Another productive day, with two coats applied in the living room to the east wall and the arch and a second, final coat in the bathroom. Tomorrow a first coat of light blue on some living room walls will go up. I'll likely touch up in the bathroom as well, and perhaps even figure out how to take a good picture of the results.
A day of effort with much aid from a mini-roller expert and the first coat of paint is up in the bathroom. It looks splendid, and a second coat tomorrow should more or less finish the job.
The living room trim is now well-primed after another coat and a half. Tomorrow we color the living room and finish the bathroom. Onward!
A day of priming done and for the first time my living room walls are free of children's scrawls. The bathroom, freshly whitened now lacks some of its more disturbing stains. Of course now guests will no longer troublingly wonder just what could make such a mess so close to the toilet.
Tomorrow the living room trim will get a second coat of primer, a better foundation for the lightly colored paint. More dramatically the bathroom will get its first coat of color, as might some of the living room walls.
Eleven months after moving in, I'm finally preparing to paint my living room. For eleven months I've suffered with the scratches and scrawls of ill-behaved children, the marker and ballpoint marring and scarring my walls. Tomorrow that will all change.
Having moved the living room's contents into the dining room, today I repaired the myriad cracks in the plaster walls, and scuffed the baseboards and molding so they will better take their new coatings. The endless meandering pen marks all over the wall were a challenge to differentiate from actual cracks in the wall, and tomorrow we'll find out just how I did. I only hope the stain-blocking primer is true to its name.
In keeping with a Thanksgiving tradition of me posing oddly with turkeys, above is the finished turkey. After 12 hours in a brine, wrestling with me for 45 minutes (I am a poor trusser), and two and a half hours in the oven, the bird was juicy and flavorful. Carving was a bit dicey, though I did well with the breasts, the thighs were pretty well mangled.
I failed to shoot any photos of the myriad side dishes brought by my friends. It was all pretty magnificent and the whole event was a quality effort by all.
Somehow, less than an hour after my guests have left, the dishes are done. These represent about eight percent of the total mass of dishes:
Remaining:
Leftovers, anyone?
With the cheesecake and bread both out of the oven, and the turkey swimming happily in the brine, my evening's work is done. Tomorrow, I'll roast a turkey, make some mashed potatoes, more bread, salad, and then people will come over with more food and wine and we'll eat and drink. Merriment is also likely.
With one loaf of bread left to rise late last night and another now rising alongside, the Thanksgiving cooking fiesta is underway. Still to come this evening: pumpkin cheesecake, a salty brine, and we'll meet our lucky turkey. Stay tuned...
A weekend soccer binge was to be topped off with a match between Roma and Cagliari. Sadly, an accidental shooting incited violence in several cities, postponing two games and interfering with others.
For all the meatheadedness from American football and its fans, riots never interfere with the games. Perhaps the NFL’s violence placates some primal urge, while soccer only builds passion in their fans, offering no release.
Indeed, rather than the Roma match, my weekend concluded with the Manchester City v. Portsmouth match that ended in a scoreless draw.
Gardening is an act of optimism. Toil and sweat today for the hope of future bloom. Thursday, I optimistically planted 55 tulip bulbs in my front yard.
While my
last gardening endeavor was abandoned for West Virginia after but a week, I believe this will fare better. The patch of dirt where there once was grass now needs only to rest before winter and to build strength before spring. One day, after the frost and snow finally cease, a leaf will poke out of the ground. Then two, perhaps three. They’ll grow and flower and for a week in March or April or May, effort from long ago will be rewarded.
But for now, I have dirt under nails, sore muscles and a front yard with a bordered patch of dirt.
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