Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Cleaning, etc

More progress.


I still have the curio and the two glass fronted cabinets to clean on the inside. As you can see, the dining table has become a cat platform. I bought that chandelier in an antique shop in 1977. My dad wired it and it has travelled from house to house with me since. I also bought the old curio cabinet from an antique shop the same year. All of the other furniture, except the high-back leather chairs, are from the early 1980s. The chairs were inherited from a longtime client of Mark. I have no idea when she got them, but she died a couple of decades ago. I have slipcovers on the sofas because of Gatto. He thinks his name means Got Toes. This room took me awhile. My back was strained and uncooperative and my sinuses kicked in, probably due to the poor air quality. Also the dust and dog hair. I know dog hair will plague me for sometime to come, it's in and around everything. Next stop.....kitchen.

Other than my stumbling through house cleaning not much is happening. We are in serious drought. I have mowed three times this season and only the first time was it grass, otherwise it was weeds. We are coming under the heat dome next week. I may be forced to use air conditioning.

Anyway.....chugging along. I finished a book I'd been waiting several months for: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It felt a little too close to where we, as a nation, are teetering on the brink of. It won the Pulitzer.

I guess that's it from my piece of the earth. 






20 comments:

Boud said...

Your progress is great! I can't bear to read Doerr. I've tried, too cruel or something.

Anonymous said...

Your room is beautiful. I love your "aesthetic." I did spot Gatto on the table.

I have read "All the Light We Cannot See." One of the best books I have ever read. They are making it into a movie. I too see similarities to the sad and scary place are country is in. I hope most
Americans see this danger and will vote out and stand against people with authoritarian ideas, with bigoted views etc...
Take Care,
Kaye

Sandra said...

Boud, I am just plugging along as best I can. The key is to accept limitations, something I have not been good at doing. If I don't get frustrated with myself it is easier to start again when I can.

Perhaps you cannot read it is that you lived through that war as a child. It is truly personal for you.

Sandra said...

Kaye, thanks! I don't think I've ever had a style, just a haphazard sort of things I like. Or inherit!

I hope people are paying attention. It's frightening to me.

Pixie said...

I love your house. It looks beautiful and restful. I loved that book. One of the main characters, the german boy, reminded me of my husband. My husband has a knack with electrical and electronic stuff. I didn't like his third book, Cloud Cuckoo Land at all sadly.

Val Ewing said...

Sounds like an excellent book.

Heat dome. Looks like we will get to 'enjoy' [sarcasm] it also. The mowing will be put off until the weather gets better.

What a beautiful place you live in!

Sandra said...

Pixie, I haven't read that one. Maybe I don't want to. This house was a disaster when we bought it. This part, which was a mid-eighties addition, didn't need too much done to fix it, but the rest was a disaster. It's more than we need, life changes. I was unhappy but not surprised at the ending with the German boy.

Sandra said...

Val, it is a good book. All of next week is going to be really hot. It's so dry I worry about the pines.

My house is like some people, photographs well. I've told a few people who have seen photos and said they'd like to live in a house like that, so would I. It amazes me how much better it looks in photos. Not that it isn't a good house, but it is photogenic!

Far Side of Fifty said...

You are making progress! :) Yes I noticed the cat observation deck!

Sandra said...

Far Side, it's slow going, but it's going. The table is mirrored and they enjoy looking at themselves!

julochka said...

That is such a glorious and wonderful room. And a little dog hair doesn't matter in the least.

Lori Skoog said...

Do I love the space???? That is the feeling people get when they come here too. Inviting....comfortable....lived in. You have been more ambitious than me. Major kudos.

Sandra said...

julochka, I miss the conversations and wine we shared in that room. Sabs should have gone to the U of M! Keetah didn't know about a little dog hair.

Sandra said...

Lori, your home is often filled with happy people. I don't have much energy, sadly. You have been sick and let's hope you are recovering.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Sandra, you done good as that finished room looks fabulous -- bet you are glad that task is marked DONE. I wish I could send you some of the rain we have been having in the past few weeks. It has not been very hot like other states, but we get downpours at least 1-2X a week, so no drought here. Unfortunately, it has ruined a lot of crops.

Bohemian said...

I bow down to you Woman on the progress you're making, WOW! You Home and it's Floorplan are Gorgeous and you're really getting it looking so good, it's very Editorial. It's been a long time since I could Photograph a Panoramic of any Room in this House. *LOL and Le Sigh* I think the Grandsons Wedding was the last time it was decluttered and clean enuf to not require just closeups. *Smiles* That Fireplace is Awesome, and that Bank of Windows. They resurfaced this Fireplace and I do wonder what it looked like in the 1980's when the Home was Built? It's Contemporary faced now, but I'm sure it was more Farm Rustic in the beginning and I might have liked it better. I do like the Urban Farmhouse makeover but the Fireplace Stone is very Modern and if previously it was River Rock, Fieldstone, Brick or Burnt Adobe like the exterior of the House, I would prefer that to the Modern cut Stone. Can't wait to see what you do with the Kitchen. I'm enjoying the Tour of your Private Sanctuary, it's a very Inviting Home.

Sandra said...

Thanks, Beatrice. We are so dry! Weather is all over the place across the country.

Sandra said...

Thanks, Dawn. My house never really gets messy, except the kitchen. Two people who are both tidy make that easy enough as far as not being messy is concerned. What had happen, combined with my mobility problem and a unbelievable shedder is a ennui came over me. I kept it at probably less than a bare minimum. A month after Keetah died something sparked in me to do something, so I did! I have been slow about starting again, but it will happen. You are very busy and have lots of people in your home. Plus it's triple digits all the time. You'll get to it, in the mean time, take it easy. It's HOT!

e said...

Wow, what a beautiful room!

Sandra said...

Thanks, e. It’s more space than we need, but it’s where we are. It is a large room but not as large as the camera makes it. We don’t use it much anymore.