The arrival of the truck yesterday morning ‘forced’ me to call the car dealership and say I would be ten minutes late for my inspection appointment.
I mean…I had to get photos, right? I had to document the delivery for all of you and for Instagram.
That’s Stella in the crate. Why there was only one guy delivering this, I don’t know. Don had to help him. What if it had been coming to a someone who was unable to help? The only thing that made sense to me was that his regular partner wasn’t there…because it doesn’t make any sense otherwise. This stove weighs a ton.
As it came down on the ramp, I had to go in the house. Visions of the crate falling over were going through my head.
There she is.
At this point, I had to leave. I drove to the dealership to get my car inspected. They also informed me that my wheels needed realignment, so I had that done, too.
About an hour and a half later, as I was getting the keys to my car, a text appeared on my phone:
“Success! Beautiful, hassle-free success!!”
These guys, all friends of Don, came over, helped to take apart the crate, conferred, pondered and figured out the best way to get her in the house. The kitchen door was removed and they maneuvered the refrigerator dolly and unwrapped her…and this is the photo I received.
I was so relieved. Turns out my appointment took up just enough of my time to keep me away from the house and the stress I know I would have been feeling. It saved Don from having to deal with it, too! Perfect.
I came home, Don went to return the dolly and the packing blankets, and I lovingly removed all of the painters tape on Stella. It was sort of dark in the kitchen by that point so I had a hard time getting a proper photo of her.
She’s not in place yet because Gino has to do all the propane related things today and hook her up. But there she is. Welcome, Stella!!!!
There’s the clock. It doesn’t work. Turns out that about 95% of the clocks from these older models no longer work. That’s why we bought the timer.
But the electric works – the oven light and a light under the shelf – which I’ll show you another time.
In fact, I’ll take you on a tour of her next weekend when I am home for a longer period of time.
See the salt and pepper shakers? (That switch in the middle turns on the shelf light.)
They they are. I love these little details. And there are lots of them on this stove – I promise I’ll have much more next weekend, but I have to get my butt in gear and drive back to Hartford. It’s been rather hectic here and not really restful but I’m so glad I was here to greet her yesterday.
She’s so beautiful.
Don says he isn’t going to cook with her until I get home next weekend. Hmmm. Frankly, she’s so gorgeous and the chrome is so beautiful that we’re a little anxious about that first cooking adventure.
Don kept telling the guys who were helping him yesterday, “Listen. If anything happens to this stove, I won’t have a home. I’ll have to stay with one of you. I’m not kidding.”
He was right.
Oh, Texas, the images I see are heartbreaking. I find I can’t write about this very articulately. Just horror. But the other side of that horror is another confirmation of man’s goodness. So many brave citizens reaching out to help. Bless you.
Thank you for all your cheers for the arrival of our beauty! We figured out that the day we first saw her was July 10th. And here it is, August 29th, and she’s in our little cottage. Amazing.
More later, I promise.
Happy Tuesday.
So exciting!! Can’t wait to hear more about the new adventures of Stella!! I wonder if Caroline will want a new stove for her house now!!
Caroline is just fine, Amy! SHE has an AGA!
Claudia, Stella is absolutely perfect! Quite a work of art! The perfect combination of form and function. What a beauty! She’s perfect for your cottage. Wow, double ovens and all that space to cook on with a griddle in the middle. I love the shelf too. Safe in her new home at last!
Not double ovens. Just one. The other one is the broiler – called the Grillevator. Wait until you see it!
Stella is beautiful. I love how everything fell in to place so you had a little less stress. Bravo to Don and his friends!
I’ve only peeked a couple of times to see what is happening in Texas and my heart is breaking. I can’t imagine the clean up after. My cousin and his family live in Texas but we haven’t heard yet if they’ve been affected. I’m assuming they’re okay but still a bit worried for them. Sending a note today to see if we get a response.
Safe journey back!
X Chy
I’m hoping you’ve heard from your cousin by now, Chy. That must be very worrying.
Thank you Claudia. It took all day but we finally got a note back tonight that they are north of Houston and are just fine. So thankful they are safe and not in harm’s way.
X Chy
Stella is even more gorgeous then I imagined! Can’t wait for more photos and the first meal cooked on her. So far my Texas family is OK, but oh my so much devastation and loss. My heart is so full of sadness between Texas and the loss of Grandma Rentz. Ashleigh has arrived and is doing much better then I thought she might. A strong woman my girl. We leave this morning for south Ga. (another 4-5 hrs in the car). I’ll do more driving in one week then I have in a year I think! I’m driving the new car and it really handles well. I’m so thankful that Carter will stay with my Mom. I hope you have a good week in Hartford. Hugs!
I’m so sorry, my friend. Such loss – Grandma Rentz, the devastation in Texas. Too much. I’m glad Ashleigh is with you and that Carter is watching out for your Mom. Take care!
Stella is a nice sturdy looking girl! Pretty too. Those friends of Don’s are good lookin’ helpers with pleasant, happy faces! Bless their patience.
Yes, Houston and area. My husband keeps calling his fly fishing friend who is staying down there with his 98 yr old mother. So far they are good, but the water got very close. Yes, send prayers, thoughts, positive vibes etc to Texas.
Give Stella a little pat for me! Becky in dry OK
I am sending prayers Becky!
I will. She’s heavy – that don’t make ’em like that anymore. The burners are cast iron!
very exciting! can’t wait to see more!
Thank you, Carolyn Marie! I can’t wait to show you!
Hello Gorgeous! So glad she is home. My husband and I were talking about the clocks of our childhoods yesterday. We remembered the ones on the stoves and in the cars never worked.
I opened my eyes this morning and started praying for Texas. It is so unbelievable. Hard to get my head around. God is sending his angels, and so many of them have no wings. Our earth angels. Thank heaven for all these helpers.
The clock in our CR-V hasn’t worked in several years – and it’s digital!
Our earth angels are definitely in Houston. Bless them – every one of them.
Stella is gorgeous!!!!I love the details like the salt and pepper set. Makes a lot of sense. Now you need a Hoosier cabinet to complete the look. You not wanting to see Stella moved I can understand. I would leave the room every time we moved so I wouldn’t watch the movers take our piano. Speaking of the flood there in Houston is horrific. The scenes of the animals and the children tears my heart apart. There was one scene shown of 5 or 6 cats soaking wet in a crate. One of the cats just meowing and another shivering just got to me. They are so helpless.
No room for a Hoosier, Trina. I’m not necessarily a big fan of them – for me – though I admire them.
I can’t bear what I’m seeing about the animals. And the children. I have to limit my viewing time.
I’m so happy for you! She is a beauty. Our clock doesn’t work either – and all the restoration folks told us they could restore them but they would stop working in about a year. Clocks and constant heat just don’t mix, I guess.
So the big question is – what is the first thing you are going to cook on/in her?
I don’t know what Don is going to cook, but I am going to bake my grandmother’s Cloud Biscuits. She would like that.
Beautiful!!
Thank you, Vera!
She looks really fine Claudia! Quite the beauty Stella is! Looking forward to seeing her in place and all hooked up, ready to cook some mighty fine meals. Quite the group of helpers you had there, too.
The pictures of Texans helping Texans does warm my heart…but the devastation…I don’t know how you ever begin to recover. Where do you even start? Hope this week goes quickly for you..I’m sure you are anxious to get back home after your hectic day off. And, I’m curious to see all the little details of Stella! ;)
I am. I’m really exhausted today. I woke up way too early this morning – 4? Something like that. So I can’t wait to get to bed tonight!
Claudia, Stella is beautiful! She looks right at home in your kitchen!! Wishing you and Don many wonderful meals cooked on Stella!! My grandma had a stove similar to Stella years ago and she loved It!! Enjoy!
We will, Francine! Thank you!
Your yellow wall is the perfect complement for Stella. She just belongs there. Love the S&Ps, too!
I love those little touches. They are what make those stoves of a certain era so wonderful.
She is beautiful, oh that’s where those S&P shakers go. I saw on eBay and couldn’t figure out what the cut- out on side was about. I would be afraid to get her messed up with cooking she looks so shiny , but after all she is a stove! We in New England are fortunate we get snow and if you keep the doors and windows closed the snow stays outside! I cannot imagine living with floods.
We are definitely wary of getting her messed up with cooking. The guy at Antique Stove Heaven said that some people get them home and never cook on them because they’re so beautiful!
She’s really gorgeous and truly looks as if she was meant for your cottage.
She sure looks like she’s right where she should be, Debbie!
She is just GLEAMING!! So happy that some people are smart enough to save such treasures and give them a 2nd life. Makes my heart break to know some “Stellas” were/ are left in the dust of remodels.
Texas is heartbreaking. And it goes on and on…. The idea of the rebuild is mind boggling. The money that will be necessary is, also. I can’t even comprehend it.
I’m sure you are tired today! Just a few more days til you can return and fully appreciate her. Do you get any extra time off for the holiday weekend, or just your usual Monday? Hope you have a good Tuesday!
I know. I can’t bear to think of all the great vintage stoves that were junked.
I almost can’t bear to watch the news, the floods are so devastating. They won’t come back from this for years.
Just my usual Monday, though the show moves into the theater this weekend, so I will be able to be home Sat – Tues! That’s good, because Don leaves for rehearsals in NYC before I can get home again.
“Stella!!”
Sorry, it seemed SO appropriate, and I couldn’t believe no one else had done it. Congratulations you two, and I’m with you, Claudia; I’d would have been too nervous to have been there.
Oh, they did it! Just on other posts. Thank you, Lucie!
Hurray for Stella, patiently awaiting her hook-up. Hurray for Don and his friends for not leaving a mark on her. Hurray for you, Claudia, to have survived the Stella move! Hurray for the brave people who are in the midst of the Texas destruction, helping their fellow beings, human and animal.
Hurrays all around, Wendy! Thank you!
Dear claudia I hope you won’t mind if I editorialize just a little. Because of my job as Emergency Management , our people are called on and trained to assist in most major disasters around the Country. I would just like to let everyone know, the best way you can give is CASH either to
The Red Cross or Salvation Army. If you want to help out with socks,or disposable diapers the two most needed items,this can be done thru the GoodWill they are equipted and prepared to send those items direct to the shelters or a sister store near the disaster.
When we go out to assist with Hurricaine Sandy on day #2 we arrived to find a whole,Huge, Arena full of clothes, socks, shoes, every kind of clothinng, old dishes, old bedding, pillows ETC. some clean and neat most not. The smell from that room was real. Someone just started dropping things off and before anything could be done there it was. It would have taken twice as many more people to sort.Well you get the picture. DONT get me wrong those people were good hearted, and just wanted to help,and were simply misguided. I appreciate the time and space to let people know how to be the best help,this is a Huge Heart Break for the Whole Country. -Judy A-
Thanks so much for this valuable information, Judy. Your expertise is just what we need!
Will enjoy so much of Stella in days to come. Thank you for sharing photos. Will need the relief of something happy.
Don’t mean to subdue the excitement with talk of Texas …
… but the news of the hurricane, and rain/flooding has quickly taken over my husband’s and my life here in SoCalif. Hard to think about anything else right now. Although my husband and I haven’t lived & worked in Houston/suburbia for 20 years, we know these areas and cannot believe what we are seeing. It’s very possible that in the next few days, the house we bought, brand-new (nice brick home), and just 2 years into our marriage, will flood. The same people live in the house who bought it from us all those years ago and we feel so badly for them. My cousin went through this in New Orleans with Katrina; he’d just sold his home in Metairie, inside a year of the hurricane, only to have a former neighbor send him a photo of his house with high-water marks to nearly the roofline; it’s since been torn down.
One burb, Sugar Land, is an old/historical and now affluent southwest Houston city right on the cusp of the Harris County/Fort Bend County line (within the metro Houston area) and which has boomed in development over those 20 years since we left Texas…it’s now, from what my husband and I can determine, in jeopardy as is its neighboring communities (Missouri City, Rosenberg, Richmond, etc.; we have friends in Richmond we’ve been unable to reach; I once worked with people from all those places; it’s hard not to go over in the mind about how they’re coping; if they’re okay).
When Sugar Land was building all the nice subdivisions in the mid-90s, some of which were gated communities (master-planned communities), we’d go out there on Sunday drives to ‘the countryside’ to tour the new model homes, one of which was a place called New Territory, and I understand it was evacuated yesterday; this is a lot of homes, a lot of people (multi thousands of people in the years since). It becomes personal when you know these places and towns, you know the streets and roads and highways, creeks and bayous. I have no actual family left in southeast Texas but I have scenes in my head of other times, and who was a part of my life when Houston and its environs was our life; our world (the pharmacist, the grocer, the veterinarian, the car hop with pigtails at the Sonic Drive-In) – – so, it makes my heart ache. Where my husband worked in Houston, just two miles from Downtown, is now completely surrounded by flooded roads. It really gives a person pause.
News people were relaying info from authorities yesterday, for trapped flood victims to hang a towel in their upper-story windows, if they have one, because house numbers and mailboxes with addresses are now obliterated, so if you can even get thru to 911, they can’t always find your exact location. I was watching TV about 3am (too hot here to sleep comfortably; heatwave in SoCalif) and one woman interviewed said that she lived in the supposedly-safer, 800-year flood zone and it showed her very-nice home with water as high as her kitchen sink, her grand piano toppled over; her white living room sofa submerged. Another man this morning at the convention center said he saw people swimming alongside boats (no room left in the boats) and it looked to him like they were struggling (very dire). He was in tears. And to think of another 18″ of rain today; how can they overcome? And could it be possible the hurricane could come back on land and slap them again? All the rest of us can do is just watch in agony. Then, as water eventually recedes, to think of what will be revealed; I can’t think. Can’t.
I remember when victims of Katrina were being bussed to Houston. Now, victims of Harvey are being bussed to Dallas. And then the bad and good stories begin to sift through: (CNN) “People started to panic, rushing rescue boats and even shooting at them if they didn’t stop, one volunteer rescuer said. Clyde Cain of the Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based rescue force that gained fame during Hurricane Katrina, said in one instance, a boat broke down, and while the crew sought shelter in a delivery truck, people tried to steal the inoperable boat. ‘They’re making it difficult for us to rescue them,’ he said. ‘You have people rushing the boat. Everyone wants to get in at the same time. They’re panicking. Water is rising’. Jim McIngvale, who owns furniture stores in Houston and Richmond, also pitched in. He opened his doors to evacuees Sunday and gave 600 people a place to sleep.” Heroes and villains (reports now, too, of inevitable looting).
I can’t begin to comprehend what they’re going through. It is beyond heartbreaking.
Yeahhhhhhh. So happy for you and Don, Claudia. Stella is truly a lovely stove. She will light up your lives and the things made on her will light up your tummies. Hurray for Stella! Susan
Hurray! Thank, Susan!
I have to admit – I never dreamed I could be SO excited about a stove! Especially when it’s not even mine! But just delighted Stella is finally home & almost settled in her very own spot. Can wait to see photos of Stella’s first meal etc.
MSNBC just announced the drowning death of a Houston police officer while he was driving to work Sunday night [body was just recovered]. His wife didn’t want him to go but he told her “We’ve got work to do…” Heartbreaking & this, I fear, is only the beginning. But many tales of heroic helpers are around to counteract the sadness too. I’m amazed at the number of Texans who are stepping up to do whatever might be needed & many of THEM have been flooded out of THEIR homes! People of all colors, ethnicities & as the sociologists like to say, “socio-economic levels” are reaching out to help each other any way they can. And without checking for papers, too. No one cares about that now. No one cares about that at all really. No one that counts anyway [one woman’s opinion]. I could go on and on but Twitter and the news does it SO much better. Peace.
#Resist
Oh, such terrible news about the police officer. Oh my lord, it is horrific what is happening there.
Thanks, Janet.
So glad Stella is home now! She is truly beautiful and I bet she cooks even better than she looks. So excited that she made it and is now where she belongs!
Thank you so much, Dottie!
Hi Claudia! Oh, Stella is just gorgeous! I’m so happy for you getting her and I love those little S&Ps built in! I’ve never seen anything like that. Oh, I did go and look again at your dollhouse. I’m so excited because I finally got one!! :) No more doll rooms in my Target shelves! :)
Be a sweetie,
Shelia :)
Yay for your dollhouse, Shelia! I’m so happy for you. You’re are going to have so much fun!
Oh my but she is pretty! I can see why you were so excited. Those guys and your hubby did such a great job. What a pleasure it will be to make delicious food on her. Enjoy! :) Kit
I will. Those guys saved us, that’s for sure!
Stella is stunning. She is a beauty. Congratulations on her arrival.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
Stella is a showstopper!
Congratulations & enjoy! !
She is the star of the kitchen, Monica! Thank you so much!
I have been so proud of the volunteers out assisting people to safer places in Texas. Texas was a wonderful state when we lived there. They had a great program to help mentally retarded children. My daughter was helped by that. And her teachers were visited by Eunice Shriver.
I used to cook on a stove almost identical to Stella when I was a teenager. Loved it. Wish I had one like it now. I am so jealous. The griddle in the middle is not hard to clean after using. And it is great for pancakes, bacon and eggs, as I recall.
The goodness in people never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Selfless and compassionate, many of these people are also bereft or have been flooded out of their homes, but still they help others. A good example for us all.
We ordered an extra griddle – we’ll keep the shiny chrome griddle for most of the time, and we’ll change it out with a basic griddle when we want to cook on it.
Thanks, Jan!
Oh, she’s beautiful!
Harvey got to our area Friday, with our small town and the next over, where Hope Floats was filmed, suffering flooding. We are fortunately okay. Then it moved onto the Houston area and is now headed toward where we grew up, in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area. Louisiana is next, where I was born and where my relatives still live. I see all these photos friends and family are posting as the water makes its way to their doorsteps, and it is heartbreaking. We waited to see if we were going to have to evacuate, wondering what to do about my brother, in his final illness and in hospice care. Would he be transferred to another area’s hospice care if we brought him with us? And where to go, since he can’t tolerate much of a trip and Harvey seems determined to cut a wide swath through Texas? A tradesman who does work for one of my daughters was horribly burned two weeks ago when his truck caught on fire while he was delivering cabinet doors to the historic house they’d just about finished renovating in Galveston. He’s in a burn unit there, and we were worried that hospital might be closed and evacuated as hospitals were during Ike. My daughter and two nieces live in the greater Houston area. My former sister-in-law posted a photo of one of my adult nieces, holding her two nephews, their mother seated nearby. My niece had waded through the flood waters to rescue them and get them to dry land. That’s not something I’d recommend anyone doing, but we’re so proud of her. And our two senators voted against extra funding for the areas impacted by Sandy. I sure hope that N.J. and N.Y. senators are the forgiving type!
Oh, Linda, I don’t know what to say! It’s so much more immediate for you with family and friends in peril. Such worry for you and yours and everyone in Texas.
Our NY Senators are Kristen Gillibrand and Charles Schumer – they have compassion. They will come through even though Cornyn and Cruz did not. Take care, my friend. Prayers for your loved ones.
Hooray! Stella is so beautiful. I’ve been sharing the photos with Brian – he loves this stove, too. Can’t wait to see all the details.
Thank you, Melanie! I’ll take more photos next weekend.
She is beautiful but I can’t wait to see or hear about her being cooked on!…A big thank you to all of those handsome guys who helped Don get her safely in the house so we could all enjoy her!…One thing about Texas is it that it gives me an opportunity to talk to my son about all of the good things people are doing to help!…I wish the media would report more of the good that people do instead of all the bad…
Well, I am hearing a lot about the good that people are doing during this disaster. Thank goodness for that! Thanks, Nancy!
HEY STELLLAAA!!! (although not in the crazed, Marlon Brando way). V Happy for you. From your friend you’ve never met. Chris
Ah, thank you, Chris!
She. Is. Gorgeous.
Thank you so much, Chris! I think so!