Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sunapee Underfoot

Sunapee is a people dog. He likes to be wherever the people gather. This can be a challenge when there are multiple people in multiple places. His favorite spot to lounge is in the kitchen, right in front of whatever appliance our counterspace is being used. We had to use all the distraction methods in our arsenal to keep him out of the way when tiling, painting, staining, what have you. The soundtrack for all the work was filled with "Sunapee, come here"/"Sunapee, go away!" He managed to come away with only a few specks of green or white paint.

Post Housework Feast

Finally the time came to clean the paintbrushes, put away the grout and get to the real work of Thanksgiving: eating.
We enjoyed a soup course for one simple reason: we have a lot of soup bowls. I have inherited two sets of china - one from my great aunt Eno and another from my grandmother. Both sets include soup bowls, plus a set of crystal soup bowls from my grandmother's collection. This really left me no choice but to start with the soup course while the turkey finished in the oven.Matt took charge of the turkey this year. Not only did he carve the bird, as you see above, but he made arrangements to have it deep fried. After a night spent in a brine, the bird had a 6:45 am appointment at a bar in Potrero Hill to meet some hot oil. It was quite delicious and took away much of the Thanksgiving dinner stress. How else could we keep painting until 3 pm?

Every few years, Thanksgiving shares the spotlight with my mom's birthday, as it did again this year. To commemorate, her pie earned a candle. Happy Birthday Mom!

Experts Agree

the ideal time to install tile is six months after finishing the rest of a major project. Most also agree the best time to install a kitchen back splash is on a major cooking holiday.


Working Vacation


Just like last year, my parents are on an eleven day California vacation. They started in San Francisco Monday night and drove to SoCal Friday. Also just like last year and as well as Dad's trip in May, Matt and I put them to work. After plying Mom with a spa trip and Dad with a racquetball game, both were assigned tasks. Mom and I went to work refinishing our el cheapo Ikea dining table before painting trim (she the windows installed in March and me the front door).

The before
And the After

Saturday, November 15, 2008

My once prized possession

I ran across this photo when transferring the contents of our Ikea desk to my great-grandfather's desk. It is one of only a few showing my "night-night" in its original glorious state. In the 25+ years after this photo, this blanket practically shredded from love and overuse. Yes, I will admit it. I slept with this blanket every night for nearly 27 years. It lost most of its mass and any semblance of shape. Around year 20 it passed the point of being untangled into the rectangle it once was.

On a very sad day in February 2005, I was on a business trip to Phoenix. I came down with bronchitis, mid-audit. I spent the day + night sick in a hotel room and took a 6 am flight back to Boston. When I unpacked, I learned that in my sick state, I had left my night-night in the hotel room. Calls to the hotel staff yielded the sad truth that a blanket in such a state was not lost-and-found-worthy. My night-night was gone.

My mom and sister were very sympathetic. Betsy knows the joys of a night-night (she has 3); my mom had made mine. Betsy mailed me a speck that had landed on her floor during one of my visits that she had saved for posterity. My mom sent a larger section that had separated from the rest years before, anticipating such a point where the large section was either lost or shrank even more. Sadly, neither could replace the original.

I am fully aware that this is not normal - to keep a baby blanket for 25 or 30 years. But I am still saddened by its sudden disappearance. At least now I have Matt and two cats to take its place as I sleep. That is more than a fair trade.