Sunday, July 30, 2017

At The Market


Went to my Smiths yesterday
and as I walked by the magazine section noticed
 Flea Market Decor, and so feeling silly, 
I stopped, opened to 
one of the pages of my house and snapped this. 
Couldn't tell you why?
I just did.

Shortly after I ran into a father and son
searching for hot dog sauce.
The son taunted the dad saying "you're making that up!"
Standing next to them I nodded to the kid and said
"I think he is pulling your leg."

An extended conversation ensued and 
a prolonged hunt for the sauce, since my Smiths 
recently remodeled and no one can find a damn thing.
Lo and behold
Wolf Hot Dog Sauce!


It's a no beans chili sauce.
Since he had been kind enough to introduce
me to hot dog sauce I showed him my favorite
Private Selection basil aioli sauce.
I use it on grilled sausage with grilled pepper
sandwiches. Heaven
So we each bought the others sauce and 
ended up leaning on our carts and talking the Steelers.

I love those kind of interactions.
Gives me hope that all is not lost.
Though you wouldn't know it by the nightmare 
in Washington

Going out to the market is the extent
of my social life most weeks.
This week I added
three full car runs to a donation center and 
dropped off over 50 books to the library for their 
fund raising. I use this library weekly,
 to the tune of about 12 novels so 
I want to give back.
When I go to the reserve shelves, often  
I am the entire shelf.
The shelvers know my name
"NORM!"

I had accumulated a massive tower of  stuffed bins
and boxes in the garage for a future sale in cooler weather
but I just could not stand it, and out nearly all of it went.
Sorry Annie, no garage sale likely.

Hibernation begets even more intense purging.
Although to walk through the house it appears the same,
it's the guts that have changed.
Empty closets, drawers, hallway shelves and cabinets.
Empty shelves in the garage.
Everything stored is either holiday or storage 
from childhood for kids and not much of that either.
I emailed my list of gal pals and 
they came and bought scads also. Thanks Ladies.

I may never get my wee house I covet or 
even get to move to CA but I can do what I can
to simplify and lessen my footprint.
Wish I had never made such a big footprint to
begin with. Ah but we learn...
I've learned I like 
Hot Dog Sauce
A lot

Z











Thursday, July 13, 2017

Popping UP

My home has popped up in another magazine.
The shoot was a while back so those
 of you who follow regularly know
that there are many changes since then.
The stylist made some obvious changes that day,
and of course I've purged scads since then.
Regular visitors will think oldgreymare in a COLOR issue?


Sept/Oct2017

That's the way of publishing, but either way
it's fun to see your home as it was that day,
and have a permanent record.

A thank you to Flea Market Decor
and to Kathryn Drury Wagner for the story.

To any who have come over for
 the first time from the article,
the easiest way to view my home is by
searching the words, decorating, design or organizing in
the search box upper left. 
You can also just search a room, as in living room, 
and the word holiday or Christmas 
will give you a snowfall of photos.
The word Gatherings takes you to some classes.
Or click on the links in the right sidebar
but even those are somewhat out of date.

I am keeping my personal journal/journey on here,
so you're just as likely to see
a garden as a pretty room,
a political rant as some pooch stories
or any gobbeldy gook that pops into my head.

Thank you for coming by and please let 
me know you were here so I can visit you back.

To my kids I'm mama and mom, 
to strangers I'm Suzan
to close friends I'm just 

Z




Tuesday, July 11, 2017

GRRRRRRR and Yin Yang

SO for the past couple of weeks,
I have been battling these guys.
I've tried organic, homemade, and
could "decimate the world products",
but I still have these critters.

Oh they might toy with me and disappear 
for a few days only to return in greater numbers.
Here, there and *^%@$*& everywhere.

I've been out of sorts, I know
it's probably just the heat, but still.

It's SO bloomin' hot,
Something like 25 straight days over 105.
Many of those days are in the 114-117 range.

I've lost a few of my new plantings $$$,
and I have jury duty coming up.
I don't mind the jury duty, but I don't like the 
difficulty in getting to the courthouse
 and parking issues, and walking downtown
on scorching days.
I haven't been downtown in over a decade.
On purpose.

Dearest son and friends were here
over the weekend for the UFC.
Because of a canceled fight,
they were upgraded to a private box.
Not my cup of tea, but pretty cool for them.




Funny, after his 17 years of living here,
Ben seems to have forgotten how
 miserable summers can be.
He complained about the heat constantly.
He's CA spoiled. I get it though.
Oh, do I get it!


I splurged on a spiralizer and 
made squash noodles
over the weekend.
Quite good actually.


So, yin and yang
Go with the flow
 dry and hot,
but monsoons are a comin'.

"oh I wish it would rain"
get out of this funk.

Anybody know where I


can get one of these?

Z



  

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Hard Work Rewards


The kiddo's apartment interior is adorable but I think my 
girl chose this place because of 
this outdoor space by her back kitchen door. 
No one else in the house walks or uses 
this area so they decided to take on the project 
and make an extended living area for themselves.
My girl had a vision, like her mama does.
The apple landed on her head not just close to the tree.



This is how it looked when I went down 
a couple weeks ago. They had moved in about a month prior.
My car was filled with vintage ladders, pots, rakes, 
soil, shovels and a blower. It was to be a working trip.
Those two dug and leveled and cleaned 
and worked their A's off. I washed walls, cleared ivy, planted
and reorganized all the cupboards inside.
I got permission first, I didn't just commando re-do.


I split the paver cost with them but the rest 
they did on a very modest budget.
My girl dragged the table home after
finding it on the street. The chairs Ben 
discovered for them at 13.00 each.
I provided an umbrella stand that I had extra 
from home, and Hannah just snagged the umbrella
on July 4th clearance.

They still have that small section to
 finish with turf in front of the fence. 
There are industrial edison bulb lights,
(extras from mom) and they plan to hang pots
 and more lights from the clothesline posts.
 (there are two, I cropped one out)


They sent me this yesterday as they 
completed the turf on the 
right side. Dirty knees and hands 
and so pleased with themselves.

Just out of site is an enormous tree,
providing all this pretty dappled light.
In early afternoon I would sit out there
and watch the many squirrels leaping through
the branches and pelting me with debris.

I loved it, but my son thought I was crazy to be so
happy to see squirrels. I grew up with squirrels
and found them frustrating as they ravaged my feeders in PA;
but after 30 plus years in the desert,
 I am enamored of their antics.
One last look.
Yay Tom and Hannah!