Saturday, April 16, 2011

Leaf Chronicle Article for April 15th

Forgot to post this on Monday!

 

The outdoor entertaining season is getting close—I’d venture to say that for the Kings, it’s here.

Darren has been busy mulching the flower beds and I’ve been busy making plans for plants I’d like to add. My folks are coming for a visit next week, so I’ve given them a wish list of transplants I’d like to have from their gardens. I am currently enjoying the Lenten Rose my parents gave me the first year we moved into our house. They are strong performers every year and it makes me smile to know they’re transplants from my parents’ yard. I’ve requested some of the Queen Fern this year.

Regardless of which plants are growing in the garden, we will gladly begin the annual process of cleaning the patio furniture and pulling-out the cushions and pillows from storage in anticipation of friendly gatherings around the fire pit.

july 2010 friends & family 195

At this time of year, I have to resist the urge to add more stuff to the patio. As it stands, we have a sofa, a glider, two rockers, two Adirondack chairs and an iron mesh table with four matching chair. You would think that is plenty of seating, but inevitably we have to pull-out extra chairs to seat everyone. I love the metal chairs that were popular in the 50s. I know they are making reproductions of those chairs, but I prefer finding old chairs with chippy paint. Ooh, the need for more chairs is heating-up . . . I might be able to squeeze another two chairs in—somewhere.

Tables are another matter. We definitely need more tables. There are never enough surfaces for drinks and food. I’ve got the metal base of a table I found two years ago. It has been waiting for me to find the perfect replacement top so it can be put back in useful service again. I have to consider it will sit outside in the elements, so that has limited my options. Sure, I could just have a piece of glass cut for it, but that’s too obvious. I considered using a window, but water would pool on it, which would severely limit the lifespan of that surface. I’ve considered making a mosaic tile top using all of our broken plates (which would help me justify the fact that I keep all of our broken china), but that is a time intensive project. I had another idea, but it escapes me at the moment. I guess I should just get the glass cut and be done with it!

Apparently, they decided to end it right there.    So I’ve taken the part they cut and it’ll be part of next week’s article.  In the meantime, if you’ve got any clever ideas for replace tabletops—please let me know!

Thanks for your indulgence!

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3 comments:

ShabbyInTheCity said...

A granite piece is what I put on my old sewing machine table base. I see them leaning up against some building in Clarksville just that size too...now where was it...

PJay said...

I've been thinking lately that mosaics with big pieces of broken limestone or ceramic floor tiles would make a nice, elegant surface for a lot of things. And it would be fairly quick since the pieces would be large.

Paige Thomas King said...

Shabby--are thinking of those pieces at the back of ReStore? I've looked at them, but they're not moving me. (I think they'e a dark red.) I'll look again, because something needs to be done before Darren just loads the dang thing onto the next dump-bound trailer!
PJay--the lomestone idea is a good idea--even if I could just piece four tiles together! Yo may be onto something!
Thanks for the ideas!

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