My beautiful sister Laura presented a box of bottles she'd collected for me during my visit to NY to take care of my other sister's family while she was in Cape Cod. God, that was a mouth full! Yes, a whole big box of bottles! Above are two of my favorites. I didn't fly the box home when I returned to CA because I didn't trust the airline to gently embrace them. Instead, I sent them via USPS. Cost about 30 bucks!!! Yes, it was a BIG box. They arrived safely and I've cherished each and every one over the past five years.
A few weeks ago a kitty knocked the blue bottle off the shelf in the kitchen. It broke when it hit the porcelain sink. It didn't stand a chance against the sink. I couldn't throw it away. I kept it on the counter. All broken. I threw it away today. Reluctantly. It's funny what you hold on to for dear life. XO
4 comments:
Suzy, it is funny, isn't it? My entire family is the same way.
But here's an idea--this is what I do when I or someone else in the family breaks a plate or anything of glass that we love: We keep the pieces, and use them for an ongoing mosaic in the ground upstate. We embed the pieces (if you're really ambitious, you can grind down the sharpest edges beforehand) in patterns, as we go, and it's becoming a beautiful patchwork.
Leah, that's a wonderful idea. I'm going to share it with my brothers, sisters and mom because I know they'd love to start a similar project. I've always saved every plate or ceramic piece that's broken over the years to incorporate into a mosaic piece I plan to create...eventually. I have bins filled to the top. No joke after "Ohno!!!", but I never thought of glass and I never considered the ground as a canvas. I love that idea.
You know, even before reading this I was thinking about the blue bottle as I was waking this morning. Obviously I feel very guilty throwing away something my sister worked so hard to dig (you know how old homes in the north east have amazing bottles buried in the soil). She worked on "my box" for well over a decade, finding, cleaning, wrapping perfect little treasures, and when she presented them to me we cried. We unwrapped every one, chatted, had tea and shortbread cookies, laughed, wrapped them for shipping and just had the most wonderful day. Then we went outside and picked armloads of pink peonies for the house and tucked one in the little blue bottle to take back to my other sisters house. The blue bottle means the world to me because it was our favorite. I tucked it in my bag and carried it on the plane. That's why it was so hard to throw away. You know what I'm going to do, don't you? Yup, I'm going to rummage through the trash and find it. That's going to be really nasty, but worth it. I think I can salvage about half the bottle, so I'm going to visit Michael's tomorrow and buy a bottle cutting kit.
Your house always reminds me of Laur's old house in Red Hook. She lived for years in an 1800's home in town with a huge fireplace in the kitchen. It was a warm, gentle house and when I walked in for the first time it was as if I'd stepped into a beautiful B&B. So charming. My sister has a way of making a space absolutely gorgeous. Even the bathroom! I remember sitting there thinking, "This is the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen!" And it was tiny, only about 10'x 8' with a sloping ceiling. If you didn't duck you'd hit your head on the way to the toilet. NO, I'm not kidding! It's still my favorite bathroom, ever!!! And it wasn't fancy, no bling, just comforting and oh so beautiful. She even had little soaps you could abscond with!!! No, I didn't!!!
Thank honey for commenting and for the brilliant idea. I'll let you know what my family thinks after I tell them.
Love you so,
Moi XO
I love bottles too. I'm sorry your lovely blue one broke. I've been known to hang on to broken things too, for too long. But Leah had some genius ideas there! You can also create a gorgeous mosaic backsplash for your kitchen sink, with lovely pieces of china dishes, along with your colored glass. Those kitties! Always making decorating decisions for us that we might not agree with!
Also, you may not have the bottle anymore, but you have that precious memory of your sister presenting the box to you. You remember every single detail of that day, and what you did. That's more precious than any "thing". Sometimes, it really is the thought that counts, and not the gift, even if you love the gift.
When are you going to give me your email address? Mine is may466krm@gmail.com.
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