taking a break

In the couple of days between guests, I have been running around to look for backsplash tile for my still-unfinished kitchen.  I had been dithering between two possibilities from last year and every person who walked in here in the last three weeks had a different opinion.  I finally realized that if I couldn't decide between the two, neither one was IT. 

In the last two days, I have borrowed and returned untold boring samples and have spent innumerable hours poring over online tile websites, looking for bargains and for something I had not seen in my travels. Early this morning I ordered sample sheets of three different ones I thought might work, and then this afternoon I actually found one that is a contender...  No pictures till I am settled.

Meantime, I have been sewing:-)).  I started to make a piece and thought it was finished until it wasn't - if you know what I mean.  The proportion wasn't right; it needs to be longer, so I am adding to the top and the bottom.  This is a "what if?" experiment, so no pictures of this one, either.  

The guest room - (aka sewing room) has been occupied for several weeks, so I have moved my center of operations to the dining table.

This situation requires me to clear a tiny space when I eat and clean off the whole table when I have company again (this coming Friday) and pile all the stuff I am working on back into the stack of plastic boxes behind the chair in the living room. ARGH.  I brought half (or more) of my stash down with me, assuming I would be able to work a lot while I am here.  I have another day of sewing tomorrow and then I have to play femme de ménage before my guests arrive.

This was one of these days.  Tomorrow should be less fraught, and tomorrow night I will finally stop looking like an overgrown tree: haircut scheduled.  All the turquoise that is left will probably be gone and I'll have to make another appointment to put some color back again.  I've gotten attached to it (or vice-versa).

Enough of this idle chit-chat.  Bedtime, so I will be alert and cheerful tomorrow at the sewing machine.

'tis the night before Christmas

And here I am, blogging. 

It was lovely and warm today in West Palm Beach and I hear it was almost as warm in New Jersey.  Good grief!  In the south they are used to it, but it is very strange to have 70 degree days at Christmas in the north.

My friend Marni arrived here yesterday and today we went to Palm Beach to see how the 10% lives. We wandered into an art gallery to look at the Picassos and Harings and Calders, but stopped short when at the back of the gallery, we saw this. No label, no attribution.

Ceramic.  I thought it was ugly, but very well done.  When we asked the two gallery sitters where the labels were, the answer was "we're working on it."  REALLY? Looked to us as though they were sitting and chatting.  We left.

 After a half-hour of wandering on Worth Avenue, we decided we had had enough and went back to the condo to sit at the pool.  

Tonight, we went to dinner at Avocado Grill -- my favorite restaurant in downtown West Palm. The menu is interesting - mostly small plates, and is farm-to-table.  It is very noisy inside, so we sat outside. 

The food is unusual and lovely.  One of Marni's small plates was the fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with goat cheese. To die for!  I will be back again on Monday night and plan to order it.  

Downtown West Palm was surprisingly busy for Christmas Eve. The restaurants were packed and there were lots of families with their kids.  No wonder! We took a walk through the park towards the waterfront and it was festive.  Last week, when Phil and I were there with France & Edmond, we saw the most amazing pyramid made of sand!  Here it is.

Tonight, it was lit up and changed colors from red to blue to green.  Here it is tonight. (notice the full moon).

There were also some other wonderful sand sculptures in the park tonight. Sand!!

 Imagine that!

We walked out onto the dock and looked back at the waterfront, all lit up.  What a lovely evening!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

cocktail hour blogging

No, I haven't  given up blogging; I've been kidnapped by aliens. A frantic week of packing, three days of driving, a week of shopping for things like a decent bed for my guests to sleep in, porch furniture (there wasn't any), and other essentials.  This was followed by a two week visit of my wonderful French cousins, which included nonstop eating/talking/driving

and stopping for an espresso (when we could find one) every afternoon.  Here we are after a lovely stop at a café in Boca Raton with my cousin Mimi, who took the picture.

Our travels included a visit to St. Augustine, where it was so COLD that Phil had to buy a sweatshirt!  However, the architecture was a dream.  This church was the most beautiful one I have ever been in.  Build by Henry Flagler in memory of his daughter, it is unusual both inside and out.  The ceiling was drop-dead gorgeous, as was everything else.

One of Henry Flagler's hotels is now the City Hall of St. Augustine. gorgeous! -- inside and out.

I skipped the Fountain of Youth, since I knew it was too late for me.  Which reminds me, I was getting my pedicure today in West Palm and a woman came in for a haircut.  Rather frail, she walked with a cane, but had all her marbles.  She was 101. Maybe she drank from that fountain - or she has amazing genes.
My partner Phil and my cousins hightailed it out of the Palm Beach International airport yesterday and my friend Marni is arriving tomorrow. 

Today, I have done laundry, vacuumed, done some sewing, had a mani-pedi, and picked up the forwarded mail which consists of about 1000 bills to be paid.  Right now, I have given up all of the above and am pretending I am on vacation by sitting on the porch with (of course) my gin with basil & lime, some nuts and olives, and my computer. Ahhhh....

The porch furniture is really too big for the rather narrow porch, but we don't care because it is so comfortable.  My father loved to sit out here and read, and I understand why. But the old furniture was in shreds and the porch was a disaster by the time I inherited this place.  Here is where I am sitting now.  It is raining.  I am relaxed and happy.

I brought a ton of fabric, batting, etc. with me but have little-to-no time to work.  However, I am playing around with something inspired by my trip to Africa. I brought it with me and hope I can put it together and stitch it before I leave here.

More on my experiments, later.  I am putting together a couple of on-line teaching classes (which said I would never do but I couldn't resist this relaxed, personal way of teaching).
More on this subject when I can give you some info.

Meantime, cocktail hour is over and it is time to get back to work. xoxo