‘Pie Eyed

Hot stuff

Like a magpie with a technicolor fetish I can’t resist gathering colorful planters and other containers. Of course they can’t just be any ol’ pretty pot, they have to be colorful and special in some way. Above, my most recent acquisitions flank a gorgeously distressed old patio rocker; from the left: A shapely, Laguna pottery vase/planter in chartreuse sports an interesting textured glaze; a frilly concrete urn is elevated by a lovely, chipped turquoise-painted surface; a mod magenta/orange glazed pot from the ’60s is perched in a curvy metal holder from an earlier time; a spherical BBQ on a pedestal makes a tomato-red space-age statement; granny’s ol’ timey torchere loses its candle fixtures, gains a neon green paint job and a new green ceramic topper; a smooth yellow Gainey piece shows off a spectacularly contrasting echeveria; a wide-mouthed avocado green fiberglass cylinder from the ’70s reminds me of bygone refrigerators; a squat ceramic pot makes up for its size with a shiny scarlet glaze. Hunting and gathering these pieces? Real fun. But it’s completing their new images with just the right succulent accompaniment that is sheer joy!

See sources at the end and check these details …

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Fun bits

I love the bases of both the lamp-turned-planter (that’s a donut of marble), and the BBQ. And, I enjoy how the flat round river stones echo the BBQ’s circular basin and how the blue/gray senecio plays against the Laguna pottery’s “off” color scheme … I’m happy with the painted-rusted-scratched metal rocker but it wasn’t my first choice for this set-up. What I really wanted was a groovy ’60s metal garden settee with a chipped green paint job I spied in a neighbor’s front yard. I tried to convince the elderly woman who owns it to sell it to me — twice — but she resisted, noting philosophically that my offer was “only money”. Hmmph. I’m letting it go for now but I plan to try again soon … this magpie’s least favorite color is envy green.

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SOURCES

 TREASURES ‘N JUNK: 215 S. San Antonio Avenue, Ontario, CA. (909) 983-3300.

STEPHEN PENN, RIVERSIDE: J&T Military Surplus, 6009 Jurupa Ave., Riverside CA, 92504.