Status Updates From One Fine Day

Everything had its tradition, its story. The past, which in the Herriots' house was pressed like a dry butterfly between the glass of Edwardian photograph frames, could be seen here as something living which did not stop abruptly, but went on, stretching out to the present, on into the future. (p. 105)

He looked at her amiably, as though she were a nice sofa. (p. 47)