In A Vase On Monday

In my neighborhood, little surprises often show up in the parking strips, on the steps, just about anywhere. For instance, a hundred or so pieces of some sort of black clay ware showed up earlier this summer.  It looked a bit interesting and as I was picking it up to take it to the trash, I noticed a price tag.

At some point, someone thought it was worth a thousand dollars.  While being broken, it had no value, what could it hurt to see what it might have been?  Who doesn't like a puzzle?  Down to the glass/craft room in the basement it went a few pieces being glued together every day or so until my niece visited and we decided it would be fun to get it done all at once.  She's much better at spacial relationships than I so the help was welcome.   Here's what we came up with.  Sort of interesting, no? Have you any idea where this might have originated? The geckos make it seem a little southwest Native American to me.

There were some missing pieces.

 Because of our haste, some didn't fit together perfectly but we were able to see what the object once looked like.  A wise person would simply enjoy the exercise and dispose of the vase but no one ever said I was wise.  Alison, the niece, and I thought it would look interesting to cover the cracks with gold seed beads, use red mirror on the inside of the openings left by the missing pieces, and create some sort of new thing. I'll keep you posted.  By the way, the vessel has a rounded bottom and is sitting on a plastic container for stability.

So, what's this have to do with In A Vase On Monday, the meme tirelessly hosted by the creative and wonderful Cathy at Rambling in the Garden you may ask?   Well, a basket arrived on the back steps the other day which immediately went into a box to donate to charity.  On my way out the door, I grabbed it thinking that it would be perfect to hold cuttings while out hunting for IAVOM.  There's not a lot blooming in my garden right now that's vase worthy.  However, the hydrangeas are taking on those lovely muted tones and cried out to be brought inside to be dried so the found basket got filled with them.

I had in mind a couple of thrift store vase find vases for them but the stems were a bit short and kept flopping out of both of these.

The smart answer would be to wire these short stems to bamboo sticks so that they'd stand in the vase.

 Too lazy.  Besides, it's Labor Day so the hydrangeas decided that they'd be just as happy and beautiful staying in the cutting basket.

Happy Labor Day and unofficial end of summer.  (Yes, summer continues until the autumnal equinox but the media is all abuzz with end of summer talk and we all know that summer fashion is now over and, unless you're Coco Chanel, white clothes  vorboten until Memorial day.)

Thanks, Carol for hosting this addictive meme!