What began as ten minutes cleaning one pantry shelf became a reminder that sometimes the things we think we've lost are simply waiting behind everything we've accumulated around them.
©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2026
Waiting There for You
Oil on Canvas SOLD by Laurie Pace
Ten Minutes in the Pantry
I told myself I would spend ten minutes cleaning out one pantry shelf.
Twenty-five minutes later, I had discovered two bags of organic flour that expired in 2024, dehydrated blueberries I don't remember ordering, four containers of baking soda, crackers missing since last March, and an unopened bottle of lemon juice—also from 2024.
Out they went.
There wasn't a single expired can. It was simply one overcrowded shelf where little things had disappeared behind other little things.
When I finished, I stood there thinking:
There. I can see what I have again.
Then the morning made its point twice.
I found this screenshot of an older painting in one of my computer folders. I know I painted it, probably sometime between 2018 and 2022. I cannot remember its title, and I haven't yet found the original photograph.
It isn't really lost.
It is simply waiting behind other things.
Maybe our lives need a little pantry cleaning occasionally—not just our cupboards, but our computers, studios, thoughts and memories.
Sometimes ten minutes becomes twenty-five.
Sometimes we throw away the flour.
— Laurie Pace | Elle Pace
SEO / Blogger labels
Laurie Pace, Elle Pace, Ten Minutes in the Pantry, Threads of Grace, artist blog, life reflections, creative life, finding forgotten things, rediscovered art, original paintings, artist life, organizing life, memories, everyday inspiration, art and life, Texas artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
Comments