Catching Up

Friends, it's been too long. We've had an earthquake, a hurricane, and the northeast U.S. version of a monsoon, all of which have left us essentially unscathed, thank heavens. So let's cut to the chase before it starts raining again. Behold:

 

The original room, for reference:

The room, she is painted (for the most part – a few touch-ups here and there needed). The baseboard molding is being reattached after diligent painting by E.  He has also swapped out the almond light switches and power outlets for white ones, and updated the dimmer switch with a truly fascinating modern version  – just need to add the face plates. And the flooring is simply in need of its transitional molding, and E has bought himself a new tool to take care of that:

Why is it in the dining room, you say? Isn't that where you keep yours?

No, E was so excited that he assembled everything while watching a soccer game in the adjacent room last night. Soccer and power tools. Like Christmas morning, but better.

And finally, you may have noticed some new seating locations in the formerly empty room. We are super excited about this – E's first properly new furniture, and my first in a long time. It was delivered mid-monsoon, but all went fairly smoothly, despite the deluge. The accompanying throw pillows are a great shape, but I think the pattern detracts from the furniture, so I'm looking for some replacements. I had thought about picking up this little number, for starters, that I saw on a short getaway for my birthday:

But when I returned to the town and tracked it down, I found that it was virtually one of a kind, made by a local artist, and sold for $250. You read that correctly. I said thanks and retreated as gracefully as possible under the circumstances from the store.

How does one snuggle up to a $250 pillow, unless one is Beyoncé or similar? I will not find out soon.

More to come.

Edging

...is the work of the devil, at least in the opinion of someone with patience issues.

Thank heavens E has been doing the truly hard parts, such as the trim and the ceiling. Fun fact we just learned that many of you probably know: use only flat paint for ceilings, not eggshell. Would have been nice to know before buying a can and rolling two coats. Poor thing. We are staying amused, though, thanks to Pandora and, well, tomfoolery:

Shedding

The locust are shedding their now unneeded shells. On our tree.

Yes, the sides and branches of our tree are littered with shells that make it seem as though a retreating army dropped its armor on the way in order to move faster.

A close up:

Lovely.

Similarly, our house just shed something it no longer needed. Can you guess what? Hint:

See those holes to the left of the drainspout? The satellite dish has gone to the mother ship in the sky. Or the top of our garbage bin. Whichever image you prefer. Personally, I prefer this image:

 

A dish-free house.

(My apologies to all of you who have them, or prefer satellite service. I say, it's a free country and Godspeed. But until I can get a micro-version, or put it somewhere where it is all-but-invisible, I'll pass.)

The Lasting Impact of Early Learning

From ages 3 to 5, I attended a Montessori preschool and Kindergarten. One of the tenets of a Montessori school, according to our benevolent leader Wikipedia, is "a Constructivism (learning theory) or 'discovery' model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction."

This is why, I assume, they had box after box of plastic chips in varying shades of varying colors. We were often asked to choose all the chips of one color and arrange them from lightest to darkest, darkest to lightest, etc. But as you can see, it all paid off in the end.

Yes, friends, that would be 10 samples of green paint you see before you, arranged in a manner Ms. Montessori herself would probably approve, or at least acknowledge that it marked a plane of development of some kind.

Who knew how many greens there could be, or how many opinions one could have about them? Too yellow, too blue, too olive, too sage, too...sigh.

 

But one has been selected. Appropriately for E, who loves hot peppers, it is called Jalapeño. Appropriately for me, the history major, it is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation collection as it is apparently used at La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. Guesses?

Morning Glory Glory

Less is S'more

Today we got our new chiminea! It may be slightly on the diminutive side but we think it's going to work great. When you visit, be ready for some fireside chats and roasted marshmallows.

Summer Winding Down = Garden Malaise

We had a number of weeks with no rain and extremely warm temperatures here. Things are leveling out now, but casualties have been incurred. Both my Icelandic poppies and my Alpine poppy have gone to the garden in the sky. Other plants have survived, but are definitely the worse for wear.

The vegetable garden, however, is going like gangbusters. E will be so sick of tomatoes soon.