if i can dream of a better land...(courtesy of the late great Elvis P)

it occurred to me yesterday on my sixth day of washing up that the perfect way to embrace my extended time allocation in the kitchen is to pretend to be on vacation...

("genius, Tif" i hear you all marvel... "why thank you kindly" say i)

you know the sort of vacation, self catering... no dishwasher, TV or computer. suddenly your family becomes your best friend and for a small time you could be The Waltons.

better still you could live there...

it's so obvious really, when washing up all i have to do is use my imagination...

i see it now, a little old beach cottage right on the edge of the rocks, slightly jutting out on a peninsula, or perhaps not... perhaps tucked just up on the cliff edge with a steep pathway down to the rocky beach below.

when the tide is high, sea spray is felt in the air, when the tide is low it reveals wonderful rock pools and sandy parts for sitting.

i would look out of my little window draped with an old piece of lace curtain tied back with a bit of twine. standing at the sink, washing lovely pieces of vintage china, 'used dog' at my feet, chickens wandering in and out. as i finish up and turn to wipe my hands on a wonderful tea towel that i happened across thrifting the week before, i take stock of my surroundings.

old kitchen cabinets painted glossy (yes glossy!) duck egg blue... a couple of them are decoupaged in vintage wallpaper, not pretty pretty, more quirky retro i feel. on the wall above is the wonderful glass sliding cabinet that was in my granny's kitchen for all of my life. the perfect reed glass giving away glimpses of china stacked to the hilt, all with memories of 'far off flea markets' that i had travelled to in my youth...

i tuck a strand of wonderful beachy hair behind my ear and wrap a lovely scarf around my head, getting ready to walk to the beach. no need to change, i am wearing a summer apron wrap...

as i go to leave, i have noted my floor is wood and painted white, (yes, white... i will never own a white painted floor so i must dream big here dear readers). in the corner by the fabulous old french doors would be the most loveliest mid century modern armchair, upholstered from my overflowing cupboards of old linens... sadly it's all getting a bit vague now, i really do like the idea of a little table and a few stools somewhere in the picture. but as i'm only on 'day six' of washing up i haven't quite worked out the details of that particular area.

so i have added to my 'living in a dream' world most successfully. i am looking forward to tonight's installment... i will be saving all the dishes up from today so i can have a good old daydream and perhaps even get as far as the hallway and the type of front door i would own in my lovely beach cottage...

whilst i wait patiently for the evening to be upon us i shall while away my 'real world' hours with exciting, ney frilling things like

grocery shopping

chicken feeding

tortoise putting out

laundry

a band concert

and in between the excitement of it all i shall rest a while at my studio table and continue my work for the 'dottie angel' exhibit...

at the moment i am concentrating on clothes pegs.

because we all know if dottie angel pegged out her clothes she would not be using just any old pegs... oh no no no, she would have pegs that have been dottie angeled...

she's thinking she forgot to tell you a minor detail but it will have to wait, as the chickie peas are calling ~ Tif