We moved to our current neighborhood in the winter of 2017. Beside our first house on the street sat a similar three story columned property. The latter was unoccupied—the previous owner having moved in with his family after his wife’s passing. For the four years we lived beside it, the house sat dark and vacant. […]
It’s a great day when one of your creative friends completes a new project. This month Australia’s Rockpool Publishing releases Druid Wisdom by our friend Andrés Engracia. The 40-card deck brings us musings and inspirations from Druidic landscapes combining Andrés’ photography with mediations on the reverse. Andrés, accompanied by Jeff Cullen and Allan Spiers, made […]
On a whim, we bought an antique Georgian longcase or tall clock—created during the reign of George III, the Mad King. It had been in the shop for a few months and I believe we walked out with it for about $400. I know “grandfather” clocks can be a hard sell sometimes. We had been […]
A few months back I wrote of a court cupboard we recently added to our collection and the previous owner’s note inside. In it, he wrote that the cupboard came from a cottage in the welsh village of Bettws-y-Coed: This week I was reading a book with a chapter of Welsh folklore (Welsh Witchcraft by […]
After the initial Ida demo, we discovered a water leak from a broken pipe in the second floor guest bath. We noticed paint bubbling in our dining room. This lead to the demo of yet another wall and the surrounding of the bay window. The framing around the window was originally low coming down to […]
It’s the end of February, Carnival is in full swing, and the tulips are in bloom at City Park. We took a Sunday stroll through the park and sculpture garden. Unexpectedly, the above photo caught the attention of New Orleans Museum of Art social media folks and they featured it in their feed.
And the 2022 carnival season kicks off with the return of Krewe du Vieux on February 4th! The satirical and artistic parade did not disappoint taking swipes at the pandemic, the mayor, and hurricane Ida. KdV is made up of numerous subkrewes such as Krewe of C.R.U.D.E., Krewe of L.E.W.D. and Mystic Krewe of Spermes. […]
The front parlor was finished just in time for the commencement of the holiday season. Though the rest of the house remained mostly studs, we felt inspired enough to at least decorate this room. A refuge within the Refuge. The dogs found amusement in the train as it circled the table and blue its horn. […]
The front parlor was the second room we redid. Unfortunately it lost one outer wall due to water intrusion during Ida. This partial demo actually confounded the renovation as we had to match (or fake) the remaining crown and baseboard molding. Luckily and, at least to us observing the demo, surprisingly the cherry floors survived […]
Vinaigre des 4 Voleurs (Four Thieves Vinegar) is an historic recipe first crafted to protect against plagues. The preparation likely dates back to the medieval period. It is said that it was first used to combat the Black Death. Vinegar or wines infused with herbs were employed against disease going back into antiquity. Similar preparations […]
This time of year has me thinking of comfort food. One of my favorites is beef pie in a rich sauce of Guinness with mushrooms. Below is my version of a traditional British recipe Ingredients Approximately 1 pound chuck roast cut into bitesize cubes 1 Large onion chopped 4 large carrots cut into bitesize rounds […]
