A Driftwood Project

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While we were on our Viking cruise Charlie and I investigated every corner of the ship including the gift shop.

When I saw this in the Viking cruise gift shop I thought “I can make that.”

We didn’t buy anything but I saw  a rugged yet simple twig tree in the Norwegian style but which could express any person’s terroir.

When the tide comes in it often deposits driftwood and other treasures in the marsh.

I began by collecting pieces of relatively small driftwood which had washed up into our marsh.

Any pile of twigs should work — don’t look for perfection.

When I had a good pile of various size pieces I decided I might be able to make a twig tree.

Wood pieces arranged from longest to shortest saving a spectacularly shaped one for the top.

I laid out all the pieces according to length not being too picky about their shapes, widths, and bends.

I had a rigid piece of metal to build the tree on but I believe a piece of hanger would work just as well.

My original plan was to stack the wood in the little wooden box  but I found a heavy piece of wood shaped like a dolphin that laid flat on the table so I used that instead.  I drilled a hole partly through the dolphin and stuck in the metal rod.

The tree was leaning a little off vertical so I just bent it to straighten it.

While collecting the wood took a few days, actually assembling the tree took about 15 minutes.  I drilled a hole in the approximate center of each piece of wood then slid it onto the thin metal rod. I did not glue or nail anything.

I left the metal rod longer than the finished tree so I could add a few decorations.

I continued drilling the sticks and threading them onto the wire until it looked like a tree.

This year the tree is a tribute to Dash with dog ornaments and some shiny blue balls. Don’t forget the star on top.

So simple.  So fast. This tree reflects where I live.

Jo

December, 2024: Do It

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Our plates are full this December.  Charlie will be finished his commitments as church pianist/organist on December 1st. We have a trip planned to visit our close relatives on both coasts of Florida.  And, of course, Christmas is upon us.

One of the last trees to lose its leaves at The Glade.

More and more we are living on the Eastern shore — getting into the ebb and flow of the tides, the people, and the animals — life on the Chesapeake Bay.

I never get tired of this view.

Here’s the 10-point plan I have for the month of December:

  1.  Celebrate Christmas.

    Last Christmas was our last Christmas at The Glade.

  2.  Work on a project at the Bay House.

    I need lots and lots of curtains in this house of picture windows and sliding doors.

  3.  Measure the vanities in the Bay House and search for reasonably priced replacements.

    I need a bigger vanity than this for the downstairs bathroom.

  4.  Attend a Christmas Market.

    I have a few from which to choose — or I’ll go to them all.

  5.  Read a book.

    I’m going to start reading Chesapeake. Inevitable I guess.

  6.  Visit Florida.

    We’ll start on the west coast.

  7.  See a movie.

    We saw Wicked on Broadway and now it’s in movie theatres.

  8.  Pack up Glade pantry and move to Bay House.

    The pantry has already been partially cleared out but there’s at least another couple of boxloads to go. (The microwave stays.)

  9. Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: GRATITUDE.
  10.  Write a goal list for January, 2025.

Jo

November, 2024: Did It

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I put this picture of The Glade on my Facebook page early in the month.

The Glade in autumn is full of audacious color.

It is certainly beautiful in the November. We have loved living here and hope to pass it on to another family very soon.

Sunset

Our heart is now down by the bay — the Chesapeake Bay — where the water and sky change colors at least twice daily.

Sometimes high tide comes right up into the yard.

In addition to the numbered list below:

  •  I hung 4 new lighting fixtures in the upstairs bedrooms.  That’s 8 so far.

    A second blue fixture is in the primary ensuite bathroom.

  •   I continue to load my car weekly and bring things from the old house to the new one.
  •   I painted the walls in the large living room/dining room space.  The color is Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster.

    This is a challenging room to paint.

  •   I set up the downstairs bedroom with carpet, curtains, bed and bedding so we could have overnight guests.

    Curtains, carpet, and matelasse bedspread in light neutral colors.

    Everything needs more work but it will do for now.

  • I took down the dining room chandelier (if you can call it that) and tied off the wires until I decide on a new fixture.

    This fixture is down and banished.

  • Charlie and I hung the fireplace mantel.

    I amended the directions that came with the mantel so I could complete the task.

    I completed the prep work which included hanging a level and secure batten for the mantel to sit on.  Not as easy as it sounds.

  • While hanging new curtain rods in the living room I stumbled on the perfect spot for a Christmas tree — picture the ladder with limbs and ornaments.

    Under the ladder is a conveniently placed floor electric outlet.

  •  In addition to hanging art on the walls I put up a few decorative clocks.

    Always nice to know what time it is.

Here’s the 10-point plan I had for November:

  1.  Celebrate Thanksgiving. Our friend Sug visited us on the bay and we had a grand time eating all of our favorite foods.

    Sweet potatoes a new way with goat cheese and cranberries.

  2.  Work on a project at the Bay House. Charlie and I worked on multiple projects: I painted the fireplace and he ripped out the half bathroom so we can design and build a more useful ensuite bathroom for the downstairs bedroom.

    The closet and half bathroom have been removed.

  3.  Bring down Christmas decorations to go with this year’s theme — Greek Christmas.

    Our Christmas decorations are mix and match with variable themes every year.

    We started decorating in earnest the week of Thanksgiving since I was at the Bay House for the entire week.

  4.  Check all the smoke alarms at the Bay House and replace the outdated ones. There were 4 potential smoke detectors all of which were well out of date and all of which have been replaced by yours truly.

    One of the battery operated units hangs on the first floor above the piano and the other one is in the back bedroom over the garage.

  5.  Read a book.I read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

    The false hope in the final chapters ultimately was not very satisfying.

    I’m wondering how I was expected to understand this book when I was in high school — the language and situation are for mature readers.

  6.  Wrap and pack Christmas gifts to mail.  It took me a little minute to gather the right paper, tape, scissors, and boxes but I have in fact wrapped everything that needs to be mailed.

    Sticking with blue and white this year.

  7.  Organize paint supplies and find a storage spot.

    No more paint supplies in my clothing closet.

    I have gathered all my paint supplies and stashed them together in the back of the garage.

    Even spray paint has a designated cabinet just over the cans on the floor.

    I can easily access everything including well-marked cans of paint.

  8. Learn how to use the Nest thermostat.

    I think I have this figured out.

    The Nest and I are still trying to get to know each other. I did figure out how to warm up the downstairs rooms in the early morning. Charlie, on the other hand, just growls at it.

  9. Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: SPIRIT.
  10.  Write a goal list for December, 2024.

Jo

Curtains on the Bay

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Since we acquired the new house I have tried to “make do” with the window treatments already installed and the curtains I brought with me from The Glade.

These are 2 pairs of linen curtains from Ikea which I triple pleated with special hooks.

At first I put the old living room curtains in the primary bedroom but ultimately I have rehung them in the downstairs bedroom.

The sliding doors in the living room/dining room area were covered with bamboo blinds that had been damaged by the sun and didn’t hang straight.

The beach hut style of the bamboo shades did not fit with my ultimate goal of polished house by the bay.

I bought the longest rods to hang at the sliding doors.

Initially trying not to spend a lot of money on curtains I decided to buy fairly inexpensive simple French rods for the living room.

Using a panel from the aforementioned downstairs bedroom I hung a tester on my newly installed rod.

I started with the 3 windows that are exactly alike (the 4th one is slightly different).  My plan was to hang the rods just above the doors.

I was planning to use the same premade Ikea curtains.

However when I tried the curtains on them I discovered I would need to cut off about 2 feet and rehem them.

I prefer these longer curtains.

Then I hung the same curtain from the wood panels covering some fluorescent lights over the doors.

Dining room curtain area is open plan with the living room.

The first rod hung in its permanent position was the one near the dining room — the different one — which I placed as high as I could in the window opening.

DYTÅG Linen Curtains from Ikea with heading tape — 57″x98 “

Then I hung 3 similar rods high on the wooden panels that cover the fluorescent lights over the sliding doors.

We generally close the curtains at night and when the hot afternoon sun is beating down into the room.

I threaded the Ikea curtains on the rods until I have time to add curtain rings and drapery hooks which will entail hemming all the linen panels.

Before

After — The curtains still need to be hung on sliding rings but this will do for now.

Eventually I will order lined and pleated curtains for this area but until then I am pleased with this look.

Jo

Anniversary Trip: Athens

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On our final full day on-board our cruise we had one last tour scheduled in the city of Athens, Greece.

Olympic stadium in Athens

Our ship was docked in Piraeus Port so we had about a 45-minute ride (with narration) to city center where we were destined to climb to the top of the Acropolis.  Our first stop, however, was Olympic Stadium where we met up with a “Greek soldier” who was very aggressive to have his photo taken with me.  Just as we were about to pose he asked for 5 euros.

This actor misrepresented his intentions — we left him to scout another sap.

I gathered back my hat and checked that I had not been pickpocketed.  Such a shady come on.

Our Viking guides managed all tickets and entries.

After a truncated bus tour while we were waiting for our timed tickets to Acropolis to be in effect, we followed our very proper guide.

Much of the Parthenon is under restorative reconstruction.

The walk from the main entrance at the Acropolis to the Parthenon takes about 15–20 minutes, including 80 steps.

Even with crowds of people we were able to get very close to the Greek Parthenon.

We did not go inside the structure a replica of which we had visited in Nashville, Tennessee earlier in the year.

The lovely ladies of the Erechtheion.

From the top of the Acropolis hill we could see all over Athens and had a good view of the remains of the Erechtheion which was a sacred temple dedicated to Greek Gods and Goddesses, including Athena.

I had taken a photo of the shuttle schedule before we left the ship.

We left our tour group after visiting the Acropolis and speaking to our guide because we wanted to go to the Archeological Museum.  Our guide suggested we take a taxi (which we did) and then return to this same area because Viking ran shuttles from the ship every hour.

Agamemnon’s solid gold mask is 12 inches tall and depicts a man with a wide forehead, long nose, and tightly closed lips.

When I plan museum tours with Charlie I stick to 3 highlights since I’m more of a museum person than he is. We stood in line which moved quickly to get tickets and entry. The first exhibit of interest to us was at the beginning of the museum rooms — the mask of Agamemnon.

The Worried Man from Delos bronze portrait of an unknown man combines a heroic demeanor with an expressive countenance.

My main objective in the Athens Museum was to see the  Worried Man of Delos.  He was so real and handsome in person.

The Jockey of Artemision is a large Hellenistic bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse, dated to around 150–140 BC.

Finally we saw the Boy on the Horse — life-size bronze.  It is a rare surviving original bronze statue from Ancient Greece and a rare example in Greek sculpture of a racehorse.

Museum food is both authentic and delicious. I had spanakopita.

We had a snack in the museum cafe before taking a cab back to the statue of Melina Mercouri (near the Acropolis) where we caught a shuttle bus provided by Viking to take us back to the ship.

One of the benefits of not being with a tour group (look behind the statue) is that we can be up close and personal with Poseidon.

I was happy to have seen everything I had hoped to see in Athens so that Charlie and I would be able to tour the Peloponnesian Peninsula on our own after we disembarked without having to return to Athens city center.

Jo

Anniversary Trip: Life Aboard Viking Sea

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The first seven days of our anniversary trip to Türkiye and Greece began with a cruise on the Viking Sea ocean vessel.

We received special leather tags which we never actually used.

I described our journey just to get to the port in Istanbul here.

We arrived at the ship after around 7 p.m. so we headed directly to the dining room and were served a beautiful dinner.

We were tired and hungry after traveling for about 24 hours.

A luscious raspberry mousse (easily enough for 6) and a bottle of bubbly had been left in our stateroom in honor of our anniversary.

Once aboard the ship we were free to use all the facilities available even though we had booked the lowest level cabin.

The view from our veranda.

Still our cabin was nicely laid out and had a veranda as did all the staterooms on the ship.

Everything was maintained shipshape by our steward.

The bathroom in our stateroom was spacious considering we were on a ship.

We enjoyed afternoon tea in the Wintergarden.

We used the swimming pools, hot tubs, and spa but mostly we ate.

I had more than one waffle for breakfast.

My favorite restaurant was Mamsen’s all the way forward on deck 7.  Most of the other eating was aft on 7 or 2 therefore Mamsen’s was less congested and much more relaxed.   Charlie enjoyed the fresh squeezed orange juice at Mamsen’s. You can have fresh juice in the other venues but must ask for it.

I discovered that the custard of the crème brûlée  comes ready made in cartons (something like milk) but the topping is brûléed  upon request.

I had my favorite crème brûlée  every night for dinner.

The highlight of the week’s food for me was lobster night perfectly grilled on the rear deck.

There was more food than I need all presented beautifully and served by a busy but agreeable staff.

I learned a little something to take with me into every port.

Well, enough about food (I could go on an on). Entertainment in the theatre was presented nightly but I more enjoyed the destination lectures by a very engaging professor.

We mostly caught the tour buses early in the morning — afternoons were really too hot.

On a daily basis we either walked into town with our tour or caught one of a fleet of tour buses that waited at the port.  The tours were informative but not really our jam; we often cruised off on our own.

A view down into the atrium from our deck — #3. (That’s a grand piano down there.)

One interesting item for me was that passports were handed in upon entry to the ship. A stub for retrieval was given so we could pick up the documents at end of cruise.  When we picked them up they had been stamped with exit from Türkiye in Kusadasi and entry into Greece in Rhodes.

It only rained one day which we hardly noticed.

To sum it up — love cruising, don’t care for large tours, expensive.

Jo

Keeping Busy

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I keep telling Charlie I don’t believe that multitasking is a thing and to that end I don’t multitask but I do keep busy while I’m waiting for heavy equipment to be moved and for paint to dry.

All outlet covers and screwheads are painted before replacing on the wall.

So this weekend I “worked” on the following projects in a sort of helter-skelter manner.

  1.  Laid out the tile for the front of the hearth.

    I’ve selected tile for the front of the hearth that I think will work.

  2.  Painted the dining room wall with 2 coats of Alabaster by Sherwin Williams.

    There is really only one wall in the open plan dining room.

  3.  Laid out and shampooed the dining room rug (that was transported from the main bedroom of The Glade).

    I have always loved this carpet that my mother bought at auction then lugged to me in her suitcase.

  4.  Painted most of the living rooms walls with 2 coats of paint.

    I held off painting the wall over the fireplace until someone else put up the ladder which I was able to slide left and right on my own.

  5.  Took down the lighting fixture in the dining room.

    This fixture is down and banished.

  6.  Wrapped Christmas gifts.

    Sticking with blue and white this year.

  7.   Accepted delivery of the mantelpiece.

    A modern mantel — 72″ x 5.5″ x 9″

  8.  Watched the sun go down over the bay.

    I know when to stop!

Some things I’m thinking about:

  1.  Tile for the downstairs bathroom.

    Outrageous possibilities.

  2.  Flooring for the kitchen. (See square tile directly above.)
  3.  Replacement vanities  in all the bathrooms.

    A possible vanity.

  4.  Painting the high walls in the living room with a yummy color.

    The upper wall might need a fun color.

And that’s what I did.

Jo

Anniversary Trip: Crete

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After Rhodes our next port of call was Heraklion on the Greek Island of Crete.

Even by today’s standards the jewelry is stunning.

First we went to the museum with our guide.  While Charlie took photos of ancient jewelry .  .  .

Notice how nicely the real gold handles hold up.

and weapons (everything with gold on it),

I’m going to add some dolphin art to our house on the bay.

I was enchanted by paintings of dolphins .  .  .

I was interested to see a “talent” which I had previously heard about in the Bible — each weighs about 75 pounds.

and money.  The large metal tablets (about 12″ by 18″) pictured above are “talents”.  When used as a unit of currency it was worth about 6,000 denarii (one denarius was the typical payment for a day’s work). This meant that a talent was worth 20 years of labor, assuming a 6-day work week.

I photographed these ancient clay figures because they reminded me of our Dashie — dachshunds on Crete?

Once again we cut out on the tour early to have a Greek coffee in the museum’s cafe.

The shops are au courant with outfits that would look good on Charlie.

After the museum we were let loose on the town where Charlie and I walked through the marketplace chatting with vendors and getting a feel for the pride of Cretans.

Jo

Fireplace Makeover: Part Two of Three

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In Part 1 of the fireplace makeover I painted the black and brass insert totally black.

The black paint was messy — I just threw the paintbrush away after finishing.

After removing the tape and cleaning up I was happy with the outcome.  Phew!  It’s difficult to reverse the process once it’s painted black.

I used painters’ tape to mask the freshly painted black fireplace insert.

Painting the black part of the fireplace black was not so daring as what I was going to do next.

Truly the point of no return.

Using Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer as suggested by this website I started painting the terracotta tiles with a paint brush using a crosshatch technique.

The difference between the first (right) and second (left) coats was encouraging but indicative that much more painting would be needed.

After the first coat I liked it but realized that it would take multiple coats to finish this project.

Five coats of paint is my initial limit — 3 primer, 2 topcoats of semi-gloss

And so I plodded on allowing a few days for the primer to cure before adding more primer and finally a 2 topcoats of my trim paint — White Mosaic by Clark and Kensington — which I brushed on and smoothed with a roller.

Before and after: Top before painting wood stove, fireplace surround, and wall. Bottom — after.

I also started painting the 2-story wall behind the fireplace with Alabaster by Sherwin Williams to be ready for the third and final step of this fireplace makeover.

Jo

Anniversary Trip: Rhodes

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Our first entry into Greece was the island of Rhodes famous for the Colossus, an ancient wonder of the world, which no longer exists.

Isle of Rhodes — Rodos in Greek

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital. In 1912 Rhodes was taken from Turkey by Italy. Under the Allied peace treaty with Italy in 1947, the island was awarded to Greece.

Fort?

We traveled back to medieval times and explored the old city of Rhodes  when the streets were ruled by crusaders known as the Knights of Saint John. In an effort to revive the island’s glory days, many of its stone buildings have been completely reconstructed.

guide

Charlie and I followed our guide up the stone cobbled streets.

We walked a long hill — some turned back at this point.

Our goal was the Archaeological Museum.

The Archeological Museum of Rhodes

From the moment you enter the courtyard of this 15th c. building – constructed by the Knights of St. John as their Hospital – you’re in another world, passing beneath vaulted ceilings, climbing stone staircases and perusing a vast arrangement of artifacts presented in numerous chambers.

After walking the hilly street I was finished with anything else that involved climbing up.

Inside we were presented with another set of steps.  Charlie and I left the tour at this point and did some shopping in the agora (marketplace).

I purchased my Greek pillow cover in Rhodes marketplace.

I wanted something for the house that would go with my colors — I found the perfect pillow cover which was well-priced and easy to pack.

A leather sandal store.

Then we hiked back to the ship which was walking distance from the town.

Jo