I love spending my days rummaging through things that no one else wants. When I find old things, to me, it is like I am finding a piece of history.
On my last Road Tripping day, one of my dearest friends and I set out across the Ottawa Valley in search of history in the form of broken, beat up and neglected pieces. (you can read about our trip and our finds here) One of the pieces that I found that day was an old, broken screen window. (you can see it behind the mirror in this picture from that day)
I don’t know why, but when I spied it, broken and laying at the back of a pile of junk in a recycle store, it just spoke to me.
I imagined that one summer day, long ago, some old farmer had lovingly built it for his wife. Maybe he felt she needed a screen for the kitchen window to keep the flies away from her cooling pies. 
It spoke to me of a time when people opened their windows to cool their houses down and with that gentle, cooling breeze their homes where also filled with the sweet smell of the outdoors.
I love being outside. I love having my windows open as often as possible. Maybe that is why this piece called to something deep within me.
After scooping the window up (and enduring a “you really want that??” from the lady at the cash!) I loving took it home. I didn’t do much to it before using it and didn’t even remove the dandelion fluff because I loved that it made it feel used.
I simply gave the old, worn window a coat of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Ironstone and then hung it on the wall.
The window now hangs in my work area so that I can look at it when I write and think of the breeze that used to blow through it. I love that I have been able to add a new chapter to the story of this piece and carry on it’s history.
