At Home with Madam Chic

This is the perfect picture for Mother’s Day.  And it charmingly touches upon my infatuation with ballet as Mother is wearing toe shoes.  I assume the silky pink footwear illustrates that she is executing arabesques in her daily round which includes washing hose and darning argyle socks.

These days I am not at home much and I miss it terribly.  There is no time right now to plant cheery annuals in containers for the terrace or make blueberry crumble, my favorite springtime dessert.  And not much time for reading either.  When I can dip into a book, it is late at night and only for a few moments.  More often than not, I am reaching for Jennifer L. Scott’s book, At Home with Madam Chic.

Although I don’t know Jennifer, she did ask me to review the galley of At Home with Madam Chic before the book was published last fall but I wasn’t able to pick it up in earnest until now.  It is providing me with soothing inspirational bedtime reading – like a comforting lullaby.  Jennifer is much younger than I, but she writes with a refreshing wisdom beyond her years – I like her very much.  I am guessing that when she isn’t giving TED talks and conducting book signings, she lives a quiet life that includes homecaring in the tradition of the French family she resided with during her Paris study years – the ones with Madam Chic at the helm.  I love the tips in her book about meal planning and firing up the slow cooker, her recipes, and accompanying music recommendations.  It all makes being at home seem so tranquil to me as I run hither and yon and beyond. 

Jennifer’s solution for troubles is to find inner peace in the inner sanctum of home doing a myriad of ordinary daily tasks – like washing windows and organizing drawers and cupboards.  She urges us to create a pause in the middle of our at-home-days to include a warming cup of tea and she tells us that orchids are really elegant flowers to cultivate for the house.

I wish I had time for plants and cookery but to every time there is a season and this is my season to be busy outside the house.  But it doesn’t mean I don’t long to be like Madam Chic, and have fresh flowers, symphonic music, and an organized junk drawer.  For now, I will look for contentment in Jennifer’s gentle guidance and advice about living a chic and happy life at home.