Advertisement
Thank Goodness For Radiators
Tag: Homey Stuff
Saturday 3 p.m.: The Beer Cellar
Out with the old (CDs) and in with the new. The CDs were just taking up space and the beer was taking up floor space. Personally, I think these attractive bottles are as nice to look at as a row full of lovely book jackets.
The fate of the CDs is undecided. I’ve got the music backed up in multiple places and rarely, if ever, pull a disc out of the library. I’ll either store them or sell them. In the meantime, I’m happy with this tidy arrangement, which has enough room for the beer and preserves a special nook for the snowglobes. (And just for the record, this beer collection is a group effort. I’m just the lucky one who gets to store it.)
Labor Day Weekend
A lot of this weekend was spent laboring over trip preparation and trying to finish up a number of tasks before I head out of town at the end of the month. I also had many tasty meals with friends, as well as finishing up the last of the growlers I imported from the Beer Trappe in Lexington.
Early Saturday morning, we went for a sail and enjoyed the last of the warm temps and pleasant breezes before the wind turned cold out of the north, signalling that Fall is not far off.
Feet First | 361
Saturday, 3 September
Saturday night, the gang of six convened over barbecued lamb to discuss plans and preparations for our upcoming canal adventure. After a few days in Paris, we’ll train down to the south of France where we’ll pick up a boat and cruise for a week down the Canal du Midi. I still can’t quite believe I’ll be doing this, but as we get down to more of the nitty-gritty details, it’s getting real and I’m getting very excited indeed.
Feet First | 362
Sunday, 4 September
As you can see, there’s been no progress on repairing the sliding glass door that spontaneously shattered last week. In fact, it’s worse. We covered it in duct tape to prevent shards of glass from falling all over and after last week’s heat wave, the window is now bowing out. I’ll treat it like a modern art installation until it’s replaced. Hopefully, I won’t still be looking at this when the snow begins to fall.
Feet First | 363
Monday, 5 September
On an unseasonably cool Labor Day, we let Maisy out in the backyard to enjoy her personal patch of catmint.
Sh-Sh-Sh-Shattered
Feet First | 355
Sunday, 28 August
I believe the term for this is “spontaneous breakage.”
Planting Day
Feet First | 354
Saturday, 27 August
Last year about this time, we gutted the backyard and put in all new plantings. This year, we did the same in the front yard. I’ve become the unofficial gardner for our town home association and have muddled along for years, trying to replace the terrible looking beds and patches of grass with something more attractive and sustainable without depending on constant watering. With diseased trees in need of replacing and trouble patches that needed help, it was definitely time to call in the professionals.
Saturday was the day when all the plants went in the half of the beds that we’re planting this year. (The remaining beds will planted next year.) Plants incorporated in the landscaping include astilbe, hydrangea, hosta, gooseneck, bleeding heart, turtlehead, ladies mantle, fern, catmint, and witch hazel. We also planted a couple of kousa dogwood which I’m really excited about. The whole thing looks great and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out.
For the next two weeks, I’m on watering duty, which takes about two hours of shifting hoses around every day. I’ll post some photos once I process them.
New Cement
Feet First | 329
Tuesday, 2 August
The home improvements out front continued with new replacement walkways.
Tree Trimming
Feet First | 325
Friday, 29 July
We got rid of a more than a little dead wood out front.
The crab apple trees were sickly and way over-sized for their location so they had to go. For two years now, the leaves have turned a sickly yellow and dropped by early September. Plus, they just looked pathetic. I wasn’t at all sorry to see them go. Top contender for replacement tree: a variety of Dogwood.
It was all part of a day of general tree surgery, as we had the parkway trees trimmed as well, which really helped to lighten up the place. It was raining branches at one point.
We weren’t the only side of the street having tree work done. As it turned out, it was the same day the city came by to take down the two pear trees across the street that were struck by lightning during a wicked thunderstorm earlier in the week. It was a rough day for the trees on our block.
New Patio Furniture in the Rain
Feet First | 263
Saturday, 28 May
Brought the new patio furniture home just in time for it to begin raining again. All day Sunday, the table and four chairs taunted me as the three different times, the sky darkened like night as strong thunderstorms rolled through.
Feet First | 264
Sunday, 29 May
Finally, a break in the weather.
First Fire of the Season
Feet First | 59
Friday, 5 November
Okay, I'm cheating on this one. Despite the many interesting things I did yesterday (a trip to the zoo, lunch with friends, cooking dinner with more friends), I somehow neglected to take a photo of my feet. You'd think after doing this for almost two months, I'd remember to shoot my feet whereEVER I go, but no. It slips my mind more often than not.
So, imagine my feet are in this photo, getting toasty warm by the fire. Yesterday was quite cold and since we still haven't turned on the heat, a fire seemed like a great idea. We're heading into another warm spell this weekend, with temps in the 50s and 60s, so I'm going to see how far into November we can get before we have to fire up the furnace.
Bacon Thursday Bites Back
Feet First | 6
What should have been a lovely day off turned into a sick day. Damn you head cold. I took it easy, resting as I much as I could while working my way through a box of tissue. (Puff Plus–tissue plus lotion–single greatest invention of the last ten years.)
My only accomplishment today was spilling an entire can of bacon grease on the kitchen rug. A lovely way to start the day. Needless to say, a rug cleaning is in order.
2 Things @ Once 