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Monday, April 26, 2010

Nooks and Crannies

When you hear the expression "nooks and crannies", Thomas' English muffins may come to mind. However, the cozy spaces I am referring to are found in homes.As a romantic, I am drawn to remote hide-a-ways for reading, daydreaming, or meditating.

Built-in recesses are among the many reasons I like Jack Arnold's home designs (www.jackarnold.com). "Homes of Elegance" often include wonderful chimney corners or inglenooks.(For a wonderful post on inglenooks see: www.thingsthatinspire.net/2009/12/inglenook-fireplaces.)

Balancing the other side of his living rooms are openings for a bookcase.

An Arnold-designed dining room usually has an indentation perfect for a sideboard.


These homes all have steeply pitched roofs which create cozy window seats in upstairs bedrooms.

A small porch, complete with swing, is a perfect out-of-the-way corner for morning coffee or firefly-gazing on a summer evening.

In our home, the most used nook is my writing corner. This computer space is a perfect crypt for myriads of writing scribbles.

I also treasure the window indentation where I often read my Bible in the morning.

Here is another enticing crevice. Can't you envision a child curled in this nook with a good book?

If I let my imagination take flight, I can picture tiny people playing hide-n-seek in this house.

To quote L.M. Montgomery's beloved character, Anne Shirley, small tucked-away crannies certainly leave "scope for imagination."

When I was little I used to hide in a nook when I was sad. Somehow the enfolding hiding place comforted my young heart. Maybe that is why I still love sheltering crevices.

One of my favorite books of all time is The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman incarcerated for hiding Jews during the Holocaust. From a flee-infested barracks in Ravensbruck, she could vouch for the shelter of God's unfailing love. In unimaginable circumstances, she echos Psalm 91:1 and 2. "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

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