Glutton for punishment, me: I've been back on the screen porch with :::::gasp!::::: the electric drill. Yeah, stand back everyone and keep your hands inside the windows. Okay, it wasn't that bad. Really. I was kinda playing, to be perfectly honest. You can blame it on the teapot.
Teapot? Well, have you ever found something that Spoke To You and that said Inspiration with a capital i? I've got one of those: it's a ratty old much-used and slightly abused teapot that I found at the Bay St. Louis Goodwill about 30 years ago. I saw it and just fell in love because it made stories in my head. Or I could be more adult about it and say that "excited my imagination." Whatever.
It's nothing fancy really: Porcelier Vitreous Hand Dec. China Made in USA. It was made in the late 1930's or thereabouts. You can easily find a perfectly good whole one on eBay for under $60 (closer to $25 if you shop carefully). But I paid only about 50 cents for mine, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's a squatty round thing decorated in blue and brown with geese flying over cattails. Mine has got a fairly decent crack at the base and someone has replaced the lid with one that doesn't match at all (although the color is similar enough) but that almost fits. The lid was broken in two at some point but someone cared to repair it; just like someone cared enough to find a lid for the teapot so that it could still serve its purpose.
These days, people too easily toss what isn't perfect or even what they just don't like. We waste casually and carelessly. But whoever previously owned this teapot was willing to use what they had and they did their best to make things whole. This odd teapot was obviously a thing of real value to someone. That's what I admire. That's what makes stories in my head. And now it's something of great value to me.
Back in the day, lots of people came from the big cities--New Orleans or Memphis or Jackson--to vacation on the Gulf Coast, believing it was cooler near the water. Bay St. Louis was a great place for that and some folks set up "camps"--summer homes, cabins, or cottages. They'd bring extra stuff, slightly worn, from home--things that were still functional but might not be fancy anymore, things that you wouldn't necessarily want to show to guests but that were fine in a more relaxed atmosphere. This teapot kinda feels like that, and I like to believe that it was from someone's camp. I love the idea of an old camp house from the earlier parts of the 1900's And that makes stories in my head, too.
When I finally let go of the porch furniture that I didn't like (although my mother loved it) at my yard sale last week, it freed up a lot of space. I realized that I had to let it go because I have a peculiar habit that is much more usually common to cats than humans: when something seems like poo, I cover it up. It's unconscious really. I just do it without realizing. For a number of years, I kept covering that table and chairs over, over and over again. If you look at the second picture in this post, you'll see what I mean--you can just barely discern the corner of a green-painted chair somewhere under the blue bubblewrap bundle. Yeah, poo. It had to go.....so I sold a cast iron table, two chairs (one damaged badly), and bench for a grand total of $10. And I'm not even sorry.
When I hung up that drying pole and shelf yesterday, I went back in memory to a Bay St. Louis camp house where I went to a yard sale once. It felt like a comfortable and comforting place. Things there were well-used and re-used and repaired. I remember how someone had turned an old chifforobe into a cedar closet by literally building it into a wall in the garage. And I thought that was incredibly cool. I just love stuff like that. In my heart, my very fondest wish is to do things that way. In reality, I simply can't because I lack strength, skills, and assistance.
But there are still some things I can do. That's why I meditated on my teapot. Ohhhhhmmmm! (Well, not really, but I was thinking about it.) And I began to envision a sort of camp cottage atmosphere for my porch. There's still yard sale stuff out there that didn't sell and that I haven't put away yet, so I started to play. There was a little dressing table that has seen better days that I put in one corner--I can kinda see using that as a place to keep seedlings, and that's something I've been wanting. I found a little shelf to put on the table, and some pretty plant pots, too, and a nifty candle stand for light. I am so pleased that this stuff didn't sell because that means I've got "toys" to play with!
Things may or may not stay where I've got them but that's okay because on the other side of the porch, I've got big plastic storage boxes for packing materials--not very camp-like but necessary. Life is full of checks and balances, and it's always in flux. I just want to see if I can find that camp house atmosphere, and I think that maybe I can.
Here's the big deal idea: I've been thinking about putting a daybed sort of thing on the porch. It's really humid all year here in South Mississippi, so a mattress won't exactly work (think nasty mold) but if I found a metal daybed, I could use an old door (I have several) for making a seat.....yeah, the imagination is working overtime now. I'm seriously gonna advertise on FreeCycle. Possibly nothing will happen because the local FreeCycle is really dead but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Might as well try.
And, oh yeah, I mentioned the electric drill: I used it to hang up an old handmade corner shelf. Looks like maybe it was a school project--you know the kind of thing they used to make as a Gift for Mom or whatever. That didn't sell either. I thought I could maybe put some plants there, too. And maybe one of the broken teapots that also didn't sell.....at the end of the day, there is a good reason for the way things work out. I believe that because I pray for things to happen the way they should, and I know God answers.
I like the way things are shaping up. This is probably gonna take awhile. But that's okay, too. In the meantime, I'm gonna just keep saying my prayers for the right stuff to show up when I need it.
Life is good.
Be inspired!
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