Saturday's rhododendron

pinky purple rhododendron
Originally uploaded by modernemama

By the kitchen patio. Steven is scrubbing the algae off the back patio and I'm taking photos. An equitable division of labour I think.

Red rhododendron

This one is outside the dining room window. I'm posting it now because it's forecast to be 90F today followed by thunderstorms so I don't know how long they will last.
Here's a shot of the purple azaleas outside another dining room window. They are all just about over.



And here's what we used to see outside that window.



We call that progress.

Pretty or ugly?

Am I the only person who thinks this Kohler Finial wall-mounted faucet looks as if it's clinging onto the wall like an actor in a B movie pretending to hang on to the side of a mountain. You know that really he's stretched out on the floor faking that white knuckle business.
Maybe it's just that the sleek grey tiles in the photo seem at odds with the ornate handles on this model, maybe it's the detailing on the mount but it seems oddly disproportionate. It doesn't look as though it was designed to fit the space, just that it was stuck on its side and I'm expecting it to slide off any moment.
However, if it rocks your boat it's available with white handles too.

We're very proud of ourselves

It's been an entire year since we first looked into replacing our 30 year old dryer and 26 year old top-loader with energy saving models that actually get clothes clean. We know it's been that long because the local appliance store had its annual sale last night and it was at the last one that we nearly had a stand up fight in the kitchen department about the amount of space needed to accommodate a front loading washing machine.
This time we had had it with the old appliances. I was fed up standing ankle deep in water every time I wanted to load the dryer (a slight exaggeration, but only very slight) and Steven was mad that every t-shirt had to be washed at least twice to get stains out. The final straw was having to dry every load twice because the tumble dryer was acting up.
Now the procrastination is over, finally we have made a decision and stuck to it long enough to place the order and hand over the credit card. This is a major achievement for us and we were so pleased with ourselves we celebrated with cocktails at our favorite Huntington Bar.
Of course it would be better to wait to do anything in the laundry room until the handyman has been back to repair the wall we cut a chunk out of, and optimally we would have torn up the floor, re-jigged the plumbing and put in new cabinets before we purchased new appliances but that won't be happening this side of summer so before the Bosch machines arrive next Thursday we have to remove the old appliances, paint the damaged walls with oil-based primer, paint all the walls with a cheery colour (that we haven't chosen yet) and put up the shelves. We have a four day holiday to achieve this, plus three extra evenings. What could possibly go wrong?

Another house related injury

polly, sadie and jefke
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

These three innocent animals are not the reason for the sprained foot. Rather it was a combination of clumsiness, I reached for the toy to the left of Polly and tripped, a 70s design flaw: the raised step into the den, which I failed to clear when reaching for the dog toy, and procrastination: we didn't take the platform out when we thought about it on New Year's Day.
Whatever possessed the original owner to divide the den by a four inch high platform, laid on the diagonal no less, I cannot fathom. A couple of days after we moved in Steven tripped over it carrying a full espresso, this was the evening after we had had the carpets steam cleaned so they were white at that point....
Since then the big dog Sadie has tripped up it and the little dog Polly has fallen off it while asleep. I feel I have to yell "mind the step" to guests and workmen who are new to the house. In short it's not only an eyesore, it's dysfunctional too. And as soon as I can bend the foot again I'm getting down there and taking the platform out.
PS The name of the toy I was reaching for? We affectionately call it Bear Corpse.

My Dyson sucks

and this is a good thing.
For the last month or so, it's been blowing more stuff out of its bottom than it's been sucking up. The only way to get anything vacuumed recently has been to go over lots of animal hair (not a difficult thing in this house) so that a nice dam formed inside the hose that stopped the dust, pollen and small debris from shooting right out again. One day I got so frustrated I checked under the machine and found a huge tear in the short hose which I repaired with duct tape. That lasted a little while but eventually I had to cave and order a new part. I just wished I'd noticed it last year when I had to order a long hose. C'est la vie.
Yesterday I received a new short hose and decided to clean the filters and brushes before I fitted it. I can truly say that the six months of bathroom and laundry construction was reflected in the gunge that I took out of it. I felt bad about the number of times we had used the Dyson instead of a shopvac to clean up after ourselves.
This morning I vacuumed all the carpets and removed acres of dog hair and other detritus and while housework is about my least favourite activity, it felt really good to have a clean house once again.

White Azalea

white azalea
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The whole of one bed is taken up by this white azalea. It is actually several azaleas that have grown together over the years. Every May, for a week or so, it blossoms like this.
Spectacular.

May flowers

pink rhodo
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

As absolutely nothing is happening in the house at the moment I thought I'd treat you to a few photos of the yard. It's looking particularly lovely this year, a lot of the plants I put in last back end are flowering now and the hostas I split and replanted are getting established. Considering that when we moved in we thought that apart from some serious pruning we wouldn't need to do anything to the garden, we seem to have spent an awful lot of time and money on it. But never mind, neighbours out walking stop and comment on the improvement to the landscaping, so I guess we must be doing something right.

Worse news

Just when I was congratulating myself on two bathrooms completed and one sure to be done before Memorial Day, I got some bad news form my handyman. He fell and blew out his knee at the weekend. It's too soon to know what the extent of the damage is and what the treatment would be, typically he seemed less concerned about the obvious pain he was in and more about letting down his clients. He was only joking the other day about this house needing a full-time handyman.
I'm really thankful he got here on Friday and put up the hardware. Everything else is non-urgent and can wait until after summer if necessary. He did say that if it wasn't too bad he could perhaps hobble over one day next week and do the things he wouldn't have to kneel down for. That's great service but I'd rather he was 100% fit before he tackled anymore projects, but he's the sort of guy who loves to be busy.

Plant, prune, weed, water, snap

That pretty much sums up Mothers' Day for me. The herbs: chives, basil, coriander and oregano went into a terracotta planter. I put a sweet bay bush next to the sage in front of the kitchen window and I will get another rosemary bush soon. The planter above is new too; I try to put something totally different in there each year. Last year it was an everlasting hydrangea that's now under the den window. This year it's this spiky dracaena with sweet potato vines and variegated ivy.
In the afternoon I whiled away an hour under-pruning the large rhododendrons and nipping the dead bits of the azaleas, which took a beating from the winter weather this year. The warm January forced new growth while the brutal February and March blasted the leaves causing them to turn brown and wither. We seem to have completely lost one rhododendron out back and half the others are badly damaged. That seems to be true of most of the rhodos on Long Island this year.
I also spent an hour or so trying to eradicate the Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) before it gets a hold. I don't want to use Roundup so I'm trying to pull it out but I think I'm fighting a losing battle.
Then it was time to water all the plants that get missed by the sprinkler system and take a few photos of my handiwork.

Getting ready for the summer

Spring 2007 pool opening
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

We tried to get as many chores done as possible on Saturday. These included: cleaning out the pond, power washing the patios, checking the filters on the pool, killing the carpenter bees that are eating the redwood above verity's bedroom window, putting out the garden furniture and planting annuals in the tubs.
We got off to a flying start when Jerry the pool guy turned up unexpectedly to check on the work his guys had done opening the pool earlier in the week. I mentioned the problem we have had filling the pool (it was pumping out faster than we could fill it) and he was able to tighten things around the pump so that it filled in an hour. That was one job off the list.
Then we decided to divide the workload. I went to procure provisions and plants while Steven power washed the brick patio. I came back a couple of hours later with a baguette, prosciutto, mozzarella and peppers. I'd also identified the plants I wanted but I couldn't lift them into Steven's car, which was now full of shopping and dry cleaning.
Steven had productively spent the time cleaning out the pond rather than washing the green stuff off the bricks, so that we could have lunch outside with the water flowing under the bridge. And it was very relaxing sitting outside with a bottle of wine and the NY Times. So relaxing in fact that we didn't get anymore chores done that day. Oh well, there's always next weekend. Sometimes you just have to stop and drink it all in.

Good news, bad news, and a mystery.

The good news is that it rained really badly this morning so the handyman couldn't work on his other, outside, job. Actually, that's probably not such good news for his other client but great news for me because last night he phoned to say I would have to wait for another 10 days to get the hardware installed and this morning he decided he's rather be dry working on my baths.
He installed the Motiv towel bar, robe hook and toilet roll holder in the boys' bath. That means we can officially call that bathroom the winner in the first to be finished stakes as the girls' bath still needs a piece of trim and he didn't have the correct saw to do that today.
Then he filled a hole in the back door lintel that had rotted away and patched the ceiling in the downstairs bath. It was when he moved on to patch the wall in the laundry room that we realised we had a problem. The wall was more than stained, it was damp if not actually wet. After staring at it for a while and running upstairs to see if we could see a cause we decided the best option was to cut a hole and try and discover the source. I was imagining water pouring through the walls when he opened it but behind was bone dry. Huh.
There is a wastepipe there but it doesn't appear to be damaged: it's not green or damp, there are no beads of humidity anywhere but the sheetrock had just about dissolved and was definitely goopy to the touch. So we are leaving the nice hole in the wall until he can get back to us again (the week before Memorial Day, he promises) and I'll run the toilets, showers, baths and sinks upstairs to see if anything causes a leak. Otherwise when he shows up next time, he'll put in a piece of sheetrock and we'll pretend the whole thing never happened.

Bunny murderer

Jefke
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Jefke looks so sweet and innocent this morning, but yesterday evening he was anything but.
I'd just come inside from watering the herbs I'd planted: coriander, oregano, basil and chives, when Polly the dog started her carzy bark. This is different from the "there's someone at the door" or "come and see, someone is jogging past the house". This bark means she is distressed, usually because the cats are play-fighting or a child is crying.
I looked out across the lawn to see what the problem was and there was Jefke carrying a baby bunny by the back of its neck, just like a mother cat carries a kitten. Then he set the rabbit down and it scampered away, only to be chased down and caught by the relentless Jefke.
I know I should have left it alone but Polly was so upset I thought I could get Jefke back in the house and give the bunny time to get away. I tried calling the cat but he just looked at me as if to say "Can't you see I'm busy here?". So I grabbed the hosepipe and turned it on just behind him.
Jefke let go off the rabbit, the bunny hopped off, rapidly pursued by the cat and me until I got halfway across the lawn and realised my neighbour was outside watering his lawn and watching this performance. At that moment the rabbit shot into the neighbour's garage, followed by the cat and my lawn sprinklers came on, soaking me from head to toe.
I have no idea what happened to the rabbit but I gave it up and went home to dry off. Jefke turned up a couple of hours later sans bunny and as of yet my neighbor hasn't mentioned any corpses under his car.

Girls' Bath done, tick

new vanity in use
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

One more thing ticked off the "To Do" list. The Kohler Stillness faucet was installed this morning. I cannot tell you how much this faucet sucks in comparison to the Grohe Tenso in the boys' bath.
First there's the weight issue. You pick up the Grohe and it weighs a ton, it feels substantial. The Kohler feels lightweight, like it would buckle if you squeezed the faucet really hard. Then there's the finish. We went with the Kohler because we needed a brushed nickel finish to match the other fixtures (lights, hardware) in this bath. But the finish feels cheap, I think it'll chip if I breathe too heavily on it. The Grohe is smooth and I'm sure will resist every bang and knock for years to come.
Then there's the design issue. The Tenso is simplicity itself: push back, turn, push forward - each movement is straightforward , smooth and seamless. The Stillness faucet is rough, hard-edged and the pop-up drain is resting on the spout so it is impossible for anyone with limited mobility (or small children) to pull up the rod that controls the drain cover. I'm sure it will scratch the back of the spout too, but you won't be able to see that.
If we had purchased these faucets in chrome, they would have been the same price, but the quality? World's apart. That said, the Stillness is a pretty faucet and, as I knew I would, I made the plumber happy by choosing Kohler. After all that's what he has in his house.

Teardown

new house
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This is the new house being built further down the road, close to Nathan Hale Beach. This time last year there was an ordinary 1970s cedar clad detached home here with a definite beach feel to it - blue-grey clapboards, deck overlooking the pond and waterfront, picture windows to take advantage of the view.

Then we heard it had been sold and the new owners wanted to bump it out a little. Turns out the "bump" was more like total demolition. For a few months we had an uninterrupted view from Vineyard to Lloyd Neck when we walked the dogs. Then the big plant arrived and dug the foundations and the view disappeared under a wall of earth. Now framing is underway and we are waiting to see what the new house will look like.

Although it hasn't happened as much as in neighbouring villages I guess we will see more houses bought for their land value, torn down and replaced with larger newer models. I only hope they don't all look like post-modern "Victorian" McMansions. I like a little individuality in architecture, especially when it references the surrounding landscape.

Girls' Bath Vanity

vanity with ivory coast
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Well one big improvement today. The Silestone Ivory Coast vanity top arrived with the Toto basin, all in one piece. That means we are one step further to another fully functioning bathroom. we still need to get the faucet in and hooked up and there is a piece of trim that has to go back on the right hand side of the vanity to hide the tile edge but we are almost there. And the good news is that the colour of the countertop (difficult to tell in this photo!) is the same as the sample from e-counters.com, so I'm very happy.

Vanity countertop #2

The furniture maker had pre-selected another quartz sample for me, it's pretty close to the Caesarstone Copper Canyon: Camarthen Brown by Cambria but they don't have any in stock and it might take three weeks to get a piece unless they can find an offcut from somewhere. Choice #3 would be Silestone Mahogany, which is a little too terracotta or Kona Beige, which would mean going in a totally different direction. I've ordered the Cambria and asked them to rush it. Fingers crossed.
And on another tack, the landscaper informs me I have a break on the sprinkler line just where he's planting. That's the sprinkler line the guys fixed two weeks ago. It seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong this week. I don't think I'm going to answer the phone or pick up anymore emails today because I can't cope with any more bad news at the moment.

New border and shower base

new border

We weren't the only ones working hard this weekend. The landscaper came with vibernum, hostas and day lilies to beautify the entrance to the cul-de-sac. Then he edged the bed with 2' rocks and mulched the yard thoroughly, it already looks great and it smells wonderful. I love the smell of mulch. It's a huge improvement on the overgrown ivy bed that was here before.

old border
I did some spring pruning of the deadwood on the hydrangeas, and moved 10 buckets of river rock to make a dry river bed in the dell, while Steven pumped out the water on the pool cover ready to open it this week. We also got the teak base for the boys' bath .

Copper Canyon Shortage

Copper Canyon
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Apparently there has been a run on this particular Caesarstone in New york and the 3/4" is unavailable. I got a message on the answerphone to that effect on Friday. This is the top for the floating vanity that will go in the downstairs bath, As I had picked the mosaic tiles to match I am a little tigged, especially as they were supposed to install the vanity today.
I have a choice: go with 1.1/4" or choose something else. The deeper top will make the vessel sink too high, so I guess I'm off to choose something else. Rats.

Where were we?

downstarirs bath plumbing
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This has been a really busy weekend house-wise. We got back lunchtime Friday and spent the afternoon cleaning up cat poop, I have never seen so much shit in my life - and it was all confined to the master bathroom. Poop in the bath, in the shower, all around the loo. Horrible. There was also sick in the living room but that was minor. And evidence that the cat sitter had cleaned up in the kitchen. I don't know what went on while we were away, they were fine before we left and have been fine since we got back. I can only think they were locked in and got scared. They are used to running in and out of the house all day. I won't leave them again, they can suck it up and join the dogs in kennels.
Steven got rid of his frustration on the remains of the old vanity unit, it's amazing that what is essentially sawdust can stand up to nearly forty years of wear and tear and still put up a good fight but the sledgehammer won in the end.
After that, and a trip to t-mobile to get the replacement phone, we pretty much succumbed to jet-lag.