the past three weeks so obviously the family is worried about its effectiveness. Please keep this precious child in your thoughts and prayers…We know God is keeping him in His care.