Is started with a red wire French cafe barstool that I found in my old mother's crowded kitchen back in Alabama. It and a faded red chid's stool were the first pieces of furniture I brought out to Mrs. Hill. Before that I only had a collection of old damaged kitchen chairs and a formica topped table that were in the house when I bought it.
One day I grabbed a pair of slip on shoes from my closet to wear out there and only when I arrived did I realize they were part of the growing red theme. As I cleared out the house, red things would appear. A large shard of red glass as big as my palm, a partial set of home encyclopedias from 1956 bound in red, I even found an unopened package of red plastic picnic plates covered in years of dust on a shelf in the pantry. A friend's castoffs included a red plastic hummingbird feeder shaped like a wine bottle and a frosted red bottle for holding fragrant oil. Lynn gifted me with his truck while on his travels - it was red, too
I admit that I contributed to it, I bought a red wheelbarrow. It was the smallest and least expensive and just what I needed. I bought a red trashcan to use for cleaning up construction. My only choices at Ace Hardware were black and red. I brought a red string hammock back from Mexico. I bought red plastic Andirondak chairs, a red trashcan for the kitchen and a red dish rack. It just so happened that the best roto-tiller that I could afford was red and the only color the shop-vac came in was red. The old bath towels I'd been saving for 30 years were red, too, as was the 1950s vintage plastic pitcher in its original box that I had been saving as long. I didn't know then what it was intended for, I had just dutifully moved it from place to place until it was rediscovered in a box in the garage.
One day I grabbed a pair of slip on shoes from my closet to wear out there and only when I arrived did I realize they were part of the growing red theme. As I cleared out the house, red things would appear. A large shard of red glass as big as my palm, a partial set of home encyclopedias from 1956 bound in red, I even found an unopened package of red plastic picnic plates covered in years of dust on a shelf in the pantry. A friend's castoffs included a red plastic hummingbird feeder shaped like a wine bottle and a frosted red bottle for holding fragrant oil. Lynn gifted me with his truck while on his travels - it was red, too
I admit that I contributed to it, I bought a red wheelbarrow. It was the smallest and least expensive and just what I needed. I bought a red trashcan to use for cleaning up construction. My only choices at Ace Hardware were black and red. I brought a red string hammock back from Mexico. I bought red plastic Andirondak chairs, a red trashcan for the kitchen and a red dish rack. It just so happened that the best roto-tiller that I could afford was red and the only color the shop-vac came in was red. The old bath towels I'd been saving for 30 years were red, too, as was the 1950s vintage plastic pitcher in its original box that I had been saving as long. I didn't know then what it was intended for, I had just dutifully moved it from place to place until it was rediscovered in a box in the garage.
The red still makes it's presence known. A heirloom patch of red crinum lilies bloomed along the side of the house in spring. The surprise gift that came with my online purchase? Red gingham hotpads. When seeking a spoon rest in a thrift store: vintage red tomatoes. One red plastic goblet at the church bazaar.
All that as reinforcement to the custom of painting house and church doors red o keep out the Enemy. Every red surprise whispers that meaning.
And what did i do today? When faced with too many choices at WalMart, I bought