The Find!

Again..storms wash in some of the most amazing items! Today's subject...a Hurricane Katrina treasure brought in by Tropical Storm Lee! That in itself is sort of interesting..the fact that something sat in the marsh for over six years and stayed intact. My cousin, Michelle, asked me if I wanted a table that she found while cleaning up debris in her yard left by the tropical storm. Now I am always on the lookout for freebies so I jumped at the chance! She was kind enough to haul it up the hill and wash it down with the water hose so that when I retrieved it a few days later, it was all nice and clean! As we stood talking, she pointed out that it had to be a Katrina find since there were barnacles covering the wood. Barnacles take a while to get any size and some of these were quite large. I could hardly wait to get started on restoring this table to a pleasing status! Below is the picture she took of the table when she pulled it from the debris pile..I am sure glad she knows a good thing when she finds it!

After getting the table home, I pulled out the hand sander and started to work. The barnacles were first to go. There was no easy or pleasant way of removing them..so I just sanded right over the shell and hit the goopy stuff inside. Ugh..that smelled bad! I kept sanding..the only shells left were in between the slats of the tabletop. Those would stay just for the ambiance! A few hours of being in the sun assured that those would be dried and just the shell would remain. They would be sealed over with the final clear coats of varnish so there would be no lingering odor or sharp edges. Once the table was sanded and free of any crud..the fun could begin!

I knew just what I was going to do to this small table to make it a conversation piece! It would definitely be in keeping with the six year history of the table and its journey. I wanted to keep the appearance of the table simple yet it had to tell the story. Using black paint, I created a sort of rebus on the tabletop. I painted the hurricane symbol to represent Katrina. Inside I left blank the tropical storm symbol for Lee. "Lost in Katrina..found in Lee". Down the center..a whimsical tornado that represents the craziness of the find. On either side, scrolls in the form of stylized seabirds and fish..the wildlife that had custody of the table for years. Yes..the table tells a tale of resiliency. Life goes on..treasures are where you find them..nothing is forever. Hmmmm???