Building A Wall

I realize that the title of this post seems to refer to a notorious project that is being trumpeted about by a recent occupier of the White House (that will cost billions and accomplish nothing other than to make many people's lives worse than they already are...). But in this instance, the title refers to various barricades that Bob and I now live with as a matter of course. These demi-walls are set up to temporarily block a certain young dog access to rooms in our house.(Hi Robin!)

As we all fondly remember, Lil' Robin the Good refused to be confined when she was a mere pup. She scaled barriers of every description and height, perhaps employing magical powers, as she seemed to miraculously appear on the other side of whatever wall was erected. It was impressive. We finally relented, and gave her the run of the house and so far we have suffered no disastrous consequence, excepting Robin's consumption (with no ill effect) of several pairs of reading glasses, sun glasses and Bob's prescription glasses and a passel of pens.
However, when we're not present, we do restrict her access to a few rooms with these temporary barriers. Inexplicably, these pieces of plywood and fiberboard work where more serious blockades never did. And you may ask, why not just close the doors to these rooms? Because Lil' Robin doesn't like closed doors and will scratch and whine vigorously until the door is opened.

My studio, the bedroom and the "office" are all off limits as they are beyond impossible to secure from her idiosyncratic quest for things to chew. (I call it "shopping": she cases a room, checking out all nose-height surfaces.) Robin seems content to roam the rest of the house, and in general, we have been lucky that furniture has been spared. And Robin was a pretty quick study in the house training department; we really didn't experience many "accidents" of the liquids and solids variety.

And look! There's Lil' Robin now, with an entertaining assortment of her preferred chewables: empty seltzer bottles and plastic perennial pots, with the occasional foray into more traditional things like balls. And below? The Magic Robin! (Looks sort of like she's saying "Who me? I didn't eat that!")

A-Door-able

And yes! I realize that there is blue painter's tape all over the panes of glass! It took soooooooooooo long to prepare to put a finish coat on: First I had to brush off all the loose paint. Then I had to wash the panes of glass so the painter's tape would stick. And then I applied the varnish coat (so as to retain the lovely layers of patina gracing the door.) I decided to leave the tape in the photos to remind me of the labor involved.(Actually, the blue tape looks pretty jaunty.) The day had started just great, warm and sunny and I shed my sweater shirt and started preparing the windows. By the time I was starting to paint on the varnish, there was this wicked cold wind and clouds had obscured the sun. I hope the finish dries okay. But every step makes the studio feel more like "home". The door still (obviously) needs trim boards around the frame, but the hinges are on and it works! Windows are next on the agenda.

And as a total surprise, my very thoughtful sister Beatrice presented me with a lovely bouquet. I thought she was giving to Mommy, but Beatrice says, "It's for you and Bob and you 25th non-anniversary". That was really a great treat. It's a very cheerful arrangement, and still looks terrific, even a week later.

Twenty Five Big Ones

Doesn't this look weird? It's our laundry that came in from the cold- and it smelled great, too. But it looks (to me anyway, but we all know where that goes.) like some sort of odd layered dessert. What's a trifle? Doesn't that have layers? I guess you had to be here... (Very old painting in the background!)
In any event, Bob and I successfully celebrated 25 years of being together. This year, our anniversary was late, late, late. (For those of you who don't remember, we celebrate when the frost kills the basil). We officially celebrated Monday, but went up to visit our friends Don and Elizabeth in their new New Bedford digs on the weekend. We spent an utterly relaxing time, looking at art, walking their dogs, eating interesting food (that we didn't have to prepare!) and not working on my studio. It was a much needed break.
Of course, I forgot to bring my camera on this road trip, and spent the entire weekend lamenting this egregious oversight. Somewhere between Columbia and Foster, Connecticut (who knew? Foster CT?) there was a rock painted like an eagle and an even better on painted like a lizard (nice and mottled and gnarly). There was also a hot dog wagon shaped like (gasp) a hot dog and a few other choice things that got away. I suppose having taken (yes, this is true) over 7000 (that's seven THOUSAND) pictures for the last auction has something to do with my resistance to dragging my camera along everywhere. Just maybe, but you should have seen the things we saw...
Including some very good art: a digital show with interesting kaleidoscope images of birds grooming their feathers and the colorful geometric patterns they generated. Some nice subtle drawings, too. Also our friend Don Wilkinson's one person show at Colo Colo Gallery- very different scanned images of small figurines made huge and heroic. A true departure for Don!
Tomorrow we continue work on the studio. I do have one door that works, which is a major achievement, thanks to Bob's persistence and determination. The double French doors are slated for installation too. That will be a big step towards civilization. Bob had the light on in my studio yesterday when I came home. Despite only plastic on the windows, it looked cheerful and made me believe that I really will get in
there soon.
Oh and here's a gratuitous photograph of the last flowers I picked this year.

Doors and Windows- Oh My!

Talk about shopping from home! I came back from work on Tuesday to discover a whole array of possible doors and windows had been magically transported by Bob from our friend Joe's storage barn. He'd always said, "When it comes to doors and windows for your studio, don't forget: I have LOADS of doors and windows." He wasn't kidding. I described to Bob what I had in mind, stressing that I was flexible and would settle for whatever Joe had available.
But the ones presented are perfect! Bob brought back a French double door that Joe had promised to me and it's so nice! It has a really cool patina of three layers of paint that we're going to try and preserve by applying  a sealer to it. You can sort of see one panel of it in the middle. The windows can be mounted horizontally or vertically, and they're thermal and brand new. (You can see the tags in the pictures).
So Bob and I went out to the studio site and Bob erected a string at the height of the studio roof line. This gave me a conceptual framework to figure the actual layout of the doors and windows. I tried drawing this stuff on paper- and approximated where I might want openings- but really it wasn't until we stood on my floor and held up tape measures and real doors that it took shape.

This is the other side door. Bob and I bought this door at the auction a year or two ago just because we both liked it. I guess we had somewhere way back in our heads that it might come in handy when we built my studio, or added onto the barn. The doors will double as windows and let in a lot of light. I can't emphasize enough how I need all the wall space I can manage- uninterrupted wall space.
I can't believe that I may have deleted the picture I took of my completed floor. I'll have to re-photograph the floor tomorrow. It looks kind of cool; like a expectant dance floor or an artist's landing pad. I'm getting psyched!

Welcome

I think I could have posted a picture of our entry earlier... but there was all that pesky snow and ice blocking it. On the other hand, is this the front door? Or the back door? Every face of our house has a door, and yet the orientation is subjective. This feels to me like the back door, but the doorway on the side nearest the driveway is narrow and a bit tight for a front door. The actual front door is now in the room acting as my studio and it's blocked by several cabinets... possibly a fend shui issue?
You're all perfectly welcome to come over and see which door works!