Sticks and Stones

For 'Throwback Thursday' this morning on Facebook I published this photo of 2-year-old Kari and 9-year-old Doug with the tagline: "Stand still little sister. Mom wants to take our picture with her art installation."
The time would have been around 1971 and the place was the acreage where we lived near Grimes. And it is true, I did consider those sticks and stones as an artistic statement on my part.
But there is a little more to the story. Just to the left in this photo was the driveway in front of our garage. It is where I usually parked to unload groceries, etc. It is also where my father-in-law once parked to unload some heavy furniture for us.
A friend of his was along to help. I don't remember much about the man except that his name was Ralph. Ralph was one of those get 'er done guys. The first thing he did was throw my artistically placed sticks out of the way and then for good measure tromp on them to break them down even further.
It happened so fast I didn't even have time to yell STOP! I was so mad. Furious. I had hunted around to find just the right sticks to place behind my rocks. He didn't see anything but useless litter. One woman's treasure was another man's trash.

Another example  from around that same time of how I tried to turn trash into art - or at least something useful. This old tile was out in a corner of the yard. I rolled it closer to the house to cover a stump, then filled it with dirt and planted flowers in it.

Re-purposing junque, collecting and using rocks around the house, anything I could find/do that is free, those have always been the ways I like to decorate. I just have to remember that not everyone will understand my use of sticks and stones.