When I wrote the first piece about the mosaic stones in our driveway, there were some critical pictures I couldn’t access at the time, important enough that I thought it warranted a second post.
Before I get too far into the story, and lest I give any new mothers a complex about what a super-achiever I was in those early months, this picture is a pretty accurate representation of how I spent most of my time the first month after Owen was born. Lucky for me, Sophie has always been very good at distracting herself, especially when she feels the comfort of a parent close by.
I don’t remember whose bright idea it was, but someone decided we should try creating our own mosaic stones to give away as gifts for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We incorporated pieces of ceramic dishes, marbles, recycled glass fragments and colored glass chips.
I was determined to be an active participant in this creative endeavor, but had to admit after a few whaps with the hammer that smashing glass wasn’t the safest activity to try with my baby in a sling.
My participation moved to the sidelines as overseer, commentator and director while Sophie helped us out by ‘prepping’ the stones, which needed to be washed before applying the concrete. I supervised as she placed marbles and tumbled glass on her own stone which Lance had slathered in Thinset.
The pièce de resistance was a double stainless steel sink Lance made for my father to use as an unconventional planter in his garden. He built a plywood frame for the sink and applied Thinset directly to the wood.
It was a beautiful work of art, each panel distinctive, created with painstaking attention to detail.
Unfortunately, the wood wasn’t sealed, so after spending a few months exposed to the elements, the mosaics began to fall off, one by one.
When my mother-in-law came to see her new grandson, she took home five of these large stones in her suitcase. Two years later, when she rebuilt her patio, she had three of the stones laid into the stairs.
HomeWork 
