Hot, Hot, Hot

68 this morning, rising to 89 by evening. And so humid! I worked outside for a couple hours this morning and when I came in I was soaked with sweat and not feeling very well. I had to sit for a couple hours and drink water.  Warning to self: pay better attention to my body's signals. I wanted to get a couple things finished, but was it worth it? No.

Even Clyde, the outside cat, has decided it is too hot to be outside, and made himself comfy in the living room in a box destined I had just unpacked. Oh well.

SeeYesterday we worked in the vegetable garden before noon, mainly dusting for cabbage moths, and picking beans, cabbage, broccoli, squash, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, a few tiny cucumbers, lettuce and radishes. 

Our dinner was all veggies except the hambone I cooked with the new potatoes and beans. 

There was so much left over that we had it again today. And there is still plenty I didn't cook yet in the fridge. The garden has already paid its way for the year,  and it is just getting started.  Of course, I can't factor in our labor. But it is so satisfying to peek under leaves and see what has grown.

Since we haven't been able to work outside as much as we'd like, we've been working on furniture. I was able to get a few things finished and ready for the booths, while Larry completed his repairs to another arched-top cabinet that is a mate to one I finished up the other day. Now it will be my turn to work on it, basically just painting.

I showed a picture of this the other day. I decided to to sand it togive it a distressed look, and boy did it. Apparently latex paint was used on it without sanding first, so it just peeled off. The underneath color was green, and I decided I liked the way it looked, once I had worked on it quite a while. Just needs a coat of dark wax now.

Not the best photo of this table, but it was hard to get the right angle where I have parked it. It's an unusual piece, needed to be painted because of multiple finish issues, and I think it looks much better painted.

This old copper boiler has been knocking around our house for years.  I finally cleaned it up to sell. Never intended to keep it, but somehow it never left. Now it's ready to go.

This is my next project. It looks nice in the photo, doesn't it. But again there are finish issues like missing veneer and stains. And I have one one in original finish for sale for a year and a half. I removed the doorbon this cabinet since it had been broken and the glass was gone. Larry has started gluing some trim back in place that had fallen off. I cleaned it well today, and will start sanding it tomorrow in preparation for paint.

It has been nice to just be home this week, no need to go out. Larry will have to go get sandpaper and a few others things tomorrow,  but I will be staying here and getting things ready to take to the booths Friday. At least it will be inside work.

Stay cool, friends, as best you can.

 Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Projects

62 this morning, clear. About 78 as I write at 9pm. 

I have been back to work on furniture this week, trying to push a few projects out to the booths. But in the mornings, I am still out in the gardens a bit, trying to keep ahead of the weeds, and watering as needed. This morning I hoed the little herb garden. I was delighted to see that the Job's Tears and the money plant seeds had germinated. Surprisingly, the chamomile seeds did not come up, but quite a few plants came up in another bed, self-seeded. I pulled a lot of bindweed out of the raspberry patch. It is really a bad weed in there, but I have managed to kill it out of one flowerbed with constant weeding, so eventually maybe I can get it under control.

I picked this little bouquet when I finished. Lavender, rose, coreopsis, yarrow,  and some of those pink primroses. So pretty.

Dinners lately have been easy, cooked on the grill. We ate steak at granddaughter Hannah's the other night, last night Larry grilled chicken, and the other night we did hamburgers, a very rare meal in this house. We keep it simple here, just adding a salad and baked potato or French bread to make a meal. Love this time of year when we can eat outside! Have you been doing the same?

Larry trimmed some way overgrown shrubs while I worked in tbe gardens. Seems like we just did them, but it has been a few years. How the time flies now! We also had to protect tbe cherry tree from marauding Cedar Waxwings and their feathered friends. For the first time ever the birds have found our tree! So sheets, net curtains, a rubber snake and a strip of rubber have deterred the birds, at least for now.

Here are a few of the furniture projects: 

This was my buffet. It is really white, not gray as it looks in the photo.

I have been working on this small desk off an on for a while. It's finally ready to go, I think.

We found this very ugly buffet at a yard sale last week. It is going to take a LOT of sanding and work to make it beautiful again.

Also finished but no photo is a small white dresser. It is already loaded in the van. And a cupboard that I had to do a ton of sanding on is ready to paint, along with a halltree that Larry made from a door. So those are next on my agenda. 

Time to read for a while! I am reading The Silent Wife by Kerry Fisher. Nothing heavy, but her quirky humor is a real treat. And perfect for the tired end of a long day.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Under Repair

52 this morning, overcast but turned partly cloudy. Maybe showers later? I can hope, as we need rain, again.

Yesterday we took an unexpected trip, south to a little community called Gallipolis Ferry, WV. The reason? An ad for a beautiful old buffet.

When I contacted the man, he said it was in good shape with normal wear and tear for its age. I should probably have asked him to be more specific, but the pictures looked good, and the price was really good, so we took a chance and went to see it. And bought it.

It has issues, that's for sure, none we can't correct. The wheels had been taken off at some time, probably back when everyone had carpet and casters got all messed with with carpet fibers and didn't roll correctly. And when the casters are taken off, the legs get too much stress put on them when the piece is moved, which means wobbly legs and often cracked or split wood in otherwise beautiful furniture.

At work--the legs are off and it's upside down, being clamped, glued and whatever.

That's what happened to this piece, so Larry has a job of work to do getting it all fixed and sturdy again. Someone had put L-braces on the legs, and tried to glue them but had pretty much made a mess of it. So all that had to be removed, the glue stripped off, etc, etc. Then there is a drawer that will need a new bottom. And the felt-lined silverware drawers--oh, my. I don't know how or what they did, but the felt is all pulled up like a cat has been scratching at it. So that will have be burned out, and then new felt glued in to replace it.

All of this is doable, although to say "normal wear and tear" was certainly stretching the point. However, when we're done with it, it will be a beauty once again, with casters firmly in place. 

Aside from this project, I finally finished up the last of the "big" garden canning jobs--a bushel of peppers, made into a sweet pepper relish. It is absolutely delicious. I sort of combined two recipes to make it, one from The Spruce Eats website and one from a cookbook I have called So Easy to Preserve. Both called for the same basic ingredients, with some slight differences. It made a LOT of relish, which worried me because it's not something we usually eat much of, but this is so delicious I can see many uses for it--on eggs, sandwiches, burgers and hotdogs, and more. 

Today I am preparing for a weekend poetry writing retreat, which I am looking forward to very much. I haven't been doing much creative writing this year, and I need something to jumpstart my mind. It seems that I have been too busy with the mundane--and yet satisfying--things in life: gardens, house, projects, and the like. So no maybe it's time to take some time to do this other thing that I love so much. I'll be in a beautiful part of West Virginia again so will probably come back with photos to share.

Stay well, my friends, and enjoy these beautiful Fall days. They may end all too soon.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Too. Hot. Too. Dry.

66 this morning, clear and cool. It heated up as the day went on and was already 82 by 10am. 

All I can say is, at least it's not humid. 

Yesterday it reached 96 here at home, and 100 or more in town. So maybe I shouldn't complain, but it feels like 100 out there right now, this late in the day. 

I have been noticing signs of an early fall. Perhaps it's the heat and lack of rain--no significant rain now for the past 2 weeks--that's causing some leaves to begin turning yellow and brown. Our old wild apple has been dropping leaves and fruit for the past week; first we noticed it was dropping unripe apples, and now it's lost a good many of its leaves. 

Another apple tree has few leaves but a lot of fruit, all of it very small. The other three trees look okay but the apples are much smaller than they should be this time of year.

There is a noticeable tinge of yellow to the woods and fields now; normally I don't see this until the beginning of August. I remember, actually, the first time I was struck by the first signs of fall. I was just home from the hospital after having my last baby. It was August 2nd, very hot still, but when I got home I realized that Nature had shifted from full-on summer to the first glimmer of autumn during my 3-day absence. 

The lack of rain and the heat is wearing on people too. Town was very quiet today, Larry reported when he returned from getting the van license renewed. Gardens are being left to their own devices as plants dry up and people are weary of the fight to keep things going and growing. We are fortunate that our gardens are still doing very well, but it's been a struggle to get enough water to everything. 

Today I did not heat the house up with canning again, thank goodness. Instead I did a lot of eBay listings, something I've been neglecting during these busy summer days, and did some painting. I finished up this little guy, 

a rough little thing, painted bright glossy highway-department yellow but now a bit tamer, and got the top of this dresser sanded and ready for paint. 

Would you believe we found this on the side of the road, in the trash? One back leg was broken, but Larry soon had that fixed. The only remaining problem is that one drawer that won't come out. I'll work on that this evening. Other than that, it's a real beauty. The last owners removed all the drawer pulls, so I bought these to replace them. A bit of a splurge but since the dresser was free, why not?

Well, I'm off to water gardens again. See you tomorrow. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Over the Mountains and Back Again

69 this morning; more hot, humid weather on tap. We seem to be stuck in this rut after a week of cooler than normal temps. Wishing for rain and storms are forecast but so far it doesn't look hopeful.

The mountains were beautiful as we drove home Saturday. We'd had a wonderful visit with our oldest son, his wife and daughter--it was short, but perfect. 

While we were there out daughter-in-law suggested going strawberry-picking Saturday morning. I was thrilled, since we have no strawberry plants now and we miss the fresh berries. We had a good breakfast at a little local diner, then it was off to the strawberry farm, just outside Moorefield, WV, called Buena Vista Farm.  They also sell snow peas, asparagus and other vegetables and berries in season. 

We brought home 4 flats-no small feat considering the van was loaded to the roof with our auction buys from the online auction. But everything made it home safely, thank goodness. and we got all the berries worked up and in the freezer as soon as we got home. They were none the worse for their 5-hour ride.

Since we've been home I've been sorting our the things we bought, as well as working on some painting projects. I finished this one yesterday. Originally I thought I'd paint the whole thing white, but the drawers looked so cool after being sanded that I just waxed them and added white pulls.

Today it's more of the same--painting and getting things ready to take to our booths. Sales are still very good so we're trying to keep well-stocked to meet what people want. 

Then there's the garden work too. Larry is doing most of that right now while I concentrate on booth projects. He's put in over a hundred tomato plants, and probably 50 peppers. We sure don't need all those, but we had the plants from our little greenhouses, and he'd plowed all that ground, so... I don't think he's left me any room for pumpkins or butternut squash though, so I'll have to figure out where to plant them. I took down the 3 greenhouses and packed them away yesterday, and have to admit it's nice to have our full views back again. 

The gardens look good despite the heat and the lack of rain. We did get some rain last week, thank goodness, but it evaporated quickly, leaving the ground thirsty again. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

The Pay-Off

I started writing this yesterday, but never finished. So just posting it today anyway. Today started out at 50 degrees, and got warmer all day. Son Derek's 49th birthday today, May 2nd. How quickly half a century can go.

May 1

42 this morning, chilly but a nice day ahead.

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, y'all! And get out there and wash your face in the dew, for it's May and all the world's a-bourning.

Now, superstitions out of the way on this beautiful day, here's the pay-off from the frustration of the day before: new stuff in our booths. Sales have been very good this year, so good in fact that we're expanding at this location. We brought in new things and moved things around to fill empty spots yesterday, so the booths look fresh again.

I finished this table last month, but didn't have it in a very visible location, so I'm hoping a move will help it get a new home.

This one was a project this week. I love this color, one I mixed up from some paints I had on hand. Will I ever be able to duplicate it?

Changed up the table setting from yellows and greens to blue and white.

I added the mushroom canisters last week. They were a lucky yard sale find.

I'm always adding or changing up the stuff on the wall. Added the graniteware this week.

And re-did the staging on this corner, adding a few new items.

Another change in staging here. The red chair was new to the booth last week.

I almost had the old washer sold while I was there Friday, but the man couldn't fit it in his truck. Darn. But I'm not too unhappy, as I have an attachment to it that goes back to the late 70's. The milk can and cart were new adds this week.

And so is this sweet little table. It only needed the top sanded back to natural wood, then distressing the rest, and dark wax. Priced low because I have so little in it.

Tis is the cabinet we sweated over, and now I'm thinking either it's too much distressing or not enough. But whichever, it is what it is and I refuse to do any more with it.

We added this dresser last week. It's a new color for me to work with. It was painted brown, yellow, white, green and then originally varnish. So a lot of sanding, then instead of distressing I used a dark antiquing wax on it to get the distressed look, and added new pulls. Larry had repair work to do on the drawers, as usual. Seems like old dressers get put out to pasture when the drawers start giving way, when all they need is some glue, clamps, and sanding. 

There was an old trundle bed frame in the corner here that I used to hang all sorts of things on. It sold, surprisingly, last weekend, so I had to find places for all those things. I'm thinking about how to fill the corner without attaching to the back of the other booth's shelf.

No changes here, I think. 

And a few things added to the top of this table that we brought in last week.

The Sellers cabinet is still with us--these usually take a year or two to sell, and I don't mind because they're great for display.

So all our aggravation and work Thursday paid off in new items to add to the booths, and that was a good thing since 3 tables, the old trundle, and several other things had sold since we were last in. It was a busy day Friday, but a good one. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Work, Work, Work

54, clear after a day of heavy rain and showers. The heat, thank goodness, has broken.

Since it rained all day yesterday, we spent the day mainly on furniture projects, and I of course mixed in some eBay work. 

It was one of those frustrating days. You know the kind? When everything you touch seems to be more work than it should be, or just doesn't go right? That kind of day, at least for me. Larry worked along smoothly, thank goodness, getting some metal chairs cleaned up and ready to paint, and fixing the issues I kept running into.

There's this one cabinet, you see.  The one we should never have bought because it needed so much work. 

The cabinet, after many, many repairs. Almost ready to go at last.

In progress. The shelves are out, being polyurethaned. 

Like a new back, new shelves, veneer removed, bracing added. It was a shell of its former self, but what was left was so pretty, and I really thought we could fix it. Such optimism.

Larry did repairs, and I began to paint. And ran into one problem after another. A trim piece needed to be replaced. The body putty work he'd done on the side was not good enough. He redid it, twice. It still looked bad so he sanded it off entirely and removed the veneer. The new shelves weren't right. Well, you get the picture. Frustration after frustration. 

Then there was the piano bench. This will be quick, I said. Strip the top and stain it, paint the base and done. But no. The old finish was a bear to remove, some would not come off, there were flecks of white paint that wouldn't come off without sanding through the veneer. So after much work, I just painted the top too. And now the mahogany veneer is bleeding through with pink in some places. 

So I will have to sand, shellac, and re-paint. And it's not even a great piece, just a simple bench that I thought I could get done and sell reasonably. 

After all that, eBay should have been easy, but even there...I got out a set of 8 plates to ship, dropped one and broke it. So there went that sale. Fortunately, the rest of my eBay work went smoothly, I got quite a few listings done and three packages packed and ready to go this morning. 

The good thing about such days is that, unlike a regular job, I can just stop and regroup, move on to something else, take a break, or even just look outside and realize how fortunate I am to live where I do, doing things that I usually enjoy. 

The view from the workroom.

Yesterday was a day of many breaks, tea or coffee on the porch, doing a word puzzle, etc. The cabinet is almost done--it won't be our best work, but it will be okay, the piano bench will have to wait while I think about what to do with it, and two little tables are ready to go. 

So in the end, all was almost well. That's good enough for me. And then, there's this cool dresser waiting for me. Surely it will go smoothly? Fingers crossed.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Covid Journal, Day 232: Hiatus

50, warm and bright this morning. We've had exceptionally warm weather this past week. Have to admit, I love it. 

I've been MIA for the past week, haven't I? For several reasons.

The election first, of course. To say I am pleased with the outcome would be putting it mildly. I'm elated. But I'm also realistic enough to know that it's not over yet, and that a Republican majority in the Senate will undoubtedly keep us gridlocked as far as anything getting accomplished. That said, I am so hoping for a return to civility, and an end to outright racism and general nasty behavior. As a "blue" living in a "red" state, it's been an uncomfortable and also at times unwelcoming four years. I would not wish this on anyone and my hope is that we can all move ahead and not keep looking back. However I might hope for this, my logical self doesn't see it happening. There is too much bitterness and division now. So, onward we go, come what may. I pray there will be no violence. 

Aside from that tumultuous election, I've been focused on painting furniture. The weather is perfect for the outside work that needs to be done to get pieces ready, like sanding and staining. Here's a look at few things I've been working on.

First, this dresser. It's ready to go, as soon as the wax dries. I am so pleased with this piece. 

After:

And before:

Then there's this table. It was a right mess, and needed a lot of loving care. The top had a bad place where it had been left out in the weather, with another table on top of it. So, we flipped the top boards, sanded and stained, then I filled the screw holes with little tacks. It gave a nice rustic touch.

Now look at it:

Up on blocks for painting, distressing, and waxing. And done.

I have four chairs in progress to put with it, painted white and distressed. The one on the right is one of them--needs distressing and wax. The other little chair is a stand alone, which I'll display in the booth with Christmas items.

Here's one of the chairs before painting--the only one I have left to do. It's in the workroom, with my begonia and rosemary plants behind it.

Three more projects in progress: I fell in love with this primitive "make-do" cabinet at a flea market. I'm sure I paid too much for it to make a decent profit. Larry put boards on the back as it didn't have a back at all, and I painted and sanded them to give them a rustic look. Then I sanded the whole cabinet, added some paint to the inside, and now I need to wax it. 

Has such character, I think.

This was a sewing machine cabinet. No machine in it when we bought it. So we adapted it to be just a stand. It was a rather terrible green; I painted it bright "Holiday Red" in hopes that someone will want it for Christmas. If not, I may just keep it as I really do love it.

This one is Larry's project right now. He's stripping the top, sanding and re-gluing--and then he'll have to repair the drawers too. Once all these repairs are done, it will come to me for finishing up: stain on the top, paint on the rest. It's a beautiful piece that has been badly treated, but some work and love will make it shine again.

This coat tree needs only some new hooks to replace the two broken ones. I have the replacements hanging on it. It's waiting for Larry to do that little job. He's been working on so many other things lately, but this one will get done today, I think.

And a cedar-lined blanket chest, which will be my next job. Since it has been painted with that awful 70's "antiquing" stuff that's almost impossible to remove, I'll sand and repaint, probably white and distressed. 

That's about all I've been doing, beside the usual housework, and of course ebay. More about that in my next post.

As for Larry, thank you all for your kind comments. He's doing better. He had a beer last week that once again had him woozy to the point that he very nearly fell. Fortunately I was right there and caught him. He is slowly accepting that he has to leave it alone. I really wanted to pop open some champagne to celebrate the election, but did not because I also have to remove alcohol from my life for him to be successful. His ribs are slowly healing, although he is a terrible patient--because he's so impatient to be better and get on with all the tasks he can't do right now. But he is getting better, and hopefully in a few more weeks will be back to his normal busy self.  

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.