Roman bath for Naicam birds

This is the revamped birdbath in my Naicam yard. John Madsen photo

Are you longing for spring, too, for the song of a meadowlark or the sight of flotilla of ducklings bobbing around their mamma, or the flash or orange and black that signals the return of the oriole?

It was about this time last year that my sister Linda began talking about a garden craft project, something we could make for our yards before yardwork season arrived. Over the next few weeks - and then the next few months - we traded ideas back and forth over the phone. My baby sister Linda is the Queen of Crafts. She came up with the winning idea - birdbaths tiled with leftover pieces of glass from her stained glass projects.

She and Howard have a waterfall under construction in the circular garden bordered by their driveway. She said envisioned water falling over the stones and splashing into a birdbath fashioned from a gold panning bowl.

I loved the birdbath idea, but instead of the pan, could I not do something with my old metal birdbath that was suffering the ravages of time? The fake verdigris finish had worn off the bowl and it was down to black metal that attracted so much heat from the sun that in just minutes cool tap water was turned into a sauna.

As soon as Evelyn was back from Arizona, we had a sisters' day on Linda's deck on an unusually warm April day, and we tiled, gossiped and sipped wine. When I started, I envisioned undulating shades of blue and green creating the look of water in the bowl, and to this end I first affixed a wavy line of dark green across the diameter. We used silicone outdoor tile adhesive. After the first disciplined line went down, all hell broke loose and I just had fun adding pieces of whatever color called to me. Like the orange. Maybe it would attract birds flying high overhead. Like the white and light colors that I hoped would help keep the water cooler. Like the dollar store glass pebbles that might look like bubbles. It was definitely a fun project, and fun mostly because I was working side by side with my sisters, busy on their own tile masterpieces.

By the way, the birds last summer seemed to love the recycled Roman bath.