Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Re-Purposing Wonder

Ron never ceases to amaze me with his talent for repurposing things. He made my desk from an old door. He takes random pieces of wood and makes really, really cool lamps. He takes ordinary gourds, dries them out, scrapes off the yucky stuff and varnishes them to create beautiful, lustrous display pieces. He made a bin to hold blueprints from old shutters.

Last year we bought a canvas "carport" so our precious Prius wouldn't get molested by falling walnuts. Last winter it blew apart and I had to weather arctic blasts to pull it down into the driveway lest it trespass into our neighbor's yard. Ron said not to worry. He'd figure out someway to use the canvas and pvc pipes. I told him I had a few suggestions of what he could do with those pipes . . .

Today, he made a giant dustpan to aid in the never-ending task of leaf raking and walnut gathering. And he used the pvc pipes to construct it. He saw something in one of his gardening catalogues and the little lightbulb went on. I could almost hear the switch being flipped. He showed me the sketch he used as a blueprint. A couple of lines here and there. That's it.

Sometimes during the evening when we're watching the telly, I can tell his mind is a million miles away thinking about a new creation. I would LOVE to get inside his mind to see how it works. Or . . . maybe not.

1 comment:

Tom and Leah said...

i'd love to see that in action. are you renting that thing out? what a genius. you snagged a good one, janet. oh wait, he snagged a great one.