If Our Table Could Talk
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If our table could talk it would have so many tales to tell.
Stories when it's been just the four of us, or when we've been visited by friends, first bites, tantrums and exasperation and trial & error, taxes all laid out, morning newspapers, weekend waffles, so many cups of coffee & OJ.
If our table could talk yesterday's story would be one of creation & friendship.
My friend Paolo came down for the day as he sometimes does and I decided we were going to have an art day. I'm still riding a wave of inspiration from a couple weekend's ago at the beach.
I've known Paolo now for over 20 years. I consider him a part of my family. You might have seen him in some of my scrapbook pages:
He's come down for the Coburg Antique Fair.
He's come down for the day and we took Polaroids.
He's traveled with me to events in the US.
He's traveled with me to events abroad (he works for an airline which makes this sort of travel possible).
Most of the time when we get together these days we do something creative whether it's taking photos or making collages or just talking about living lives infused with creativity.
If our table could talk it would tell you that yesterday we painted with wax (following a bunch of Claudine's tips from her Beeswaz Collage DVD), adhered old patterns picked up from Goodwill with gel medium, painted over the top, etc.
If our table could talk it would tell you how excited we were to have Anna come home from the beach and join us at the table.
She began with crayons, moved on to water painting with a foam brush, and then on to some of Tim's paint dabbers. Katie made up some brightly colored finger paints but really she only wanted whatever it was that was in my hand at the moment (and she really wanted to squeeze the paint onto her paper).
If our table could talk it would tell you just how excited I was that she might have an interest in this sort of play.
If our table could talk I think it would say that good stuff happened here yesterday. A friendship was nurtured and cherished. Canvases were created. Little kids made messes and giggled and chased Paolo around with swords.
If our table could talk I think it would say, "Again, please."
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51 comments
When I have my own home, THAT's the kind of table I'm wanting to have! Loved this post! :)
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What a beautiful post. I love that you have friendships that foster creativity.
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Ali, you have such a way with words . . . simple thoughts that develop into a story where I want to read more and more. Just thinking about our kitchen table and what has occurred there for 34 years now, 3 kids and now a grandchild later. If my kitchen table could talk . . . love the idea!
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love this post, Ali! You are pure inspiration.
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I love that you have such a friend Ali...my wish is for everyone to experience at least one of those very special relationships :o) Thanks for sharing xo
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Thank you for such great example of story. This was a pleasure to read. The canvases are amazing and so is your friendship. Anna is beyond sweet.
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If my table could talk right now, it's saying that we need to sit more at it instead of using it as a landing strip for stuff. To get back to what we used to do, eating, crafting, playing cards and more there.
...thank you for this post Ali, going to clean it off.
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My mom gave me the 100+ year old table that was in her family farmhouse. We craft on it every other Friday night. We eat on it. We use it for cooking overflow. We pile things on it, take stuff off, and start again. It needs to be refinished and fixed because it's really wiggly but it has 100 years of stories that it could tell, 100 years. That AMAZES me!
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Ali, thank you for making the everyday profound. i so appreciate your prespective and the way your thoughts touch my soul! Thanks again
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This is a beautiful post - and a scrapbook page (maybe a mini??) in the future!! God Bless.
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I love that. Anna's gotten so big. She's darling.
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How wild...I was digging through older stuff on your blog not long ago (can't even remember what I was doing honestly) and had thought "I wonder where her friend Paolo has been" and boom, here's a lovely, lovely post all about a day with Paulo. So glad you had a wonderful day worth repeating over and over. How fun will it be if Anna has a passion for all this arty goodness??
Peg
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so sweet!!!
I hope anna loves art just like you
so you can create TOGETHER!!!
Anna reminds me so MUCH of my daughter Ava when she was that age! it's uncanny reallY!
tara
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Love this. Creating in community is always wonderful...and so many good things happen around the table.
I'll have to think about what my table would say!
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You could be writing about/showing MY table! Love it. I think it's so hard sometimes in our present to remember we are creating memories for our future. Time is really a strange thing...
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Hi Paolo!!
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Ahh, so fun to have creative friends and kids to share with! Love the story of your yesterday. Awesomeness!
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So awesome and inspiring Ali! I love reading your posts and thinking about how easy it is for you to blog with such great ideas and flow! I hope one day I can do that! Thanks!
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I LOVE this idea! Love the idea of telling family stories by way of a much loved and/or used piece of furniture or other inanimate object. So many 'things' are more than just 'things' (and one reason why we hold on to them for long periods of time) and they do indeed have stories to share! :>
(Anna looks adorable getting her creativity on! My heart smiles when I see my kidlets spark their own create love! :>)
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Great post! Would love to see the finished version of those canvases. They look really cool!
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