August 2018

                   I've got the straight edge!
I spent a week at the house in August. I arrived to these levels, staring back at me with their green eyes, shouting "Look at how straight the house is!"

Its such a relief to have the house reinforced and stable!


I guess enough time had passed where Pete felt it was OK to tell me about a flood in our basement from months ago. Due to the groundhog hole I found but apparently didn't fill in properly, heavy rain caused water to pour through the foundation into the basement in the middle of the night. Pete heard the cascade and rushed to the basement in his boots and pajamas, getting soaked and muddy trying to stop the tsunami from entering.

This is the groundhog hole, found in December 2015 when we finished tearing down the front porch.

Apparently our groundhog likes the high thread count sheets for her den. I was expecting to find body parts in there before I figured out what was going on. 

I met with Joe the structural contractor again. He gave me some great tips on how to keep the basement dry. Its a long list of tasks, some easy, most labor intensive. This meeting left me feeling overwhelmed, the basement is like a whole other house! 

Home Sweet Home

Even though the house is barely habitable, Pete said he felt the need to clean up and make it as homey as possible for my visit. The room that will eventually be our kitchen is now the "apartment". Here's how he decorated the downstairs bathroom for my arrival.

Pete got this toilet bowl light two years ago at a Secret Santa grab bag party. We finally put it to use.

Its a gag gift but it really does make a great night light!

Back bedroom

I was home by myself during the week while Pete worked his freelance job. In the past he's complained that working on the house by himself was overwhelming and caused him anxiety. I finally understood what he meant. I worked on dismantling the back bedroom, it felt isolating and lonely. 

It's a blonde! Its a brunette!

Horse hair was used is a binder/filler in 19th century plaster. I thought there was a body buried in the wall when I first pulled down the plaster in my Manhattan bedroom 25 years ago.

I didn't feel like schlepping the ladder from the basement, so I  shoveled all the plaster against the fireplace in an attempt to reach the top of the chimney. 

Unfortunately garbage mountain didn't get me to the top.

There has been a few times where debris gets thrown out on to the lawn to clear out the room, then left there until our next visit. I promised myself this will be the last time. I was picking up lathe that was woven under months of uncut grass. I made the mistake of not wearing my boots and got a nail through the foot.

Also woven in the grass were these tripping stones.  Pete made these with the extra concrete from the structural reinforcement. I spent a fair amount of time unearthing them with a shovel, cussing under my breath.

Flora and Fauna

We have one snippy neighbor who seems to be obsessed with our lawn and shrubbery. She introduced herself as the "community leader" when we bought the house. "We just wanted to check you out, make sure you're on the level" is what she said to me when we first met. I made the mistake of giving her my phone number. She called me to yell at me about my front bushes a few months later, I didn't exactly take kindly to her tone, so lucky for me she stopped calling. Our lawn man was out of commission for a while so we got a few summonses to appear in court (!) because our grass/ hedges were too high. This happened twice. Pete decided to take care of the hedges himself and got poison ivy for the third time, it was worse every time he got it. 

He finally let me photograph it. This is the rash in its healing phase. "Your poison ivy looks better, I don't want to throw up when I look at it" was a comment made by his friend. 

In lighter flora and fauna news, a wasp carried a grub into a hole in our porch.

The deer, rabbits, or local freegans were busy eating off our land as well. This was all that was left of the tomato plants given to us from David Lee Rollins, one of the guys who worked on reinforcing our house in June.

Also eaten were the weeping willow trees that Pete planted in June. 

Deer are the most likely suspects. Why cant they just eat the grass!

Cemetery on a Hill, Part 2

I'm discovering all the cemeteries in our town are on a hill. We finally drove around another cemetery in our neighborhood. I was impressed with the view!

"They should just burn it down and start fresh"

This was what my neighbor said about one of the towns about 10 miles away from us. There is suffocating poverty in several areas near us, poverty like I've never seen before. It makes me realize how wealthy New York is. These photos are from McKeesport, a town (like may others) that went to shit when the steel factories closed in the 1970s.  I found a few addresses of  really beautiful derelict houses on a local architecture blog and finally got the chance to see them in person. A part of me wished I hadn't seen it.

This house had a hand written for sale sign on it. I sent a text to the number asking for the price.

$6000. was the reply. 

A real fixer upper

These were the most alarming structures on our tour. We found them by accident, making a turn onto a street that was really bumpy and completely neglected. The town has been too broke to knock down or even fence off these overt hazards, and they haven't bothered to pave the road. In July of this year McKeesport received a grant to demolish derelict houses. These structures are confusingly not slated for demolition.

Ignore a problem long enough and sometimes it resolves itself!

We took a ride through the well funded McKeesport Versailles Cemetery. Its like a mini Greenwood Cemetery, a well maintained arched sandstone entryway, mowed lawns, etc, etc. The dead have it better than the living in this town. 

Inspiration

I recently visited the Morris Jumel house in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan. I've been to every historic landmark house in New York City open to the public, but it was years since I'd been there. The blocky federal style structure doesn't thrill me, but being in a house built in 1765 does have its merits. I was impressed by this classic, yet trippy, wallpaper.

 The pattern above is produced by Zuber & Cie, founded in France, in business since 1797.

 Surprisingly, this is one of their more simple patterns. They specialize in elaborate panoramic scenes with saturated colors.

I don't know how modern wallpaper is manufactured, but Zuber makes their wallpaper with wood blocks carved in the 19th century.

 This wallpaper is for rich people who want to save money by not hiring a muralist.  

Zuber also produces fabric.....

 .....as well as embossed leather.

There is a video link to their process here.

This falls under the "If you have to ask how much it costs, you cant afford it" category.

I visited their New York City showroom and talked to the sales rep for at least two hours. She was fantastic, showed me her favorite sample books, sorted by subjects- birds, flowers, fleur de lis, bamboo, I was enthralled.  

New Acquisitions 

These mini milk glass butter dishes and this candle sconce were on a table of free things on 5th Street in the East Village. 

The Sterling Collection

Pete and I have been very, very fortunate. In a gesture of downsizing that I don't understand but really appreciate, a friend of ours has given us his collection of antiques. Once a man that only dressed in 19th century clothes, he is now a practicing Buddhist and is taking minimalism to the extreme. I will be featuring a item or two at a time, the collection is pretty extensive. The Sterling Collection will feature antiques from this endowment. 

One of my favorite items is this crest and monogram album. I've seen 19th century dye cut picture seals before, but I didn't know old timey sticker collecting was a thing. 

Each page has a one or two color geometric design on it. The colors and patterns are intricate and engaging. Some pages are blank, but most have these embossed seals glued in them.

Except for this one.

 Grover is Grover Cleveland, who fought against European tariffs during his presidential term. The baby refers to his child born outside of marriage.

The William.S. Lincoln Company in London published these blank books, as well as books for stamp collecting and boxes for coin collecting.

Poetry corner

For those of you just joining us, I found pornographic poetry in the house. I've been posting one cheesy poem since January 2017. So if you are offended by pornographic poetry, skip this.

Continuing with the rain theme, this is yet another version of the piece entitled Hot Rain.