I added a red refrigerator and stove to match the kitchen’s vintage red Formica countertops, and a lifetime’s worth of art and ephemera, from artwork by my parents and friends to artifacts, textiles, and natural oddities collected on various travels. There are unnatural oddities, too. For example, I have a weakness for cheap Japanese plushy cushions, my favorite being a huge pink peach that, when viewed from a certain angle, morphs unmistakably into a huge pink ass. It is also evident that I favor crocodiles and alligators in any form, though if you asked me why, I couldn’t say. One thing is certain: We are a very long way from “form follows function.” Fortunately, at least to my eye, the house absorbed my proclivity for both the ridiculous and the sublime with grace. Helen was right. It is a good house, and it has welcomed me, perhaps recognizing in me a madness that in some way matches its own.
