Monday, February 25, 2013

2013, Week #8

I didn't start taking pictures until Wednesday night for some reason, but then I was off on a tear!  Here are my photos from the week of February 18-24:

Baking pies late at night for a museum workshop in the morning.  Pecan pie on the left and chess pie on the right.

The pies the next day, plus the cornbread that I made with my workshop kids.

Home a bit early from work after a long week prepping for that workshop.  Took the pups on a lovely, wintery woodsy walk.  This little scene is 350 feet from my front door.

After much consideration, I rearranged my garden house office so the desk is facing the window (instead of perpendicular to it like this).  I'm going to work out there tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

One of my historic house organizations is renovating their rental apartment and it's been fascinating to watch. This is the kitchen, with new paint, a new light fixture, and newly refinished floors.  It's awaiting appliances, drawers, and  butcher block counters, but it's gorgeous as is!

Back at my own ranch, my husband finished installing a lovely new white mailbox (the old one hadn't been dealt with in a long time and was composed of 95% rust).  Oh and yes, our mailbox stand is an automotive crank shaft.  What can I say - my grandfather was a mechanic and never wasted a thing!

Up to NH to visit friends and family over the weekend.  First stop, a 1780s farmhouse in central NH to enjoy a fire, some friend time, and snuggling my puppy niece (another incident of that here).

An amazing snowy view down my parents' road at the lake.

. . .  where I met up with my husband and my own puppies!

The conditions were too bad to go meet other friends in Franconia, so we stayed home with my folks.  Before dinner, we walked down to their friends' house for a drink and I fell in love with this little (obviously nonfunctional) parlor stove.  It's just what I want someday for the garden house (see?).

Snowy walk home.

My parents' driveway in the foreground.  If it were not for my dad's 4-wheel drive SUV, we wouldn't have been going anywhere soon.

But instead we got to go skiing (well, snowboarding for me; skiing for Mum, Dad, and Justin).

My snowboard on the left and J's skis on the right - an interspecies romance.

Seriously.  Worth all of the sore muscles and banged up knees (I rode Saturday morning as well and took a digger onto some ice, kneecaps first).

The view of the slopes from après ski.

Back to that 1780s farmhouse for a final night with friends.  These are the only stairs to the second floor.  We had to carry Kobe to bed, but the hound dogs managed it like little mountain goats.

Monday, February 18, 2013

2013, Week #7

Photos from the week of February 11-17:

Two cute, snuggly pups.

Having breakfast in the bedroom on Tuesday because said pups barked too much at the plastering guys and couldn't be left alone upstairs.  Sigh.  Gotta love neurotic rescue dogs.

A brief attempt by Justin on Wednesday to keep them away from the workers by sequestering them in the garden house while he worked at my desk.  Everyone got too cold and came in eventually.

Speaking of neurotic rescue dogs, these two sleep very differently from each other.  We all slept in the guest room Wednesday night because the workers had to be in our bedroom at 7:30am - not fun.

Enjoying my lovely Valentine's Day prezzies from my husband Thursday night in a clean, newly plastered house - all to ourselves again!

Passing by the site on the way to Philadelphia on Friday.

Historic beer - just in time for GW's bday, too.

Our lovely Philly hosts, friends Adam & Molly.

Amazing beer selection at a shop we stopped in for lunch.

A side street near Rittenhouse Square.

A visit to the Rosenbach Museum . . . 

which had this amazing gallery wall.  I'll get to mine eventually . . . 

Day drinking at an Irish pub.

LOVE this window seat at Adam & Molly's apartment in West Philly.

Adam volunteers for the amazing Woodlands near their apartment.  We got a private tour on Sunday - this is the exterior of the house on the grounds (built in stages between 1774 and 1840).

Inside the drawing room at the Woodlands.  Gorgeous light!

A liter of weiss bier at Frankford Hall (this was a friend's - mine was the lovely dark porter below).

Pretzel the size of my head, and my own liter of beer.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Messy

The ceilings in our almost-eighty-year-old house are being re-plastered this week, so things have been looking kinda like this:



The guys should be done tomorrow.  The ceilings look lovely, but man, it will be nice to not have plaster dust  and drop cloths everywhere!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

2013, Week #6

Photos from the week of February 4-10!

How'm I supposed to get up & make dinner with this cuteness napping on me?!?

Could not be more thrilled that he & his brother are into all this now.

I love visiting my mother-in-law's!

Still think it's crazy cool that there are faux trees in some Hannaford stores.

Just the beginning.

Snow day teatime!

Snowy out here.

It's like the freaking tundra out there!

Puppies in the snow!

Shoveling snow is hard, but can be fun!

See?

Barn across the street through the trees. 

Faux Valentine's dinner - coq au vin inspired by Julia Child.

Terrible photo, but wanted to show what we did on Saturday night - watched West Wing with lanterns lit in the fireplace.

Sunday morning pancakes, a la faux Valentine's Day.

Monkey birthday celebrations on the night before Will's birthday!