Friday Finds and Treasures

It’s time to go back to something I started quite awhile ago when I first began to blog.  My plan is to share something I  have found while out and about or a treasure, new or old, each Friday.  If there is a story that goes with the item, I’ll share that with you, too.

This week I want to share the décor on one wall of my dining room.  My dining room is a ‘strange’ little room – not very big with openings on each side – but I really love it. There is only one wall!  On that wall I have a piece of framed artwork that is very dear to my heart.  There’s a story behind it.  Quite a few years ago my little town had a wonderful antique/collective/craft mall that was a place I loved to visit.  One day when I walked by the front window my heart was captured by a large, framed picture that I wanted to buy.  I knew exactly where I would put it – it belonged on my dining room wall.  And it was by one of my favorite artists, Sandy Lynam Clough.  I often stood at the window to study every detail of the painting and I wished – oh, how I wished – I could buy it and take it home for that one spot that seemed to need it.  The price was more than I could pay so I looked and wished and walked on.  Often.  Then one day the picture was gone.  Not in the window.  I hoped it went to someone who would treasure it as much as I.  A few weeks later, on Christmas morning, there was no package under the tree for me from my sweetheart.  That seemed strange and I thought maybe he had forgotten to shop.  All of the gifts had been opened and I have to tell you my heart felt so sad.  Had he really forgotten me?  My children and grandchildren didn’t know how terribly disappointed I was but I decided to make the best of it and not ask questions.  All of a sudden my sweetheart jumped up from his chair and said, ‘There is one more!’  ‘Where is it?’, I asked.  Out the door he went – when he came in again he had the biggest present I think I’ve ever had.  His eyes danced with joy as he placed it on the floor in front of me.  One rip of the paper and I knew!  And the tears began to pour down my face.  HE was the one who bought the picture.  I was the one who would hang it on my wall and treasure it every time I looked at it!  Of course I had to tell him he shouldn’t have spent so much.  Then, I loved the story he told.  He went into the shop and asked the owner what her best price was on that picture in the window.  When she told him, he pointed out that part of the picture had slipped out of the mat and it wasn’t quite straight.  She looked at it and agreed – and gave him a nice discount.  Then she told him exactly how to fix it so it would be good as new.  And there it was!  Now it was mine!

This beautiful painting has hung on my dining room wall ever since but I’ve always thought it needed something more.  Should I hang something above it?  Plates, perhaps?  A little shelf?  Nothing seemed to be right – until a couple of weeks ago.  At the first yard sale of the day I found it.  And I knew this was what I needed!  Three framed pieces of artwork – by the same artist.  It didn’t take long to put them on my wall.

Every time I walk by or look from the kitchen or the living room I smile.  It’s just right! And I love it even more than before.