Category: My Old House
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I Have Shingles
“You must be so excited to get it done?” most people ask, a reasonable question after two years of exposed insulation, peeling windows, and flapping Typar. But I scramble for an answer. “What I love most is the adventure,” I tell them, which isn’t enough. There is no possible pat answer for a project… Read more
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Just Peachy
Two seasons ago I added a peach tree to the mix, siting it in the sunniest, most-protected corner of the property. The nurseryman, who successfully grew one in his own yard, said that it was self-pollinating and would take two years to produce fruit. I wish I could tell you the cultivar of the Prunus… Read more
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Geocache: Piccola Casa Curiosa
Update: The Casa is now a geocache at www.geocaching.com (and getting great traffic!) ********** We’ve been calling this piece of interactive art-in-progress the GiveOneGetOneBox. But knowing firsthand how search engines perv up any title that might possibly have something to do with naked women and intercourse, I’ve officially changed the name. Call it what you will. For… Read more
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Intoxicating
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it…. – Excerpt: Song of Myself, Walt Whitman Read more
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Something Old, Something New
Seven years ago I snapped a photograph of a pair of doors that I fell in love with in New York City. I always carried it with me, hoping to find some of my very own. Four years ago I built a recessed, open-shelved cabinet in the dining room that never felt quite done. Two… Read more
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Painting Pictures
I took up my brushes knowing that if the mural turned out poorly I could paint right over it. Happy to say, I didn’t have to. Read more
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Stalking the Purple Beast
Immaculate, it was not. Or maybe I have a wildly different understanding of the meaning of that word: mint; without wear, tear or staining; something that can be used right away without an additional investment of time or money. But everyone knows by now that buying anything used online is always caveat emptor. I drove… Read more
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Staring At Blank Walls
I spent the last two days hanging bits and bobs on my dining room walls. And taking most of them down. Seems the thrill of decorating – the implementation vs. the idea of it – is less a thrill and more a sucker-punch to the head. It appears to involve a disproportionate amount of mental… Read more
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The Gift of St. Luke’s Summer
The first killing frost has passed and our eastern Indian Summer has arrived. Folklore has it that this stretch of warm weather predictably arrives on or about October 18th, the Feast of St. Luke. The natural world heads into dormancy while it marks the last kick-at-the-can for us northern hemisphere humans to romp semi-clothed, to… Read more
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Wet Paint
“The cats need to be locked up. They can’t walk on the painted floor or they’ll wreck it,” I said while I painted the entranceway floor (with oil-based paint). Read more