Thanks to all of you who left me comments, I appreciate you! Thanks to all of you who wrote me an email letting me know you are watching too. I have "lurkers" - how encouraging!A few of you know about the gazebo, but for those who don't, or asked, here's the story of how I got my title for this blog.
Several years ago I was with a couple of sweet friends who are former co-workers. (Hi Kathy and Jill...it's been awhile!) We try to get together from time to time to catch up on each other's lives. Usually this involves breakfast or lunch, some shopping and on occasion, uncontrolled giggles. Never MY fault, it's just what happens when you hang out with this younger generation!
After our meal, we went to The Secret Garden, a wonderful outdoor shop that features various types of birdbaths, fountains, statuary and other unique objects for your home and garden. I had been there before and enjoyed bringing various friends to enjoy looking around. Here's the link if you are interested in a virtual tour:
http://www.secretgardenwaynesville.com/We walked around the grounds for a few moments pointing out cute little concrete animals, clever signs and bird feeders and then I saw it. It was wonderful, it was rusty and it was just for me. It was also enormous.
Most people think of a gazebo as a wooden structure with a solid top on it and seats in it. This was half a gazebo made of wrought iron and there wasn't any place on it that you couldn't see through and it had no seats. It was perfect. It was expensive. I bought it.
The owners of The Secret Garden, Bart and Debbie, are friendly and so hard-working. They personally took the gazebo apart, delivered it to my house and re-assembled it for me.
In the weeks that followed, I painted the gazebo white, put a couple of my old-fashioned metal lawn chairs and a wrought iron table in it. I hung four hanging baskets with red and white cascading petunias in them and sat back and just looked at it...from the swing on my deck. It was glorious.
At this point I must tell you that my favorite outdoor perch is my swing with a canopy over it. So, while nobody ever really sits in the gazebo for lack of shade, (unless you count the doves that sit on it's top or the bunny who sits under the chairs), it is my favorite thing to look at and dream on.
The beautiful paint job that I did failed and it truly is a rusty gazebo now! I would love to have it repainted and powder-coated by a professional, but that's not in the budget just yet.
The name just seemed to fit here as it is just fun thing to have, a bit of
whimsy, not necessary, but hopefully a pleasant place to come and sit for a little bit!
As you can see by the photo of the gazebo in Winter, it's rather nondescript and plain. After the weather warms up and I get some pots planted and hung, it will be rather pretty there. My friend Pat thought so!
Welcome to The Rusty Gazebo!
