Pure.....

Nothing more pure than a single tulip...beauty in its purest form...

"I hide myself within my flower,

That wearing on your breast,

You, unsuspecting, wear me too --

And angels know the rest.

I hide myself within my flower,

That, fading from your vase,

You, upsuspecting, feel for me

Almost a loneliness."

- Emily Dickinson

Heidi

Garden table needs your help.....

We have a young family living next to us since last summer. They have two extremely playful girls while we have no children and are used to quiet. As they use the front garden a great deal to eat and play, we moved our bench to the back garden since we will no long sit out front. This combined with our rocking chairs created a nice outdoor living room area after moving our table and chairs which normally sit here to the back terrace which was a coffee corner. You can read about here on my old blog.

Last week, we were able to get some brand new pallets from someone we know. He was going to take them to the dump so told us to take them away. I (okay...this is actually to be read as Jos to do it for me...grins) wanted to make a table top to put on the wooden blocks we have.

Jos first set the pallet upside down and sawed the middle sections away. These pieces were used later on for the ends of the finished table. He then saw away a section in the length of the pallet so that four boards remained. Two of the three boards were sawed separately and nailed to the side of the pallet with the two short boards added to the two ends. Because the block in the middle section is still in tact (you see it next to the saw in the top right photo), the blocks sit snugly into the table top to support it.

But here is where I need your help! Does anyone have a tip on how to age fresh wood fast? I looked it up and read that you soak steel wool in vinegar overnight then dilute with water and rub into the wood. Jos does not think this sounds like a logical way to darken and age the wood. The furniture is already aged to silver grey over the years. Anyone have good advice on what we should do?

I am so looking forward to using this area now that spring is finally going to start. It is will be fun to be creative as I plan on trying to crochet some seating cushions for my rocking chairs from hemp string. I also see a quilt laid out on the table. *sigh* Bring on the good weather.....

Heidi

April snow-showers.....

At first, we opened the curtains on Easter Sunday and wondered if it was Christmas...

Enjoying breakfast while watching the snowflakes fall...

A light lunch taking a break...

...from painting the cottage. Jos was pretending to be a graffiti artist. We had a nice long weekend at the cottage and needed to get the room done. Next chance we get for a long weekend again will be used to paint the ceilings.

But Dagi spent his long Easter weekend doing what he does best...catnapping...

Easter dinner was light. We had carpaccio kababs with steamed broccoli and a green salad...

Back home and I was baking cookies as a surprise for Jos as it was our 26th wedding anniversary...

I tried a new recipe for these chocolate chip and walnut cookies. They are really good and I learned a few tricks to getting a more tasty cookie...

And back home.....Dagi is still catnapping but he says thanks for the sweet comments on the last post. Since he has grown old, he has started sleeping in very unusual ways. Sometimes his paws are hanging over the couch of him and sometimes he sleeps with them laying out in front of him.

Heidi