Five things I can’t live without
By Christa TerryEveryone has that short list of items they’d take with them to that hypothetical desert island that comes up now and again in conversation. Much of the time, those things special to us wouldn’t be of much use to us on that island (what good is a Kitchenaid mixer without electricity?) but we’d haul them along with us anyway. Human being are kind of like magpies that way, and more power to us. I think that our ability to imbue inanimate objects with emotional value is fascinating.
Here’s my list, which I put together just now. I didn’t let myself think too much about my choices because I wanted to see where my impulses would take me.
1. I try to keep an unending supply of petit fours in my pantry. Sometimes I buy ’em, and sometimes I make ’em from scratch. You don’t want to run into me on the street when I’ve run out. Little cakes…they are my crack.
2. My collection of Russian khokhloma kitchenware is important to me because it represents a connection to my heritage. Well, part of my heritage seeing as that I’m what one might not-so-politely call a mutt. In more courteous conversation I hail from “mixed ancestry.”
3. I always admired my grandparents’ collection of masks from different parts of the world, and now I have all sorts of masks of my own. Why do I like creepy faces hanging inside my house but hate the creepy faces hanging outside of other people’s houses? I’m going to guess it’s because mine are culturally relevant. I do worry that they’re going to scare the hell out of my kids someday!
4. My red Oreck upright rocks my socks — it was a hand-me-down from my grandparents, and thank goodness for that. Vacuums are way more expensive than I assumed they’d be back before I ever had a floor of my own to keep clean.
5. As annoying and yucky and mean as they can be, I adore my my quatro of cats. Did you think I was going to say “the litter box?” Having living beings around is, in some way, invigorating, if only because I find myself chasing them around the house with the spritz bottle.
I guess at my core I am a crazy, cake-eating cat-lady neat-freak who has a weakness for other cultures. Now tell me, what are the five things that you wouldn’t want to live without? And what does your list say about you?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Petit fours!?! I love you!! That’s awesome, and I’d love some day to show up at someone’s house, and when they offer me a snack, a plate of darling little cakes show up.
I think about this question from time to time (generally during an insomnia session at 3am on a Wednesday). I’ve realized I’m just too fickle. But, as of today, here’s what I’d take:
1. books. I almost don’t care what – as long as there are several. I re-read most of the books I own, and enjoy many genres. Plus, it just seems natural to have a book while lying on a beach.
2. nail kit. This is less vanity and more about staying healthy. I *need* to clip my cuticles. Otherwise they get dry and cracked (yes, even with cuticle oil) and then I pick at them, and then they peel, and I pull, they tear, I bleed, and voila: infection. SO – if I clip, then I’m healthy. Plus my tootsies stay beach worthy. 🙂
3. cheese. Be it from cow, goat, or sheep- hard, soft, creamy, sharp, mild, whatever. I need it. Don’t judge.
4. crayons (or markers or pencils – whatever). When I feel crafty but not creative, I color. I can’t draw, and I’m not great at creating images out of whole cloth, but I love putting colors together, making patterns, blending, shading.
5. socks. When you need them – you need them. Nothing else will do.
What does this say about me? Well, since it’s not 3am on a Wednesday, but 2:40pm on a Friday, I think it says that I’ve mentally checked out of work for the day, and should go home. 🙂
Thanks for the great post, NtB!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
“Nothing else will do.”
I cannot argue with that! 😉
April 18th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
1. Books, preferably fiction by somebody British from the 19th or early 20th century.
2. My two harps, because though I don’t practice as much as I should, it is wonderful when I do play and they are beautiful pieces of furniture when not in use.
3. Teapot and teacup. I don’t much care what kind; I just really like tea. It wakes me up in the morning and calms me down at night, warms in the winter and cools in the summer.
4. Toast with butter and jam. This is one of my favorite snacks. It goes well with the tea.
5. A soft pillow in a pretty pillowcase. A girl has to have somewhere to lay her head.
I think this list shows that I am essentially a homebody who would be quite happy to spend days on the sofa with a never-ending supply of tea, toast, and British novels, making occasional excursions over to the harp when I felt the need for music. Unfortunately, I usually only get to do that when I’m sick, which takes the fun out of it.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
You have TWO harps, JaneC? I am completely jealous, as I have exactly NO harps at all!
April 18th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
This really is a lot harder than it looks. Or maybe I’m just remarkably indecisive for such an opinionated person. I’m guessing it’s a Door Number 2 thing.
Anyway, I have made a list and decided I like it for the nonce, so here it is:
1: my Emile Henry bakeware. I may not have an oven, but once I figure out how to make one out of palm fronds and cocoanut shells, I’ll be all set for pie making. This is vital to me.
2: My lacemaking equipment. If I have a pillow, bobbins, some thread, a few pins and some patterns, I can entertain myself for a very long time…and make fancy curtains for my awesome seashell hut!
3: The complete works of Anthony Trollope. With that much verbiage to read through, I won’t get bored in a hurry. And maybe Jane C and I can work out a lending library scheme from our neighboring islands.
4: My collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figures. Having that many Buffys and Giles’ around me weilding lots of swords, stakes, and a chainsaw will make me feel safer in a very silly way.
5: My glorious Steven Overstreet velvet gown, because even on her own, sometimes a girl’s just got to look her most glamorous.
NtB, it was a very close thing between my action figures and my collection of masks, I’ll have you know. In particular, I’m already missing my Guatamalan one of the striped smiling face with the yoked pair of oxen coming out where the nose should be. It’s one of my favorite possessions. I think I need to go visit it now.
Ask me tomorrow, and the entire list might change, but this was what I came up with right now.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Well, we’re talking items, not people, so I suppose my husband can’t be added to the list. But he’d be my first choice. Boiling it down to plain items, though, I’d say the following:
1. A gigantic supply of lip balm. Having dry lips drives me to utter distraction.
2. My fiddle. Like JaneC, I don’t practice as often as I should, but it’s a beautiful instrument, and it makes me happy when I do play it.
3. De-frizzing serum. ‘Nuff said.
4. Homemade bread and real butter (I know they’re two items, but they go together, so I’m grouping them.)
5. My sleigh bed. It’s my happy place.
Geez, I should just bring my husband into my sleigh bed for a nighttime snack of homemade bread and real butter. But I don’t know if I could handle that much joy.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
1. Without a doubt my feline orca boys Merry & Pippin.
2. My classic movie collection and the “miraculously working on an undiscovered island” DVD player. (Casablanca, Rear Window, anything Vincent Price, or B rated Sci Fi, etc…what is life without?)
3. A great blankey and pillow.
4. Music, any and all except most Hip Hop & gangsta rap, Blue Grass where they sing (instrumental can be fun), and Sousa Marches (too militant) and again the “miraculously working without charging” MP3 player & speakers.
5. A fabulous multi-purpose moisturizer with SPF 50….
April 21st, 2008 at 6:36 am
Wow..this is hard and others have tic’d off some of mine, but here goes:
(I assume, like the others, that I get to bring the DH along)
1) My fiddle. Like La Petite, I am a slacker, but if I am on an island, I will need something to entertain myself and DH, so the fiddle it is(and, if La Petite and I somehow meet up, we can play together – what’s your “cherse” — Cape Breton or Scandinavian).
2) Selected items from my fabric stash. I can’t take it all – at the moment, it is filling a 15×15 foot area in my barn in Rubbermaid coffins. But, I would take some of it …along with my pins, needles, a heavy supply of threads, two pairs of scissors, a stone to sharpen them with and my pin cushion. I’m not going to bother with patterns – I’ll just have to wing it..all the clothing will probably end up looking like kimonos in any case.
3) My Jane Austen and Bronte collection. Totally worthless in terms of any knowledge which could help us survive in the wilderness, but you need something to keep you from going nuts.
4) My aluminum Dutch Oven and lid. I can make anything in that, including baking bread. On my honeymoon, with no access to a shower, we used it to bathe. I’d also take: My large slotted spoon, my heavy duty spatula, some knives and forks, and my heavy duty cleaver, chopping board, and paring knives. If I’m going to have to live off the land and sea, I’m going to need something to cut things up with.
5) My Eureka tent. It sleeps five, so if we get any visitors, we’re all set.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I think mine would be something like: a giant cooler for a water container, an axe, flint and steel, a length of good rope and a solid tent. Then again, I just got married and am overloaded with -stuff- and don’t know what to do with it all (I’m thinking a deserted island actually sounds nice and uncomplicated), and I just starting watching the TV show Lost…