Needs No Sun or Water...

Latest candle - hand cast from a real miniature aloe......

Our Beloved Wedgewood...

Center of our kitchen, workhorse for over 30 years - let me show you our vintage Wedgewood stove.

And the best part is that this beauty was salvaged from a co-worker's kitchen remodel in the 1970's - incredibly, it was being discarded for an electric stove, which back in the day, was considered an upgrade.
Life would not be the same without our beloved Wedgewood!

How Will You Celebrate the Solstice?

It's truly such a beautiful time of year - the daylight seems to last forever, and today (at least) is unusually dry and warm here in San Francisco. Geraniums always remind me of the endless summer days growing up back East...they just thrive in the sunlight and heat.

Summer Aviary - Real Progress!

And what is the key element of real progress on a home remodeling project?
Having access to a great contractor - really.
Typically we would have chipped away at this task weekend by weekend - the husband and I are both capable of framing out something as straightforward as this porch conversion.
But, quite frankly, it would have taken us to the end of the year to complete, because somehow weekends are not as long as they used to be - I'm sure you know what I mean.
But here it is, not officially summer yet, and we're halfway done - thank you, Steve!

We're still shopping around for sheets of frosted plexiglas for the tall openings along the side, and have already ordered a custom transom window for above the door.
The heavy wood door (in the process of being stripped of its 1930's era paint job) is one of our basement treasures. It was originally part of the back porch off our kitchen in the 1970's- a typical architectural feature you find here in San Francisco. It's nice to be able to recycle something that came with the house (and to finally get it out of the basement).

I'll stop now, I don't want to be tiresome - but I just wanted to share our sense of accomplishment with those of you also taking on house projects this summer.
Unfortunately from now on things will go slower, as we'll be the ones finishing things up over the next few months - unless the weekends mysteriously get longer......

Porch to Aviary - This Summer's Project....

We've just started work on the house project for this summer - enclosing a small outdoor porch off the kitchen and filling it with birds!

I've always loved finches, and for years had societies and sweet little waxbills living in dome-shaped canary cages suspended from the ceiling of our breakfast room - you can see part of the room just on the other side of the tall glass panel, at the end of the porch.

But keeping birds in the house can be quite a mess, with seed spread all over the floor and throughout the plants growing below the cages.

Also, some people, especially my dear brother, were troubled by seeing birds living out their lives in relatively small cages.

The new aviary will provide enough room for my tiny birds to perch and fly around and generally have a great time.

And the view from inside the house, through that large unobstructed pane of glass, should be fantastic!