July 9, 2009

status update

The front garden is almost in full bloom. It has been a very cold and rainy summer, so unfortunately, the garden is not as lush and color-tastic as last year (don't get me started on this summer's weather, here in Chicago... I'm extremely bitter). In any case, we planted a few more additions (begonias, dahlias and petunias) to the roses, hydrangeas, lilies, astilbes and evergreen-leafy-berry ground cover plants whose name escapes me at this moment... the dahlias are doing well but the squirrels are snacking on the petunias... nasty tree-rats.
We rented a 20 yard dumpster around the 4th of July, taking advantage of the long weekend, using the extra days off to clean out the basement. We had about 8 months of constrution debris waiting to be hauled away. In addition, we had that random junk that tends to 'grow' and accumulate in one's basement... you know, broken beyond repair fans and toilets, 99% empty buckets of drywall joint compound, tools barely held together by duct tape, broomsticks without brooms, etc. I did not bother taking any photos of the basement... someday, maybe. You will just have to take my word... the basement looks a bizillion times better after losing 20 yards of junk in its trunk.
While de-junking we recovered numerous goodies we had stashed away 3 years ago, prior to starting construction on the 2nd floor. One such discovery were my parents' old director's chairs. They bought these chairs 30 or so years ago... the frames are nice and solid, with a nice patina of wear and age. I just have to get/make some covers for the chairs, which will be a bit of a project since these chairs are larger and wider than standard director's chairs on the market today (the original covers became threadbare and torn with wear so they were thrown out about 10 years ago by my parents, before I inherited the chairs).


Bought some plants for the kitchen... a jade plant, one of those spider-super-hardy-viney plants, herbs (oregano, basil, cilantro and lavender... still would like to get some mint) and some cut sunflowers...
... and Charlevoix... well, she has been having some 'fur management' issues. We're sill working on it...

different details





Something a little non-house related... but still about details. via NYTimes and Style.com