Spring at The Glade

I just love looking out the kitchen door in spring. Just across the driveway is the Cottage in dappled sunlight.

Glade Cottage in May

The potager is rich in last year’s parsley and the newly-painted garden windows.

The potager is ready for warmer weather.

Out on the street the front shade garden which now is bathed in sunlight is still thick with oak rounds.

Subtle color in the front garden.

This garden is fragrant with white violets and lily of the valley.

Naked ladies on the left, large hosta on the right with white violets and lily of the valley sprinkled all around.

Even though it’s well-planted this garden needs some cleaning up.

A canopy of dogwood blossoms umbrellas the garden.

Has spring sprung in your yard?

 

 

The Proust Questionnaire

I don’t usually take online questionnaires but The Proust Questionnaire was intriguing. First, you don’t have to give them your name, email, etc.

Basically you’re playing 20 questions then the computer matches the result to 101 famous people to see whom you’re most like.

Jane Goodall and Karl Rove

Turns out I’m like a quirky bunch. My number one match is Jane Goodall who studies chimpanzees in the Congo. Her Wikipedia bio says: Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace.  It seems to me the only thing we have in common is that we’re both dames.

Karl Rove, Republican political consultant and policy advisor, and I seemingly have nothing in common on the surface.  But oddly when I read his bio I realized that our personal lives had many similarities. How weird is that?

Katie Couric and Annette Benning

The next two people I have similarities to are Katie Couric and Annette Benning.  Now we’re getting somewhere.  Notice in their caricatures they’re both wearing black evening dresses and look like they’re ready to have some fun.  That could be me.

Conan O’Brien and Eleanor Lambert.

The final 2 personalities are very interesting to me. Conan O’Brien is basically a writer and comedian. Well I write and I’m kind of funny.  Actually, when I was young my friends used to introduce me to people as the funniest person you’ll ever meet. Now that’s difficult to live up to especially when my brand of humor is witty one-liners pitched out according to the current circumstances.  I don’t tell jokes. Oh, yeah, and when my hair was its natural color I had a few red highlights.

Finally, I’m 10% similar to Eleanor Lambert who ”was a central figure in the American fashion public relations industry.”  I don’t even really know what that means.  When I did a little research on Ms. Lambert I realized she had pizzazz. I want to be known for pizzazz (or élan or cultured enthusiasm). I’d like to have more than 10% pizzazz, however, so I’ll get working on it.

Proust Questionnaire

1. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR?
2. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT STATE OF MIND?
3. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE OCCUPATION?(WAY OF SPENDING TIME)
4. WHAT HISTORICAL FIGURE DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?
5. WHICH LIVING PERSON DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FICTIONAL HERO?
7. WHO ARE YOUR REAL-LIFE HEROES?
8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?
9. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU HAPPIEST?
10. WHAT IS YOUR MOST OBVIOUS CHARACTERISTIC?
11. WHAT IS THE TRAIT YOU MOST DEPLORE (HATE) IN YOURSELF?
12. WHAT IS THE TRAIT YOU MOST DEPLORE IN OTHERS?
13. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST EXTRAVAGANCE?
14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JOURNEY?
15. WHAT DO YOU MOST DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR APPEARANCE?
16. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST OVER-RATED VIRTUE?
17. ON WHAT OCCASION DO YOU LIE?
18. WHICH WORDS OR PHRASES DO YOU MOST OVER-USE?
19. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
20. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
21. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?
22. WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST ADMIRE IN A MAN?
23. WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST ADMIRE IN A WOMAN?
24. WHAT IS IT YOU MOST DISLIKE?
25. WHAT DO YOU VALUE MOST IN YOUR FRIENDS?
26. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO DIE?
27. IF YOU WERE TO DIE AND COME BACK AS A PERSON OR AN ANIMAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE?
28. IF YOU COULD CHOOSE AN OBJECT TO COME BACK AS, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
29. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO (WORDS YOU LIVE BY OR THAT MEAN A LOT TO YOU)?
30. WHO HAS BEEN THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOU?

This might be a fun game for our next party.

Whom are you most like?

Just in Time for a Pinterest Challenge

I’ve been working on painting, stenciling, and staining our dining room chairs.

Before and after seat detail

They were inspired by this pin just in time to enter into The Young House Love Pinterest Challenge.

Design Sponge Chair (link above)

First the chairs were sanded and wiped down with mineral spirits.

Every side and top and bottom need to be hand sanded.

To mask the area that would become a dogwood blossom I covered this x-ray film (which came in the mail as an advertisement) with blue painters tape.

I covered the slick surface of an x-ray with painters’ tape.

I cut out the shapes and taped them to the chairs. (At first I taped the wrong side of the x-ray film and the tape came off slick and non-sticky.  Fortunately the other side worked.  Probably waxed paper or aluminum foil could be used for the same purpose.)

The painters’ tape will allow the flower to remain the natural wood color.

Then I sprayed a grey primer to cover as much of the raw wood as possible.

The grey primer helps adhere the top coat to the surface.

With a brush I carefully painted all surfaces of the chairs which was a time consuming and tedious job.  First I flipped the chairs to get the bottom rungs painted then painted the upper sides being sure to hit every angle.

Dab paint carefully over the tape stencil.

Once they were dry I pulled the painters tape to expose the dogwood blossoms which were placed differently on each chair.

Pull the tape carefully.

To make the dogwood blossoms more recognizable I used a little dark brown stain to  darken the indents at the edge of the petals and dotted the centers.

Close-up of dogwood

I waxed the chairs with Butcher’s Wax and called them finished.

Charcoal chair with a dogwood flower

Another Pinterest pin completed from my projects board.

Are you pinning and projecting?

I’m linked to

Painted Dining Room Chairs: Before and After

I’ve been wanting to paint our blonde oak dining room chairs for a while now.

Dining room captain’s chair

I got a good start recently and I have a glimpse of one to show.

Close-up of dogwood stencil

Before and after.

Charcoal chair with a dogwood flower

Still needs some touch up and wax but at least there’s progress.

Chairs are tedious to paint.

Do you hold on to projects for a long time?

Linked to

Saturday City Outing

Charlie and I went on a little outing on Saturday afternoon into Baltimore City to visit one of the City’s historic landmarks: The Bromo Seltzer Tower (now called the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower).

The Bromo Seltzer Tower is modeled after the bell tower of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

We had never been to the Tower although it’s impossible to miss it on a drive into the city of Baltimore.

A view from the base of the tower.

They hold an open house on Saturdays from May to October (check website for more information).

Upon arrival we were greeted in the tiny lobby and  gallery by a vivacious woman who told us we could sign up for the “clock tour,” go to the 11 floor (of 15) for poetry readings, take in a youth production on the 15th floor, and drop into the various art studios.

The building is over 100 years old and uses the original elevator floor indicators. Note there is a mezzanine but no 13th.

We signed up for the tour and waited for the elevator to take us to the 15th. Upon arrival at the 15th we walked down a few floors to see the artist’s studios and works.

A view from the 15th floor looking down the stairs.

The walls were used as galleries for the various artists studioed here.

Varied media, sizes, and styles are available.

One of the studios was also a gallery of the watercolorist Martha Dougherty.

The watercolor studio of Martha Dougherty.

I enjoyed her large-scale floral and  architectural renderings.

These prints can be hung in any direction.

We had an interesting visit that was not finished until we took the Clock Tour which I’ll detail in a separate post.  Charlie and I walked down the 15 flights of steps just to make sure we didn’t miss any of the displays.

Do you have a list of free or inexpensive happenings in your hometown?

Yet Another Interview

I told you here that our top pick contractor for whom we had waited an extra month for an estimate and with whom we had history, backed out on the job.  He has returned 3 copies of our plans: 1 for him and 2 for the permit process.

Two full sets of building plans for the county permit office.

I emailed a new contractor at our old contractor’s suggestion to get one more estimate before deciding who would renovate The Glade. After a few days he had not called me so I called him.  He told me he could meet early in the week to see the project and would give me a call. Two weeks later I still haven’t heard back from him so he’s off the list.

West exposure of The Glade

I called the contractor who had been our runner-up and asked him if he would reconsider the job.  He said he would speak to his partner and let me know. He did call back and said they could do the job but could not schedule the start until July.

Ready for renovation

I called him back and hired him.  Let’s go over some of his strong points: he is a plumber and does all the plumbing and tile work; he had thoroughly gone over our plans and priced things out strategically; he comes highly recommended by our friends.

A sketch of proposed changes to the front of The Glade.

This whole process is on God’s timetable and I thank Him for it.

What steps do you take to make expensive decisions?

Metal Roof

One of the improvements to The Glade when we do our renovation is to completely reroof the structure.

The dark spots are patches of fuzzy green moss.

As we were driving the other day we saw some houses with metal shed roofs over their porches.

Metal roof matches colors in the façade.

They looked good.

Metal roof color co-ordinates with shingle roof.

They were an interesting departure from plain shingles.

These townhouse sport verdigris copper roofs on bay windows and bump-outs.

I think our porch and bump-out roofs might look great in a coordinating metal.

The shed roof over the side porch would look nice in metal.

Wonder how it will affect the cost?

Do you drive around and get inspired?