It's Tomorrow!!!

Alida's wedding is tomorrow,
and things are hopping around That Old House!

We caught Mr. Dion and he got a bath.  Can't be dingy on a Wedding Day!

 In the kitchen, I was busy putting together the Norwegian wedding cake, the Kransekake.

 This sucker strikes fear into every Scandinavian baker's heart.

It's a stack of graduated rings of almond paste, egg white, and sugar dough --

very fragile, and prone to sticking in its little ring pans.  

 I think I nailed it!

Thank goodness for royal icing, and strong wrists for the pastry bag.

Now on to the rehearsal!
I am NOT going to blog tomorrow!!! -- Cass

Painting Done and the Fog Rolls In

Whew!  The painters wrapped up on Wednesday,
just in the nick of time before big thunderboomers
rolled through.  We think the fresh paint
on the porch deck and steps held.

It's foggy and gloomy this morning, but that's okay; we don't need wonderful weather until Saturday.

What didn't hold was the fresh mulch put down a few days ago along the driveway's retaining wall.

It looked good while it lasted.  We're hoping it will dry out so we can sweep/shovel it back into place.

But the house is painted.

Right down to the water meter and the cellar hatch.

The 12 restored and painted shutters are hung.

The rest of the windows will have to wait to get new reproduction shutters.

The house does look a wee bit nekkid.

Porch furniture on the front lawn, waiting also for the paint to dry!

Our little feathered tenants like that we painted the big house to match their tiny one.

Some of their relatives are squatting in our eaves; the painters will be back when the birds

have grown and flown to patch and paint those holes.  No one wanted to dislodge the tiny birdies.

And that's it for Thursday.
I have a "to do" list that is still Too Long, but do-able.
And I am getting very excited -- happy excited!
I may not be back to blogging till after daughter Alida's wedding on Saturday,
but I'll get loads of pics.  I chose a handbag that is big enough to slip my camera into.
Happy Thursday!  -- Cass

Well, the painting of our house over the past two weeks, and its change
from yellow and green to white and dark-green-er is certainly a
transformation!
So I'm jumping on the Transformation Thursday blogwagon at
The Shabby Chic Cottage.  Click here to see what else is going on!

Pssstt. . . Wanna See A Front Door? With Pictures!!!

It is Wednesday June 22nd.
On June 25th our daughter Alida gets married, and we'll
have guests here at That Old House after the reception.

And the house painters are still here.


But now I have pictures!
Connie at Hartwood Roses tipped me that when my normal editing procedure for posting
pics didn't work this morning, that doing it in HTML mode would.  And it did!
Thank you, Connie, a fellow M.O.B. this month.
(Who has a wedding HAT post today -- very cute!)

Painter Spoor on the Porch

So what color did we paint the front door?

Take a look!

If you guessed Yellow, you were right!

So what are you waiting for?

Open the door, and come on in.

There's a small greeter -- who saw you come up the porch and is making sure you are safe.

Now isn't that a welcoming door?

It makes me smile.

It's Benjamin Moore Imperial Yellow, and it packs a punch, but it's not as bright as some I considered.
This one is more of a summer squash yellow.

Computer colors aren't true to life.  You may actually have to come and see for yourself!

Meanwhile, in the Parlor just inside the front door, have we caught our ghosts on camera?

No, thank goodness!

It's Alida's wedding gown, hung from the breakfront, covered with sheets,

and spread out so the long train doesn't get all crinkly.

Meanwhile, the bride, her sister, and half the rest of the wedding party are still asleep up these stairs:

Ssshhhh. . . let's slip back out on the porch and take another look at that yellow door, shall we?

Someone's keeping an eye on us.

And I am going back to my wedding reception seating chart, and listening to the RAIN

on the roof . . . and watching a frustrated painting crew realize they may not be able to paint the porch deck today.

Time for another cup of coffee to calm my nerves,

and a Yellow Door to make me smile!

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday . . . and then someone's becoming a Mother-In-Law! -- Cass

A Father's Day Remembrance, and a Front Door (Partially) Revealed!

Sunday was my first Father's Day without my Dad.

Our Pop left us on February 2nd of this year, and none of us is used to that fact yet;

we all just kind of assumed he'd be around, well, forever.

He could do just about anything, so why not that?

 I found this picture with some of my Mom's things.

I think it dates post-World War Two, when Dad was out of the Navy,

and busy fixing up the little fixer-upper cottage they bought for their first real home.

Maybe my siblings know better where and when it was taken?

**********************************

He was a great Dad.

Our family turned out just one year ago, in full force, for Pop's 90th birthday celebration.

Here he is, part of 4 generations of Herbs -- him, his son, his grandson, and great-grandson.

His smile never changed.

The last time I saw it was in the hospital emergency room, before he was admitted.

He was having trouble talking, but he gifted me with one of those beautiful smiles.

I will keep it forever, as one of what my Mom called "heart pictures."

************************************************************

Meanwhile, the Dad in That Old House, also known as Howard, spent part of Sunday

catching a quick snooze on the sofa; he thinks I don't know this, but I do.

We had a jillion things to do, but on Father's Day every Daddy deserves a break. 

Howard at the beach house, helping with THOSE fix-ups!

Howard, too, is a great Dad.

He has been endlessly patient about the wedding plans,

and all of my crazy house fix-up schemes, and plans for entertaining.

When I told him we were not only going to have an After Party here following the reception

on Saturday, but also a day-long Open House on Sunday so we could see out of town guests one more time,

he just shook his head and said, "You're out of control."  But he was smiling.  Really, he was.

***********************************************

What makes me smile is the transformation of That Old House from yellow with green shutters to

white with green-so-dark-it-looks-black shutters.  The shutters (those that could be salvaged)

are not yet back on the house, but the door surround is painted.

Yes, it IS green; check it in sunlight and you'll see it's not black.

Mmm. . . I do love the look and smell of glossy oil paint.

The front door itself is still in its old clothes.

Cracked icky old green.

By Tuesday, all the painting will be done, and I can show you what color that front door will be.
The porch floor isn't painted yet -- can't be done till the other porch work is finished!

The storm door is propped open for the long slow dry of the alkyd paint.

You will like the front door color.

Probably.

But tell me, if you were invited through this front door, what color would you want it to be?

Please excuse the package leaning on the front stairs.  Packages are coming daily; there's a wedding in the offing!

***********************************************

And one more time, because I am sentimental on days like Father's Day,

I am posting a collage I did 2 years ago, of my Dad, Howard's Dad, and Howard.

Not many pictures of Howard's Dad, Milton.  That's what he gets for living in Florida!  (Hi, Zaide!)

Great dads, all of them!

I hope your Father's Day was wonderful, and I send the very best wishes to all the great Dads

of this world -- past, present, and future!  -- Cass

Link Parties!

Metamorphosis Monday, sponsored by Between Naps On The Porch. Click here!

(Thank you Susan!)

Mosaic Monday, brought to us by Little Red House.  Click here!

(Thank you, Mary!)

 

If It Haint Blue, Don't Paint It

"I want the body & trim white, the shutters
that very dark green that's almost black,
the front door mumble-mumble-mumble,
and the porch ceiling painted in
Benjamin Moore's Morning Sky Blue."

(Now why does this remind me of that famous scene

with Myrna Loy choosing colors in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?)

And so began the painting of That Old House, 8 days ago. 

Update as of Friday --

Sanding and scraping: done!

Priming: pretty much done.

Painting: first coat of white on about 80% of the house.

Which is all pretty exciting, but what tickled me pink today was something very blue. 

Yesterday, the porch ceiling was primed, and looked like this:

 

Today, it looks like this:

It's blue!

Why blue? 

My mother thought all porch ceilings should be blue because of the legend that blue ceilings

fool bugs into thinking that there is just sky -- air -- above the porch, and they don't nest there.

In the South, there's an old custom of painting porch ceilings haint blue to keep away

haints,

or evil spirits -- haints can't cross water, and apparently aren't the brightest bulbs

in the porch lights if they mistake a blue ceiling for a body of water.  Duh.

Third reason?  That's just my personal one.  Blue is pretty, and calm,

looks like the sky (even if you are not a bug) and helps to make a front porch

the perfect spot to relax and have a morning cup of coffee or an evening apertif.

 It's just one coat so far.  But I love it.

It wasn't until after I'd chosen Morning Sky Blue for the porch ceiling that I realized

we'd used that same color out at the beach house for one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Former sewing room at beach house, now a guest room.  In Morning Sky Blue.

 A good color's a good color, you know?

 As for the color of the front door, I'm going to make you wait for that, for a full reveal.

I hope you like it; I've managed to convert my artist daughter Anne to my side.  Kind of.  Almost.

As for using haint blue paint to keep spirits away from

That Old House, we don't need to do that.

As long as they stop stealing our silverware.

More on that in another post. . . .

Have a wonderful weekend!

You won't believe what our calendar looks like for the next week, as we approach

The Wedding Day on June 25th.  That Old House is going to be crawling with workmen,

and Howard and I have our own projects in the works; check back to see if we get it all done!

   It's a good thing we work best under pressure!  -- Cass

Noises Off

It's darned noisy around here these days.

Peek with me through the blinds next to my desk;

a couple of the painters are outside, masks on,
sanding down the crazed old paint and crackles on the porch.

Look closely -- there are hands holding a sander along the railing, and a mysterious masked man in the shrubbery in front.

I took late afternoon pictures.  The cracked old paint is smooth as a baby's behind.
Well, almost.  If my baby's bottom looked like this, I'd probably schedule a visit to the pediatrician.

But for an old porch, it's ain't bad.

The columns look terrific, clean and smooth.

And the ceiling?  Heaven.  Well, it will look more like heaven when it's painted Morning Sky Blue.

Right now it's looking clean and ready, in white primer.

 All trim and woodwork white -- and the soft blue beadboard ceiling.  Traditional old house colors.

There's always something to fix on an old house, and on this porch a bit of the soffit board was squooshy.

Squooshy in wood is not A Good Thing.

So down it came, and Danny the Painter showed me what they removed.

"We thought we'd find plywood up there," he said.  "But it's 1 x 10.  There isn't any plywood in your house!"

The rest of the soffit is fine, needing just sanding and a bit of caulk.  But plywood?  No, not on this old gal.
 
But what did go on this old gal today . . . was more primer!

Just a little yellow left on the front, along the porch walls.
Otherwise -- it's white primer, and Boy Howdy does it smell.
I love that smell; I wanted to be an art major just for the turpentine. . . . 


Okay, so this isn't her best side . . . it's primer -- like the moisturizer you put on before the foundation.
Smoothes out the wrinkles.

 There's not much yellow to be seen anymore.
My apologies to the Yellow Fans.  I hope you feel better knowing that white is the original color.

 

And that wraps up Wednesday for me.


Just a note to the wax begonias and geraniums planted along the base of the sunroom wall:
"Grow!  Grow!  Grow!  You have one week to make something of yourselves,
or be replaced with plastic flamingos!"

"But you weeds?  Die."


Tomorrow, we may see the first paint go on the house.  Whew.  It will be done before The Wedding.
Moments before, perhaps, but before, and that's all that counts.


And I'm still not telling you what color the front door will be.
Because I'm getting enough arguments from my family.  Just kidding.  Kind of.


Link Parties!
White Wednesday, at Faded Charm blog ... click here!
Outdoor Wednesday, at A Southern Daydreamer ... click here!


Go visit, have fun, check That Old House tomorrow for more painting progress,
which now that I think about it is probably as interesting to my blogger friends as watching grass grow.
Thanks for visiting!  -- Cass