And Then There Was One

Yesterday afternoon, my dearest friends Andy and Kim sent their 14-year-old greyhound Bree to wait for them at the Rainbow Bridge. 

Bree is in the center, with Daniel on the left and Howe on the right.

Bree joined their family in October 2001, an alpha-bitch clear to her core, and she promptly took her place as the leader of the dog pack.  She and Kim would frequently have 'discussions' about who was in control of the household ... and Bree found out each time that NO ONE can out-alpha-bitch Kim.

Bree and Kim were a superior Therapy Dog team, mentoring dozens of new dogs and handlers. 

When I saw Bree last Saturday, she looked so tired ... Kim told me on the phone Monday that Bree told her that her work here was finished and it was time for her to go. 

Howe

Andy and Kim's Howe passed away in July.  Howe was one of the last remaining Therapy Dogs who visited the families of victims of the Pentagon attack at the Family Assistance Center in September 2001.  He was also the first greyhound to be certified as a Disaster Stress Relief dog, a grueling certification at which only the most determined Therapy Dogs succeed.  Howe was THAT kind of Therapy Dog.

Happy TJ!

... and now there is one, TJ.  He was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in July (shortly before Howe's death), and he has sailed through amputation surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy, and he is doing very well so far.

I spent yesterday trapped inside by the results of Monday night's ice storm, spending time with my own dogs.  Emma will be 14 on Friday .... I don't want to think about it.

Hug your fur-kids ... be they dogs, cats, or whatever.  They are with us for such a short time, and there is such sadness left behind when they are gone.

Godspeed, sweet Bree.

The Endless Search for the Perfect Couch

Our Family Room couch is reaching the end of its useful lifespan.  We bought this couch, and its identical twin that's in the living room, some time in the late 1980's I think.  I love the style, the deep seat cushions, and the color ... but the fabric is beginning to deteriorate in places, and it's probably past time to consider searching for a replacement.

The Husband and I have been discussing this for a while, but we continue to put off the search for a new couch.  I hate furniture stores!  The conversation with the sales associate has been known to go like this:

Sales associate, "What are you looking for today?"

Me, "We have to replace our family room sofa."

SA, "What style are you looking for?"

Me, "Something classic and traditional, nothing trendy or stereo-typically family room.  A three-seater, preferably, with low arms ..."

SA, "I have just the thing!"

And I am inevitably led to a herculon, overstuffed monstrosity, with recliner ends and cup holders.  WRONG!! 

When I say 'Classic', I really MEAN classic ... a sofa that can stand proudly, no matter what time period it comes from. 

Things with our current couch are reaching a critical point.  There are holes in both cushions that I can no longer conceal by flipping them over, and I have already swapped them with the cushions on one in the living room which get a bit less wear.  The junk hunter in me has been searching for inspiration on Craig's List (my favorite store!)  This morning, I found ...

(terrible Craig's List photo that I improved as much as I could using PhotoShop)

I love the lines and the size of this!  The orange?  Not so much.  This couch is free and it would require a complete re-do ... The Husband insists that we buy a new sofa (which is wise, I guess) so this orange freebie will continue to be inspiration only.

Here is where I could use some help.  Since you've seen what style we have in our Family Room, do you have any ideas about how we might proceed to find a new couch?  Have you seen one that you think would be perfect for us?  We are open to just about any color (except white) to go with our RH Silver Sage walls and antique heartpine floors with a colorful oriental-style rug.

There are an awful lot of very imaginative and creative and talented folks here, and I'm hoping that someone can set up on a path to the perfect new family room couch.  Any and all ideas are welcome, and are very much appreciated.

Sunday Snapshot ... Dorothy's Hiding Place

We find our cats in the weirdest places.

Here's Dorothy ... peeking out from underneath the ottoman in our living room ... probably planning to pounce on one of her unsuspecting sisters.

What a sweetie!

I hope you had a nice weekend.

Putting Down Roots ... In the Greenhouse

The best way I know for a gardener to survive the cold and wind of winter is to spend as much time as possible working in the greenhouse.  On a sunny day, the temperature inside the greenhouse is reliably at least 40 degrees above the outside air temperature.  (Welcome to the Tropics!!) 

The roses on my propagation table are developing roots (finally!), and it's time to pot many of them into larger pots.

Darlow's Enigma

All of these cuttings were planted during the latter part of October.  Almost all of my summer cuttings, planted at the usual time in June and early July, turned brown and died.  Without rooted cuttings, there are no roses for sale next year.

Etoile de Mai

Summer last year was hot and catastrophically dry.  This made for miserable conditions for the roses in my garden (where the cuttings come from) and the cuttings taken at this time didn't stand a chance of producing roots.

Zephirine Drouhin

Even roses that root readily and reliably for me at other times (Mutabilis and Alberic Barbier come to mind) failed to root.  I estimate that I lost at least 2000 cuttings last summer.  What an inventory this would have been!

Quietness

In October, as the weather cooled and we received some blessed rain, and the fall flush of bloom waned, I took cuttings from every rose I could ... hoping to salvage some sort of success for next year.

Saint Cecelia

As you can see from the healthy roots on the cuttings in all of these photos, things aren't as dire as I feared they might be.  I am seeing roots on a much higher percentage of my cuttings, and I am cautiously optimistic about next year.  I may not have as many roses available as I wanted to, but the ones I will have should be really nice ones.

Young Lycidas

If you're in the neighborhood, and you want to escape from the cold and hang out with me in the greenhouse, wear grubby clothes because I'll put you to work.

Tips For a Better Blog ... Large Photos

Do you use the largest possible photos on your blog?  If not, here's a quick Blogger lesson to show you how.

This sunrise photo ...

... wouldn't have nearly the same impact if I had left it the size that Blogger made it when I imported it into this post.  See?

The size that a photo appears in my posts has nothing to do with the photo's file size. All of my blog photos are 640 x 480.  I save them this size I when I edit them in PhotoShop.  (That's also where the watermarks come from)

While writing a blog post, when I insert a photo, it looks like this on the screen:

Click on the photo in the Blogger editor, the photo will highlight and a bar with various selections will appear below it.  To display the photo as large as possible, which I do, click 'X-Large'.

Your photo will now look like this:

and when you publish your post, your photo will be big and beautiful!

Any Questions?

Something Special From 'Crazy As A Loom'

I found Hilary and her blog 'Crazy as a Loom' through someone's blog roll a while ago.  I am in love with her handwoven rugs, and I fell REALLY hard for one rug in particular.  This beautiful rug was made by washing and disassembling a damaged antique rag rug, and reweaving the fabric strips into a new rug. I placed my order on Sunday, and my rug arrived in the mail today.

I love it!!!  (and so does Alice).

Thank you, Hilary!  I am thrilled.

Antique Shopping at the DC Big Flea

Raise your hand if antique shopping is one of your favorite activities. 

If your hand is in the air, and you live anywhere within reasonable commuting distance to DC, you MUST make plans to attend the DC Big Flea.

Look at the genuine distressed finish and gorgeous color on these balusters!

The DC Big Flea is huge antique show, held five times a year, that attracts dealers from all over the east coast.  It is held at the Dulles Expo Center, with hundreds of dealers in two HUGE exhibition buildings. 

It's hard to decide what to drool over first?  The desk, the chalkboards, the clock, the cupboards .... oh, my.

The Husband and I went on Saturday afternoon.  The Big Flea has been a tradition for us since it started in the early 1980's at the Richmond Fairgrounds.  Many wonderful treasures have been carted home from Big Flea dealers.

This antique greyhound print was really cool!

Our house and garage are so full of stuff right now that anything we find at an antique show or shop has to REALLY rise above for us consider bringing it home. 

If you didn't get to go to the show, come along with me, and I'll show you some of my favorite things that I found.

What a wonderful display of enamel pitchers!

There were some really good bargains to be had.  This traveling shoe salesman's trunk was amazing and the price was right.  I already have trunks on top of trunks, with trunks to spare.  No more trunks for me, darn it.

How about this chopping block?  The top of it is a section of a slice of a huge tree, and I love the galvanized base.  You can't beat genuine patina like this.

The Husband and I both looked at each other when we saw this doll, and said, "We gotta get this thing out of here!" ... referencing the Post Office post-Christmas TV commercial with the scary clown doll.

The house number on this piece of stained glass is off by only one number ... if it was 335 instead of 336, it would live here now.

This little mohair elephant was just about the cutest thing I saw all afternoon!  Doesn't he look like Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street?

This little work bench, with its wonderful drawers and unique style, was totally TO DIE FOR!! 

Another great piece with drawers ... a nightstand with a zinc top.  Notice the 'sold' tag on the metal cabinet in the background.  There were a lot of 'sold' tags on some beautiful pieces throughout the show.

The price on this set of US Navy china seemed a bit high to me.  I don't remember exactly how high it was, but the sign by the spoons says that they are $15 apiece.  I sure love the look, tho.

Here is another display with more wonderful things.  The cupboard on top of the pie safe, with the beautiful armoire in the background.   The rug ... and the firkins!

Those among us who are in love with everything linen and grain sack would love this booth!

More grain sacks at another booth.

I have such a huge weakness for wooden crates.  At $20 each, it was hard to pass on these.

Whenever I'm out antiquing, I always keep my eye open for ironstone pieces for our dear friend Kat.  These pitchers could have been perfect.  The prices were a bit too high, otherwise I would have called her right away.

This was probably my favorite booth of the whole show.  There isn't anything in this photo that I didn't fall completely and madly in love with. 

I saw this scarf in a beautiful booth full of Victorian items.  It's totally 'me', don't you think.

What did I get, you ask?  I was thrilled to find something that will be a present for a loved one, so please forgive me for not showing it to you.  For myself, I bought a lovely rose book.  I always have room to add another rose book to my collection.

The next DC Big Flea will be March 5 and 6.  The Fredericksburg Big Flea, in a smaller venue with fewer vendors, will be February 5 and 6.   Anyone want to come with me?