Ordinary Objects of Massive Delight & Love
So many people "living" with me, it's practically a commune over here.
Dear Beautiful Friends,
I swooned over this piece that opens with a “glorious bag of Ruffles” and the perfect chips therein. I promptly forwarded it to my husband and half a dozen friends who would totally get what Heather Havrilesky writes about (as Dear Molly) in her funny, gorgeous, quirky, and YES-life-really-is-like-this style.
Steve and I have Ruffles leftover from the Superbowl and IT’S TRUE, there is nothing like hearing the air pop from a freshly opened bag, and beholding the perfect mass of fried, corduroy potatoes heaped at the top, just waiting for an invasion of hands and fingers to take them away.
I love it when people rhapsodize over ordinary objects; I adore being reminded to worship things like the lip of a petal-shaped coffee cup, the animal-print design on a plate, an indescribably muted shade of blue, or, the crunch of a potato chip. Any of these can exalt my senses and drop me into a moment of ecstasy in an ordinary hour. Pablo Neruda gave us endless odes, about everything from onions to socks to age, and let’s keep them coming.
This morning I joined a group of swimmers who find great enjoyment in duking out 100 x 100 yards from 7 am - 10 am on a Saturday.
During those endless hundreds, I saw the jumbo pack of Ruffles on the pool deck for after, which had me asking some very deep questions.
What else is Ruffle-ian in nature?
What other everyday objects give me hits of beauty and sensory delight?
A number of objects came to mind, and shared this in common: They were scattered around my house, and all were gifts. Not extraordinary gifts, but to me, exquisite.
Think of this as your invitation to raise your antenna on the Everyday Beautiful Things in your life, and their connections to loved ones. Look around, what piques your senses and makes life worth living, even if for two seconds?
Here are a few of mine:
A pink & red vase and V-Day crafts
Steve gave me this sweetest-vase-I’ve-ever-owned for Valentine’s Day. I can’t get enough of it! It says French countryside, a farm-raised girly-girl, and evokes someone who moves slowly and carefully through the homefront watering plants and placing objects d’art and bud-vased wildflowers around the kitchen just so. I am not this person. I rush, I can’t accessorize to save my life, I forget to water our plants and sometimes wish they’d die, and guess what else?
I want more objects that evoke a world away, a person different from me. How fun to own pieces that are outside my instinctual style repertoire.
The two Valentine's Day Be Mine pieces were made from wood rounds, by my friend Suzanne. She hung a whole bunch of these on a neighborhood tree a couple years ago when covid (which I refuse to type in all caps) was very much alive and we needed all the communal love letters we could get. I took a pair of these home with me, and hung them from reading lights on each side of the bed. I treasure them because they were handmade by someone I love and admire, someone whose devotion to seeing and making art reminds me how simply beautiful life is.
Zebra dessert plate
Steve bought this zebra plate for me for Christmas several years ago. Everything about this singular item thrilled me: that my husband went out into the world and brought back this one adorable little plate just for me. Who ever gets her own dessert plate? It’s gold-rimmed, hand-washable only, and continues to delight the hell out of me. I use it for any and everything that fits: fruit, deli salads, leftover pasta, chocolate, and various snacks. Hey, it’s called a dessert plate. I’ve always called small plates side or salad plates. I want all my plates to be known as dessert plates. My husband can really pull off some delightful surprises in the gift department, thanks Loverboy!
A peculiar octopus teapot
Steve’s fabulous daughter, and my bonus daughter, Erica, gave me this teapot for Christmas 2020. She lives in Australia and still found a way to give everyone presents, in a year we all had carte blanch to skip the whole affair. What I like about this teapot is that it’s sort of ugly and beautiful, creepy and fetching, and it keeps me guessing every stinking time I look at it. Is it pretty? Is it scary? I don’t know; all the above—which is beautiful in its own right.
The Most Fabulous Cookie Tin in the World
My friend Eliza gave me these ginger crumble cookies for my birthday, and while the cookies ROCKED—gingerly delicious, crispy, spicey, perfectly sweet—look at that goddamn beautiful container! It’s easily the length of my forearm. I love looking at it, for a few reasons: It’s an outrageous, ornamental way to package cookies. There’s a swimmer girl on the cover, and Eliza and I met swimming. That rosey dusty pink tone is a fave; my bathroom is painted in a similar color, called “Kept Love Letters,” a paint chip Steve found after we had coffee with a friend who told us about all these love letters he once wrote.
A pair of glass pigs
This is so random, but my sister-pixie friend Jesse, who left this life early to head out on her next adventure, gave me these two miniature silly little piglets when I got married. Steve and I had a no-gifts wedding—we were too old for presents! Some people gave us gifts anyway, including one enormous crystal vase I keep in a cabinet; but these piglets I see every single day because they are on a little shelf to the left of the kitchen sink. I’ve kept them for 10 years, even through a move, and that’s saying a lot. I am not just a purger at heart but I LOVE THROWING THINGS AWAY. I do not do tchotchkes and decorative bits, but I seem to hang on to gifted objects from people I love.
Right now I’m in my office. To my left there are a pair of wood squares, one with an “x” another with an “o” from Jill, presented at my wedding shower. There’s a small shell my granddaughter Dyllan gave me when we visited Australia in 2016. An ornamental hummingbird from Nichole, a heart-shaped rock from Jo, and a couple of pottery birds from Sherrie, someone a briefly worked with years ago but with whom I had a bond, and now I have her in my life always.
I love all these items in a Ruffles-ian way for their simple delight and pleasure, and moreso because they were gifts and remind me of these people I love. Unwittingly I’ve sprinkled my community around my home and have friends, family and former colleagues surrounding me in daily life.
“Oh, look, there’s Eliza. There’s Liz. There’s Jilly, Nichole, Jesse, Elisabeth, Suzanne, Tricia, Tracey, Mom, Jeanette, Mary Jane, Danielle, Michael…” and more. So many love objects & tchotchkes of affection!
I have my favorite humans living with me, and reminders of those who have come and gone, reminding me of a vast love.
Share in the comments an everyday object that’s making your tail wag these days. I want to see, we want to see.
Love this whole thing…. Especially your dessert plate 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
I love the idea of identifying the things I treasure, for personal or quirky reasons. Yours are lovely. I have a cookie tin in blues, often keep pistachios in it. I also refuse to capitalize covid (because it's obscene). I am thinking about items for mother's day, father's day, and some birthdays. Your writing is so easy to read to the end.