My Eclectic Patio

When you come to see me most of my new home will look quite nicely put together, I hope, but the patio is the space you’ll see first and it may look rather oddly furnished. I’m sitting out here now in the sunshine and thinking how much I love the patio’s brightness and warmth. But the way it is furnished? Well, the word eclectic might be a charitable word for it. The only piece that looks like it belongs on a California patio is the glider bench I bought at Lowe’s a few years back. It has a bright colorful pad on it and when someone puts a shim on the side that tilts down for rain drainage, it will be perfect. The green wicker stand looks OK too with the potted blue flowers on it. (Can’t think of their name.) 

But what’s this beside me? A brown leather swivel chair? Robin put it out here because she thought it seemed somewhat bulky by my computer desk in the dining room. One of the new dinette chairs would do just as well. I may take it back if no one else wants it. It's looking rather embarrassed to be here. 

When I lived in Minnesota a few years ago I bought a hand constructed wooden rocking chair from an old Amish man with long gray hair and a long beard to match. His wife told me, "He makes just one a year in his spare time." I know a lot of love and expertise went into that rocker and you’d recognize it for its “plain” look, but there’s no room inside and I haven’t the heart to paint it yellow or orange or blue to give it a California patio look. That would pain the old man if he knew. Sometime I may put a colorful cushion on it though.

In order to cozy up the patio at my last home I bought an indoor-outdoor rug that is washable and looks rather elegant on the beige cement floor of my new patio. It has an Oriental rug design and is probably as close to the real thing as I’ll ever get. A few minutes ago I got another too-good-for-a-patio piece. The new stand Robin and I picked out for the big flat screen TV at Ashley House furniture store the other day was just delivered and the oak lawyer’s desk it sat on before is now out of that job. What’s more, there’s no room for it inside. “Say, Mom, we haven’t been able to find a place for this so do you mind if it sits out here by the dining room glass doors until we do?”

“No, of course not.” As she turned to go back in the door she stopped. I was about to call her back and we’d both got the same idea. Even if it looked out of place it would be protected under the wide eaves and it might come in quite handy since I have no patio table. There’s a new blue and white checked picnic tablecloth we unpacked the other day that will give it a fitting touch for its new job. It may feel somewhat of a come-down but in time if its Queen Anne legs don't tilt down its toes in shame, I think it will still know I loved it enough to save it from some thrift shop.

You’ll wonder what I’m sitting on. Well, I hesitate to tell you but it’s temporary, (yes, definitely temporary!) A wheelchair. I’m soaking up California sunshine and being ever so grateful I’m not still in Minnesota. Speaking of that I can remember when the word “patio” was not in my vocabulary. We’d moved to Laguna Beach in December of 1937 from our Minnesota home. I was about twelve then and the house we rented had a huge patio with matching white wicker furnishings. I was impressed and I was instantly in love with California sunshine and our patio.

I’m still in love with sunshine and patios. If my new friends take a glance at my patio by the front door and get no farther, they may think the gal who lives here could be a bit loony. I don’t mind. They’ll get to know me better. In the meantime I’ll try to show my new neighbors that I have not been “touched” by the moon. I’ll blame it on the California sunshine.