BELLISSIMO ...

A few days ago I took my coffee and latest book out to the patio. It was a very windy day but warm enough to relax outside and that’s what I decided to do. Imagine my surprise when I heard the deep and reverberating tones of a church bell … or at least that’s what I thought it was. I hadn’t heard it at my house before and it delighted and surprised me.

Then it dawned on me. My daughter and son-in-law are with me for a bit and he knows how much I love the huge bells that he makes out of discarded oxygen tanks. Every time I’ve been to their upstate New York home I’ve told them how much I love to hear their bell toll and how it transported me back to the wondrous days that I’d spent in Florence, Italy.

Sure enough … Brian had made one for me and he snuck it in when I wasn’t looking. I think it’s one of the most thoughtful gifts that I’ve ever received and to have it be a surprise made it even more special.

Brian is a master when it comes to making art out of discarded materials and here is another example. This adorable nymphet statue had lost whatever it was that she was holding but Brian bought her anyway. Now she sits amidst the greenery as you approach their front door, having been transformed with the addition of a small shovel into “our lady of perpetual gardening”.

It never fails to make me smile.