Sixteen Days Till Curtain Time

It's two weeks and two days until

The Wedding Day.

  

But who's counting on this beautiful warm sunny morn?

We all are, as there's still a few things on the To-Do List.

This morning, bright and early, this showed up on the side lawn:

Ladders and scrapers and stuff, oh my!

Bless their hearts, the painters have begun the staggering task of scraping paint off the old clapboards,

in preparation for That Old House to be freshly painted in clean white for the wedding.

The first scrapings.

And that century-plus old wood is looking pretty darned good under there.

Certainly better than I would look at that age.  Or, now.

Anyway, soon our humble farmhouse will look just like this:

Okay, I lie.  It will still look just like its humble self, but in white, with green-almost-black shutters.

  But isn't that a spectacular white house?  It's in Morristown, New Jersey.

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Hmm . . . what else is going on this Wednesday morning?

I had morning coffee here, before the heat set in:

I don't usually use round cloths, as I never seem to get them on tables exactly evenly,

but this vinyl one has lots of circles to act as my guider wheels, and it's a cinch to position it.

Nearby, in the hedges along the driveway, a gentle swaying in the bird house, another white house.

If this house is a-rockin' then don't come a-knockin'

I'm not sure who was home, but I tried to zoom in with the camera and then crop,

because I am a curious voyeur when it comes to nests and possible babies.

 Yoo-hoo!  Anybody home?  It's the landlady!

Can't see much.  Just that Stickley furniture . . . .

But across the driveway, we have loads of babies!

The grapevine is busy, incubating hundreds of tiny grape clusters.

 And our yellow daylilies at the top of the border may be late in blooming this year,

but their baby buds are all in place now, and they should be going gangbusters by June 25th.

Because June 25th is ... what is it again?  Oh yeah, our daughter's wedding!

So still on the To-Do List are:

1. Getting the house painted (underway today, with scraping).

2. Weeding and mulching the front beds and the driveway slope (scheduled for next week).

3. Installing privacy fence outside sunroom patio.

4. Daughter Anne to make Alida's veil and headpiece, and fashion fascinators for bridesmaids.

5. Mother -- that would be me -- to bake Norwegian wedding cake (efforts to buy a satisfactory

  Kransekake proved unsuccessful) and bake a perfect 4-strand braided loaf of Challah.

(Who wants to come and help bake?  Bring wine.  Lots.)

And . . . also:

6. Send After Party invitations, and order the food for it.

7. Bring truckloads of stuff to Goodwill, and not bring anything home from there.

8. Run up those danged curtains on my new sewing machine, then put the machine away!

9. Check in with photographer, makeup and hair stylists, Pastor, organist, florist, caterer . . .

and last but not least:

10. Anne and Alida to take one last sisters' overnight road trip together.

Awwww. . . .

I take heart from Connie at Hartwood Roses, whose daughter was married this past weekend, and the weather was gorgeous and all went beautifully, in a fairytale setting at their farm home.  I have asked her to send some of that mojo up our way from Virginia -- I'm counting on lots of good luck!

That's it for today!  I've gotta go, got some stuff to do; this wedding prep is fun! -- Cass

Link Parties!
Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer -- click here!
At Faded Charm, it's White Wednesday -- click here!
 

What The Cool Kids Did On Sunday

So why are these lovely ladies
milling around in a church community hall?

Sorry Aunt Phyllis -- your eyes are closed!  Blame your brother Howard for this picture.

 It's Alida's Bridal Shower!

Aunt Peggy, about to jam the tiara into her goddaughter's scalp.

 Because so many of the wedding guests will be coming from out of town in less than 3 weeks,

we were a group of just 16 -- close family, close friends.

 Lots of laughing.  Plenty of eating. 

 The bridesmaids served sandwiches, salads, quiche, 

cupcakes, pastries, tea and a strawberry-champagne punch.

Roast beef and brie on whole wheat croissant, chicken salad with dried cranberries,

smoked turkey with chutney, pesto goat cheese with tomato bruschetta,

shrimp salad on mini croissants -- some of the sandwich choices.

 Dilled new potato salad.

See the little cream soup cup?  It's filled with pink rose-shaped sugars for our tea.

 Fresh fruit salad.

Rotini salad with artichoke hearts.

Flowers by Maid Of Honor (and bride's sister) -- Anne.

Little favor bags held teas, and tiny pastel sugar cupcakes that dissolve beautifully in tea!

A couple of my big tea pots were called in for duty as flower vases.

Alida with bridesmaid Christa, a friend since 6th grade.  In the background,

strawberry champagne punch, desserts, and darling cupcakes in tea cups, decorated with fresh roses!

We had such a good time!  I dare not show you pictures of the church kitchen,

but the bridal party got it all cleaned up in record time.  I am beginning to get calmer now

as the Big Day approaches, possibly because most things are now crossed off the To Do List.

Well, some, anyway!

Happy Monday! -- Cass

Help Wanted; Must Love Crystal and Getting Damp

Three years ago, we bought That Old House 
and set about making it our own.

Even when "our own" involved

some possibly oddball decisions.

I am not sure what flight of fancy, or wacky middle-aged wish to play princess, prompted me to choose a great big honkin' crystal chandelier for the dining room of our old Greek Revival farm house.

This was my first blog header.  Meh.

Honestly, friends, I did follow the rules for how big a ceiling fixture

should be installed in a 16 x 20 dining room.  Really, I did.

It still startles me when I walk into the room.

As in, Whoa!  Shiny stuff!

In the dining room today: tablecloths waiting to go to the laundry, the wedding guest list on the table, an old chair upturned prior to getting its seat taken off and recovered, and a covered dish, homeless on the table.  Real life.

The chandelier (which the neighborhood kids think is made of diamonds)

has been holding court in the dining room for three years, as of last month.

It's never been cleaned.  Not that anything ever gets schmutzig around here . . . .

Got Dust?

 Why yes, we do.  Thanks for asking.

That ain't amateur dust, either.  That's old house dust.  Old houses manufacturer

it by the dumpster load, and anyone who's owned an old house knows what I mean.

So who wants to help me clean the dining room chandelier at That Old House?

There are some basic job requirements.

You must be able to climb more than one step on a stepladder,

because one step is my height limit for doing dangerous things.

You must be able to look directly up without getting dizzy.  Because I can't.

You must have strong arms that won't poop out from being held in the locked and upright position

as you swipe out those little cuppy doo-dads, those bobeches, and you can't be bothered by

drippy cleaning solution running down your arm and off your elbow, and sometimes all the way to your pits.

Hey. I think I have just described my daughters.  And luckily, they are home right now!

This job position is filled.

My girls have never minded getting messy.  That's our bride on the right.  Yikes.

 

 Link Parties!
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.  Click here!
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.   Click here!
Home Sweet Home Friday at The Charm of Home.  Click here!
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

 Have a glorious weekend, and remember to take pictures!

I don't want to forget to say that we love our big honkin' chandelier.
-- Cass

 Postscript

About our chandelier . . .  I bought it online, for what was a really good (as in, cheap) price.  It was delivered in an enormous box.  Inside the box was a giant crystal 3-D puzzle of sparkly bits and pieces, and snaky looking glass tubes, wires and connectors.  Plus very sketchy instructions, written by someone for whom English was a casual acquaintance, perhaps even a one-night stand.

After a brief flirtation with assembling it myself, I came to my senses and called the electrician.  It took two guys to assemble and hang it, and that cost more than the danged chandelier itself had cost, but those electricians earned every penny.  I just toss that little factoid in for those considering playing princess under a big crystal chandelier; be prepared to pay a king's ransom for installation if you aren't married to a patient electrician.

Dinner In The Library -- A Bookworm Dines

Only . . . Dinner is not in the Library because
A) we don't have a Library, and B) I could call our Study a "Library," 
but there still wouldn't be a table in it.

So what we have is our Dining Room pinch-hitting for a Library.
If I were going to set a table for two in a library, it might look like this. . . .


Today is Thursday, June 2nd, 2011, and I've got my cheating pants on -- I'm dipping back to September 2009 for an already-done post.  Then, I'm off to do more mad shopping and galivanting on behalf of our daughter's upcoming wedding, and the renovations here at That Old House.

We're using books in the wedding centerpieces, so this post

seems fitting . . . as both bride and groom are dedicated bookworms.

I'm joining in Tablescape Thursday, at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch blog, and also hooking up with Tales from Bloggeritaville, for Leigh's Thrifty Thursday party!  Just click on the highlighted words, or on the icons at the bottom of the post, to flit on over to these great, fun blog parties.

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Yesterday I moseyed on down to my daughter Anne's college, where she is in graduate school.  She wrapped up her day at 5pm, and we headed off to Goodwill; Anne needed to shop for some pieces for a play she is costuming.

On the way we stopped at Dollar Tree.  Need I say more?

Here, tucked at the end of our dining room table
(so you can't see the dishes waiting to be put away at the other end -- reality check!)
is a Tablescape for Two.
(Another reality check; that poor ivy plant is half dead.  Ivy doesn't thrive indoors.)

We can dine by candlelight, although that

makes it hard to read the books in the library.  :-)

What's in it?  I popped the pieces into a mosaic.

And they are . . .

**Dollar Tree dishes; they were in the Christmas aisle, but they don't look particularly Christmas-y to me.
**Dollar Tree tea light holders; I have seen these on other blogs, and I am such a copy-cat.
**The white porcelain "parakeet" I featured yesterday, a Giveaway win.  Here.
**A couple of boxes that look like books.
**Dollar Tree placemats and napkin rings; I love the khaki and red together.
**T.J. Maxx bowls.
**Home Goods napkins.
**Crystal Pilseners -- can't remember where we got them, but they pre-date my dedictated thrifting days, so they may have come from (gasp!) a regular retail store.
**And my trusty century-old Georgian pattern silverplate, from eBay.

Oh!  Almost forgot.  That candleholder, the one that looks like mercury glass with
a twisted glass stem?  $2 at Goodwill.  There were two for sale.

Ask me why I didn't take the second, and I can't give you a good answer.

That's it!

I know I didn't need those red and white plates, but aren't they adorable? -- Cass

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Back to June 2011 --
Have you been following the drama of our falling-apart old shutters?
I just got off the phone with the Shutter Guys and they won't be able to have the new shutters here before June 25th, so That Old House will be going topless for the wedding.  Ooo Lah Lah.
Oh well . . . at least she'll have some of her old, patched up shutters down below to keep her warm.
Don't tell her; we don't want to embarrass the old gal.

Roses for June and Shutter Love

We only have two rose bushes at That Old House.

One is very old, and blooms with dozens

of smallish dark red blossoms, rather flat ones.

 They cozy up to one another in tidy clumps.

The other is a new chubby little fellow

we planted in the border last year.

He's doing nicely, isn't he?

Plenty of buds, too.

And that's it for today!

Would anyone like to play pick-up sticks with old shutter louvers?  We've got dozens.

I just got off the phone with a New Jersey company that does wood replacement shutters; their prices are (almost) within our budget.  Now I've got to go double check my window measurements and get these new shutters in the works.

Will they be fabricated, primed, painted and hung by The Wedding?

Stay tuned.  :-)   -- Cass

Outdoor Wednesday -- it's at A Southern Daydreamer.  Click here!
Wednesday is Rednesday -- go to It's A Very Cherry World!  Click here!