with delicious cake made by Bea and Claire

I finished two projects this week – my hallway painting project and a window restoration. Here's a photo of our hallway from just after we moved in. It's a pleasant space because it's roomy and full of light. But its walls were feeling dingy and I wanted to get rid of all the blue trim.…

Raking leaves The crafty season has begun I don't usually find meat attractive – but this roast getting ready to cook looked good Have you ever smelled a confused lilac in November? I have. Working on my hallway painting project – opened a new can of hole patching stuff Car knitting – while I wait…

Some photos from close to home: And far from home. Photos from Brian's work trip to England and Switzerland. I think that's Oxford and around Lausanne.

Starting with a scary selfie – me after I've been sanding the blue trim in my hallway. Oh it is so messy and I hate every minute of it! Since it's a hallway that is open to the stairs and the rest of the house I spend a lot of time trying to manage the…

Well that was fun. I like this new style of Halloween celebration. It started last year when we were so deep in the covid crisis and everyone sat outside and handed out candy at a distance. I like sitting cozy in my garden bench while the kids ramble up and down the street. I tell…

Why do we need Hanukkah candy canes? And why do people paint over outlets? I've started another painting project – long overdue.

I took a nice walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden this week. It's starting to be less busy there – which is nice. All the workers were busy putting the garden away for winter. Blowing leaves, flushing out the irrigation system and pulling the tender plants out to go to the greenhouses. The English Walled…

Fall the black oaks flingtheir bronze fruitinto all the pockets of the earthpock pock they knock against the thresholdsthe roof the sidewalkfill the eavesthe bottom line of the old gold songof the almost finished yearwhat is spring all that tendergreen stuff compared to thisfalling of tiny oak treesout of the oak treesthen the clouds gathering…

Today I completed my first wood window restoration. I chose to work on a storm window on the side of our house as my first project. We don't see that side of the house too often so if I screwed up it wouldn't be so bad. But it turned out fine. I've learned a lot…