Happy Snails

After an early morning jaunt to a construction site to pick up some long coveted wood with my sweetie pie, we then drove through McD's for a couple of Egg McMuffins to take with us up to the top of the world for a panoramic Los Angeles breakfast. There are three ways to get to the overlook; 1) drive up to the visitor center's parking lot and it's a short trail to the overlook; 2) park at the bottom and take the meandering and gradually inclined 1 mile switchback trail; or 3) face the bazillion steps and march straight up the dang thing.After finding the gate leading up to the visitor center's parking lot locked up until 8:00 am (40 minutes nigh) we parked on the road at the bottom and headed straight on up those steps. And these are no 7 x 11s, they are 18" plus, which is a big step.

Once we got to the top (yeah, we made it to the top) we chatted with another early bird. One woman who scaled the hilltop ahead of us, in breathable cotton knit active wear, and a colorful print scarf around her head topped by a straw hat, carrying hand weights, headed back down after looping the hilltop trail, and did it all over again. I don't know how many laps she did but she made the climb several times while we were there. And she was no spring chicken.

What does all this have to do with happy snail? Well, we saw a lot of them perched everywhere along the trail on stalks of fennel and other flora, and well, they seemed happy to me.

The 4th of July

What a gorgeous summer day in the city. No really. I mean it. See.
We've got steaks for the grill, corn on the cob, macaroni salad, watermelon, cherries and peaches. All set. Oh yeah and beverages; a box o' Chillable Red, Coronas, and Lemonade.

I have a couple of photos of what we did to soffit the duct in the dining room nook. The nook was a catch-all space with a few inadequate shelves and no trim. So unsightly that I just put up a tension rod and draped it. So I decided to wrap it in bead board. Well not me, as in I built it, Jesus built it, but it was my idea...In progress.
And add molding and trim like the existing built in next to it. Oooh. How nice it turned out. Now a place for my cook books, and silver pieces, crockery from Germany, and linens from France.

Time Travel

For as long as I can remember all my adult life my Mom and I have talked on the phone every Sunday morning. Rarely did a week go by that we didn't talk. Then Mom and Lorne (and their 2 cats) hit the highways and back roads in an RV for some adventure, and we got computers, I got married, the phone calls ended. Now she's settled in South Carolina and though we don't talk on the phone as much we email regularly and follow each others blogs. Modern times.

She emails my brother and uncle and calls Grandma regularly and continues to be our connection to each other. So, she emails me that Grandma's 89th birthday is coming up and that Grandma is becoming friends with the folks at her local Farmer's Market, which I had the opportunity to visit during a trip there last year. So on my list this weekend was to write my Grandma a letter. And in doing so I included a photo of a Farmer's Market that Will and I visited Zanzibar.
And I wrote my Grandma a letter.

Hi Grandma:

Mom emailed me last week with the family news and mentioned your 89th birthday is coming up, so Happy Birthday to you! I turned 50 this year.

As the 4th of July approaches I'm remember our trip to Troy 3 years ago. Will says that was the best 4th of July he has ever had. It was truly memorable for us. And I was so moved to see him riding grandpa's tractor.

The photo I printed to write this note on is one I took at the "Farmer's Market" in Stonetown, Zanzibar 2005. We have a couple of local Farmer's Markets here but I don't get to them nearly often enough.

Will and I went to a dance performance held in a 100 year old church in Echo Park last night. It was a cool and comfortable evening so we walked there (0.8 miles). The performance was a modern interpretation of the story about Eve. Very nicely choreographed with wonderful dancers and live music.

On the way home we stopped at a new bar in the neighborhood and got carded at the door. I guess in the dim light he couldn't see Will's gray hair and the wrinkles forming around my 50 year old eyes.

But, life is good here. We are enjoying our new upstairs space and our animals continue to provide us with much joy. My only wish is to have more time to travel, to visit my family, and to go to Farmer's Markets.

Love,
Susan
XXOO

The Other Side

We're in!

Friday I got the call from Jesus that they were done. They put one more coat of varnish on the stairs treads on the way out so it was taped off when I got home. I hauled out a box fan and aimed it at the tacky stairs hoping to accelerate the drying process. Finally Saturday evening we wiped down the bedroom furniture, took the bed parts up and assembled them, and moved the bed and night stands up to our new master bedroom. And we woke up this morning with one cat and a dog in the bed and we all watched the sun rise from our second floor vantage point.

Will also scored a great deal on two pair of closet systems from Costco (John Louis Home) saving us a whole bunch of money. I'm not totally in love with the mahogany finish (a tad too red) but it's a very nice unit. That installation project will come another day though. We're going to try and make some order of the rest of the house today.

Getting There Is Half The Fun

Getting there. After all the uncertainty Charlie presented he really nailed it. We've got us a proper bank of stairs here.

While I went down to Chinatown to stock up on my favorite Ten Ren Plum Green Tea, Jesus and his guy were here finishing up the stairs. The dark walnut stain is a near perfect match for the dark walnut stain of the bamboo on the landings and upstairs. The varnish really brings out the wood grain. He'll be back on Monday to paint the balusters and risers, then complete some finishing touches. So, since we're back to waiting for the paint to dry there will be no moving upstairs this weekend.

Last week also saw the electricians come back for the fixture installations. Ran into a bit of a problem in the shower. One of the electrical boxes was installed too close to the slope so the fixture wasn't sitting flush against the ceiling. Jeff had to come back, cut open the ceiling and move the box over. Jesus was not too happy about his beautifully finished work being cut open. But they'll make it right. Just means it has to be re-done, which is time, which is money.

Next weekend. For sure.

Momentum

The stair re-do should have been done by now. But Charlie needs to get some momentum going, and unfortunately we think his momentum is at the bottom of a liquor bottle.

There's progress. And he certainly knows what he's doing. Charlie has removed all of the stair parts and saved every one. What he has done is good, just tainted by his poor work ethic. He has yet to show up on time (and I don't expect him to at this point), he takes lots of breaks (going down to his truck for a drink maybe?), he continues to complain about re-doing what someone has done wrong while adding "but that's old news" every time.

Too far in to fire him and start over, we are just patiently encouraging him in his progress, "home stretch" and all. So, he'll be back on Tuesday. Will he finish Tuesday? Who knows. If he got here at 8:00 am instead of 12:00 pm, maybe.

So it'll be another week before we move upstairs. Jesus and his crew are completely cleared out. They painted their way down the stairs on Friday. Stopping at where Charlie is still working on his part. Now they have to wait until Charlie's work is done and come back and paint and stain the rest of the stairs.Next weekend we should be moving in upstairs. Really.

Here's a reminder of the stairs before.

Watershed

This past week saw all kinds of finishing touches happening with the plumbing and fixtures stealing the show (more to see here). Charlie will begin the stair redo next week. The electrician will come back and install all of the outlets, switches and fixtures.

By next weekend the crew should be outta here and we will be moving our bed from the dining room to the upstairs bedroom. Then we can get the dining room table out of the living room and back in the dining room, along with putting everything else scattered throughout the house that is stacked and boxed and on end back in their rightful places.

There's more work to do after the work is done. Closet system, towel racks and accessories for the bathroom, window treatments, etc. Then a cosmetic patch and paint job in the guest bedroom and bathroom.

But we'll be livin' in a complete and whole house that has been divided for 50 or more of it's hundred years. And I'm proud to have been a part of bringing this old house back together.