"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Sunday, April 29, 2018

A worn out, metal tub has been hanging against

the outside wall of my vintage shop for years. No longer useful,
or so I thought..........but full of rustic patina. 

This week, I have noticed a large billed bird........who 
always sings a lovely song........
flying in and out of this worn out container. 
After she flew off for a few moments.......I took a closer
look .....to find that she has stuffed it  very full of twigs and sticks
and  has made herself a comfy nest.
She reminds me so much of how I felt about
our little house in town when we were first married.
It was on a corner lot..........on a busy street that 
growled and grumbled all day.........and all night
with traffic and scary neighborhood noises.
It was in an "extreme fixer up" state with 
much needed attention......which we never seemed to 
have enough money, enough time and never enough know how 
to be able to fix.
Still.........it was our first home.........and 
all of our children spent a large part of their childhood
there. 
The floors were crawled on,  ran on, stomped on, and spilt on.
The worn out screen door was slammed in times of hurriedness,
in times of stormy weather and in times of upset.
The walls heard our laughter.......our worries, our prayers.


As worn out as it was...........with a little stick here,
and a little fluff there..........
it was home.
We had a happy, sweet life in it. 
When we moved out here to our country home
I felt as if we were abandoning an old friend when
we left the little house on the corner lot in town.
How about you?
What was your first home like?
I would love to hear!

16 comments:

Lady Jane said...

Such a heartwarming post. Isnt cool how a bird in a an old wash tin can remind us of long ago wonders. Hugs, lj

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

I love this, Kathleen! Our first home was an apartment and I was glad to see the back of it! We used to walk in this neighborhood and dream of having our own little home here, and we do! We've lived in this little comfy home for over thirty years, and we love it.

Isn't it fun that we can take things that no one else values very much and find uses for them! I love that bird nest wash tub!!!

Hill Top Post said...

This may be my favorite of all your wonderful posts here at Eggs in my Pocket. Only you would think to compare the old rusty tub home of a bird to your own first home. Having grown up in the 50s I was well acquainted with our own old screen door. I so love your words, "The worn out screen door was slammed in times of hurriedness, in times of stormy weather and in times of upset. The walls heard our laughter...our worries, our prayers."

Granny Marigold said...

Our first home was an apartment in a converted Bible school. ( Somehow that seems rather a strange sentence when I reread it). It had 10 ft high ceilings and was just a block from the bank where I worked. We only had one vehicle so that was very convenient for me and I could even walk home for lunch.

I wonder what kind of bird it is that has built its nest in your washtub. I'm quite sure we don't have them here.

Have a great week. I'm so happy to turn the calendar page to MAY.

Debra said...

This is a very beautiful post. You filled my heart.

Sally said...

Kathleen! A wonderful story of your home where the children ran and played. I can't really say that I remember our very first home as we moved around the country a lot with Dad being in the Navy. I do remember though; when I was ten and the first house was bought in Jacksonville. It was tiny by today's standards, but we loved it and made good memories there.

The bird and nest - that's so great. The tub reminds me of the one on the back porch of our grandmother's house where we took baths as children when visiting. I was always thinking that someone could have been looking through all those windows. :)

xoxo

Prims By The Water said...

I left my home of many years and left my many flower gardens behind and moved to a smaller house near the river. It was a trade off, but I love it all the same! Janice So glad a feathered friend found a home in your metal tub. Janice

happyone said...

What a great home that little bird made there. : )

letslearnembroidery said...

My first home was a shophouse.My late father had a shop.It was a 2 story building where the upper floor was our home and it was situated in the middle of a busy town.All those years, I yearned for a house in the countryside. Now, I'm glad that dream has come true. No more car honking, only the sounds of birds, chickens and animals, enjoying peacocks' dances in their natural habitats. What more can I ask for?

lil red hen said...

We moved into our first home on a cold December day, with only a small gas stove to heat the large room. There was no bathroom, and my new husband had built a cabinet of sorts from rough lumber for the kitchen. I thought I'd freeze and I still don't like to think of living there. When my husband got his first teaching job the next spring we moved into the upstairs rooms in an old house above an old lady. He hated it! Two or three more moves, three little girls, and we built the house we live in now. It is 50 years old this summer.

I love the little bird and her industrious work of building a nest in the tub. It sounds like she's a wren.

Connie said...

Kathleen, I love this post. How wonderful that that bird made a home out of that old metal tub. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it. :)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

What a wonderful reuse of that old tub, Kathleen. Hope it provides enough shelter for the bird and family. My first home was at my parents in NJ and I too have memories of good times there. The house was smallish, but never seemed too confining when I was growing up and we only had a single bathroom on the 2nd floor compared to today's homes with multiple bathrooms on various levels. I can recall my first apt which was a second floor walk-up. It was small, but cozy and my own place as well.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

That is a smart bird, and a neat old tub. I would have left it there also. You have great memories of your first home...I can barely remember my first home (married), but I do know it has been torn down now and is an empty lot. Our second home was much larger (at least to us) but we soon grew tired of neighbors on all sides and longed for the country life. We've been out here since then and love it.

A Colorful World said...

What a sweet post. Love the bird making the most of the worn out tub! And how we often do so ourselves when we have to make do for a while. A home can be a place where the heart resides, even if it isn't a fancy place in the world.

Janet, said...

Hi Kathleen. It's been a while since I've been over here. Loved your post and the mama bird and her home. They will make nests in some of the most unique places sometimes. They made a nest under the hood of my son's pickup truck one year. Our first home was a small (but brand-spanking new apartment). We lived there for 2 years until we had our house built on a little acre in the country - and we haven't moved since.

Pam said...

Oh my gosh...I love the look of the worn out tub but I so love that the bird made it his home! Beautiful pic. Be great B&W and framed.