~ Meredith ~
Wooden Bowls
In the old days ships would sometimes arrive in port without cargo, carrying nothing but ballast stones in the hold. Without those stones — collected at random from the last port where cargo had been unloaded — the ship would be too buoyant, too unstable to sail safely. When in port the crew would make room for new cargo by removing the ballast stones, dumping them in a pile called the ‘world hill.’ Stones collected in the port of Dún Laoghaire in Ireland might be dumped in Le Havre in France. Stones from Le Havre could end up in Ceuta in Spain. Every major port had its own world hill, its own ballast mound.
The kitchen is my world hill. There you can find wooden bowls made in Brasil, a paella pan from Spain, thin white porcelain cups from Istanbul, a garlic press bought in a little shop in Napoli, a santoku knife from Japan. The kitchen serves as my ballast mound. It gives me what I need to keep my life on an even keel. Like any port it can be rowdy, and it’s not entirely immune to storms, but for the most part my kitchen is a haven of still water.
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