Finally...

We are finally moving forward. I got a call from the pool company late yesterday afternoon telling me they would be here this Friday to begin draining the approximately 38,000 gals. of water from my pool and then reconstruction would start on Saturday...and then came those two fatal words..."weather permitting". Oh well, we shall see. At least now a plan is beginning to come together.

Thought while I was still wondering what the weather may turn out to be today that I would take you into the late summer kitchen. The sunflower theme is still here but also a bit more of the Mediterranean as well. I know I have said it before but I am in love with big urns, olive jars, crocks and all sorts of other chippy pottery. I love this time of the year because I can really bring out a lot of them and they make a bit more sense. While I "fool" myself into thinking that my family room has me living in the Hamptons now, the kitchen and dining room are making me think I'm in Tuscany. Lol! I'm easy to fool! Most of what you see is either from PB or Southern Living at Home.

This is one of the places that I just popped in those extra sunflowers I found myself walking around with. I am nothing if not weirdly symmetrical. When I first put this Southern Living pitcher here (flower-less), I knew it somehow felt "wrong" but I was on a mission so I chose not to dwell on it. But then, later in the day when I just desperately needed a "place" to home the extra flowers, this all came together in my mind's eye. The flowers added just a bit more height and all was right with the world! A happy accident...serendipity!  Can't you just see that pitcher in the middle of a table in "Under the Tuscan Sun"?

So that is the kitchen for this year. I can't wait to get to the store tomorrow and bring home several bouquets of the real deal sunflowers! One will go right here next to my pig and one will go on the table next to "my" chair in the family room.

Thought I would share another one of those "give it to Nana-she can fix anything" moments...except that this one was for me and I kind of felt like MacGyver.

Since I go on and on about how much I love my crocks, it truly pains me when something happens to one, two three of them. I have been having quite a time with my eyes of late and my depth perception seems to be suffering. I have literally cracked two of them putting them down too hard. In both cases, I was able to run a bead of epoxy on the inside of the crack and, if I am really, really careful-and, since these are only used for decoration-save the piece from breaking any further.

The third piece was different. I guess I carried it by its handle on the last go round-and, apparently that was not meant to be done. This is a PB piece and one of my favorites so when I went to put it out and saw that the handle had basically ripped out of the side, I was sad. And there was really no way to display it that the flaw wasn't visible.

And so, figuring it couldn't get any worse, I decided to have a go at it. The handles were actually screwed into the pottery. The screw had pulled out as well as a hunk of the ceramic...but, there was something left in the hole so there was no way it could just be tightened back.

I tried to think of several fixes but ended up bringing out my trusty Dremel and using the tiniest drill bit to clear out as much as I could. Because the ripped out "stuff" made the holes too big, I decided to fill them with epoxy. I gave the epoxy enough time to sort of set but still be soft enough for me to tighten the screws back in. The epoxy gave them something to grip on to. Then I got out my trusty duct tape.

And then I waited 24 hours. When I pulled off the tape, the handles were attached but still not as tightly as they had started...but, the epoxy wasn't completely cured either since it was under the tape. And so, I have put on my "patient" persona-not always easy for me-and have gone back every few hours and just given the screws a 1/4 turn. As the epoxy gets harder and harder, the handle is being drawn closer and closer to the pot and the break is almost invisible now...might just be time to quit! Now I just need to remind myself never to lift by the handles again! You will see the new and improved rendition of the pot when we head to the dining room.

I am off to get ready for an afternoon with daughter #3 and her family...should be fun. I'll be back soon. Stay tuned.