Twice-Loved

Came into possession of these lovely sidewalk saves – table, chair, picture frame – and have just the spot in mind down at The Blueberry Muffin. I’m thinking sea and sand and blue skies and beach glass. The color is ‘jute’. Perfect. I like it. And so I paint – keep in mind I’m painting something old to make it look new. So now it looks new, I sand the edges to make it look old again. And I stain it to make it look older still. Then I wax it. Then I buff it.

Three hours later I have brand new old furniture I don’t like – it’s called distressed – and tomorrow I’m back to painting it to make it look new again. Go figure!

A sidewalk save that’s going to cost way too much in paint.

Distressed is not something to aim for, I’m thinking!

Wabi-sabi.

Twice-loved.

Found this afghan in the Blueberry Muffin. It looked a little bedraggled but I took it home and washed it out – twice! Some one put a lot of work into putting this together  and it’s a shame not to repair it. It needs just a couple squares fixed up and a little resewing of the individual pieces here and there.

I think I can mend it myself. I did a little crochet years and years ago. Thing is, I don’t have any wool so I’m on the hunt for wool scraps. Don’t need a lot. Can you help me out?

I’m going to fix it up and leave it at the Muffin for the next owners. When you live near the ocean and that winter wind howls at your door, you can’t have too many blankies!

Made a trip into the big town of Gander today to visit kiddo at the pinball arcade ‘hospital’. What a job he’s doing restoring all these beautiful old machines. Needless to say I hung around for a couple games.

They’d look great in Max’s Diner. He just finished it last week. All he needs to do now is put Grammy in that pink convertible!

Yesterday I passed the three Ronnies on the road, walking along – all by themselves. I pulled over and they came running. “Hello Gram.” Hugs and kisses all round ’cause that’s the kind of crowd we are.

“Where you guys headed?”

“R and J Restaurant.”

Now it’s beyond me to figure out what goes on in the mind of a child. Why you would head off to the restaurant without a penny to your name is indeed puzzling; however, they seemed happy enough and the oldest had a phone to stay in touch with Momma. The middle guy proudly informed me he was wearing just a hoodie, no winter coat, and Little Bear was so excited he was skipping all over the place in his sneakers – no boots – but with a ‘two sizes too big’ toque pulled way down over his wee ears. Anyway, I gave them twenty dollars which doubled the excitement (they were actually going to a restaurant with money now!!) and told them to call me when they got there.

Three little waifs, my comic trio.

Then I went home and sat on pins and needles, just able to restrain myself from driving up and down the road, because that’s what Grammys everywhere do when the cubs go off on an adventure.

Finally they called. They had placed their order: Clubhouse dinner, Santa Fe wrap and a gumdrop muffin. ( I had been thinking along the lines of three small orders of fries!)

I laughed. “What? You don’t have enough for that!” I was hardly out the door when they called back. Momma was on her way to the rescue so I could go back home. Which I did. I’ve been chuckling to myself ever since. Oh to be a child and travel through this world so innocently yet so supremely confident in all you do.

That said, methinks a math lesson is in order.

Helping #1 Son at the Blueberry Muffin today. My job? Well, let’s just say you know you’re at the bottom of the construction crew heap when your job is to pull staples. Kiddo wants smooth beams when he puts up the new ceiling and walls and today I pulled hundreds and hundreds of staples I’m sure!

Booooring, boring work! So to amuse myself I imagined all the ‘rooms’ this little basement room could be. It can’t be a bedroom because there’s no egress – big shot construction type word for no way out – but oh the promise in this little 8 X 12 tuck-away. May the madness and chaos of a happy little family run rampant upstairs, but this little room, this little oasis of peace – this could be anything!

My scrapbook/card making room – my messy desk, my stamps and my paper could find a happy home here.

My sewing machines, the old Singer and the new, all my beautiful fabrics and colourful threads and allllll those almost done, just need a little free time, projects!

My reading room … So many books, so little time!

My teeny tiny bar where I can sip on wine, turn up the music and dance like a wild child!

My TV room, with a big wall size tv, overly large fat and comfy chairs, oodles of movies for the grandkids, a few tearjerkers and the odd thriller for me! Popcorn friendly floor! Small fridge in the corner. Six pack of ‘coke in a glass bottle’ chilled especially for Gram.

My music room, a place to go practice piano without too much offending anyone’s delicate ears. (I’ve only recently started playing after a 45 year break and as of yet I’m even offending my own ears!) Drums for the boys!

The Game Room with pinball machines and arcade games and X box this or that and bionic arms and well, I’m not so up on the game part though I do like to play the occasional pinball machine.

sigh…. What a wonderful project this would have been ten, twenty, thirty, heck even forty years ago, as part of a couple. Building a home, rather than a house. Not quite sure why we want these great big houses that suck up our paycheques in maintenance, property taxes and insurance. And that dreaded electric bill our provincial government keeps warning us will double…triple? a couple years down the road.

I almost want to keep the Blueberry Muffin myself!

But not the staple pulling job. Which reminds me …  almost got fired today.  I made a quick call to a friend and we chatted it up a few minutes, then down he comes over the stairs. “Mom, in future can you restrict personal calls to your break time please?” My son, the comic!

Another piece of furniture rescued and restored. And I actually found a home for this one. I know it looks pretty rough, but unlike a lot of today’s cheap furniture, this is actually made of wood!

Today is Easter Sunday and many, many families today will pause, give thanks, and count their blessings.

Geography dictated that we gather together yesterday. We couldn’t all make it. But sixteen was a good representation.

We had a fabulous afternoon and an equally fabulous supper! But no pictures!

Nothing but meagre leftovers …..  Because everyone took something home ….. My only picture to prove it ever happened! Eleven beautiful colourful delicious salads. Baked ham and a deboned stuffed turkey. Now there’s art!

But it did happen.  And it was fun…. and the three Ronnies made sure we were happily entertained.

Happy Easter to my beautiful family!

I had my first two wheel bike when I was ten. I bought it myself – or at least in partnership with my brother. We had both saved our money and were the proud owners of a $ 7.00 second hand bike. I can’t  remember much else about that bike – my brother probably used it more than me – but that I had saved and purchased it myself is a strong memory. It was obviously an important purchase as here I am fifty years later still proud of that first bike and how I obtained it.

Yesterday I dropped in on #1 son who was working on the Blueberry Muffin, and there, in the middle of chaos, was a little red tricycle. It was destined for the dump because, according to him, he couldn’t find anyone who’d take it. He’d messaged a couple people, but no thanks.

It hurts to see good stuff like this end up in the landfill, we are a ‘stuff’ people, and I am as bad as the worst, but unfortunately, we don’t care for OR keep our stuff. Too many of us don’t even try to recycle. So I bought the little red cycle home and cleaned it up. I put it on Facebook. It’s yours if you like, free for the taking. Surely someone can give the little red bike a home!

Update:   Two days later …  The little red tricycle is gone. Yayyyy!

I painted stars in the sky last night. For you. Your constellation. It was quite dreadful actually. “Nightmare on Elm Street,”  I told Jackie. But such fun! You would have said it was lovely.

The event was hosted by Earth and Sky Healing Gallery as a fundraiser to support local initiatives targeted at creating mental health awareness.

It was nice to see so many participants. No doubt we all had our reasons for being there and our own stories to tell, but there was no bitterness last night, no sadness, no tears – just laughter and a sense of accomplishment as we surprised ourselves with what we could do.

Sarah was the artist in residence and she was so kind – like a kindergarten teacher – telling us all how beautiful our work was. And we beamed beneath her gentle praise. There were several teachers there. I hope they practice the same in their own classrooms with their own students. Words have such power.

194 Durrell Street, Twillingate

The boys were getting rambunctious. They’d been outside all day playing with their Dad but I could see a spat brewing and to give their Dad a break, I offered ice-cream. We all piled into the car and at the last minute, Dad jumped in too which sort of surprised me as I thought he’d appreciate the breather.

So we went for ice-cream and a drive around town. And then we stopped and bought a house.

Yep. “Stop!” He yelled. And I did. And there she was, The Blueberry Muffin, a little blue house that looked only a shade better than a pile of planks ready for the dump. We all jumped out and clambered up over a rickety set of stairs to peek in the windows.

But as bad as she looked, we had lucked in. Built as a home, not as a house, the muffin was very well made – solid – nothing slapped up here! In no time, with the help of a very good friend, the little house became what I call The Blueberry Muffin – new windows, siding, shingles as well as front and back decks.

Both lack of time and funds called a halt to the project, but we are ready to start again and in the next month we hope to get the wiring and plumbing completed. Then the fun begins. This little house is once again becoming a home!

Twice loved!!