Tag: compound

Angels we have seen on high

Back in November of 2006, I explained the origin of the angels that adorn The Compound every Christmas. Over the years, these paper angels have been cut out, colored, painted, and otherwise gussied up by friends, family, and me. The book they come from, A Christmas Angel Collection, is a little pricier than in the old days when I bought several, because it’s out of print now. The drawings are based on famous paintings from centuries past.

I store them flat in an angel tin, and every year, it’s Tim’s job to take them out, fix them so they’ll stand, and put them on the molding over our living room and dining room windows. And it’s our job not to turn on the ceiling fan in the dining room, because that sends angels a’flyin’.

You can see the angels by clicking here.

Hump Day Happy

Something that makes me happy: The way the lights from the Christmas tree reflect off a bedroom door in our house.

 

 

Do YOU want something to be happy about? Look; it’s the Christmas Gecko!


He can’t get you a lower rate on your car insurance, but if you comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, he will hasten to find what in this book will make you happy.

The Christmas Gecko was provided by codyfrizbeejr. Thank you, Rob, and I’m sending good thoughts to you during a bad time.

A few photos

I just went out with the dogs to check the weather. It’s cold–39 degrees–but no precipitation right now, so nothing sleety or snowy going on at The Compound. I realized that I never put any pictures on here of last week’s “big event”:


Cold fern.


Cold elephant ear.


Cold palm.


Cold cacti.

Of course, New Orleans, as is her wont, had to one-up Houston and have real accumulation for dramatic photos of snow-covered streetcars and such. She’s such a show-off, that coastal sister of ours. We love her.

Ninja Fire

Confidential to Mr. Puterbaugh.

Apparently, I come from a long line of women who go rogue. I think you’ll get what I mean:

***********

Last week, I virtuously went to the dentist (Look, Ma, no cavities!), went to the lab two months late to get my blood drawn, and conducted some mara-freaking-thon shopping. And you know I DO NOT LIKE TO SHOP. But I got a lot done, including getting all my holiday cards in the mail along with 13 packages.

Some of my errands were prompted by Ninja Lesbians. In a covert operation, they delivered to The Compound:


A chiminea!

Anyone who knows me knows I love a nice fire (nice means no structures, living trees, or woodland creatures are involved). Even though we don’t have much cold weather, we do have a little period of time when there are no mosquitoes and being outside doesn’t lead to heatstroke. On those occasions, I’ve speculated that it would be fun to sit outside with friends next to a crackling fire and yell at the dogs if they seem inclined to look for lawn hors d’oeuvres.

After Lindsey and Rhonda gave us the chiminea, they explained there were rules, and Lindsey even found them online. Apparently, I needed play sand or pea gravel before I built the first small fires. Trip to Lowe’s–check. I also needed something called Butcher’s Wax to help seal the outside of the chiminea. Lowe’s–nope. Home Depot–nope.

Tim then suggested that I go to the bowling alley in the basement (Hi, Greg!) under the TimLair.


Timpire Lanes.

Now I don’t really have a problem with basements. But I fear bowling alleys. (Hi, rude nephew and nieces. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that night in the 1980s when you made me put on those hideous shoes, promised not to laugh, then fell on the floor howling when I…) I digress. Look!


Butcher’s Wax!

And I’ve done my part:

So now we just have to create an area somewhere on the grounds for our first fire. And I have to keep my promise that no starter fluid will be involved.

Fashion for all time

I have a print over The Compound fireplace of an original work done by my friend Geof. It’s titled “If Louis Had Been King of Egypt,” and it depicts the architecture of the Pyramids meshed with characteristics of the lavish Palace of Versailles. Back in June, I was given a sketch that I think will make a good companion piece for it. The second artist titled his work “The Cherished Hour.”

Recently, as I’ve trudged through the massive task of taking care of things I’ve neglected since October 2007, I found the new (to me) sketch where I’d carefully put it away. As of today, it’s matted and framed. I won’t detail all the ways this piece appeals to me so as not to influence your perceptions. I’m sorry the lighting is so bad, but I was attempting to keep the flash from bouncing off the glass.

You can click that, of course, to make it bigger, and click it again to make it HUGE. But I’d particularly like to draw your attention to a detail in the bottom left corner (below, and also clickable for better viewing). “The Cherished Hour” was sketched in November 2000, long before LJ Runway Monday came along. Some of you may remember a certain design of mine that received MUCH derision from the judges. What I’m wondering: Is it possible that an infamous resident of Versailles actually said, in kindness to the fashion-deprived, “Let them have capes?”

Another on the list of great unanswerable questions in Becky World

I’ve only had two on the list for a long time, but now a third thing has mysteriously vanished from my life, and after a year of searching, I’ve accepted that I’ll never know how, or why, or where to find it.

1. My push puppet lion (fifth grade)
2. My friend Bobby (1988)
3. My old laptop bag (November 2007)

On the plus side, Jim’s famous and delicious egg dish is baking in the oven, and I’ll be able to ponder these mysteries with it, bacon, and coffee very soon. Life always has its rewards. Including:


Spaghetti and Survivor night with Lynne, in which I talk her into putting
on goofy elf hats, and she closes her eyes in every photo.


Taking photos of Rex, who looks very much like he’s about to be sent away from his village,
while Lindsey and Rhonda sing the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack to him.

These are a few of my favorite things…

You want to hurt me for the ear worm that is my title, don’t you?

A few nights ago, The Brides, Tom, and I went to one of my favorite-memory restaurants, the Ambassador. I first went there with my friend John and some of his friends back in the mid nineties, and ever since, I always order the soup he introduced me to. It’s called “sizzling rice” soup. The server combines the crispy rice table-side with a bowl of steaming soup, and the resulting crackle is as fun to hear as the soup is comforting to eat.


Bad me, for letting the shadow of my camera strap fall on my bowl.
I didn’t want to reshoot it because Lindsey pointed out that the waitstaff was
lined up watching and laughing at me.
But the soup–it’s so good!

On the way to the restaurant, we passed some office buildings in Greenway Plaza that had the most alluring lights twinkling in their massive windows. Lindsey and I talked about going out night-shooting sometime. The next night, I was awake and bored. Since it was the middle of the night, I didn’t think Lindsey would appreciate a call. So I took a solitary drive around. That late, the lights were off in the Greenway Plaza building, but I got a lot of shots downtown. Word: Even if one possesses minimal photography skills, with a good camera and a tripod, great photos are possible UNLESS you are a woman alone in the middle of the night. Then you think, Am I INSANE? and get your not-so-great shots on the fly. Still, I’m pleased with several of them and will probably share them over time. This is not my most favorite, but ranks right up there because I love that I was able to capture the movement of the only two people visible in a radius of several blocks.

Since Tim’s stocking is not yet hung by the chimney with care (my fault, not his–I haven’t asked for it), I’ll delay tree photos. Plus I keep finding more ornaments to hang. However, you know it’s Christmas at The Compound when the sleighbells appear. Since I didn’t decorate last year, I didn’t realize that the 2007 and 2008 additions, which upped my total to eighteen, would be two too many for my little tree. I placed those two randomly next to others. Next year, I’ll have to find another way to display them. (There is a precedent: In 2006 they looked like this.) This year, they look like this:


I added the tiny ornaments to give them some color, because I remember 2005, too.

Checking in

Back in June, I talked about a print I ordered from Jon Armstrong’s Etsy shop. I got it almost immediately after I ordered it–that Jon is efficient as well as brilliant and talented–but it went into the pile of “I’ll take care of this later” stuff.

Later came, and I took it to have it matted and framed. It looks so fantastic with the glass mosaic piece done by another gifted artist, Rachael Walker.

Like this:


If the mat looks crooked to you, it’s an illusion caused by the slant of the windowsill in the photograph. It’s a beautiful piece and I’m very pleased with its frame and mat.

The kitchen is between my office and the dining room, but this is what I see in the dining room whenever I turn to the right:

Rachael’s and Jon’s creations are next to two of Tim’s paintings. The cabinet was custom-made for us by a craftsman in the Heights who I don’t think is there anymore. The box on top of the cabinet was a gift from James, and holds all kinds of little treasures (including the tiny braid Tim sent me from New York the first time he cut off all his long hair). On the upper right is an edge of one of five collages done by my friend Geof depicting the fall of Troy. They were Steve’s, and after he died, Geof gave them to me. The border at the ceiling was hand-stamped by Tom when we painted the room back in 1997.

I certainly know talented people.

Some of the other things on the “later” list that I’ve been trying to do, in addition to helping develop a couple of TJB book ideas to send to our editor, include:

’cause some of it can be shown in photos