Kerri snuggled closely to me on the ride out to the farm, partially, I knew, in order to stay warm; but also because of the bond which was forming between us.Kerri snuggled closely to me on the ride out to the farm, partially, I knew, in order to stay warm; but also because of the bond which was forming between us. She had never seen my home before, and as we drove down the old rutted-out driveway I was grateful that her first view of it would come while it was clad in the fairy-land adornments of the newly fallen snow. The fire burned brightly in the over-sized old fireplace, giving the large remodeled great-room a welcoming warmth. As I helped Kerri remove her coat I saw her looking around the room at the rather unusual decorating style I had chosen, partly out of necessity and partly out of desire. To the left of the fireplace and against the same wall stood an oak roll-top desk which had been used for years in my grandfather's insurance office. It was litered with typical desk type clutter, the only unusual addition being several rolled up sections of vegetable tanned leather which I suppose must have been resting there temporarily on their way to my workshop where they were supposed to reside. In the corner stood a burgundy leather wing chair and matching ottoman, the back of the chair scratched and torn by the claws of an over-zealous Brittany Spaniel pup named Ticket who was never as good at finding birds as he was at finding household items to destroy. A ten dollar salvation-army-find table was next to the wing chair, graced by a two hundred dollar brass lamp which shed its light over an assortment of essentials (?) which included harness needles of varying sizes, some scraps of sewing thread, a can of Mink Oil, a leaning stack of old magazines and the cover to the smoke detector which would be reinstalled whenever the owner of the house got around to buying a new battery to replace the one that had so rudely gone bad. Taking up most of the end wall, and looked down on by a dusty but still attractive old indian blanket which effectively covered the cracked plaster in the wall behind it, was a long wooden table of unknown origin and original purpose. In the center of the table, in stark contrast to the old table and indian blanket was a very modern computer system and the unavoidable collection of shiny plastic boxes full of computer discs. |