Thursday, January 31, 2013

Hints & Signs

You know your heart's not entirely in your work when you've been drawing your backyard in the back of your notebook for months . . .

Sunday, January 27, 2013

2013, Week #4

Here are my photos from week #4, January 21-27.

MLK Day school holiday = busy day at the museum with the monkeys (using the family membership we got them for Christmas).

Cute puppies on a cold winter's day, part the first (sunbathing).

Cute puppies on a cold winter's day, part the second (snuggling).

Mama and the kids.

She's no fool - she knows where the heat comes from!

Visit from Jack Frost last night.

The birthday boys (5 & 7 this year!) at their party checking out the cake.

My friend's adorable kiddo.

British goods as far as the eye can see (@ British Delights in Westford MA).

Can't wait for spring so we can turn this lovely hole into an actual patio!

Sunday afternoon hike with the hounds.

Frozen fall.

Beware the (frozen) dead marshes.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Loo Improvements

Look, we made something pretty in the bathroom!  Err, that came out wrong.  I mean, we made the bathroom pretty!

Before:
Within a month of moving in, I ripped down my grandparents' wallpaper in here, one of the least offensive ones in the house.  Why?  Heaven only knows.  Plus, it had the wonderful side effect of making us live with bare plaster for over two years.  Which was mostly fine to start with, until the mildew crept in.  Sigh.  I never said it was a good idea.  The bathroom is mostly fine (though the tile is not our style), but we discovered a few things we wanted to do when we got around to clearing things out and painting.

After:
Behold!  Paint on the walls & ceiling!  Flat white ceiling pant and semi-gloss paint in "pencil" on the walls (both with a packet of mildew preventative added).  You'll notice we also added a shelf/towel bar (cheapo IKEA brackets spray painted black, a pre-cut piece of poplar from Home Depot, and a branch from one of our dog walks).  Plus we tossed in a tray of oft-used toiletries, a lovelier hand soap bottle, and a jade plant.  We had also changed out the glass bulb cover last year from a kinda funky shaped one (hard to see in the before pic b/c the light is on) to a simple round one.  Even in the craptastic artificial light of an evening, the loo looks so much more cared for now and it's a lot more functional.

Monday, January 21, 2013

2013, Week #3

Here's week #3 of project 52: 1/14-1/20.  Sorry about posting practically nothing in the intervening week - it was a busy one and posting just fell by the wayside.  Hope these photos can tell a bit of a story instead!

Snowy view at home after Tuesday night/Wednesday morning's snowstorm.

And a snowy view at work too!

Out for drinks with coworkers here and enjoyed the heck out of my glass of pinot noir and sweet potato gnocchi with roast duck, butternut squash sauce, blue cheese crumbles, and a balsamic reduction.

Morning snow-covered house view and our massive new PEI flag!

Photo of a photo, from a project at work on Thursday.

Cat on a hot tin radiator (babysitting for friends with two young boys so they could have a rare date night).

Puppies literally sleeping on me - how's a girl supposed to get up???

He was under the covers when I left the room. I guess he got hot?

18th century houses do NOT hold heat well. 

Sunday morning pancakes two weeks running!

Potting things.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Working From Home Awesomeness

A lovely day of working partially from home.  I drove up to the museum this morning, packed up some artifacts and the museum's projector, gave a lecture to some lovely old ladies, dropped everything back off at the museum, and headed home to finish out the workday here.

The troika of puppies at the reservoir on the walk they got when I got home.

My garden house, lit from within as the dark started to fall.  This is exactly how I was picturing it all fall while  I slaved away cleaning & painting.

Monday, January 14, 2013

2013, Week #2

Week #2 of project 52: January 8-13.

Off to his first pre-practicum day at my old middle school!

While I spent my first winter-Tuesday-from-home in my little garden house office!

What - wrapping a sedan chair in plastic to inhibit the spread of powder post beetles isn't part of your normal workday?

Photographing a portrait of one of the first female missionaries in the United States.

My loves on the couch during a West Wing marathon (which is almost every night these days).

Upholstering something for the first time ever - love this yellow indoor/outdoor fabric I ordered for the porch bench.

The boys in the yard.

New bathroom shelf in progress.  J. loved this workbench vignette, so I made him go take a picture while I made blueberry pancakes.

Aforementioned blueberry pancakes (from this recipe).  We didn't have any multigrain flours in the house, so I just used white flour.  Still so good.

Warm afternoon + Justin running out to Home Depot for a bit = 1.5 mile walk with the hounds.  Loved the blue afternoon light over the reservoir.  And the fact that we returned from the walk just after 5pm and it was still light enough to see.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

2013, Week #1

Ok, looks like we're doing this 52 weeks of photos thing!  Here's January 2-6.

9 degrees outside on my first morning back to work.  The puppies assessed the situation and chose to hid under the covers all day.

Jeez, it's a shame that the South End of Portsmouth (where I work on Fridays) is such an ugly mess.

What a gross view, right?  ;)

Up to the lake early Saturday morning with all three puppies.  Here are the hounds (hopefully not) scratching up my parents' new kitchen floor.

Just turned my head and shot this out the window - lovely winter lake view.

I already posted this shot of the beach around sunset, but love it and wanted to post it again.

Monday, January 07, 2013

Calling My Number

Oh, that Benita of Chez Larsson.  It was through her that I got the bright idea to do a year of photos, a project 365.  And what a lovely year it was.  Now, she's doing a "project 52," i.e. a weekly round-up of photos (not necessarily 7 at a time).  Given that I've already posted three "image dumps" (here, here, and here) recently that covered about a week each, I just might have to give in to doing this in 2013 . . .

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Lovely Lake

So I love this picture.  I took it last night at our beach at the lake.  I was walking the pups and grabbed a quick shot of the partially ice-bound lake and the pink sky while all three dogs pulled hard at their leashes.  Then, I went back to the house, applied an artificial flash on Instagram to darken the clouds a bit, and posted it.  Turns out 21 people agree with me on liking it!

Friday, January 04, 2013

This & That

Another image dump from the week between the holidays.  These photos date from 12/28 to 1/1.

Snuggly pups sharing the couch with us.

Canada geese out & about on a sunny cold day.

A sprinkling of snow on the garden house and some lovely sunlight in the pines.

Too cold to do much  gardening now, but I went out to the garden house to place that photograph - a lovely  image that I've never had a good place for before now.

 The light hammock in the beginning of a good snowfall Saturday night.

And even more snow later in the night (taken quickly while we were shoveling). 

And what else were we doing during the snowstorm?  Painting the bathroom!

It's a bold yellow (with a touch of orange), but I think the green & black tile required something with a bit of brass to it.  It look a bit of getting used to, but I'm really liking it now.

Snowy pines by the reservoir on our dog walk the next day.

A very snowy garden house.

Some very silly girls in pajamas and flannel at my friends' New Year's Eve "flannelpalooza" in Vermont!

Ditto - but with hand weights this time!

Beorn was uncertain about the fireplace at my parents' house at first, but he got used to its warm glow eventually.

More snuggly pups!