Glamour Shots of "Irene"

Get ready for some really glamorous pics from my house:

We love Lulu, but she is an irresponsible parent.  Two of her "babies" are dead in the backyard.

I"ll have to make a trip to Goodwill for some more teddy bears.

Naturally my house is camera ready and immaculate:

Nothing like having the entire front yard in my living room and dining room...and the best is yet to come!  Still have power, working on some projects, a roast chicken in the (gas) oven, and feeling pretty cozy, actually.  God is good.

As Irene Rages....I Tweak Vignettes for Fall

If the house blows away, it'll be looking autumn-y before it goes.  It is all about priorities, people.

The lovely vintage fall bird picture came from my on-line buddy Jenene.  Her daughter works at my favorite Goodwill store. Right now, she lives far away, but she will be moving to the next neighborhood over soon.

Keep Calm and Carry On

I love this sentiment.  Posters like these were produced in Great Britain beginning in 1939. 

So, you know that the natural world is a little unstable in your region when you hope that Hurricane Irene will put out the wildfire that's been burning in the Great Dismal Swamp for months now.  When the wind blows a certain way, the haze actually hangs in the air inside my house. This week has been intense what with an earthquake and now a Cat 3 hurricane.    What's a girl to do but keep calm and carry on.

And let me just mention that those of us who hang unique things like handmade dollhouses from our fence and use seatless antique chairs to hold potted flowers in baskets are in a world of hurt when we need to remove projectiles from our property.  They don't seem quite so cleverly eclectic in the midst of a weather emergency.

Actually, I think the situation may be so grave that I need to follow my sister Kerry's advice instead:

I Painted the Fireplace Area...FINALLY

This cost nothing except the cost of the blue candles in the hurricane lamps.  I swiped them from my mother's garage.  The paint was in the basement.  Here's how it looked when I lit the lamps.  I had originally intended to paint them white, too, but I love the contrast against the white background.

My Great Grandmother's Recipe Book

My great-grandmother, Annie O'Toole, was a remarkable woman.  She lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennylvania and was the light of my mother's life, just like my grandmother, Helen, was the light of mine.  Annie was not educated beyond the third grade (as you can see from her spelling and handwriting), but she was very wise.   She kept a spotless house, even with six children and Uncle Johnny (her brother in law) living there.

I am told that she was a fantastic cook.  This must have skipped a generation, because her daughter, my Nana Dunn, was a terrible chef.  Her burgers were so over done that the National Hockey League could have used them at center ice.  My mother has the cooking gene.  I have Nana O'Toole's periwinkle blue bean pot.

Annie's recipes were written in an old pay booklet that must have been from my great grandfather's employer.  He worked in a lace mill as a weaver.  That's her book scanned above, open to the Old Kentucky Nut Cake recipe and signed with her name.  I noodled around on the Internet and found the same recipe with more modern measurements instead of her quaint "coffee cup full" directions.  I kind of like her non-precise recipe better.  I am proud to have been named after her. 


Old Kentucky Nut Cake from Recipes.com

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine milk and vanilla, and add alternately with flour mixture to egg mixture. Fold in nuts. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.                at she didn't go too far beyond a third grade eduation.

Secret Gardens of Shea Terrace

Some cool, green, inviting hideaways from my neighborhood this waning summer day...

Amazing Things on the Porch at 256

So I was sitting in this rocker on the front porch tonight, after a bike ride.  I considered all the other people who also sat on the front porch of 256 before I did.  I like to think about the Shea Family who lived here until the 1960's.  Their great nephew, Butch, still lives two streets down in a white house with yellow shutters on the water. 

I mused about the live oak trees in front of the old school.  They must have been just saplings back then.,  The sound of the ferry and the Norfolk Southern freight train would have been similar.  No street lights and far fewer houses.   No air conditioning.  Few cars.   However, on a beautiful night like tonight, I feel sure that they would have been rocking or gliding on the front porch.  Most women would still have been wearing skirts just above the ankle, although those scandalous flappers might have been dancing the Charleston downtown.

I went inside to look up this date in history, in 1920, to be specific, when the house was brand new. The first radio news broadcast had just been made in Detroit, but they wouldn't have known.  I was wondering what they might have been discussing as they rocked back and forth.  The Great War, perhaps and how things were now getting back to normal again for everyone.

Nope.  That's not what they were discussing.  Can you guess what?  Women's suffrage!  Women's right to vote was ratified just about this time in August of 1920.   

Autumn Leaves a Wee Bit Early

My friend, Terry, is the best person in the world.  Really, trust me, she is.  Terry is a psychologist.  Besides that, she has a lot of wisdom and is the soul of kindess.   I recommend having a friend who is a psychologist because it is cheaper than psychotherapy AND you can call them at home in the evening.  I have a collection of friends who are psychologists or therapists.  Psychologists...collect all three!   This is an odd thing, but I collect them like I collect Virginian Pilot newspaper reporters.

Anyway, back to Terry being the best person in the world...Terry went to an estate sale last week.  We chatted on the phone.  Then she said those words that make every vintage vixen's heart sing, "I went through a box of vintage linens and took what I wanted.  When you come over, I'll give the box to you, so you can see if you find anything."

I found quite a few things, but nothing more than this beautiful hand-painted fall tablecloth and matching napkin set. 

Here's some detail of the painted pattern:

I had to do a new bouquet.  Strangely, it pleased me that I put the flowers in a depression glass canister marked "flour."  I'm odd and fanciful that way.

The little leaves are actually ashtrays from my Franciscan Ivy pattern.

Thank you, Terry, for this cooling bit of Autumn during dusty dry summer days.  You are such a Proverbs 31 woman.

Dollar Store Crafts Blog

Part of my Sunday routine this time of year is biking to Starbucks and reading the Sunday New York Times.  I am a New Yorker at heart, although I split my time between New York and the Hartford, CT area when I was a kid.  I get a vente skinny vanilla 7-pump three Equal latte and go through the whole paper at my leisure.

In today's Times, there was a great article about Dollar Stores which I think all you "frugalistas" would enjoy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/business/02dollar.html?pagewanted=all

The article refers to this cool blog:

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/

Just sayin'

Bird Brained in the Living Room

I mentioned the little beadboard cupboard above in my last post.  I found it on a trash pile outside an old church.  Judging from what I found inside, it was from a juvenile Sunday School classroom.  I think it has good karma!   I found the smaller box at Goodwill last week.  I couldn't find any reasonably-priced bluebirds to put inside, so I spray painted some Dollar Store birds instead.  Not very Elle Decor, but it works for me.

My livingroom used to be decorated in shades of cranberry and cream, as you can see in the memorial post to my Little Bit.  My living room is dark, because I have a porch across the front of my house.  The colors just contributed to the darkness, so little by little, I changed over to a blue, yellow, and white cottage-y look.  Finding the mirror for the fireplace helped brighten things via reflection.  The mirror looks fabulous with the glow of reflected candles in it when I put a candlestand down in front.   The whole area looks so much brighter.    Thank you Goodwill for $5.25.

I have to thank Daisy Cottage Kim for the bold use of color.  What a living doll that girl is.  My palette isn't the same, but she taught me how to make a room look like me.  I also learned that all the colors don't have to be "matchy matchy."  I wouldn't have picked up those shutters if I hadn't read her blog. 

My next three jobs are to paint the floor lamp white, paint the flagstones around the fireplace off white, and actually sew the chair cushion covers.  Don't tell anyone, but all I did was tuck the vintage sheets around the two old cushions.  I have to fix that before my friend Elaine, the professional decorator, comes for Bible study.  She is QUITE Elle Decor.  O! the horror if she fiddled around with that cushion!

Upcycled Blue Shutters

I never fail to be amazed at what folks put out for the trash.  Just off the top of my head, following are some treasured items I upcycled from the trash: 

a beautiful old door with a wonderful patina and estucheon plate (the decorative area around a door knob) that sits in my living against a wall
the headboard in one of the guest bedrooms
my coffee table
a chair with no bottom that I spray painted red. It sits in my front yard with flowers in the seat area
vintage suitcases
a vintage red checked apron
a folk art wooden heart
keys
the bottom of a Hoosier cabinet
a vintage 1940's enamel counter top
a chest of drawers
a vintage free-standing kitchen spice cabinet about six feet tall
a small beadboard cupboard from a Sunday School classroom which I use for diplays in front of the living room window.

Last night I was riding my bike at Merrimac Point and spied these amazing blue shutters on top of a trash pile.  I kept my fingers crossed as I raced home to get the jeep that no one else would pick them up. I couldn't see balancing five-foot high shutters on my handlebars.  My ceilings are 12 feet high,so the shutters fit perfectly in the area above the bookcase.  

This area is tucked into a corner created by the fireplace flue.  The bookcase is the main reason I bought the house, I just fell in love with the glass front and door knobs.  It is original to the house. 

C'mon Baby Douse My Fire

Did you know that a swamp can go on fire?  I know, neither did I, but if you think about it, the Irish heated their homes for centuries with peat, which is basically the same thing.  The Great Dismal Swamp is on fire and has been for weeks.  The wind has changed and for a second this morning when I first awoke, I thought my own house was on fire.  It is hot and the smoke hangs in the air like fog.   (pic courtesy of the Daily Press.)  The Great Dismal usually looks anything but, however, I have to admit that this pic looks very 1313 Mockingbird Lane (the Munster's address).

So today is definitely a good day for the crock pot.  About the last thing I want to do is heat the kitchen up.  Just to give you some ideas, I mixed a can of cream of mushroom soup, a half a can of wine, one teaspoon of marjoram, and a half can of water together.  I put boneless pork chops in the botton of the crock, then sliced raw carrots, then sliced raw mushrooms, and the mushroom soup mixture on top.

I don't always think "crock pot" in the summer, but if you think about it, this is a great time of year to use one.  The house stays cool and you can run off and do your summer thing, but dinner will be ready when you get in.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Carlos Wilson Died

This may not be a big deal to you, but it is a huge deal to all of us in the Tidewater area.  Carlos worked at the old-timey Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach for 73 years.  That is not a typo.  Can you imagine? He was working there when World War II ended.  I wrote about the Cavalier a few years ago. 
http://theviewfrom256.blogspot.com/2009/11/weekend-walk-in-virginia-beach.html

You can read about this inspiring man in my local paper, the Virginian Pilot here: 
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/carlos-wilson-mr-virginia-beach-dies-89

I am surrounded by Pilot people.  I went to church with Ann Johnson, the research librarian.  Nancy next door is an editor. Aaron and Kate down the street are two married reporters.  Dave further on down is another reporter. And then there's my friend Martin Smith Rodden, an award-winning photo journalist. Martin lives over in the next neighborhood. He took his wife's name when they married, which is entirely too 1970's for me.  Makes him sound British, though.  All Americans think that anyone British sounds really smart.  I am the Queen of the Parenthetical Thought, aren't I?  Seriously.

Here is Carlos' advice to all:

Remember people’s names.
Show up on time, and you’re 90 percent ahead of everyone else.
Do more than you’re paid to do. One day it will pay off.
Respect is worth more than money.
Lies beget lies. Tell the truth about everything; deal with it and move on.
Life ought to be something to live, not fear.
Slow down
Smile

Now if anyone out there in Blogville could tell me why on earth the Google widget below is indicating all these random stories insted of my previous blog entry about the Cavalier , I'll buy you an eclair from the Marietta Diner.  I'm lying.

Blowin' in the Wind

I got up at "o dark 30" (or Navy time), made some banana oatmeal muffins, and brewed a pot of chocolate truffle coffee.  This, kidlets, is decadence on a small budget.

I have an unsightly view of the compost bin from one angle on my front porch.  This was particularly bothersome because it is the view I see from my chair at the table. 

The answer, my friend, was blowin' in the wind, to plagiarize from, um....be inspired by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

The answer was blowin' in the wind....on a tension rod...hanging from cheapo chain from Lowes...with sale curtains from Walmart.

Just sayin'.

Water Water Everywhere

Karen Blixen, whose pen name was Isak Dineson, wrote Out of Africa.    She said, " The cure for anything is salt water, either sweat or tears or the sea."  Roger that. 

My earliest happy memories are surrounded by the water of Long Island Sound at Black Point or at the Atlantic ocean near the great auntie's cottages (Mercedes, Florence, and Peg) on Long Beach Island, NJ. 

Whenever I smell the scent of brine, I am 7 again with a sunburned nose.   I hear Taffy padding on dog feet across the kitchen floor, and see Kit's old wringer washer in the out building.  We used the roller to squidge the water from our bathing suits and hung them on the clothesline strung above the picnic table to dry completely. 

So it is no accident that I still live surrounded by water in Hampton Roads, Virginia...either the brackish Elizabeth River (which is actually a tidal estuary like the Hudson near New York City) or the Atlantic Ocean or the Chesapeake Bay at Fort Monroe.

My neighborhood is a peninsula surrounded by water which teems with life; fish, crabs, green herons, and this egret above foraging for lunch.

During my most troubled times, I am drawn towards contemplation along the water.  I am always renewed by it.  We are first created within water.  I think we want to return to it over and over. 

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.     Psalm 29:2-4

Peddling My Backside All Over Town

I've spent a lot of this summer riding my bike everywhere.  Some place along the way, I got back in touch with the inexpressible joy I felt riding my banana bike on Knollwood Road in East Hartford when I was little.  We lived in a 1930's Tudor in those days with vintage cherry wallpaper in the dining room. 

I became curious recently about how many miles I was riding as I took off for Starbucks, or Merrimac Point or to church.  I follow a wonderful blog by an amazing woman named Sheryl Yvette who rides in New York City high heels and skirts. http://www.sherylyvette.com/
 I've also found that I'm more comfortable biking in a skirt and do ride in to church with higher heels. It appeals to the 1940's girl deep within that maybe others who once lived at the Old Shea House at 256 peddled downtown in the same way.

So off I went to East Coast Bicycles in the Ghent neighborhood of Norfolk to have an electronic odometer placed on my bike.  I took the ferry from Portsmouth across the Harbor.  This is what I saw as I waited for the ferry:

I love our working waterfront.  I road over this footbridge to cross the Canal in Norfolk:

Here is the view of the Chrysler Museum while crossing:

After lunch, I found this dim, cool garden area at the side of a Victorian museum.  I was happy to sit down for a few minutes.  My bike is there in the background.

 I forgot one thing.  The streets are all cobble-stoned.  I think I jiggled a few fillings loose!  I thought about all the people in the Netherlands who used bicycles over the same kind of streets during World War II.  Rubber was scarce and many road their bikes on the rims only, no tires.  MERCY!

I headed back to the ferry landing at Waterside here and waited to cross the River back home.  It was so hot and hazy, but I thought the pic looked good in sepia tones.  Over the river and through the streets to East Coast Bicycles I went.  And my odometer tells me that I've done 41 miles since then.

I-Need-to-go-Grocery-Shopping-Lunch Salad

Start with a large can of garbanzo beans (or chick peas or ceci, depending on your ethnicity). 

Add the drips and drabs that need to be used up from the fridge. In my case it was carrots, a green pepper past its first blush of youth, a chopped onion, some black olives, some sugar snap peas, a roma tomato, and some frozen corn.

Add lemon juice, olive oil, and your choice of spices.  I decided to go vaguely Middle Eastern with ground cumin, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, allspice, and salt.  Equal parts olive oil to lemon juice.  Toss.

Make grocery list.  Enjoy lunch.  Go grocery shopping.