For me home means sanctuary, togetherness, laughter and good times. As I admitted in my previous post Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow, the camera on my phone isn’t terribly good but since it’s always in my pocket I’m able to snap some interesting moments around the home. For example the photo below:

It's a hard life, eh!

It is said that the kitchen is the heart of the home but our house has 2 hearts, the kitchen and the living room. Our sofas are incredibly comfy and just beg you to lean back and sink into them. I’m not sure how our  new dog, Ben, managed to wriggle himself into such a strange position, his legs were thrust up against the back of the sofa. He was fast asleep at the time! We got him from a rescue home and he’s the first dog we’ve ever had that snores!

He’s the kind of dog that lives life at a 100 miles an hour! Always interested in what everyone is doing, sniffing, playing, running about. He has amazing facial expressions too! If someone is washing the dishes he sits and watches with a slight frown on his face, puzzled or just fascinated by the smell of the suds or the clink of plates.

Another photo which captures my feelings on the subject of Home is about our chalk board in the kitchen. We spend a lot of time sat around the kitchen table, talking, eating and laughing. We love the traditional English breakfast so it’s important that when we run out of something it is added to the list so we don’t miss it come Sunday.

Sunday breakfast smells are the best!

The smell of the bacon and sausages under the grill, the eggs and mushrooms frying away…heavenly! In winter the kitchen is warm and cosy, the cold weather can stay firmly outside and we bathe in the aroma of  tasty food. Due to some freakish way the house was designed the kitchen is always cool in summer so the back door is thrown open and we sit around the table outside.

When the neighbours are cooking the smell drifts over the fence and invades our kitchen, it feels like an act of cruelty or a taunt so we reply by whipping up a cooked breakfast or fire up the barbecue and send our own mouth-watering smells wafting to the next neighbour along! I like to picture this knock on effect running through the houses in our street, with each home in turn cooking, eating and chatting around their own kitchen tables.

The subject of Home reminds me of an old post I wrote in December 2009: Turkey, Tinsel and Narcoleptic Dog Legs! It was about the hectic and fun time of preparing Christmas dinner for a large gathering of family and friends. I remember when I read this out and my best friend (we spent Christmas at her parents house) had tears in her eyes when I finished reading. I’ve just read through that post and found myself smiling, it’s quite a short one but I’m really proud of how it encapsulates the home and the importance of spending quality time with family and friends.