Real Owners of The Fig
Our sweet little ones
have become our sweet big ones. And they own the place.
There’s Callie (aka Callie-Co, Mis’ California, Callie Coco Chanel) and Oliver (aka Ollie, and with his dreamy eyes, Oliver Stoned) and Mabel (aka Miss Mabel and Mabe) They receive a disproportionate amount of our time at The Fig. Admittedly, we curry their favor.
Yesterday, the real owners investigated some catnip while these metal chairs received some primer from the tenants.
Keep the boss purring and let the painting begin,
june
Flying Lessons: Laughter
I spent the better part of Good Friday afternoon laughing until my sides hurt. My cousin, who is also a-gift-of-a-friend, and I met at our usual meeting place.
For years now, Nil’s Bakery in the Varina part of Fuquay, is where we have gotten together, grabbed a bite, and grappled with life for hours at a time. And while there have been many serious conversations, there has always been a side of laughter for levity. But Friday’s laughter was different. You see, we’ve both been through a long and painful season. The circumstances have been different, but the pain has been pain. And we’ve both recently experienced unexpected respite. On Friday, our laughter was not filtered through sadness and difficulty.
Also on Friday, my cousin gave me these willow branches in memory of my dad. These branches are now in a bucket of water at The Fig. If all goes well, they will bud and grow roots and be planted on the farm to become trees.
About a year after my dad died, when The Fig was just getting started, I found myself at the courthouse in Harnett County. The courthouse is near the cemetery where my dad was laid to rest. (Confession…I had not been a responsible daughter and taken care of getting his tombstone.) As I left the courthouse and drove by the cemetery without stopping, I said out loud, Dad, you don’t have a tombstone, but I do have a business license. I felt his laughter fall all over me. Truly, I felt his laughter fall all over me. His laughter and blessing on me was not in a grave or laid to rest, but was palpable in my Subaru on Highway 210. All I could do was laugh with him.
At The Fig
The signs are here…spring is coming. It is. Hope is pushing through the barren branches.
If your laugh is a bit too loud and forced, take heart, you may one day be surprised to find yourself on a public sidewalk making a spectacle of yourself with unbridled, pure laughter. Laughing at the days to come. Unbelievable and possible.
May hope push through,
june
‘Who’s Yer’ Inspiration?
We recently acquired a hoosier.
Lawdy Miss Clawdy, how have I done life without a hoosier? No more walking miles around the kitchen while I stir the stew. More leisure…guess these things decide what’s for dinner, hmmm. And Good Golly, Miss Molly, the hoosier saves health, youth and good looks, strength, time and standing. Throw those vitamins under the bus.
Unfortunately, we had not seen these ads when we started working on it. Our inspiration might have been different…I guess it might have been like designing a home for the indian in the cupboard except more of a home for the personal chef, massage therapist, trainer, and personal assistant to bring you grapes while you recline. Alas. While we didn’t grasp the hoosier’s amazing functions, we did glean inspiration.
This came off the top of the hoosier
and was the first inspiration for how this piece should look.
Then these were further inspiration.
,Who knows, maybe we’ll be younger and stronger when we finish this wonder-piece!
june & frankie
Sit A Spell V
We put together the colors of pistachio and eggplant…then added a flock of feathers and a bit of bohemian to get our latest Sit-a-Spell. A dark purple is layered over paint lives of white and black and green in this very vintage rattan bench.
I have a penchant for pillows stuffed with feathers. So five pounds of feathers arrived at The Fig. It’s safe to say there will be wafting feathers in the woodshop forever. If you look closely at the pillow, you will see feather dust. (If you look not-so-closely at anything in the woodshop, you will see evidence of feathers) Amazingly, I still have a penchant for feathers.
And Frankie now has a penchant for sewing. She took a pillow with fringe class at Sew There in town this week which yielded these pillows. The girl is stoked for more sewing at this place. Sip-n-Sew, here she comes!
Knock me over with a feather,
june
All in a Day’s Work
Even though there was a faint, unpleasant smell when we left the barn yesterday, we left full of promise that today would find us finishing the settee.
And then this morning, the odor was, um, not-so-faint. At first, Frankie and I reacted the same…gagging, grabbing work masks, saying ugh. Then, we reacted differently.
Frankie: We have got to find the source of this.
Me: Isn’t there some kind of dead animal control agency that we can call?
Then Frankie moved into action, grabbing a flashlight and moving into the storage part of the barn. And while I reluctantly followed, my mind moved into action…as in I seriously had the irrational thought that now would be a good time to build a new workshop…one that is not connected to a barn.
Two hours later, after we had been in the rafters, and moved wood and shone light into all kinds of dark places, it became clear that Frankie was not going to give up and that I had nothing left to give but moral support. So I stood outside the barn offering encouragement and help from afar, while Frankie’s persistent detective work was rewarded. Something was under the barn floor.
And then it was like CSI collided with The Beverly Hillbillies. The girl can wield some weapons power tools to cut a hole in a barn floor to find a possum that has gone from dust to dust.
What a morning!
The afternoon held a different kind of excitement. The settee is almost finished. Woo-hoo!!!
And while the morning and afternoon seemed incongruent, it was all in a day’s work.
If you need some sideline encouragement, don’t hesitate to call me,
june
(If you have an impossible job, call Frankie.)
Six Weeks & Counting
Saturday, May 4 in Historic Downtown Apex from 9am – 5pm.
We’ve marked our calendars! In six weeks, we will be at PeakFest in Apex.
Working forward to this event,
june & frankie
Flying Lessons: Caution
The Home Book
Sometimes you don’t know when you are beginning. A couple of years ago, in a browse through this book, I came to page 304. Aside from the fall of sunlight on the floor (my favorite thing), there was this painted cupboard that stole my attention. I was unaware that this image caught and held, but it did.
Months later, I came across the old hutch (on right) and brought it home. Months after that, the old hutch became gray and yellow. And this was a beginning… The Fig’s first piece.
Funny, how we can retrace our steps (or thoughts, or words, or actions), and often find a starting point. Funnier still, (scarier, too) how often we’re clueless that we’re beginning. This realization comes with caution (we may find ourselves somewhere we never imagined nor wanted to be) and caution to the wind (we may find ourselves somewhere we never imagined…and are so glad we came)
talking to myself !
june
Going to Church
This room in this church-turned-home in Australia has a lot of things that I really like…natural wood, painted wood, large windows, space for your thoughts to rise. But what makes me want to shout is the fabric on the chairs, the gold pillow on the sofa, and the pipe organ-inspired gray and yellow lights. Those things remind me of some real settee transformation going on at The Fig.
If we get this thing finished, I assure you Frankie and I will make some noise.
Hope you hear some shoutin’ soon,
june
A Little Furniture, A Lot of Fierceness
The past week has not held a lot of furniture-happenings. But this illustrated quote has made me smile as my amazing little Mama has shown me (once again) that a mother’s love is fierce. Beautifully fierce.
EmilyMcDowellDraws
May you find reason to smile when life is wild-hard,
june
When the Cat’s Away
This is the kind of thing that happens if you leave Frankie alone in the woodshop.
With the arrival of these from Northfire Studio, the pine cupboard is getting closer to finished.
When the cat’s away, Frankie can carry on.
,
june
wherefigsfly 