How Could One Closet Take So Much Time?

Here are before and after shots of my living room closet. It took me weeks to finish this. The first shot was taken shortly after I had moved in (note the lovely paper lantern, which has thankfully been replaced). The second shot shows the pre-spackling stage. Someone had painted over most of the wallpaper. The plaster was crumbly and separating, mostly in the corners, at the baseboard and the ceiling. I didn't remove the shelving and wood strips due to fear of creating a lot more damage. Someone had also used some type of plastic substance on the right side, which is the plaster covering the chimney. The walls on either side of the doorframe are a cheap wallboard-type material. Eventually I'll remove them and put longer shelves in place.

As you might be able to see, this closet is very shallow and narrow and was not pleasant to be working in on those hot summer days we had. Also, the closet reaches to the full height of the ceiling, and I could only fit that little stool in the space, with telephone books on it so I could reach. Had I fallen, I might have been as upset about damage to my plaster as to my body!

Christmas

Here is a picture of the balsam fir that my brother cut down for me. That garland is toile, as is the wallpaper (this is my parlor), two lamps in the room, and my dining room curtains. I have a thing for toile.

Oops, I Accidentally Created An Ice Sculpture

Since we had about a month of above-average temperatures, I've continued with my yard work which I never finished this fall. Last Saturday was 72 degrees! I just love those El Nino weather patterns. Sunday I decided to utilize my fire permit and started a nice fire to burn up my huge piles of yard waste. I haven't been around fires since I was a child and had forgotten how hot they get, and how underneath the ashes, things are still burning. Anyway, the fire had been burning for a few hours when it was time to finish due to the time constraints of the permit. I was concerned that the fire wasn't completely out even after I had doused it with water, so I left the hose hanging on a forsythia bush (that's the curly blue thing in the picture) while I went to visit my mother. I thought it would be convenient if the fire needed some more water when I returned, or my neighbor saw the fire starting up again. When I returned a few hours later I checked the backyard and saw that the fire was still out. I guess I forgot to turn off the water.

Monday it rained a lot and was still fairly warm. Tuesday it got colder, enough to have to scrape my car windshield. Wednesday morning I happened to look out back and saw this lovely landscape.