Hosta Queens

This was a week of 'finishing touches' for The House at Fellows. Up til now, we've been kinda 'Big Picture' people when it came to tackling this house's To-Do list (repair the walls, repair the eaves, dehumidify the basement, get the furniture in - especially our bookshelves - throw up some paint) - but it's amazing how taking care of some of the details can start to pull it all together.

The dining room is probably now the closest to being COMPLETELY done. We've got a beautiful ceiling fan up, curtains that are beautiful AND functional, and light sconces up on the walls. Everything in there has a rich, textured feel to it now - just what we were looking for in the space where we'd be entertaining!

The kitchen got a nice mini-makeover as well. We opened up A LOT of space by installing a permanent dishwasher and moving the oven (with a lovely new hood! Now when I burn the sausage all the smoke can go outside instead of us having to open windows all over the house!) over as well. We ended up losing a lot of cabinet space for our pots and pans, but Jesse is reorganizing things and we'll probably put some kind of pot rack up on the ceiling as well to keep things accessible. Pictures of the kitchen will follow just as soon as I get my camera back in the mail - left it up in Maine! Nal's is sending it through the mail (in TONS of bubble-wrap, right??!!) - thank you!!!!

Probably one of the most transformative projects we tackled this week was the front yard - Jesse and Stevo built us some raised beds - three tiers! Momma Margaret and Stevo had brought up a truck-load of day lillies and hostas and even a lilac bush (!) so we were able to get those guys into our newly constructed beds. I must admit, though I've always loved the idea of raised beds, I was having trouble seeing Jesse's vision for the front yard - and it came out beautifully! An immense amount of work went into hauling/shoveling/spreading the dirt needed for those beds - not to mention then nailing them all together like link 'n logs! Multiple tools plus some lengths of rebar did the trick :) So basically we've got this tiered system of beds, plus a couple of wavy ground beds on each side of the house to keep things asymmetrical. Definitely a fun WORK IN PROGRESS. (**We are always willing to accept any extra pesky perrenials clogging up your yard**) We've already had one of our green-thumb neighbors stop by with his van to drop off some asters, a flax, and a rose of sharon (my secret favorite mysterious plant that is all over Syracuse that I've been trying to identify!) - thank you Kevin! We do depend upon the kindness of strangers . . . and neighbors! ;)

Well, that's all I'm going to post for now. I'm starting Clinic I tomorrow and can't wait to share it with you all!

Lotsa love
Caitlin

Mid Week Report

Hey all - reporting to you live from sunny Syracuse (um, did I say sunny? I meant sticky, stagnant, simmering, scalding Syracuse!). Yes, we are back from living it up on Frye Island in Maine with the fam - we believe we've officially turned Lois into a Catan addict (and she agrees - Seafarers is da bomb). This week we are hosting Margaret and Stevo and . . . Mocha! Or Mochalicious as I like to call her. She's a four month old chocolate lab with honey colored eyes and big, big paws. She loves her treats and just being near people :)

Our projects this week are quite ambitious! Margaret and I have already put up curtains in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. They were all cheap, cheap but very lovely. I think we surprised ourselves a bit with how well everything came together! The curtains give the rooms that (next to) last polished touch - and a bit of privacy. I say "next to last" because we DO still have a couple light fixtures to put up in the dining room and some 3-prong outlets to place throughout . . . but we do finally have a ceiling light/fan up in the dining room! It looks fabulous AND was a blessing at dinner last night as one of the few rooms with circulating air! (Our bedroom, however, DOES have A/C but we'll keep that on the DL for now . . . )

We've got cabinets being sawed off, dishwashers slid in, ovens being shoved over, holes blasted through brick, oh my! Hostas and (black-eyed) Susans and Lilacs, oh my! The boys even got in 18 holes yesterday morning, on the very beautiful, very hilly Green Lakes course.

Additional grand plans for the week? I'll be doing a bit of studying each day this week (leaving for 8 weeks at Fort Drum this Saturday!), but we've got a whole day planned out for the Ithaca/Finger Lakes area tomorrow, Dinosaur BBQ at some point (really, we never need an excuse to go there), hopefully a day of sculpting some flower beds/grading away from the house so the weather stops ending up pooling on the floor of our oddly-tiled basement!

All in all, we are having a lovely time working and playing (and blogging). Love to you all!

Vote for Mocha!!!

Ok folks - meet Mocha, the lovey-dove googly-legged chocolate lab from Barnegat, NJ! Vote for her in the Cutest Dog Contest and Mocha could win a million clams! Bones! It could go towards replacing the 'puppy-proof' leashes she's been chewing through . . . Make Margaret and Stevo proud and vote once per day - you'll be glad you did!

Mocha will give you kisses. That's right, she's not above bribery.

Who could resist kisses from a face like this?