A model cat

When I said model cat did you think I meant well behaved? Nooo, not this little guy. He's always up for some mischief and mayhem. I meant he likes to have his picture taken. I truly think he wants to be a model. He's the only one of my cats who actually likes to pose for photos.

The piece of furniture je is sitting on is a recent purchase from an estate sale in Reading . I had to wait abour two weeks until I could secure a mover so I just received it.

At the estate sale, I was told it was from the 1920's, but, the antiques guy who moved it for me estimated it is from 1840. The drawers need to be put back in it after I give it a good cleaning. Then
it will be moved to the bedroom.

Anyway, Mr Percy has decided this is his new perch. He likes to sit all regal on the top of it and he likes to hide under it too. I hope he is going to leave it alone once it's in the bedroom.

Vivienne, my dress form, looking dapper in her 1930;s bathrobe, just had to move into the shot.
She is an aspiring model as well.  Percy gives his best snobby model look.

Here he shows his best profile shot.  He is such a poser and quite impressed with himself. No self esteem issues with him!

He is giving me his crouching tiger pose. Doesn't he have a fabulous chiseled face?

He must think this is his best side.  I think he could be right. He does look supermodel handsome.

He does know how to hold a pose and he knows how to work his angles. I think he has been secretly taping America's Next Top Model and then watching them when I am not home.

He's already been on TV and now he is looking for print work and runway shows.  Since I am his agent and stage mom, you can contact me for auditions and appearance requests.

My BFF

My 2004 Toyota Highlander hit 100,000 miles about a month ago. I thought it would be cool to get a photo at 99,999 miles. That's a lot of nines!

Then 100,000 came next. A milestone in the life of my car who I affectionately call Fiona Rose. She's almost 8 years old now. As far as Toyota's go, she is probably at mid life. Maybe ready for AARP but definitely not ready for retirement. At least I hope not.

She's taken me so many places, like Rockport for afternoon tea by the ocean or a nice dinner followed by a sunset photo shoot. We've gone to Cape Cod for daytrips and she's even ridden the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. I think she likes boat rides.

She often goes to Maine and New Hampshire and she's been to Rhode Island several times. She definitely loves to sit by the ocean.

She holds my coffee for me on a daily basis and sometimes the aroma of take out food sticks with her longer than it should.

Sometimes she is vocal but most of her ailments have been minor except for the accident in 2009. She had to be "hospitalized" for three weeks and despite her many recycled body parts she was as good as new when she returned to me. She is a trooper.

So as we hit the 100,00 mile mark I hope we can have many more adventures and  good experiences before we eventually part ways.

Blame it on the blog

So there's no getting around it. I am quite the chubby girl these days. The weight gain has been happening over the past few years. I can't hide from it any longer.

I know everyone says they used to be skinny but I truly was. In high school, I was stick thin. I weighed ninety seven pounds and I was 5'5' tall. In my 20's and 30's I was still underweight for my height. It was fun to buy clothes and I received compliments like, "How do you stay so slim?"

Now I can hardly fit into anything from last Summer. And as my friend Jan says, "Who put my head on someone else's body?" I dread buying clothes. I don't even know what size I am anymore.

Naturally, I tried to come up with excuses for my weight gain.  You know, my life is stressful, I'm getting older, I have no time to exercise.  Here's my latest excuse, I had to photograph the food and then eat it because of my blog. I can't just get a black coffee, I have to get a mocha with a lovely design on the top. Or I tell myself I should check out that bakery so I can tell my readers about it. Well the truth is I am fat because I lack self control and I don't organize my time to include exercise. And I can't blame anything or anyone but myself.

Last week I took steps to correct the problem. I joined Weight Watchers. I am fortunate to have a supportive workplace that organized a Weight Watchers group. We go to meetings during lunchtime and health insurance reimburses all but $36. of the cost.

So my world will now consist of counting points and making healthier food choices with a little bit of exercise on the side. I am motivated to lose the weight I've gained and wait til you see the clothes I'll be buying in the Fall!

Is this what they call sweat equity?

My friend Jeanne is renovating this house. I asked her if I could blog about and she said yes. I do enjoy watching the renovation process, just don't ask me to help. So I am helping her by doing the before and after photos.


At first, the house may look menacing but it does have it's charm.. It could probably look really creepy at Halloween. If you thought the outside was bad, come on inside with me.

Here's the view of the living room and hallway.  An ugly water stained drop ceiling with missing tiles, a damaged hardwood floor, and years and years of smoke which attached itself to the mouldings and walls and made the place reek of nicotine.
Jeanne is one brave girl.  With temps in the 90's and humidity to match, she set out to make this place sparkle and shine. By the way, I took this with a wide angle lens. Jeanne is not this wide. I hope she won't kill me for using this shot!

Oh yes, a lovely shot of the ceiling and the absolutely filthy woodwork. The smell in the place stings my nose when I go in there. Perhaps we should call the hazmat team.

Jeanne assesses the situation. What tools are necessary for the job? Jeanne owns a hair salon and is also a realtor so the renovation is sandwiched between jobs. Plus she has a husband and two kids. Quite the full plate.

Despite it's obvious imperfections, the house has character and some very nice features. The fireplace is cool and there is actually one very similar in Jeanne's hair salon.

Here's a closer look. Interesting don't you think? The house was built in 1800.

This stained glass window is coming out so it can be cleaned and the frame repaired.

This is one of the bedrooms. Oops, someone put a fist through the wall!

Another view of the bedroom. You can see what a wreck the floor is.

And this is the kitchen. I should mention that this house is a two family and Jeanne says the other unit looks worse.

The ugly kitchen floor has already been restored and repaired and looks great.

The kitchen will be updated too. This needs a serious facelift and the cabinets are pink?

This room is going to be an office possibly. Love the built-in. And that door is going to be my new desk if the measurements are right.Jeanne does not want the door so I can take it if I want it. I am going to make a room in my basement into an office since I now work from home some of the time.

Here are some of the improvements from last week:

The living room- walls painted, floors redone, drop ceiling removed and stained glass window was taken down.

The floor is gleaming.  The stained glass ready for transport to be cleaned and restored.

The office has been cleaned, painted and curtains hung,

Jeanne brought in a stargazer lily because it is so fragrant. She wanted a few pretty things in the space to motivate her to make the rest of it pretty as well.

Here's the kitchen, the cabinet doors were removed and the remaining section was painted. I think it makes the kitchen look more spacious. Some work still needs to be done here.

It's reached a point where this kind of work is done, just a distant memory.

And this is finished too. At least on this apartment. Say hello to Phyllis , a very helpful friend of Jeanne's who offered to help with the demolition, etc.

When I left Jeanne tonight, there was caulking to be done.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of the house. I hope you are as anxious as I am to see the finished product.

Breakfast at Wimbledon

It's that time of year again, time for the Wimbledon breakfast.  I was really busy last week so not a lot of planning went into this party. I mean look I didn't even use a proper tablecloth!

I did remember to bring my trophy to Pondview Florist in Winchester so they could make a dazzling floral arrangement for the centerpiece. They always do a great job and they are super nice there.

I brought a tea tin to the florist as well. This small arrangement was switched with the bigger one when the meal started. That way we can all see each other when we are eating.

Here's a closer look at the big arrangement. I asked for purple and green flowers as those are the colors of Wimbledon. The trophy is from an antique store.

The bottom plates are new and the smaller plates on the top are from an estate sale. They went perfectly with the tennis theme. The green glasses you may recognize from my Easter tablescape.
They are from Brissonte of  North Reading, from the owner's personal collection and now they make their home with me. Most of the time they reside in my grandmother's china cabinet which is in the dining room.

What was on the menu you ask? Baked french toast, bacon and potato frittata, coffee cake, fruit salad, and blueberry scones with mock devonshire cream, lemon curd and strawberry preserves.  We had a fruit tart and cupcakes for dessert and of course tea and strawberry lemonade. The breakfast is kind of a potluck, everyone brings a dish.

The match was quite exciting and Roger Federer won again but Andy Murray gave him a run for his money.  It was another fun event at Cafe Chatelaine!

Cross one off the bucket list- Waterfire Providence

One of the items on my bucket list was a visit to Waterfire in Providence. I've told many people about Waterfire and it seemed like everyone had seen it but me.

We arrived in Providence about 8:30 PM, a full hour and half late. My sister and I were supposed to meet friends at 7:00PM but we were delayed by torrential rain, thunderstorms, and believe it or not a mudslide on the highway.  The rain was so bad, roads were flooding so we decided to pull off the road and get something to eat. After the storm passed, we got back on the highway only to find a huge traffic backup. As we got close to the cause of the stoppage we saw a bulldozer removing mud that had covered almost every lane of the highway. There were branches on the side of the highway too. We thought this was not the best start to the evening but we decided to continue and meet our friends anyway.

I am so glad we did.  Waterfire was everything I imagined it would be and more. The air was cool after the storm and although the area by the river was crowded, it was not jam packed with people.

One could move around the river area nicely.

What a vision it was! Volunteers rode by boat, lighting the fires in each metal basket along the river.

Music was piped in, adding to the ambience. The smell of burning pine and cedar was evident but not overwhelming. Gondoliers rowed their boats slowly along the river. I imagined I was in Europe, walking along a canal on a summer's evening.

The fires were mesmerizing. As the fires died down, more wood was added to the baskets. The reflections on the water were spectacular. Waterfire lasted well into the night.

Here's a better view of the basket with the fire. You can see the bumpers which prevent the boats from getting too close.

It was difficult to take photos in such low light. I struggled at first. Although this photo is blurry you can still see the beauty of this gondola.  The gondolier could have been from Venice.

There is more going on than just the fires in the river. A masked man threw flowers to the crowd from his boat. My sister caught one and the flower had a ribbon tied to it that had a quote on it.

My sister commented that the event reminded her of the time we went to the Winter Olympics. There's much more going on at an Olympics than just sport. When we went to the Calgary Olympics, we went to cultural activities too.

There are vendors for food and souvenirs at Waterfire. It is primarily funded by private donations and so fundraising is very important. It determines how many lightings there are during the season. Corporate sponsorships certainly are needed and anyone can donate. Check out the website at

www.Waterfire.org

Here are two of the gondoliers as they wait for their boats to be readied.

The living statues were quite popular. They were so graceful in their movements.

I think this one was my favorite. She really looked like a statue. How do they stay that still?

She was stunning.

Her silhouette was interesting as she handed a man his fortune.

Another photo that did not come out sharp but I thought it blogworthy.

TD Bank sponsored an outdoor ballroom. Swing dance lessons were given early in the evening and then there was a dance party until 12.

Some of the buildings were illuminated with flood lights.

The evening was magical. It was only one evening but I felt as if I was on a European vacation with all the time in the world to experience the sights and smells of something truly wonderful. I would love to go back to Waterfire perhaps in the Fall when the air is cool and crisp. And before I return I shall practice my nightime photography!