chipping away...

As you can see from one of our recent posts, we are slowly trying to restore some of the charm that's been stripped from our little house over the years.  We (and as in 'we' I mean John) uncovered our chimney from 3 different layers of plaster.

Here's the white wall where the chimney was covered:

And here's the uncovered chimney:

This is the beginning of our kitchen renovation, which is going to include a lot of materials like wood, slate, and iron that we thought would look nice with the existing brick.  The rest of the kitchen is going to be lots of work, so stay tuned for the transformation!

a levitating cat?

We walked into our room today, and caught Wiesty floating in mid air...but only half of her.  Isn't that strange?

the centenarian through time

We've been pouring cash into our house, but recently we made our best investment so far.  And it only cost $15.  

We managed to get our hands on historic photos of the Centenarian.  The Puget Sound Regional Archives has photos of most houses in Seattle since 1937.  For record keeping, tax purposes, and to generally keep track of change over time, the City photographs each home every so often.  So we got a few snapshots of our little bungalow here in Ravenna - its seen good times, its seen bad, and its seen times at which it should have been demolished.  We thought our little place looked shabby when we bought it, but look at 1982 - I think our house was ground zero for dealing crack.

The last photo is from the day we bought the place.  Stay tuned for one final photo, when we finish our renovations!

1937

1968

1982

2009

succulent lover

John is very proud of his framed succulent box, so I wanted to share his handiwork.  We found the idea in a magazine a month or so ago.  That same weekend we went searching for succulents to buy so John could start his project, and alas... no one was selling succulents that early in the season.  It ruined John's entire weekend...

So last weekend we found some succulents for sale, and John's finally happy again.  The idea here is for the succulents to take root in the soil/wire mesh that's build into the frame.  Then, you can hang it on the wall like a picture.  Pretty cool.  This is just a little one - about 8"x6".  Ultimately, we'd like to build some bigger ones for the porch and other spots around the outside of the house.  John would be happy to share the directions if any of you are inspired.

what to do with a sideyard?

Spring has sprung in the PacNorWest.  It sprung like a month ago.  Trees and plants have been blooming like crazy already, the daffodils are yellowing the landscape, and Seattleites - drawn outside by an unfamiliar sun - have started prepping their gardens for growing season 2010.  We are no different, and the promise of a 60 degree March day with no clouds and no chance of rain brought us out-of-doors too.  Last weekend and this have been gorgeous, so we decided to transform our sideyard from a grassy, biological wasteland to a garden of eaten.  Check out our before, during, and after pics below.      

When we first saw this house with our real estate agent, we thought the sideyard would be a great place for raised veggie beds.

Adrienne made all those little pots out of newspaper and planted lettuce, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, amaranth, millet, basil, cilantro, sage, chives, dill, camomile, marigolds, calendulas, alyssum, leeks, cabbage, kale, chard, mustard, okra, squash, mint, yarrow...and others we can't remember.  They are all starting to grow in our basement grow room.  A cherry tree, fig tree, blueberry bushes, asparagus starts, and salmonberry just arrived in the mail. 

Got this ginormous truck to haul our 4 yards of dirt...which equals 8,000 lbs.

Shovelin dirt.

Haulin dirt.

The finished product (thank you, Vanna).

wine tasting - new homeowner style

We like wine.  If you didn't know that, then apparently we've never met.  There is nothing like a single block Cab from the Alexander Valley, a peppery Zin from the Dry Creek, or a silky-smooth Pinot from either the Willamette or Santa Ynez Valleys (you choose).  We've become refined connoisseurs, sharpening our palates enough to differentiate the taste of one year's juice from the next, or being able to detect a region's subtle undertones of their signature soil in a quick sniff.  And yes - I drive a Saab, we listen to NPR, and use reusable shopping bags to do our organic produce shopping with zeal.  So what.

Now we own a home that's a bit of a fixer.  We're poor.  Gone are the days of side-by-side wine comparos; their replacement is what you see above.  The Black Box is actually quite good - smooth and bold, well balanced with a nice lingering finish.  Its no Santa Barbara Syrah, but hey - we like it.  But to quote a line from one of our favorite movies, the Bota Box tastes like "the back of a LA school bus."

Don't worry about us - we'll drink good wines again someday.  In the meantime, our challenge is to find the good boxes of wine out there.  And it gives us something to look forward to - once we finish pouring cash into our new (and progressively more beautiful) house, we can once again embark on that journey of finding the perfect red blend that's promised to come from the Columbia Valley.

hawaii

My final treat on my month-long vacation before staring a new job: 4 days visiting a college buddy, Courtney, and her two kids in Waipio Valley, Hawaii.  Waipio Valley is one of the few valleys in the northwest region of the Big Island that's accessible by land, but barely accessible... the steep drive down in a 4x4 is always an adventure in itself!  See that road cut into the 2000 ft cliff in the background?  That's the only way in!

There are maybe 100 folks that live off the grid in the valley among the rivers, waterfalls, taro fields, black sand beach, and tropical forest.  It's such a unique place to raise children.  Courtney has a few friends in the valley raising kids as well, and it's quite an adventure for the young group. On my first day there, we did some fruit harvesting...

First some coconut tree climbing with a riveted audience. 











Nothing better than drinking coconut milk out of a papaya branch straw and gnawing on a sugar cane!

And then there's the beach...  my favorite place to be...


The next day we took a hike further back into the back of the valley to our favorite waterfall.  Here's a picture of me climbing up to get a water neck massage.  Abram and Angelina also did some dancing in the hose spray, with some much needed warming up from mom afterwards.






















Lots of hiking...

And some nice downtime at the house.  The house (pictured below) is the result of Courtney's and her late husband's handywork.  I've seen it through many stages over the years, and it's so comfy with it's running water, propane-powered full kitchen, and solar-powered electricity.  The kids (to the left) are preparing for their auditions with Cirque du Soleil on one of their favorite Christmas presents.  Every evening after Abram and Angelina went to bed, Courtney and I had some quiet time catching up with some wine in the candlelight.  I'm really lucky to have a friend living in such a magical place. It's a great break in the middle of a Seattle winter and so nice to catch up with an old friend.  I miss my girlfriends!