Tuesday, December 17, 2013

It was -2 F this morning. Did I tell you about the summer table?

It was -2 F this morning. That is about -19 C. Cold. Not super duper cold, I know, but cold. Lovely white snow, still fresh. Crusting over just a bit now, because of the good sunshine yesterday, but dry powder underneath. Sara will not go in it - as it is too deep for her - I think it probably puts a strain on her bad knee. Klinger is ok with it, but he has long enough legs. After a while, he isn't so happy in it, I think his webbed toes don't like the crunchy snow, and I also think it is cold for his feet when he isn't moving.

Did I tell you about the summer table? Notice the seque to a non-winter topic? It has a nice snowy top now. But here, let me show you what it looked like this summer.

There are two stories in this photo. I got the tiles in the give-and-take at the transfer station. Free. Too few to do a house project with. Nice tiles. So, I bought a bag of concrete and mixed it up. Then I laid some plastic down and used some cardboard scraps to make a mold. Put the tiles in the mold, and poured a little sand in between them. Pour in the concrete and tamp it down, and voila, I have a table top. A bit rustic, but perfect for an outdoor table.

The "happy" cup - isn't it marvelous? Just looking at all those (hand painted!) decorations and the joy in them is enough to make me a bit happy! And, it says, on the handle: "Thank You! Thank You!". I got it, for free, at the give-and-take.  Obviously a gift to someone in lieu of a thank you note. If it had been given to me, I would not have been able to bear parting with it. But, also obviously, for whatever reason, someone did not feel the same way. Perhaps there is more of a story there, who knows? It brings me a little sunshine when I use it, so there ya go - something good from it.

That same day, while photographing the table, I had a small visitor.
The photo quality is not the best - it is a phone photo. But, he sure was a pretty fella.