The Hostess of the Humble Bungalow started it. She posted her kitchen sink view here. Then Mette joined in, from Finland, here.
How much time do we all spend at our sinks? We wash a lot of grapes and spin a lot of salads. How many pots get filled for pasta? And when did noodles turn into pasta, I’d like to know? While we’re at it, why did nobody tell me that granite counters would break a lot of dishes on their way to the dishwasher?
I’ve owned this house, one way or another, for going on 25 years. I used to hate being hugged at the sink. I felt pushed, unbalanced. Perhaps my center of gravity has changed. I know for certain that when we age our skin thins. The back of my hands now chafes under too much hot water so I keep a bottle of lotion in the cupboard.
Here’s what doesn’t change. I wish it were as easy to get things dry as it is to get them wet.
So, my view. First, in May. Early, early summer, early morning. Roses just planted, window screen in place, Northern California marine layer in full gray force. I don’t mind the overcast, that’s what keeps our days so temperate.
And today. Exeunt peach roses against the fence, enter sunflowers.
They volunteered, sprouting of their own accord. Seen from the kitchen sink, quite tame. Up close, well, fiercer. Have no fear, they’re still domesticated. It’s just a kitchen garden, and despite the saurian aspect, those are just tall flowers.
Reminds me of a children’s book, one in which common household objects open up and land you in another world. Narnia of course, first and foremost, In The Night Kitchen another. We don’t always know right away what parts of our lives may loom large and mythic, later.
And your sink?
41 Responses
I dream of a view like that!
I’ll join you and post pictures too!
Beautiful view… and that sunflower is amazing! xo
Your garden is lovely and the sunflowers are so happy!
A wonderful view , it is a delight.
I spend as little time at my sink as possible, and do keep the wonderful Super Hand Cream from Restoration Hardware right on the rim! The Rosemary Lavender scent is light and lovely!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
That’s a lovely view you have to keep you company while washing dishes.
Sunflowers always make me smile.
What a beautiful view, there is nothing but the walls and a horrible bit of stained glass for me to look at, hence the constant baking – it pretties up the dullest room.
Breathtaking and beautiful sunflowers!
Volunteers you say? The birds must have dropped some seeds early in the season.
It’s funny how men like to hug us when we have our hands submerged in soapy water!
Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack is a book that really scared my children.
Thank you very much for participating!
Good afternoon from New Orleans!
What a lovely view! And the sunflowers are just breathtaking. Wh wouldn’t want to look upon that every day?
Enjoy your weekend…
Warmly,
Elizabeth
I have no window over my kitchen sink. Instead I have a photo of sunflowers growing on Kauai.
What a delightful view you have,sweet garden.
My view is similar to Metscan’s.
Is that lavender bushes I can just spot? Ida
Le Sigh. Yours is the kitchen window view I long for. Roses! Veggies! Sunflowers! My own kitchen sink window looks out upon an uncovered cement “patio” where the garbage cans are stashed as well as the overflow flotsam and jetsam that won’t fit into the garage. I tend to spend as little time as possible looking out that window while still playfully puttering around in my kitchen.
So you have all that beauty in front of you, when you are at your kitchen sink? Oh, so unfair. Maybe if I had something like that at our place, I might spend a bit more time in the kitchen, not working, but watching outside ;)!
What a nice view! In the previous house we rented, the view from the kitchen was like a scene from a Capability Brown landscape. Sigh… I spent a lot of time just meditating upon the view. The house we live in now is built on a cut in a hillside. The view is literally the cut in the hillside.
Your view is beautiful. I’m afraid mine shows a tiny yard, a bit worse for the wear from my nine month old puppies exuberant play. Oh well, maybe I can plant some flowers next summer.
your view is gorgeous- mine isn’t! Sad re the awol barrister, might he have died?
What a lovely view you have .. I will take a pic of my current view which has been the same for two years now and make you laugh .. Next year it will be pretty.. the one from my Laundry room where I iron is ..slightly better at the moment .. although not a lot .. Living on a building site xx
Lisa, That is a delightful view! Alas I have no window.
The first thing I see is my pair of cottage-y windows themselves, which wind open like a good book. Then I see my wild garden around the perimeter of my yard, bordered by, yes, a white wooden picket fence. I painted it myself, picket by picket, before our carpenter built it. And, happily, I see my children playing in the yard shooting soccer balls or sliding and swinging. There may be a large golden retriever involved as well.
I bought my house just for the view from the kitchen sink! Looks over my two apple trees and two seasonal flower beds surrounded by pine trees. It is like living in a tree house in the woods and a four-season delight. Thanks for reminding me to be grateful for it! I love, love your posts.
hi lisa,
what a beautiful view. it looks like the kitchen garden from a small restaurant. i can just see you out there snipping fresh herbs and tomatoes for a salad.
I love your view and that last image of the sunflower is just beautiful!
xo Mary Jo
When we first moved into our current house (12 years ago) I was so enthralled with the view from my kitchen window (fruit trees, lovely green lawn, vines, arbor) that when washing dishes, I neglected to notice a yellow jacket in my glass. Yes, I was bitten (stung? whatever, it hurt). So, be careful with wonderful kitchen views.
Alas, there’s no view from my sink, but that is one of the very few complaints I could make about my new (very old) cottage…..
Now I’m off to read more of your blog!
There’s nothing better than being able to ‘be outside’ while doing the dishes…especially when there’s gorgeous flowers such as your to look at! And my goodness…the large blooming hedge in the distance behind your sunflowers is amazing…it wasn’t blooming in your May picture but seems very happy now…it’s quite stunning! I’d say your Narnia would keep me at the kitchen sink very happily!
xo J~
You have an interesting and pretty view from your kitchen. I do not have a view but I love my kitchen(s) and yes, granite is hard on dishes and crystal.
Helenxx
What a beautiful view, Lisa. I can imagine you standing there… I think I’ll post my view this week sometime. I’ll let you know.
Have a good day,
Lori
http://www.lorimayinteriors.com/blog
My kitchen windown looks out at the deck. My husband goes out and leaves the chairs all at odd angles, and just doesn’t understand why it bothers me.
If I’m going to look out then I want the scene to be peaceful. I know my yard isn’t perfect, but I want the window view to be orderly.
What a lovely garden! But I’m rethinking my plan to grow my granddaughter a sunflower playhouse one of these years — those are the flowers of nightmares, at least in your photograph! I do love to see them through the autumn, with birds weighting them down, pecking the seeds out one by one.
The kitchen window of the house where I grew up overlooked the back yard. Sometimes my Dad would spray my Mom with the garden hose through the window and we would fall apart laughing. We thought it was the funniest thing EVER! Luckily Mom is a good sport.
Now, I have a window that overlooks an old-growth jungle where kittehs stalk anything that moves and racoons chitter from the boughs.
I am reminded of when I lived in an apartment that had no window in the kitchen. I missed one so desperately that I made one. I framed out a window, complete with sill and panes, and found a lovely poster with a view of a beach – a sailboat in the distance and beachgrass in the foreground, which I place beneath the cellophane “glass”. After I mounted it over the sink, I put a votive candle on one end of the sill and a budvase of Sweetpeas at the other end, and a small pot of a faux beachgrass-like plant on the counter near the corner of my window to pull the image into the room. It worked so well that I made another “window” for my cubicle at work.
Marcela – Oh good! Send Hostess your link, she’ll put it up on her blog:).
The Daily Connoisseur – Why thatn you!
Candy – Thank you so much. Perhaps the sunflowers are glad I didn’t yank them out:).
Karena – Oh thanks for the recommendation. I will give it a shot.
Susan – Yes, I just love the chance to gaze. Thank you.
Tabitha – Ha! I can only imagine your “bit” of stained glass.
Hostess – My pleasure. Thanks for the inspiration.
Elizabeth – New Orleans! That’s like a whole host of sunflowers every day, no?
Pamela – What a wonderful confluence. Thanks for the image.
Ida – Yes. Hosts of them. The older, small bushes ran out of juice, and the replanted ones turned out to be a much larger variety. I kind of like the exuberance.
beautiful dreamer – How nice of you to say that. You need my energetic best friend to come over with some big strong people who can bash out the cement and replace it with sunflowers:).
Mette – Ha:). It helps, I confess.
J.W. Thank you. Capability Brown? Sigh indeed.
DocP – Thank you. But puppies! Yay for cute puppies!
FF – You, however, have nice curtains. I have none. About the Barrister, I hadn’t thought of that but I imagine it’s possible. That is sad.
Sandra – Thank you. High compliment.
Miss Cavendish – Oh wonderful. Beautiful.
Latha – Thank you so much. Your view sounds just beautiful. I know I always choose places to live based on the possible vistas.
Ruth – Prelude to glory, construction, right?
Janet – I snip herbs, or yank them when I’m impatient. This year the tomatoes are recalcitrant, lettuce flourishes. Win some, lose some. There is nothing more fun than eating produce still warm from your own sun. By the way, you and I should meet up some day, some how, no?
Mary Jo – Oh thank you:).
mary anne – Ha! I’d be entranced by vines and arbor too.
rachel – Welcome! A new old cottage sounds wonderful.
Jessica – You noticed the flowering hedge! Yes, it’s gone crazy:). Thank you.
Helen – Thank you. How many wine glasses we have broken:).
Lori – I look forward to it.
RoseAG – Systems engineer ’til the end!
Mater – I think this is just some alien creature housing itself in a sunflower. I hope they are not always so scary:).
Patsy – So now we know where you got your sense of humor. Sounds like a wonderful family.
Lara – The power of arts and crafts. “Now, I have a window that overlooks an old-growth jungle where kittehs stalk anything that moves and racoons chitter from the boughs.” Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!
I adore the views from your window. So lovely and happy. I love sunflowers at a distance. Up close, as in that photo, they do appear to be something out of Sendak. Or perhaps he is onto something, the hidden menace in the every day. As adults it is easy to forget how a universe of new experiences can exist in a simple back yard.
I’ve posted my own view. Thank you for the opportunity to reflect.
Lately your marine layers have been ours. I used my seat warmers this morning in my car at 6:30. Unheard of for summer. I often stand at my sink and appreciate how beautiful is it outside although I rarely take a moment to sit out there and enjoy. I should do that more often – be a participant more than a spectator in my own yard. I think perhaps your yard was calling to me to enjoy that beautiful sunflower. It just beckons one to play.
Hi Lisa
What a beautiful view from your kitchen window. I look over a garden as well, in Surrey, England. I have lived in many places and have to say my little corner of the world is one of my favourite kitchen window views. I imagine you stand with a cup of coffee or tea in hand thinking about life’s possibilities, it’s a great feeling!
Hope you are having a lovely summer!
Jeanne xxx
We have a large expanse of over-sized windows in our kitchen by the dining area as well as a skylight and sliding doors to the deck. In the summer the green of the back yard – the grass and the varied tree varieties seem to come indoors. We have lots of four legged visitors, cats, deer, little red foxes and the most amazing variety of birds. Wanting to bring the outside in my walls are Ben Moore’s Leaf Green paint. I have a desk but sadly it stares blankly at the wall ahead of it. As does my sink. The ugly faux crackle tile stares back at me. So uninspiring. Fluorescent light above. I spend much too much time at my sink to stare at such nothingness… One day I will have a Sink with a View!
it’s not yet 7:00 am… how many times did I a version of the word “vary” above… oy!
Lovely to get a two-season view from your window. No sunflowers up here this year – I guess the birds are eating other seeds – so I’ll enjoy yours.
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