Upcycled Stained Glass

My sister Stephanie's degree is in Glass and Ceramics. She did stained glass making, glass blowing, throwing pots on a wheel, all that sort of stuff. The other week she and I went to a reclamation yard and bought £25 worth of old leaded windows. Then we chopped them up and reassembled them into panes for my front door.

My front door used to be pretty ugly. It was varnished (unevenly) with a horrible reddish-brown varnish. It had ten long narrow panes of unattractive patterned glass, and unpleasant knobs, handles and latches. It didn't bother me that much, but it certainly didn't make me smile every time I entered or left the house.

Now it is painted a handsome steely blue. It has smart new brass door furniture (not in the picture) and it has beautiful and unique upcycled leaded glass in the top and bottom (only the top panes are pictured). Needless to say, it makes me smile every time I walk through it, or even walk past it.

Skein of Geese

This morning as I was returning home from the school run I had to stop in a queue of traffic only a couple of hundred yards from my door. I only caught the occasional glimpse of the reason for the delay, but I could clearly hear the sound of a farmer herding his cows across the road.

I didn't mind waiting. It was a beautiful blue-sky morning promising a fine early autumn day. The hedgerows were heavy with deep red hawthorn berries and I began to contemplate which route to take with the dog today on our daily walk.

As I was waiting, a skein of geese honked noisily overhead.

I love living here.