The Quiet Country House

Found Object...

Before.

And after.

A nearby village has a once-a-year tradition wherein its citizens place unwanted items at curbside. "Dumpster diving" or gleaning is encouraged to keep items out of the landfill. After several days, garbage trucks haul away anything that has not been picked up. I have seen the piles of forlorn furniture and oddities at the curbside each year, but have rarely seen anyone grabbing anything, nor have I ever stopped for anything myself.

There is a first time for everything. I am short several chairs in my house. My bedroom writing table does not have one. We borrow one from the kitchen table for the computer desk. We use the old piano bench at the dinner table if we have one extra guest for dinner. So... a fairly decent looking wooden chair with a dingy seat cover had a certain appeal! I went around the block twice and my sons had to talk me in to stopping. Quickly, looking furtively over my shoulder for witnesses to my perfectly acceptable gleaning, I tucked the chair into the back of my standard issue Soccer-Mom mini-van and drove off.

I recovered the seat with some fabric that was given to me years ago (and which Haiku has used in several crafts over the years: a tote bag, a book cover, a stuffed kitty) and within hours of leaving town, I had a new chair at my computer desk. Dumpster diving confessions, anyone?