A special window

Gran is moving out of the house she and Grandad lived in for over 40 years. I have a lot of wonderful memories of the house and the beautiful garden, but there's one thing I really don't want left behind.

Sometime around 1995 I designed and painted a stained-glass-look window for use in my parents' upstairs extension, and Grand and Grandad asked me to to a matching pair for the windows at the front of their house. Part of the idea was to remove the need for any sheer curtains to make the sitting room more private.

At about 70cm high and a metre wide each, they were quite a job, but I really enjoyed it.

They feature the birdlife they loved, many of which fed on the feeders in their garden, and including a couple of crows as a nod to their family name.

The red gumleaves had to be redone a few times over the years, because initially they received a lot of full sun, and the red faded badly, although the blues are as vivid as ever.

It appears that contrary to what the buyers told Gran, the property was purchased by developers, and the house will be rented for a while before being demolished. I would hate for those windows to go, but a quote to replace them was $444 (albeit with a lifetime guarantee, which is a little redundant!).

So when we stopped by on Saturday to collect a couple of things, I took photos as best I could (the room is full of boxes) and I'm hoping to contact to developer so that we can remove the special windows ourselves before it comes down. Cross your fingers for me!

Gran doesn't know about all this (in fact, she's off in England on holiday while her family packs up and does the move for her!) but if I do manage to get the windows, I'm hoping to get one framed to surprise her.