Trestle Table Restoration

     Husband and I bought this table about thirty-five years ago. We were newly-weds with very little expendable income and had been eating off of a borrowed card table for several months. At that time, Grandpa Pigeon's had a limited inventory of  furniture and we found an unfinished trestle table (of very good quality) and four ladder back chairs with rush seats (of not so good quality). I stained and sealed the table to match the chairs and was very pleased with the look

     Twenty-five years later, the table top was showing quite a bit of wear, so I resurfaced it. (Grown up son, Mike, feigned disappointment that his math problems from second grade were no longer etched in the finish). The chairs, still in very good shape but not exactly comfortable, were relegated to the basement and we bought six beautiful new ones in matching oak. 

     This autumn, I thought briefly about replacing the table because the top was again showing wear and the legs had multiple puppy teeth scars. Instead, I decided that the table just needed some new life so I spent almost two weeks stripping, sanding, priming, staining, painting and sealing. I love the new contemporary look for my old friend!

Jack-be-Little Twins

     Here is the sum total of my pumpkin harvest - won't make a very big pie, will it?! Jokes aside, the little guys are appropriately named "Jack-be-Little"  and they were actually a bonus because I did not buy seeds to plant. A Halloween decoration that was overlooked in late fall cleanup, overwintered in a flower pot, rotted under a blanket of fallen leaves, and self-seeded in the rich potting soil. I transplanted a couple of the strongest seedlings into a sunny corner of the yard but they did not thrive in the early summer due to a prolonged spell of cool wet weather. In August, finally, the heat and sunshine established precedence, the vines grew sturdier  and a few yellow blossoms appeared.

     Moments like this make me thankful that I do not have to depend on my garden harvest to survive!

Late Summer Color

     Sometimes one has to look close for color at the end of summer - after weeks of  hot, dry days have sucked the vibrancy out of many flowers and leaves, and before the cool, shorter days create the brilliance of autumn foliage. Case in point are these gingerland caladiums and accent red impatiens that have thrived in a shady area of the back yard. A small shrub of rosemary is potted in front of the flowerbed and contributes a silvery green (and a lovely fragrance.)

     Three pots flank the open porch in one of the rare sunny spots available in the back yard. Black Pearl Peppers grow there and the pretty spheres are a shiny black-purple, soon to ripen into a deep red. Even the purplish green leaves are attractive.