miniatures — Page 28

Day One Hundred Forty-Four

August 4, 2020 at 9:36 am by Claudia

This is all I’ve got for you today, though I do like the light shining on the desk from the window. When I’m not ready to start in on whatever it is I have to do next, I play around with furniture and take pictures. It helps me to sort out what I might do with each room. I printed out some wallpaper pictures from Itsy Bitsy Minis and taped them on the living room walls. I’m trying to get an idea if it will work well there before I place an order.

Well. It takes me a long time to wake up in the morning and when I got up this morning I was hit by a coffeed-up Don stating that he woke up too early with the thought that he had to get some bottled water. We’re due to be hit by the tropical storm later today (we’re already getting a lot of rain) and if the power goes out, we have no water as we have a well and a pump that is powered by electricity. He’d already made a list. I pleaded my I-need-a-cup-of-coffee-first case. After I finished, we made a list for the store as Don wanted to get there close to the 7 am opening. We’ve already disinfected the stuff he bought, washed the vegetables, and there are several gallons of water in the trunk of my car.

We’ve both taken showers, as we always do after shopping and disinfecting. And now I’m sitting here with my second cup of coffee writing this post. Too much activity too soon for this girl!

We’re due for lots of rain and high winds later this afternoon and into this evening. You know how I feel about winds. Right now, it looks like we have a slight lull, but by this afternoon, we’ll be dealing with WEATHER. I’m a bit nervous, but there’s nothing we can do but be prepared and we are as prepared as we can be without a generator.

If for some reason I don’t post tomorrow, it will be because we don’t have electricity. You never know with these storms, it could be worse than predicted, it could be much less than predicted. But this area is definitely going to feel its impact. Wish us well (I know you do.)

I’m reading Melmoth by Sarah Perry. Just started it, but I loved The Essex Serpent and I love her writing style. Yesterday’s mail brought Hamnet (all the way from England; I like the British cover better and it’s available in paperback there) by Maggie O’Farrell, and I can’t wait to read it. And soon I should receive the new Michael Connelly from The Mysterious Bookshop. By the way, you are the greatest! Several of you ordered books from the bookshop and while I didn’t ask you to order something from them, you did anyway. Thank you, thank you! You’ve made a difference. A lot of small orders add up to a good day for The Mysterious Bookshop.

And heavens, don’t we all want and need a good day?

Alright, my friends. I’m off. Send some prayers our way. I always worry about our very old trees.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day One Hundred Forty-Three

August 3, 2020 at 9:43 am by Claudia

We got quite a bit of rain yesterday afternoon but the thunder that came in the late evening didn’t bring any rain. However, that tropical storm is headed our way and we’re supposed to get a LOT of rain tonight and tomorrow.

Careful what you wish for…

I had to yank on Don’s leash yesterday (obviously not literally.) He took a walk in the morning and pulled some weeds in the rock garden right after that. His medication has a warning about sun exposure, but he had a hat on and it was cloudy.

Late in the day, I saw him going back out there, carrying a weeding tool and when I shouted “What are you doing?” he gestured to the rock garden. I was just about to water the porch plants and as I went outside to get the watering can, humidity that was so high that it felt like we lived in a tropical rain forest smacked me in the face. And it was very sunny. Back in the house. Knocked on the kitchen window. He looked up. I raised the window and said, “Get in the house. Now.” “Just 5 more minutes.” “Don…” “Just two more minutes.” “Now.”

He came in.

Later in the day, he complained that he didn’t feel good, so we had a talk. I told him I was taking charge and that he was allowed to take a short walk every other morning if it wasn’t sunny. No pulling weeds. No mowing. He’s still sick and he’s on heavy antibiotics. To his credit, he realized that he couldn’t do anything and everything, that it wasn’t quite as easy as he thought, and that he had to rest for the next week and a half. He agreed.

He would do the same if our positions were reversed.

I won this little framed painting on eBay. It’s for the English Cottage:

I’m not sure which room it will adorn, but I really love it. It was made in 1979 by a well-known married couple who were miniaturists. There’s a signature on the back.

I played around with furniture placement yesterday as I was waiting for the last of the stonework to dry.

I’ve always envisioned an island dividing the open space on the first floor. I was going to try to build one but I found this piece in an Etsy shop based in Milan, Italy. It has a farmhouse sink, a faucet, drawers and cupboards and the tallest cupboard could be the refrigerator, as I had always envisioned a smaller refrigerator in this space, rather like the one in Don’s studio.

Aga toward the rear (or actual front of the house), large cupboard next to it. Somehow a bit of the paint on the AGA chipped off – how, I don’t know as I had it stashed safely in a cupboard – so I did a little patch, but eventually, I’ll have to look for a paint that better matches that color.

I have a piece coming for the far wall near the sofa. And I want a chair and maybe a coffee table. And lots of books. We’ll see.

There’s so much to be done before I can even think of decorating: the windows, the floors, trim, some beams on the ceiling, the door – which doesn’t fit the frame, so I have to keep adding wood putty to try to make it fit better – then the wallpaper and wall treatments. And that’s just for this room!

That wicker table will most likely go upstairs in the bedroom. But I love seeing it, so it’s in the shot.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Six

July 27, 2020 at 10:11 am by Claudia

Dear Shanna, whose portraits of our dogs hang on a wall in our living room, was kind enough to paint our groundhog! We waited to open it because we usually quarantine mail for a few days and then, of course, Don was ill. But we opened it the other day and it’s gorgeous!

Doesn’t it perfectly capture him/her?

In the interest of transparency, we are pretty sure this little one is not Henry. In the beginning, we thought it was our boy, but then, as he began to come closer to the house to munch on the grass, we realized this was not Henry. The facial features are not the same; he’s not as gray, nor is he as big as Henry was.

In the beginning, he was getting into mischief. I caught him on the front porch and in the garden. (Henry would never do that.) But once he realized those activities were a no-no, he has behaved quite well indeed.

I don’t know if our Henry is around, but this guy is living under the shed, so I think we must come to the grips with the fact that he’s probably left us.

We love you Henry.

We haven’t named this guy yet, but when he was up to no good, Don called him “Shifty.” He now thinks that’s not fair to this little guy, so we’re waiting until we find the right name for him.

In other news, Barbara Vajnar, the creator of incredible miniatures under the name Bubba’s Country Cupboards, (including this one that I purchased two years ago) is retiring.

She is selling off the inventory she has left. Oh my. I will miss seeing her booth at the show – it was always my favorite. I was on eBay yesterday looking at miniatures and I saw one of her cupboards up for auction. When I clicked on it, I realized that Barbara herself was listing it and when I read further, I saw that she was retiring. She had a few pieces that were about to end and I watched in real time as one cupboard, which had a high bid of $191.00 about one minute before the auction closed, went from that price to about $450.00 at the end of the bidding. Amazing. These are one-of-a-kind, of course, and the workmanship is so incredible and detailed and impeccably done, that everyone wants to grab one of her creations while they can. I briefly considered bidding on that piece because I’d love to have another in my collection, but I didn’t. I would have been knocked out of the action within a second!

You all know that my mustard colored cupboard is one of my favorite pieces ever. Everything about it – the hardware, the cut-out design on the sides, the drawers and doors that open and close, the color, the impeccable detail – is stunning. I’m so glad I caved and purchased this piece when I could! Thank you, Barbara. You will be missed.

And finally, I did another video tour on Instagram. This time, we are visiting the Folk Art Dollhouse. I just posted it this morning (I have to do these when Don is out on a walk.) I hope you enjoy it!

It’s going to be incredibly hot here today. I’ve already been out to water and we took a moment to sit on the glider while it was still comfortable out there. Now, we’re in for the day.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day One Hundred Forty-Four

Day One Hundred Forty-Three

Day One Hundred Thirty-Six

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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