Another Man's Trash....

'What's that?', it's a totally ligitamint question, but I can't tell you exactly.... a giant wind chime, a tin can curtain, rain collectors that I hung upside down????  I can tell you that it took two years of soaking tin cans before I was satisfied with their amount of rust.... and that my children love clanking them.

I'm not surprised with the large amount of raised eyebrows and shoulder shrugs they receive.... to each their own.... right?  I have to admit that often my line is blurred between what is trash and what is treasure.  This is especially true when it comes to items that adorn my yard.  Why throw it away when I can find a way to reuse it.  An old trunk can serve as a plant stand.  A bunch of found broken concrete if arrange just right, can make a curvy rustic pathway.  And old bricks are truly special, they each have a story, so often we find them on our hikes and walks, and they really aren't too awkward to carry when I have a perfect spot for them in the garden. 

Most of my outdoor decorating is skeptically received.  More than once I've had to defended my Saturday morning yard sale finds to Monte.  He claims that he just eventually gives in, but I think he likes having an outdoor sink.

And most summer days he'll opt for showering with wind in his hair (?) and peeping birds at his feet.

He grumbled when I begged him to let me keep the cool old sun stamped metal shower floor.  I promised him that one day I would be able to reuse it.  It was a negotiation, the postponement on the completion of our second bathroom that had already sat stale for six months, for one outdoor shower.  So after six years, I was finally able to pull my old shower floor from it's hiding spot in the garage.

Another year later and the postponement is still in effect, but I do have a great seasonal second shower, and really it wasn't much of a compromise.

On our ten year wedding anniversary, the year symbolized by both aluminum and tin, I found Monte a couple of cool old aluminum street signs, I paid a few dollars a piece for.  Do you want to know what Monte spent on my 10 year anniversary present?  Nothing, it came from the dirt, literally, found it while at work that day.  An old rusty tin paint can, with a transplanted mountain columbine flower planted inside, it was.....  perfectly beautiful.  It only took 10 years, but he finally figured me out.   

It's not only his gifted rusty tin paint can, but also old tool boxes, rusted out watering cans, broken enamel washing bins, even an old milking container gets a second life in the garden.  I think just about anything looks great filled with something green and growing.  I can't decide if I buy plants to fill the excessive amount of rusty containers I have, or do I collect rusty old containers to house the excessive amount of plants I buy.  Either way it's best if I avoid junk yards and nurseries all together.

I was on a mission, I needed just one six pack of pansies for the small planter the boys had painted for their grandmother for Mother's day.  Mission accomplished, I had my pansies.   Maybe I'll just take a look around on my way to checkout.....wait.... is that a distressed plant rack??? 

 
Mission failed.... another battle lost.... but how could I resist at only a dollar or two a piece, and I have just the right planter to put them in.

I worked at a frantic pace filling each recycled planter.  I knew I should have been making dinner, or helping children with homework, but I had evidence to get rid of, and the children were far more pleasant playing outside then grudgingly doing work sheets in the house.  By the time Monte pulled into the driveway, I was shoving the last pansy in his mothers painted planter gift.  He didn't suspect a thing, and really I'd done him a favor, I usually ask for my flower pots, in both the pottery and rubbish variety, to be filled for Mother's day.  I'd just given him a huge head start.  I gave a sigh of relief as he manuvuered past me making his way into the house.

I peacefully walked around the yard, admiring my trashy treasures and all of my hard work, and then it hit me, like a ton of my own old, chipped, recycled pile of bricks....  sure maybe our style is drastically different, and my 'yard art' isn't in pink flamingo form.... but it's true what they say.... I'd already cursed her this morning for her gift of a crooked front tooth, and my nose, is it getting bigger?  And now this.... proof that everyday I become a little more like my mother.  But for today.... I've decided.... that being more like my mother is a good thing.  Happy Mother's Day Mom!

"All women become like their mothers.  That is their tragedy.  

No man does.  That is his."   -Oscar Wilde