Antiquing in "France"

I made it over to the higher elevations before the Winter closings. In many of these wonderful Mountain Retreat villages, businesses close between Thanksgiving and Easter. One of my adored haunts is a horrid generic building which houses wonderous things. The owner is as charming as her objects. She spends the off season here, stockpiling wonderful things in her Paris warehouse to send here for our next "season". She has a great mixture of formal, informal, urban and rural, precious pieces with history and architectural salvage from the march of "progress". Thought I would share with my blogger friends.





























I

Travel Wisely

Get Ready

Sushi Man

Well, I have had one of those Fridays which is both good and bad.
Like a recipe: One part blessings to one part woes.
If any of the gentlemen bloggers are reading this, you might want to keep a keen eye out for the opportunity to learn from the errors of another.

This is one of those it's complicated but should be very simple recitations.

About three weeks ago I flunked my annual mammogram.
I received a letter from the diagnostic radiologist informing of abnormalities in need of additional investigative procedures. This form letter advised not to panic and to please call to schedule the procedures. Okay. I did that. I also informed Blowfish who made no comment.

I then got a phone call from the diagnostic center saying the procedures required needed to be rescheduled following my next evaluation by my primary physician. Okay.

I went to the primary last Friday at which time he asked a few strategic questions, ordered a bunch of labs and then explained he had requested a particular diagnostic radiologist do the procedures and those would be a " directed mammogram", a " focused compression sonagram" and possibly a needle biopsy. He went on to explain once these procedures were done the radiologist would be able to tell me if I did or did not have anything to worry about. When exiting the exam room the primary gave me a little pat-pat on the shoulder. In the decade or so he has been my doc there have never been any little pat-pats.

That evening as Blowfish and I sort of went through the days debriefing over dinner, I mentioned the appointment with the primary and the upcoming diagnostics. He made no comment.

This morning I had the directed mammogram and the focused compression sonagram. Wow is that a major ouch! Whoever figured out the best way to look at a sphere is to flatten it has my unyielding ire. On the other hand the results were NEGATIVE! Not one thing to worry about so falalalala and have a Merry Christmas! I cannot overstate how grateful I am to have received this news. I've been a tad anxious about this issue and am very happy to have it behind me.

So that is my oh-so-very- good news.

The flip side of the coin is Blowfish has yet to ask me how my day has been.
Forgot the day?
Not likely.
The Women's Diagnostic Radiology Center called to leave a voice mail on the home line yesterday to remind of the early morning appointment. Blowfish took that message and related it to me last evening. So yeah, he was fully informed. Also, I am of the mindset of people don't forget what is important to them. Did you ever forget to go to the prom? Do you forget when you favorite team has a big game? How exactly does a man forget the day when his spouse will discover if she does or does not have a life threatening issue?

Sensitive issue and Blowfish is uncertain how to navigate these waters?
Not likely.
Blowfish has a friend from work, "Miss D" who has been suffering with treatments of every sort for breast cancer. Miss D has no husband , no parents. She does have siblings and adult children here in town. However her "go to person" for this terrible life event has been her friend Blowfish. He has taken her panicky phone calls when we've been out to dinner and he has been known to pace up and down the driveway while consoling her on his cell phone. She calls him every time she sees the doctor or has a treatment to give him her report. Once she called the home line to ask me where he was because she had been unable to reach him on his cell phone. A couple of times Blowfish has mentioned he sometimes takes Miss D to lunch to perk up her spirits because " she's having a really tough time". Blowfish even came home one day with a big smile to say it looked like Miss D was making good strides toward getting into remission. To be honest, once or twice I found myself thinking, "Isn't this a little bit odd?"

Today I am thinking something a little different.
If any of you gentlemen bloggers are still on this post,
I have a recommendation for you.
Don't follow Blowfish's example.

Anybody hungry for Sushi?

Inspiration

A while back we had a visit from some of Blowfish's NY cousins. Cousin "Elizabeth" is a person prone to busyness with her camera. In fact she went from room to room in the Pond house taking photographs for show and tell once she got home. Cousin Elizabeth swears she never has an original idea when it comes to the look of her home. She wanted to record things in our home in hopes of importing some of them to hers. The Pond house is lovely, but just like the cobbler's children have no shoes.... the designer's house is short on design. The highlighted difference in this visit was Cousin Elizabeth saw all things positive while I saw all the things needing attention. Or money. Or both.

During the course of this visit it somehow came to be that I should create a Christmas wreath for the cousins. I think I did see their house, briefly, about 30 years ago. Frankly I cannot remember a thing that would give me a clue about what sort of colors or themes, etc. Also, if I know I am going to be making one of a kind wreaths, swags, topiaries or trees I go off to the design markets and fetch the components. I was sort of thinking I would have great "leftovers" from the Hospice Tree for use on the wreath but as it turns out, I did not.

So I went forth to the local retail sources to see what I could find to make a beautiful gift for these cousins. Since it is less than 2 weeks til Christmas the pickins were slim. I felt more like I was on a scavenger hunt than a focused mission. I actually started out with an idea about the theme I wanted to portray but the reality was no such components were available. I next had to choose between not making the gift with a promise to make one next year or, to come up with a new idea based on what was available to me in the here and now. Since I knew Blowfish was excited about my creating a one of a kind gift for his cousins, I felt a bit of pressure to deliver.

I swear it is no exaggeration when I say I was in that store for more than 2 hours. Long enough to hear the Christmas music cycle around three times. The store had already started the after holiday store reset with lots of aisles given over to Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Spring. This meant all the remaining holiday inventory had been smushed into just a few close out aisles. Then too, I foolishly went on a Saturday. The aisles were packed with parents and children trying to find deals on holiday decor or single ornaments for teacher gifts. So not only were quantities and varieties limited but the conditions were reminiscent of the gridiron lineups. Maybe even the gridiron pileups. Not my thing, not my thing at all.

Eventually I ferreted out enough stuff to maybe create something good , not generic. Unfortunately I found it was going to be necessary to stop at yet another retailer before I could go home and get in my studio to produce. I needed to look for one more item in one of those stores which is part fabric store, part crafts store, part mass produced Chinese trash decor store. I bet I don't set foot in this place once every 3 years, which is a bit too often for me.

I was making my way down the main aisle to the section I needed to visit when my peripheral vision picked up on something which made me stop in my tracks. It was nothing major, just a bolt of fabric. But that fabric transported me back a few decades to visions of my Mama sewing amazing creations. Long years before the crippling arthritis robbed her of the pleasure of sewing. Of her pleasure it magically transforming simple components into something wonderous.

Like many of her generation she could sew for her home; curtains, bedskirts, placemats and napkins. She could sew for her girls, for school plays, for Halloween costumes and, she could do all of those while seeing to the needs of a litter of kids , a largish household and with a mostly absent spouse. She was not one of those moms known for her baking skills or her housekeeping.. She was widely admired for her creative thinking and her immense sewing talent.

One summer she was going to accompany our Dad to an annual sales convention where she would need eveningwear for five consecutive nights. Once it was determined they both would go on this trip our Mama started fetching home the latest issues of Vogue, Bazaar, and any other fashion journal of the day. Soon her little sewing corner was cluttered with inspirational reference taped up on the wall. Beautiful photographs from the publications, some of her own sketches and eventually little fabric swatches were added to the collage. Next , I kid you not, she cut open the brown paper bags from the grocers, ironed them smooth so she could begin making her patterns. Amazing.

As a teen, I thought this was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the progress of her thinking up on that wall. I liked seeing her evaluate combinations of face fabrics , linings, trims, beads, bugles, sequins, buttons, zippers, threads. There was quite the play on textures, colors, weight and a great variation between severely tailored and floaty feminine looks. I sometimes would go with her to the stores where she would have tucked into her purse the final sketches and the swatches to reference against shoes, evening bags, gloves and the costume jewelry of the day.

Eventually an entire collection was created. It was awe inspiring. I could not believe my Mama had produced custom clothing that rivaled, or trumped, the designer collections in the Vogues and Bazaars. But she did. I so clearly remember the day she completed her tasks. I came home to discover each dress layed out with shoes, bag, gloves, jewelry. I went from ensemble to ensemble lightly tracing my fingers along the fabrics, picking up items for closer inspection and feeling a bit stunned by what my mother had achieved. I would consider it my prize possession if today I had a scrapbook with those sketches, fabric swatches and paper bag patterns.

So back to the aisle in the store. There was a bolt of fabric which looked an awful lot like my memory of one of the selections from Mama's evening wear collection. It really did stop me in my tracks, to the point others bumped into or navigated around me with that look meaning get out of the way. But I was seeing visions of my Mama, young, eager, busy, enthusiased, chock full of nervous excitement and purpose. Those days are long gone. What is not gone is the lasting influence this episode of my mother's life has had in my life.

For me, that bolt of fabric clearly demonstrated my bad attitude. Where was that can do spirit of my mother? Where was the eagerness to face a creative challenge? Where was my faith in my ability to use the gifts I have for good purpose? I looked down at my straight fingers, my functioning hands and felt true shame. One thing is for certain. Cousin Elizabeth's wreath might evolve from ordinary sources, but the end result will be extraordinary.
I can do no less and keep honor with my mother's teachings.

Origami Stars

Committee Me Not

In my world "committee" is a negative word.

I am not much of a joiner, not much of a committeewoman type. Nor do I wish to be.
Today, I had enough exposure to the classic committee woman to last me quite a while.
Here in our region there is an annual "Festival of Trees" fundraiser for Hospice. The
Hospice folks get sponsors to pay for lighted artificial trees, wreaths, mantle swags etc, then get others like designers , event planners, florists to decorate them as a themed object . All of these decorated objects get auctioned off at a "gala", pay to play, event. Okay, it is the biggest fundraiser of the year for this group and every opportunity to net funds is the goal. I get that. Obviously I participate by doing a tree, donating the time to do the tree as well as donating all the adornments which will grace the tree. I am good with that too. What I am not "good with" is THE committeewoman. UGH.

So today was come decorate your tree day. You have to go to the social, hall where the gala takes place and do your tree there. Since all the trees must be delivered to the winning bidders there are rules to ensure the buyers will receive their purchase in reasonably good condition.
One of the "rules" to facilitate this goal is all objects must be wired to the trees. This is actually a good idea but it vastly increases the time commitment and it makes for very sore fingers.

So in addition to the committee women who check you in, escort you to your tree, advise which electrical outlets you can or cannot use, there is a room full of women clustered in their groups of those in charge of table settings, those in charge of the auction, those in charge of food and beverage, those in charge of the funds, those in charge of reserve bids, and so forth, there is also some who are in charge of the tree trimmers. Oh bother.

So once I got escorted to my assigned tree by a tree trimmers committeewoman I was sternly reminded about the wiring rule.
" No problem, I have wire and wire cutters and I agree with this precaution", I say with a smile. The response was,
" See that you do, this is for charity you know".

That comment did not exactly ruffle my scales but it also didn't sit too well with me. But what the scribble, I was just there to do my bit. I started unpacking boxes, plug in my tree then
zap ...no lights. I turn to find yet another committeewoman standing in a confrontational posture with the plug in her hand. Waving near my nose in fact.

" Did you plug in this tree ", she demanded
" Yes. I am Fishy the designer. I am about to start transforming this tree so having the lights on will help me with placements."
" Well I am on the circuits committee and we need to make sure there is not too much demand"
I am thinking, well fiddle woman, if this one tree is too much demand how the heck are you going to light them all for the gala? Instead of speaking my mind, I smile pleasantly and say,
" I think we are just fine, no circuits blew out when I plugged the tree in, no smoke, no fire, I think we are good".
" I have to do the plug-ins you know, this is for charity". Then with great ceremony she plugs in the tree exactly where and how it had been done a minute before. It was already clear I needed to focus on my tree business and not on what I was thinking she could do with her plug.

I barely get the first box of goodies wired onto the tree when along came a woman just bubbling over with self importance. She introduces herself as the committeewoman of all committeewomen and graciously asks if there is anything I could think of that would improve the experience. I tell her all is lovely and I am glad to be there doing my part, etc. Then I blow it because I mention I missed the music.
" What music?" the Cof C inquired.
" Last year there was Christmas music playing while we did the trees. I thought it helped get everyone in the mood for the activity and generally livened things up."
" Did you bring your Christmas Cd's and your portable Bose?"
" No"
" Well then you are not very prepared are you? I'll see what I can do but really you should just carry on with your tree".

Really? I was ready to carry me out the door.
Shortly thereafter wonderful music abounded and the CofC returned to my station to ask,
" Is this music satisfactory?"
" Yes, it is brilliant. Thanks very much".
" Well you tree trimmers are a demanding lot but after all, we must make the effort because this is for charity you know".

During the course of the day numerous little pods of committeewomen hovered about, mostly saying dreadful things about the other committeewomen or elaborating at length on every minute contribution they had/were making because of course, one suffers for " charity".

I tried hard to keep focused on my tree trimming and let all the other stuff roll on by. I did okay until the food and beverage committeewoman came visiting. She wanted to know if I and any other personnel from our business would be attending the thank you party for sponsors. I told her I had RSVP'd via e-mail the previous week and we were looking forward to the evening.
"Well, I did not ask you about when you RSVP'd, I am asking you now if you plan to be here?"
" Yes"
" How certain are you?"
" Reasonably"
" You understand we do not want to be providing refreshments for people who change their minds. This is for charity you know."
Maybe I should rethink that RSVP.

I went back to my tree only to be interrupted by yet another committeewoman. This one came to move the table all my trimmings, wires, wire cutters, glue guns, etc were occupying.

" We have to move this table," this committeewoman stated.
" I beg your pardon?"
" The table. We must move it now."
" Whatever for?", I asked.
" We are checking spacing for circulation once people are seated at the tables."

The gala is not until Saturday, today is Monday. They have us do the trees early for the public to preview the trees in print media, local broadcasts, the website and the online bidding sites.
None of which required the movement of tables on Monday.

"7 feet"
" What?"
"7 feet is the minimum space you will need between the tables. I will be glad to move this one, and chairs , into position once I am through with this tree. For the moment, I would be very grateful if you would continue to allow me to use this table."
Committeewoman went away to talk to another committeewoman to see if it would be okay for me to continue to use the table. I began to evaluate the potential of using a glue gun as a weapon.
Clearly I was getting cranky from spending so many hours surrounded by committeewomen.

While I was teetering on a ladder placing the tree topper here came yet another committeewoman leading one more. They came to check my tree. To make sure all trims were wired into place and that the theme on the tree matched the theme publicized. I came down the ladder and said,
" Hi Joan, it's nice to see you again".
" Who is that?" Joan said.
She was standing just inches away.
" It's Fishy."
" Fishy! I heard your name was on the list and hoped I would be here when you were doing your trimming."
" Are you well settled into your new townhouse? Did we do a good job for meeting your needs?"
"Oh yes indeed Fishy, it's just been wonderful and much easier than I had feared."
" I'm glad".
" Well onto business now Fishy we came to check your tree", said Joan.
" How exactly are you going to do that Joan?"

I asked because Joan is blind. As in legally blind from macular degeneration. As in blind to the point we designed her townhouse to help her navigate, to help her be able to function in her home when she was there alone. As in she sure as hell could not check this tree.

" Well", said Joan, " This year I am the Super Committeewoman and I must see that all the other committeewomen are meeting their obligations. It is hard on me for sure, but of course I must do this. it's for charity you know."