OMG.
That was a helluva two weeks, preceding Easter and the week after. (A helluva few months, if I’m honest.) I finally got back up to snuff early last week, and we just got back from the Catskills.
I’m at Walt Disney World (as usual) next month, and visiting my family in Tampa for a week in July. Let the vacations begin!
The cottage we rented in the Catskills was wonderful. Certainly, there was no skiing or climbing mountains; but there was plenty of antique shopping! Terrific prices at a few antique malls we found, and I didn’t go too too crazy … and my wonky leg warned me when it was time to stop!
The only really guilty pleasure purchase was a 3×5′ early-Victorian (actual) Persian rug. Most everything else was knickknacks — but more on that later, in another post.
While we were gone, our neighbor and general contractor took down our plaster-and-lathe kitchen ceiling, exposing the gorgeous gigantic beams. They’re about 4″ x 10″ and around 180 years old.
This was a job I was never going to do myself. It’s technically easy work, but 1″ thick plaster is very heavy, and it has to be carried outside, put in a truck, and taken to the dump. Plus, almost 200 years of dirt, literal soot, and plaster dust. Nope. And I can’t imagine what the 1″ plaster ceiling of a 20′ x 10’+ kitchen would weigh. I mean, it’s essentially limestone. More on all that a bit later as well. I have a little work to do to clean the beams up. Here’s a preview though —
O
O
It was a great week, indulging in pastimes and just relaxing otherwise. Here’s the pics!
Sit Still Phill 
it is just lovely country. the roadside spaceships are a hoot to me! so oddly out of place!
i cannot believe that someone would cover those gorgeous beams! BUT, i guess it is about like the people who bought our house in Jacksonville and painted the artisan solid oak cabinets, made by a single artisan throughout our kitchen and bathrooms. they painted them all white. we also had a REAL brick house, and the painted the outside of the house white. ugh. i REALLY love the look of those beams. when we had to build a bigger churchhouse, we left the beams exposed like that, and i love them. it is amazing how well built your house is when you strip away all the “modernizations”!!
i LOVE this picture of you head to toe! you are so singular!
ENJOY DISNEY! looking forward to your trip to Tampa in July!!
I love YOU! ❤ 😀
KarenA
❤️♥️💙💜
Oh, wow. You were very close to our new house. We are right across the river in Leeds, a hamlet of Catskill. Mark and I went to Olana the last time he was home. Great pictures!! Glad you are out having fun.
LoriE
I HAD NO IDEA!! We drove through Leeds, probably a dozen times, and went to the antique shop on the corner among the many others in downtown Catskill! Hope the new house was everything you wanted it to be now that you’re settled in! We are thinking of a house in the south in the next five or six years.
I am so glad to have this blog, and to know that you are doing so well. You are a rock star. If you’re looking at the “south” you should consider the Shenandoah Valley. Just sayin’…♥
My brother is considering that area for retirement! I’m thinking Ocala, because we have family in Tampa and Gainesville (plus drama friends); but I was thinking the Shenandoah Valley as a second, because we might not find the kind of house we want in Florida. I kind of want a 2+ story Victorian with woodwork and stuff. It also lends itself to the fact that I want a dining room with an arch so I can put a tiny theater in it. But I also want an inground pool. LOL oh well, I have five years to worry about it before I seriously start thinking about it. (Retirement age)