Almost Ready

Brad and I are working on last minute details for Christmas. We brought in two tables from the dining porch and arranged the seating for dinner tomorrow. We discovered that our long tablecloths are riddled with holes --- I think Mama used to call that genteel shabbiness.  I've worked on one food item each day this week so that part has not been overwhelming --- getting everything served on time might be, though.

I tried to do an arrangement for the table and it turned out fairly well.

Also decided to try putting some cedar garland on the driveway entry porch. It is not really a garland and it turned out so-so. I'll get better with practice.

At Thanksgiving a high-heel shoe with a nail protruding from the heel added some "distress" marks to our new kitchen floor. So we have purchased some additional runners and hope that solution will protect the floors, since we don't want them to be a source of stress, but rather a source of enjoyment. Our wood burning stove is due to arrive next week.

 Eddie is in North Carolina tonight with some of Kelly's extended family. He texted me about how he remembers as a child sleeping in Nina's room on Christmas Eve and how he would wake up multiple times during the night wondering if Santa Claus had come. Those were happy times on Swansfield Road!

Chasing deer can get you in trouble

Yesterday afternoon Faith managed to sustain a large gash to her chest. Brad took her to the animal emergency room, where he was told that a piece of wood had penetrated 4 inches into her chest --- fortunately she has rather a barrel chest. It was said to have barely missed a lung. The vet said at this time of year country dogs love to chase deer, and they forget to notice obstacles in the foreground. Faith must have run right over a tree limb with a piece that stuck up in the air --- her wound was filled with wood splinter debris. She is on restrictions for the next two weeks!! She came home with a pink ace bandage! We think she will be okay in the long run, but the unexpected charges sure cut into our Christmas funds! She's not supposed to go up and down stairs, or run, or jump on furniture, etc.

Today I bought the beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner. Brad and I worked on potato casserole for the meal (he helped with grating the potatoes and the cheese) and put that in the freezer. I've been wrapping gifts, and so far I don't feel real stressed. Hope that trend continues! We ordered the wood-burning stove for the kitchen and it is due to be delivered next week.

Christmas decorating continues

Just think! This may be the very first year that Hanshill has been decorated for Christmas. Certainly in my lifetime that is true. So I will show you a few items of our decorating so far. Here's the tree in place with lights, but ornaments yet to come.

 Below is  a different view of the tree, with decorating completed.

I made a door decoration. It wasn't supposed to look like a wreath, but it does, partly because when Brad hung it, he smushed the piece of pine on the top that was supposed to elongate the appearance. But still, it's okay.

Some of the materials came from Hanshill (but not the boxwood).

  We hung the Moravian star ornament outside to substitute for the normal light source.

 I've been meaning to report on where we put the wonderful wrought iron plaque that Billy and Pat Williams gave to us. I wanted it on the house; Brad wanted it at the gate. You can see who won. It's a little bit hard to read the date of "1925" in this photo.

We are expecting to have 20 people here for midday dinner on Christmas day. That's just a week away. I'll be trying to make at least one dish for the meal each day this week. Tonight I made cauliflower mashed potatoes for the low-carb devotees in the family. Tomorrow I plan to make a hermit cake, and also some bran muffins which I will mail to Eddie for his birthday. I have finished my gift shopping; most of that was done online. The UPS man will know me well by the end of this week! I have some wrapping to do, plus cooking, plus a small amount of cleaning. All in all, it will be a busy week, but looking toward special time with some of the family next weekend.

Late Fall Planting

Brad and I went to Rainfrost Nursery yesterday. We bought a few bushes and wanted to get them into the ground before it gets frozen. Our research online tells us that it is okay to plant in December before the ground freezes. The lady at Rainfrost said the same thing. Hope that proves to be correct!

We took a chance and bought rhododendron, knowing that deer may feast on them. Why is it that this plant does just fine up on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Aren't there lots of deer up there???

The second purchase was hydrangeas, our Christmas gift from Nina and Charlie. They are the Nikko Blue variety, which we've had at our last two homes. Brad put them in the lower end of the "pretty place" garden. He encountered many, many rocks, and theorized that when the house was originally built the unused rocks from the creek were piled here and covered. The rocks he dug up will come in handy to re-edge this garden area. The bush stems are a bit difficult to see since they are bare. I tried to catch the 3 bushes with the sun rays hitting them.

A few weeks ago I bought two hawthorne bushes on a ridiculous close-out sale at Lowe's. Would have bought more if they had been available. The goal with the rhododendron and hawthorne is to add some winter greenery to the yard.

I also bought these cabbage or kale plants. When I bought them the centers were white. Anne told me that exposure to the sun would turn the centers purple, and obviously she kneweth of which she spaketh!

We put them in the circle near where the large tree used to be near the house. We want to discourage driving and parking in the circle. This requires quite a re-training with our family, since the circle has been fair game for years.
This week I'll be working on Christmas decorations, and finishing gift shopping/ordering. Next week I'll concentrate on cooking.

"It's beginning to look .............."

...............................Well, not "a lot like Christmas," yet, but maybe a little bit like Christmas.

Saturday we drove to Morris Orchard and selected a Christmas tree. We had the option of tagging it and going back later to cut it down. The weather was delightfully mild and sunny that day, but who knows what it might be like next weekend, so we decided to go ahead and cut it down (making only one trip instead of two). Actually the proprietor would have chopped it for us but Brad took a saw along for the ride. We also reasoned that if we had bought a tree at Dave's or other local sales outlets, the tree would have been cut by now, so were betting that ours will last fine. Brad put it in water right away and it is sitting on the drinking porch. We will bring it inside soon. By the way, until Christmas Morris Orchard is open on Sunday afternoons ---- normally they do not open at all on Sunday.

The same day we cut down a small cedar from the woods on the property. I'd been thinking it would be fun to have one on the first landing of the staircase. At Target one day I noticed they had a string of 50 lights for only $2.29. That fit into my scrooge-y outlook about spending money on Christmas decor. In general it is something I prefer not to do. I always think the money would be better spent on charitable giving at this time of year than decorations for personal pleasure and enjoyment.  But in my mind I could take $2.29 out of my grocery money, select a cheaper cut of meat for dinner, and therefore justify the purchase and feel only a twinge of guilt.

I thought the tree would look pretty in a pot, or "cachepot" so decided upon this one that was a gift from Sue last year. We filled it with small rocks, sand and water. Anybody who wants is welcome to "shop" for a tree at Hanshill!

P.S. Somehow buying a Christmas tree does not fall into the category that nags at my conscience.

post-thanksgiving

It's been over a week since my last post. I caught a cold last Sunday, as everyone was returning home after Thanksgiving and the house had turned quiet again. I've had so much to say that it has been overwhelming, but with my low energy I haven't composed my thoughts into anything sensible. Mostly I keep thinking that it is so wonderful to live here and that everyday experiences are such a blessing. It was great to have our Thanksgiving with Nina and Charlie, and Eddie and Kelly. It was interesting to see how the house works with more than just two people in residence. At night the house seemed quieter than in yesteryear. Snoring in the next room is less bothersome. The house is not totally soundproof but improvements have been made in this area. One great change is how the heating systems work so well and the house seems warm, and un-drafty.

The kitchen pleases me greatly. I try to keep the granite surfaces free of clutter because I just love seeing them  for their own sake, unadorned so to speak.  I can watch the birds during the day while I am in the kitchen. We moved the feeders from the summer location that is best viewed from the eating porch. Situated there, they were almost impossible to see from inside, so we moved them leftward, to over near the sandbox, so they are visible from all of the kitchen windows, as well as from the sunroom if one stands near the windows which overlook the front yard. We have talked about rigging up another feeder that would be visible when sitting in the sunroom. Still contemplating how best to do that.

The water pressure here is not so great. The meter is out by Elon Road, and the water is piped down a hill and back up a hill to reach the house. Brad and I have been dealing with this fact okay, but with more people on hand, it is a bit more of a nuisance. We've been looking at booster pumps for our water service.

Another purchase still to be made is a wood burning stove for the kitchen. We've been dragging our heels on that. Money has about run dry! In addition, we have not been able to use the fireplace in the living room, pending the acquisition of a new fireplace screen, one that covers the opening completely. It seems that we will need to have one custom made.

Nina and Kelly worked on a design for the wedding invitations. They are going to be so pretty! The weather cooperated so that we took walks around the property. One day we took the dogs to the pond. Another day Brad walked Charlie over to the "back 40" between Fawn Creek and Harris Creek. Faith and Stella loved the exercise. Eddie and Brad did a good job of frying a turkey breast outside in a fryer. Nina and I went through her baby book together. I had written an account of my labor with Nina and she was very interested to hear that. The book went back to Ann Arbor with her.

Nina re-positioned a couple of arrangements in the house. Her ideas were great!

 Now that my cold is gone I will hope to post again soon.

One more thing. This morning as we were having breakfast we were puzzled by total quiet on the bird feeders ---- none in sight whatsoever. We thought to ourselves either it's too cold for them to be out yet, or there's a  hawk in the area. After about 15 minutes we witnessed a large bird flying across the pasture out front, right to left and landing in the big tree that is in the pasture in the general direction of the dam. We pulled out the binoculars and discovered not one, but two, hawks, perched in that tree, but could not tell what kind. After about ten minutes, Brad walked outside into the front yard and headed their way. One flew away, and about 15 seconds later the other did, too. They were very obviously a pair of red-tailed hawks. Mystery solved!  It took awhile before the local bird population began to stir, but they finally did.

Faith's newfound "toys"

Faith has been coming home with "toys" from the woods. She has killed 2 squirrels, a chipmunk and a mole that we know about. But she's found bigger prizes as well. And a few times has returned with the most awful breath you can imagine, not to mention that she has rolled in rotten carcasses at least 4 times since we moved in.

Last night she came home with a full front leg of a deer. Poor dog, Brad took it away from her and put it in the back of his truck, to dispose of at a suitable moment.

Well, this morning, she appeared with the OTHER leg ----- presumably the same deer, as the condition seems the same. We do wonder where she is finding these treasures.

Woodpecker

I keep thinking that I need to have photos in order to post. However, many bloggers just write thoughts and don't include pictures. I am going to have to make some adjustments to my thinking as the photo ops become less frequent. Come December 1, we will be entering the time of year that we really have not experienced at Hanshill before. I am looking forward to that. The leaves are mostly down from the trees, except for a few species that tend to cling to their leaves until spring. We can see lights from at least six houses on the ridge at Hans Hill Estates.

But today I do have a couple of pictures. We have discovered that we have a resident pair of redheaded woodpeckers living here. They make a distinctive noise and we hear them frequently. Yesterday afternoon I heard one of them making lots of noise (I had the window open because the temperature was 71). I looked and determined that the noise was a redheaded woodpecker arguing with a pileated woodpecker!  They were on the same tree, and the redhead was flying at the other one and trying to peck it and trying to chase it away. Given the size difference, it was comical. The pileated easily defended itself, but eventually it moved away to another part of the woods.

This morning when I was making myself some coffee, I noticed a redhead on a tree right outside the kitchen, on a tree between the house and cabin, so VERY close. Eventually I was able to get a photo --- although it is blurry because I had the zoom level cranked up.

 Brad worked some more yesterday afternoon to finish installing the TV in the kitchen. I think he's pretty happy with it.

He also did some more work with the bush-hog in the pastures in front of the house. It looks really nice. We are excited that Nina & Charlie, and Eddie & Kelly will all be arriving on Wednesday for a great weekend together. I've been doing some advanced cooking, and today I did the really big shopping trip for all the necessary supplies.

dresser drawer pulls

The things we accomplish now are small changes, not the big sweeping ones that took place over the summer. The dresser that Brad is using was missing a handle. I searched extensively online and found a perfect match. It really looks great! It's a bit hard to see but if you enlarge this photo you'll see the problem defined ---- the bottom left handle was missing. Here is a shot from a couple of years ago, before the renovation.

 Brad suggested that I purchase two new handles so that the bottom drawer would have two that match, especially if they differed from the originals.

 But look at how similar in shape they are! Now I wish I knew how to freshen the old pulls.

Another small project is getting a TV installed in the kitchen. This is still a work in progress! but we wanted to have it in place by Thanksgiving when more football fans will be here.

drink time

Earlier this week we probably had our last few nights of enjoying the drinking porch before supper. Monday night we sat in the dwindling light after a gorgeous sunset. Tuesday, although the temperature was still around 70, the sky was dark and gray, so there was no sunset and it got darker quicker. So we used a candle to provide enough light to open pistachios. We "re-purposed" the fixture that had been in the upstairs hall as an electric light. It had been a fire just waiting to happen. It looks pretty with a candle, and provides beautiful light.Here's a photo of our little cocktail hour spot for those couple of nights.

natural arrangements

While walking to the mailbox one day, I noticed a small stand of bittersweet near the entry gate. This is the time of year when the bittersweet berries mature. I cut one little piece

 and thought I would search around other parts of the property to see if I could find some more. So Brad and I went on quite a hike last Sunday afternoon, looking for it. We came home with these items instead ---

some wispy grass and a single cattail, which we found in a moist marshy area next to Fawn Creek, all by itself. I want to find some more cattails, as I like them with this particular jug/vase.

Later I talked to Anne and she told me to be grateful that I didn't find more bittersweet. It is quite invasive and kills the things on which it climbs. It's worse than wisteria, and as bad as kudzu! Yikes. So guess I will search other places to find bittersweet for arranging. There is plenty of it around Lynchburg.

Anne brought me some bittersweet, and because of her advice I cut just about all of it that is down by the gate.

Brad wants to to see how many plants we can find on the property to use in arrangements this winter. The one below is half from Hanshill --- the yellow "Japanese bitter oranges" which grow on a  horrible thorny weed in the pastures. Anne found a write-up about this plant online, and somebody actually sells the things. I cannot imagine why anybody would buy them!!!!  The green globes are from a mock orange tree (osage orange) in town. Neither variety is edible, at least by humans. However, both varieties smell wonderful and last a very long time.

Door handles

If you are familiar with Hanshill, you recall the interesting door latches on the interior doors. There is a horizontal strip of wood, about the size of a paint stirrer that raises up or lowers into a latch that is on the door frame. A leather string (shoelace) is tied to the strip of wood. The string passes through a hole drilled in the door, to the other face of the door. To open the door, a person pulls on the leather string to raise the little wood strip to the unlatch position.

Here are photos of the original design, although this particular door has black nylon rather than leather.

Daddy made the discovery that the leather laces had a tendency to rot and break at stress points. He addressed this two different ways. One was to replace the leather with black nylon, as you see above. The nylon is much more durable. The other solution was to add a pull handle to do the strength work for the leather lace, thus reducing the stress on the leather and giving it a longer life. Oops, this handle really needs to be re-furbished!

So we wanted to have similar wrought iron pull handles on the new doors in the house. However, extensive searching at local stores and on the internet did not turn up the same handles as were already here. So we went with a different design, but one that seems to blend well with other materials in the house. We had to place the handles off to the right, toward the door center, because these handles screw into the door from the back side. If placed directly below the hole for the lace, the screws on the back side would interfere with the little wooden piece that raises and lowers.

 The two doors that lead into/out of the sunroom both have the new handles, plus there is one on a door to the new guest bathroom.

After I had ordered the three new handles, I discovered that we had a similar one, just smaller in length, on the screen door between the eating and drinking porches. So definitely we stayed with the flavor of the original. Here's the older version. However, the old handle has the screws on the same side as the handle, not on the "back." Gosh, there are so many things we notice or learn as we go along, that are not always immediately apparent!

Finally, yesterday Brad did not have school because it was Election Day and the schools are used as polling places. He borrowed Elmer Loving's tractor with the bush-hog attachment and had a fine morning mowing pastures. Since it was his first time manipulating this piece of machinery he stuck to fairly flat areas. He hopes to continue the process and cover most all of our pastures, as he gains a little more confidence. At least he has the good sense to fear the tractor turning over on top of him.

gift from the Carys

 We had a wonderful visit with Hal Craddock our architect this past week. He said that the place has a warm, comfortable, inviting feel. He is sending a professional photographer to take pictures!

     Another thing that we did this week was to find a spot for the beautiful cutting board that Sue and H Cary gave us. It is made of bamboo, and is far too pretty actually to use to chop things. So we were trying to find a good place for it in the kitchen. I wanted to place it on a cabinet. It would fit perfectly inside the 4 raised sides. But Brad would have none of that --- no nails in the cabinets!

So we found a good alternate location for it, as you can see below. It is shaped like a wine bottle! and it pulls out the lighter brown colors in the stone chimney. Thank you , Sue and H!

There are a number of other things in the house that have been gifts in the past from Sue. Here are photos of a couple of them: First, a cute mobile that I decided to hang from a long-resident nail on the end of the mantelpiece.

Next a wonderful hand-painted box. The dots on the box mimic the dots on the Peace plaque, which came from another good friend, Linda Milam. All very cool.

Halloween night

I look at the date and realize it is Halloween. For the last few years, to avoid the hordes of trick-or-treaters on Peakland Place, Brad and I have come here on Halloween night. Now we won't be going back home after the "danger" is over!
As I see it, Hanshill is a rather masculine, rustic place. All the gray and brown, the rough cut wood, the non-adorned appearance give is that aura. Well, I made one purchase that creates one feminine corner, with some bling. It's slightly crazy, and it's fun. IT's the mirror for the first floor half bath. It's a little hard to photograph accurately. I took 14 shots and here are the best two of those.

 Besides the portrait of Murnie in the living room, we also put up this grouping. There are two Queena Stovall prints plus the things on the piano.

 Finally, I decided to move the little table that I painted last week from the green beach bedroom, to try it in the living room. The paint scheme matches the table supporting the TV, and it creates a place to set a drink or a book if you are sitting in the wing chair. Also I bought a new, real pretty cushion for the school desk.

Our architect, Hal Craddock, is coming to supper tomorrow.

motivation and results

I ended up putting three or four coats of rejuvenating oil on the little dresser rescued from the Roost. The weather turned cold, so I couldn't continue to work on it outside on the porch. Here are the drawers right after the final coat.

And here's the little dresser in it's new home, in bedroom #2. The coats of oil make it appear a bit darker than it did before. The room has received a couple of new trial names --- -the green room, the beach room, the green beach room, and the Schwarzes' room. My pile of things that have not yet found homes is dwindling over there in the right hand corner. 

 Now you can begin to see how the word beach became associated with this room.

 I can just picture Nina feeding the baby on this sofa in the middle of the night, at some point next spring!

 And the 3rd bedroom may be renamed the Barth bedroom, or the blue Barth bedroom. All the photos are of Brad's family of origin.

 Billy Adams made the mirror and the little blanket chest in this room.

Friends of my parents have said to me frequently over the past few months that they would love to visit the new Hanshill and see what we have done. So we decided to grab the bull by the horns, and just tell people to come and see the place. We wanted to do it before all the leaves had fallen, and before the weather turned really cold. So yesterday afternoon was the day. We invited 39 people and 29 of them came for a tour. This was a great motivator for us. Thus we accomplished the hanging of wall art, a vacuuming frenzy, and more unpacking, as well as major leaf-blowing and two small projects to make the original doors a bit less drafty.

Last week I went to Roanoke to attend a talk on flower arranging by a renowned floral designer from San Francisco. In the course of a 90-minute talk, he executed 13 arrangements. At the end the arrangements were raffled off. I won an arrangement --- first time I've ever won something in a raffle. It was perfect for Hanshill. The container is a clear glass bowl, supported by a black wrought-iron stand. It featured 3 large succulent flowers, which Anne identified as a form of "hens and chicks."  It was nice to have it here when folks came to visit.

Billy and Pat Williams brought us a wonderful housewarming gift. Again, black wrought-iron. Billy said the hummingbirds were in deference to Mama who always kept several feeders around for them.  (We certainly plan to continue that tradition!) This piece is not painted ---- all the designs are cut out from the black piece. We will have to find a special place for it!

Finally, here is the mirror that we chose on Saturday for the master bathroom. I figured you did not need to see a reflection of me in my bathrobe, so I stood off to the side to feature the stone chimney wall appearing as the reflection. I'll have a few more photos later.