I stole this idea from my daughter, Stephanie. When I visited her in March, we went to Crate and Barrel where she bought a placemat that she wanted to turn into a pillow. Her original intention was to find coordinating fabric for the back. As we were standing in line to pay for stuff, she realized that she could open up one side, stuff it and sew it back up. See her version here. I bought my placemats at Pier One. I like them because they are truly reversible. Here is one side:

Here is the other:

Here they are on the patio:

Steve and I cam home from our trip to find the Leptospermum (commonly known as New Zealand Tea Tree) in full bloom.

You can see the zen fountain that my son put in for us. It makes the most wonderful sound. The base is a piece of Japanese pottery,