A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...

A long time ago,
 a friend of the family,
 gave my mother a little table
 that she had always admired
 when she was a guest in this friend's home.
  I remember when 
it first came into our home and
 I thought it was 
the most beautiful thing 
I had ever seen. 
 The shape was very pleasing 
as it was a little taller than most tables, 
more the height of a plant stand,
 and made of mahogany veneer
 with a bright, shiny finish. 
 The top was round, 
just big enough to hold a lamp and 
a small bouquet,
 with tall, slender, curved legs.

This is not the actual rose painted on the table. I found this painting at a flea market many years later and bought it because it reminded me of the original.


The look of the table, however,
 was not what made me think
 it was so beautiful. 
 The friend, had hand painted 
a long stemmed white rose on the top,
 and this painting was 
what captured my attention 
above all else. 
 It looked so elegant and 
I can remember thinking 
I wish I could paint
 a flower like that.

FYI: This photo of my dad was taken after the earthquake.  You can see the hands of the clock stopped at the exact time that the earthquake hit and were never changed.  There is another table under the clock.


Throughout the years,
 I remember the table being
 a place of honor for a 
beautiful hurricane lamp and 
many wonderful flower arrangements 
that my mom loved making. 
 She just had a
 natural ability 
of putting one together and 
I have never seen,
 even a florist's bouquet,
 prettier than any she would make.

 Over the years,
 my dad built a new house for he and my mom
 and this beautiful little table 
had a place beside 
her collections of books 
that filled the bookshelves 
that Dad had made. 
 My mom became sick and passed away 
during the 1980's and 
in 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake 
hit and that large clock 
that you see behind my dad 
fell off the wall and 
onto the little table 
which was broken into pieces. 
 During the following years
 the table was hidden away
 in my dad's workshop,
 with plans of someday 
being put back together
 but, sadly,
 that never happened. 
 My dad had to move 
out of the house and 
when my sister, brother and I 
were cleaning out the house, 
the little table
 came home with me.

The table top,
 now with legs lost,
 sat in our garage for about 25 years.
  Time had taken a toll on it and 
the veneer had been
 cracked and chipped and had fallen off and 
the beautiful rose painting 
was lost.

A few years ago,
 when we finished 
the screened porch in the Secret Garden, 
I found an old, rusted milk can
 that I wanted to use 
as a side table.  
I thought of the beautiful little table top
 sitting, unloved,
 in our garage and 
decided to use it as a 
top for the milk can. 
 The Captain sanded off 
what was left of the veneer and 
the top was once again 
being put to
 good use.

We have used it 
for the last couple of years and 
it is a sturdy piece of furniture. 
 The can is very rusty and 
the wood that was under the veneer
 was rustic as well
 so they made a good pairing. 
 Every time
 I would sit down beside the table, 
I would think about
 that pretty rose 
that used to be a part of it and 
vowed that someday
 I would try to recreate 
the whole thing. 
 Well,
if you have seen my paintings
 you know that there was no way 
I could perfectly recreate it,
 so that is where
 the title of this piece
 comes in...

...a rose
 by any other name 
would be 
a tulip!

I thought a tulip 
would be more fitting 
than an elegant rose
 for this rustic situation.
  

The little table
 is once more being loved and 
I would like to think 
that that dear friend 
from long ago
 would think it perfectly reasonable and 
she would be happy
 that my mom enjoyed it 
as long as she did and 
now I am having 
my time with it.

This is the newest
 paint by number 
that I have been working on. 
 I haven't shown it 
for awhile because, 
for the longest time, 
all the paint colors 
were close to the same and 
it never looked like 
any progress was
 being made.

Here it is finished, and 
I think it turned out pretty well. 
 I didn't change anything 
on this one
 except in the lower left hand corner, 
there was a part of 
the cement in the brick wall 
that just looked like 
a big gray blob to me,
 so I copied the leaf
 in the lower right hand corner and
 it only took me one try! 
 This is definitely 
a fall painting 
so I won't display it 
until then.

Stay smart, stay well and wear your masks.

  You must be getting 
tired of hearing this,
 as tired as I am 
of saying it.

 Why,
 are we still 
debating this issue?

 Especially now 
when things are having
to shut down
 again!



...Judy..

Enjoy the week.


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