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Showing posts from January, 2014

Checking out the light.

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Maybe it is the artist part of me or maybe we are just born to go to the light, but the patterns of sunlight streaming through my (less than perfectly squeaky clean) windows just makes me happy.  This was what I saw when I woke up. That little narrow rectangle is the light coming through the window in my closet. The room was a little brighter but the reflection on the wall fooled the camera.  Try not to look at the scuff marks and just see the long streams of light. In the summer the sun will be higher and the pattern will be different.  This is the other side of the island. It looks like a flame - or an abstract painting.  This hydrangea was wilted and seemed gone until I cut the stem, stripped off two leaves, filled a Mason jar with warm water and stuck the flower in. What a recovery! This is the present over-the-sink arrangement. As you can see most of the snow/ice is going fast.  More light patterns. Even the laundry sorter looks good in the sunlig

A group of bandits at my house.

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Each day brings something new and today's something made me smile. As I was sitting here in the kitchen  working  playing on my computer something outside caught my attention. I tried to get a picture of it but couldn't; however, about half an hour later it happened again. Isn't that cool? It seems that a large, a very large group of birds was passing through and stopped to have a drink and wash-up from our full gutter. They were so funny, going tails-up to dip in and then sitting up again. At first I couldn't quite see their colors so I checked from another window and got as close as I could.  These are Cedar Waxwings. See their yellow bellies? There is also a bright yellow stripe at the end of their tails. Their heads are a soft brown and grey and they wear a black mask across their eyes. (Maybe because they can come in and strip a Mahonia in a matter of minutes and they don't want to be identified.) I don't know how many came to the gutter, whic

That Wonderful Light

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Yesterday the temps got up into reasonable ranges (mid-forties) and I went out to begin cleaning the back yard just a little. The construction left a huge mess and we have been so busy inside that outside has been ignored. I guess that I was waiting for DH to do something but I remembered that he cooks and goes to the grocery store and I do cleaning, laundry, yard work, etc. So, out I went. I didn't get cold except for my face and when it froze I came in. I didn't really get much done, but it was a start. Besides this pallet and wheelbarrow there were many little pieces on the ground and stuff on the porch. I only moved and stacked stuff, but it was an improvement.  This is how things looked at the beginning and  after my work. And it was just in time because today we have snow. Jillions of flakes so tiny they are hard to see but they are steadily coming down. The roads were covered first and the rooftops. Blades of grass are still sticking through, but there is a n

Have I No Shame?

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I am not sure that I should share this, but I am going to anyway. Please be kind. Last week we had a night when the temp was supposed to drop to 7 degrees F. That is cold in anyone's book and (in case I haven't told you) I am not a fan of cold weather. Here is how I was dressed during that day. Blue knit yoga pants, white ¾ sleeve knit shirt, Dean's old flannel shirt, striped long socks - the temp was not supposed to (and didn't) get above freezing all day. When it came time to go to bed, I made a disturbing discovery. My only winter gown was in the dirty clothes and I hadn't washed that load! Yikes!  Here is what I had to wear. It has lovely little checked ribbon trim and the cutest little flower-shaped buttons. There are little pleats above the short hem. I t has no sleeves . It is very lovely and thin cotton. It is perfect for a hot summer night. That night was neither hot, nor summer.  I thought that I would add this old T-shirt to make it a litt

The Pantry Shelves Redux

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To revisit the pantry shelves:  Boards and smaller boards for a lip on the shelf. Check Drill for drilling lots of holes for the supports. Check.  Fifty little shelf supports to go in the holes. Check. Guy who is supposed to be doing all the work. Sick and out like a light all day. Check. (sigh).   I finally moved a shelf in the laundry area so that I would have room to neatly store the extra towels. There is just not enough room in the bathroom. When the pantry shelves are finished I will take some of those containers and put them to use in these cabinets to group like things together.  I took the dogs out three times today. The first time it was 16 degrees. They wanted to play . I picked up several days worth  pounds of frozen poop and then made them come in so I could defrost my face. Have I ever mentioned that I am not a fan of cold weather?  I also did all the cooking. Different for me, but I do remember how, I discovered. That along with

The next step

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As you know, the kitchen is nearly finished but there is still work to be done and we are the ones who are to do it. Here is the area that will hold canned goods in the new pantry. I will prime and paint this (tomorrow, I hope) and DH will install repositionable shelves. He has ordered the shelf clips and cut the boards but has yet to attach a lip to the front of them and they will also need painting. If the weather continues so cold I might just use them as they are until it is warm enough to go outside and paint.  Here is the canned food now. I never knew we had so much until it was out in the open and in the way! DH and I mocked up a shelf to see how much would fit so we could estimate how many shelves we would need. We think that we need about twelve.  This is one of the boards, cut and ready to have the lip glued and tacked on. It might not look exciting to everyone, but you know that it is to me.  Another mock up with vegetable cans. They extend to the lar

Thank You

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I first want to thank those of you who read this blog. From what I can tell, apart from the people paid to review blogs and see if they can sell something there, there are about 11 of you brave souls. A few nights ago I was ready to just give it all up, but then I heard from two of you and decided that I will try a little bit longer. So.... Let's talk about pie. When perusing Pinterest a few days ago I saw a picture of coconut cream pie that looked so good I nearly licked the screen. DH thought that pie sounded good and brought home a bag of coconut the next time he went out. I pulled up the recipe, assembled the ingredients and began. First I did the pie shell. ( More on that later but for now i will say that I used a refrigerated one). Then I began mixing sugar, a little flour, eggs, buttermilk, vani....  Buttermilk? Wait a minute! Back to the recipe. In my haste I had pulled up the buttermilk pie recipe and started on it. It was good, a little sweet but tangy also. It wasn'

Clips and Changes

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I am making changes to this blog; you might have noticed. I have tried out new backgrounds from time to time but the changes I now have in mind are of a different nature.  The sub-title of the blog will now reflect what the blog is really about. It now says, "making this old house and this small town my home". Maybe I should add an "adventures in" before the "making". That would certainly reflect the truth.  I hope that you will see other changes as we go along and that you will find that they make things more interesting. But back to the adventure. I thought that I had all the Christmas decorations back upstairs in the (still not finished but cleaned) storage room. In fact, I only found one little plastic crystal (can you say those two words together?) snowflake and one snowman who will stay on the front porch because he is winter , not Christmas. The other thing left to do was to deal with the Christmas tree lights. We had two little fake trees,

Shelves and Handles

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Here is another look at my laundry area. Were you dying to see it? It is so light and clean that I love it. No going down the creepy stairs to the dark basement. Places to put all sorts of things behind closed doors. Wow! My sister thinks that I should add a shelf over the washer and dryer. I like that idea and it could hold little things and maybe something fun, but would it get in the way? It could be removable, of course. What do you think? This is part of a shelf that Sister was no longer using so I traded it for selves that we aren't using. The plan is to put an ironing pad and a small ironing board on it until the counter with sink and ironing space gets built. That could be a long time, as you know. Meanwhile, it is neat and it will do for the little amount of ironing that happens in this house of knit. The real ironing board, besides having no storage under it, was too long for the space. And it was ugly.  The freezer is destined for the basement.  This is th