Green Wellies

All in the family...

All in the family
Originally uploaded by Green Wellies

I've told this story before, but when my brother and I were young and summered in New Brunswick, we'd pick the black seeds from the base of the leaves on my grandmother's tiger lilies and throw them at each other. Nanan would come to the old screen door and yell (in a nice grandmotherly way) at us to leave her tigers alone. The minute the screen door slammed, my brother would be at it again, chasing me all around the garden. Years ago, my dad brought some of the lilies home and planted them at the cottage where they flourished. More years passed and then my sister got some from the cottage and planted them in her BC garden. When I moved west, she gave some to me. For a couple of years, they struggled. The very first bloom I got was when I returned from my dad's funeral in New Brunswick four summers ago. Now there are my Nanan's tiger lilies everywhere...flowers with family roots.

Everything looks better against the freshly painted walls

Everything looks better against the freshly painted walls
Originally uploaded by Green Wellies

The back room was the only place in my cottage that had old dark 60's wood panelling. The task of moving a huge old bookcase with hundreds of children's books on the shelves, pulling the computer desk with what seemed like hundreds of wires out from the corner and knowing I'd be climbing over furniture for days seemed daunting, so I procrastinated for years! Finally, I just went for it. The panelling took three coats of paint to cover, but I kept going.
Now I just love how everything stands out and can hold its own against the white walls. The teak bookcase, the old hickory chair and even the typeset tray seemed lost against the dark panelling. If I can find an A block at the thrift store to complete Aethan's name on the top of the tray, I'll be done!