Austin Toaf Rica

Archive for October, 2009

when a granddaughter comes to visit, out come the little table and chairs and tiny tea sets. Yellow gingham with pink toilet draped over window and bed make the room seem fairy- tale-like too.
Guest rooms are a work in progress. I used to wonder what to do with all the books I’d collected over the years. Now, when a guest arrives, I pull those I imagine my guest will enjoy and stash them around the room for browsing: Cute volumes of stories for grandmothers. Motivational themes for go-getters. Gardening books, beauty and health magazines, and home design catalogs for girlfriends. I tuck these away in a basket on the floor or poise them on a shelf or bedside table. Photograph or coffee-table books especially make a pleasant exit to the day for a tired traveler.
A small table in a corner of the room can become sacred space when you leave a candle with matches to light it alongside a personal note of welcome. Some small icon from your natural habitat makes it an altar where your guest can be reminded that good things come from God and where thanks can be given.For my home, that might be a pretty pine cone, a vase of tall grasses, or a bouquet of red and black volcanic stones. It doesn’t have to be colorful; it just needs to be a token of the holy sense of place where you live.