Listography - What makes your house a home?

The things that make my house a home are Mr. H and our two beautiful girls, the love and happiness we share as a family, knowing we have each other, our health and that's all that matters. Are you vomiting yet?? Well of course all those things make a house a home. They're the obvious answers, but I don't need to make you all sick by blabbing on about it.

So I am going to share with you the little things we have/do to make our house a home.

1. Vintage odds and ends.

I bought these vintage wooden knitting needles on ebay yonks ago, then finally found the perfect jars for them last week.

This is my grand-father's old fly box, and I still have his first fishing bag.

2. Freshly picked flowers from the garden.

3. A garden. My parents are landscape gardners who inherited their green thumbs from their parents, and their parents' parents, and so on. I like to think I too have inherited that green thumb. I love gardening. I believe it heals your soul. Mr. H believes it tortures his soul. This, he says, is due to the fact that I always seem to dive head first into a new project in the garden without fully thinking it through. As a result, I then need Mr. H's help with aspects beyond my capabilities. Poor Mr. H! But don't worry. He enjoys, as much as I do, the results. Especially at this time of year when everything is bursting with life and colour. And then his soul is healed. See? Told you.

All my ajugas are flowering and buzzing with bees.

4. Furniture with a story. We have some special pieces that have been handed down to us, and they each have their own history. My Mum used to sit at our dining table as a little girl to do School of the Air (distance education for isolated kids). In the fifties, lessons were conducted via two-way radio.

An older cousin of my grandmother's left me her oak writing desk. Whilst Mum and I were cleaning out its contents we came across some letters written by my great-grandfather from the trenches in France during World War I. We found other treasures too, but those letters were extraordinary.

A pair of club chairs used to belong to Mr. H's grandfather. Mr. H likes to point out they are made from high quality vinyl. High quality vinyl?? I then point out to Mr. H that this is just a fancy shmancy way of saying they are not made out of leather.

My favourite piece is my paternal grandmother's dressing table. It was given to me after my grandfather died. When it arrived to me, I found the scarves my grandmother wore to bed to keep her hair in place in one of the drawers. They still smell of her.

5. Yummy smells from the kitchen. I spend a good part of each day in the kitchen, more so now that I have a new one (have I mentioned that before??) The smell of whatever's cooking or baking fills the house. Now I know I'm no Donna or Nigella, but I like to fancy I am. I cooked these on Sunday, white chocolate and orange muffins courtesy of Nigella.

Very yummy, if I say so myself!

Mother Porridge is hosting Kate's listography this week, so pop on over to get some more homey tips from fellow bloggers and make new friends while you're at it.