Nifty Thrift Painting

Amidst the busy-ness of the spring, I've managed to find some time for a few little fix-it projects.  One recent fun find is a neat little painting in a damaged wicker frame that I spotted at a Philly thrift store.  I had to have it - it would be perfect for the yellow bedroom at Glenlochan.  Never mind that I've never worked with wicker and really had no clue what it might take to make it whole again.  The price was right and the desire was strong.

 It looked pretty good - a little dirty and dusty - except for the lower left corner which was missing a piece and had damage.

After some research online, I ordered a replacement reed and wicker wrap from a wicker supply store.  I soaked the rod, bent it carefully to shape, let it dry and then set about anchoring it, gluing it, and wrapping it.

After the repair job was fully dry, I carefully painted the entire frame with white Annie Sloane chalk paint to even the color and hide the newly repaired portions. 

Chalk paint requires a wax coat to provide a durable finish. I used the clear wax first on the entire frame and then very sparingly added a bit of dark wax in spots to age the new white paint a bit.  I hadn't worked with chalk paint before, but I had plans to use it in a much larger upcoming project, so this was a good intro to working with the paint and the wax. 

Far from a professional repair job, but I was pretty pleased with the results and cannot wait to hang it in Glenlochan.

Our Life is a (Glorious) Four Ring Circus

Overextended does not begin to describe the past few months, but we are not complaining (at least not much).  It's been a nutty almost first half of the year, nothing catastrophic, thank goodness, special days and hard work abound, lots to be thankful for.  Exhaustion reigns supreme right now, however.  It's been a circus.  A GLORIOUS circus.  Rings of daring feats, perfectly choreographed moves, and suspense interspersed with comedic relief, all vying for our attention, beckoning us with the colorful delights therein.  Turning attention to one ring necessarily means neglecting the others.  But the lure of the others is too great to neglect them for long, so attention quickly shifts again.  And again.  And again.  And, at the end of the day, nothing really gets our full attention, just short spurts of energy, bursts of attention and interest. 

Ring One of the circus is work.  Work has been stimulating, consuming, energizing, and exhausting.  There has been lots of travel in the past few months, many long hours, and many demands.  Add in the travel between Philly and Virginia and it leads to many mornings of not knowing where I am when I wake up. Great view from the office of one city in my recent travels:

In Ring Two we have a  new family member we welcomed into this world in January, a precious new baby who is absolutely perfect, wonderful to behold in his ability to learn so much in such a short amount of time, and staggering in the power he holds over all of us without yet realizing his control.  A delight that is impossible to resist.  Time away feels squandered.

 Ring Three is the Philly project.  Thanks, to Rob, progress hasn't been stalled.  He's been a one-man band, jack of all trades, slowly moving this house into the 21st century.  But his on-going work has interfered with having a few of life's luxuries.  Like a bathroom. Not.  Kidding.  It's been an interesting few months but the green marble tile is the light that keeps us going.

Ring Four is Glenlochan, always the Beacon, inspiring us to keep going with our revival of this grand old structure.  From hiring an interior design consultant to help us make peace with the interior, one room at a time, to heavy duty work outside, we cannot stop moving this forward too.  New rug, courtesy of our designer's great tip:

When immersed in any particular ring, it feels right, focused and good, but something always pulls that focus and the immersion process starts anew.  But, we are powerless to resist any; they all need, want, deserve our attention and so we move from ring to ring, tuning in and tuning out, enjoying (or not) each as we shift and shift again.

For now, we are enjoying the show, running all day, every day.

Just not sure when the circus will be pulling out of town....

Creating a Blank Canvas

Artists start with a blank canvas to create a lasting work of art.  Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury when it comes to the outdoor projects at Glenlochan.  When we bought the place, you could barely see the house from the road, it was so overgrown and vine covered (see Invasion of the Vines).  And we battled the invasive bamboo for several years (see Me and My Machete).  As such, the yard is far from a blank canvas, but for us to bring order and beauty to the years of neglect at Glenlochan, we need develop as close of an approximation to a blank canvas as possible.  This means that, although we are focused on saving those trees and bushes that not only look good but that have a decent shot at survival, many must be cleared out, chopped down, trimmed, and otherwise pared back to create that almost blank canvas. 

This involves a lot of manpower - ours and hired experts. 

It involves grinding stumps - new and old: 

 

Cutting down trees that cannot survive:

Trimming trees that don't endanger the house and have a fair chance of surviving:

And clearing, clearing, clearing:

 

We also consulted with a boxwood expert - about half of the yard's boxwoods are very old and very valuable English boxwoods.  The rest are not worth keeping and we've been advised not to try to move any since chances of survival get dicey when they are dug up (even with a tree spade) and transplanted.  So, we'll be swapping those that are not decent specimens with a new variety of boxwood (fast growing and hopefully decent size to start so we can achieve some symmetry).  As to the English boxwoods, they will be pampered over the next few years - injections and cutbacks designed to revitalize their health and improve their appearance.

The boxwoods have a long way to go.  And so do we!  But we are definitely getting closer to that blank canvas.

How We Spent our Christmas Vacation

The holidays are but a distant memory at this point - one week back at work has a way of making that happen.  The last of the decorations are tucked back into the attic, the houses are looking barren without all the finery, lights, and greenery, and the days are just short, dark and cold now.  The one sliver of encouragement this time of year is that we are actually gaining a little (very little) extra daylight each day. 

Amidst my afternoon Cuban coffee withdrawal (we had a nice hit of that each afternoon in the week leading up to the New Year and I'm still sorely missing it) it's a good time to document what we actually did accomplish over the holidays (precious little on the actual projects, but oh so much otherwise).

1.  Cutting and decorating our own Christmas tree - a fun family endeavor that we haven't indulged in a number of years, but the demise of our artificial tree made this a necessity this year.

 2.  Spending lot of quality time with family:

3.  Making and devouring the roast beast:

4.  Too many games of Mexican Train to count (some people tried some interesting moves):

5.  Saying good-bye to the huge leaning pecan tree endangering our house (we didn't do the work, but left it to the professionals):

6.  Clearing the yard with the new chainsaw on a 75 degree day:

 7.  Working the most difficult puzzle ever - the Constitution (no two identical pieces, monochromatic, and beyond difficult):

8.  Adding a new rug to the mix:

9.  And, most importantly, seeking an excellent home and Forever Family for this special and sweet guy who found us over the holidays after he was dumped off and on his own for days:

All labs are sweet, but this guy is beyond special - about a year old and so friendly and loving.  We can't wait to meet the lucky family who will be adding him to their home.  For now, he's safe and comfortable hanging out with us and Tosha is tolerating this temporary very big brother.