The Estate Sale Diaries- An Addendum

In my last Diary , I failed to mention some of the furniture that I am seeing these days. Particularly the dining room tables and chairs. I admit I have a blind spot when it comes to the out sized and the wooden. I go for the "smalls"-the pots, pans, paintings, linens I can carry away without a dolly and fit inside the cab of my truck.

I live in a small apartment that lacks only a sofa. There is only so much more I can fit in, though a few more bookcases would be welcome. And as for that sofa, the daybed I used as a substitute is on my porch ,where it has been taken over by a family of once homeless black cats-

I have been to a few dinner parties over the years where I sat in dining rooms, but most of my 62 years worth of meals have been a kitchen tables. The one I sit at now is a peculiar thing with a heavy blue plastic (and uneven) top that I keep covered with round tablecloths. Since I am now a bohemian/hermit semi-retired semi-professional, it suits me well. My dining room,just off my dime- sized galley kitchen is quarter- sized. Had I the money to buy a real dining room set, such as the one I saw at the sale on Friday, the dogs and I would have to move out if it moved in.

Perhaps it is the scale of the houses we build these days, that we need fifteen foot tables with ten chairs. And giant chairs, on a scale that would shock a Shaker. Nothing delicate, or simple, or restrained. Dark wood with big seats for even the biggest behinds. A style I would have to call "Viking Funeral Banquet".

Perhaps this is a regional taste, suited to the homes of Nashville's ostentatious and striving to be ostentatious suburbs where there is new money and questionable taste. People who live in houses as large as their corporate headquarters may have a blighted sense of proportion.

As for me, I will always sit at little tables, and when I dine on an ordinary evening, I will only see three small empty cafe chairs, unless the beagle is sitting on one of them. Cozy and everyday ,and better than a table used only over the holidays and secretly by the maid for her morning coffee.