Years ago, when I was a little girl, my grandmother had a cobalt blue vase that held magic. I would lie on the floor with the vase over my face, watching the world through a cobalt blue filter. It still has the same effect on me. Sometimes I pick up a blue vase or a wine bottle and watch the world transform. Instant peace right there. It truly is magic.

Many times I would find cobalt glass in my dreams. Broken on the rocks. Hanging in strings of beads flapping in the wind. Always, always, the presence of the glass represented hope. Peace. I have always had cobalt glass, probably to give myself some of that peace whenever life inevitably gave me just the opposite.

When I found myself lost in the mire of a life badly chosen, I looked around at my glass. Peace. And I knew I wanted to use this blue glass to create something. I had seen a blue bottle tree when I was a child and it had always stuck with me. I knew I wanted one.

I bought a wooden post and a bag of concrete from Lowe’s. And some long nails. And began collecting blue bottles. I drank a lot of Riesling. And there used to be this really great Arizona tea that came in wide-mouthed bottles. Eventually I filled up the post and arranged the bottles just right. It was done.

My life is better now. I no longer need to seek peace with blue glass over my eyes. But my bottle tree stands as a reminder that peace is right there. Just take a moment and look at the world through a new color.