Cannondale-Georgian Dream

French Country

2011-08-14T02:00:00.002-04:00

We had such a fun, fun, fun weekend--and it isn't even Suday yet! My darling friend Chantal (she of the "out of the hood project" like myself) flew across the ocean from Paris, France to visit The Fahja-land. You know...America and me. Keep up. Her two kids and my two kids were just totes adorable together...as much as four teenagers, all of whom have siblings present can be adorable. They hoped to have an Amish sighting and were sorely disappointed not to see a single buggy or wagon. Chantal is now sure that I live a rich fantasy life in which I am married to Charles Ingalls and fancy myself as pretty as Diane Lane in Lonesome Dove. In order to prove my sanity I handily produced an Amish Family Experience by visiting the King's farm across the street...introductions were made, photos taken, reputations restored and affirmations blogged.

2011-08-06T15:14:00.002-04:00

We went to Ocean City, MD because that is what we do.

Stone Wall in Snow

2011-01-30T17:25:00.002-05:00

Let's face it, when you have an 189 year old stone wall in front of your house, it's always a photo opportunity. Its like having Kate Moss for a subject...ya just can't shoot from a bad angle. Add in some snow; picturesque, heavy snow, and there's your blog post.

Christmas from Grandpa

2010-12-22T16:03:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCorI2Ytws4

Liv opening her present from Grandpa. Ugg Boots! Wow what a super great Grandpa

StoneWall BreakThrough ExtraGanza

2010-10-18T15:09:00.002-04:00

The stone wall is no longer going to be covered up. It is actually being uncovered.

Fireplace (almost) Famous

2010-06-29T21:13:00.004-04:00

Can you guys almost see the similarities in these two pictures? The first is a multi-million dollar home in California and one is in the countryside of Chester County, Pennsylvania. It's like they're twin homes torn apart by a jealous relative. Right? OK, maybe not but I personally was struck by the blatant rip off.

Pennsylvania Grand Canyon

2010-06-21T15:57:00.002-04:00

We went to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania this weekend and had a great time! Our friends own a mountain cabin and generously invited us. Here is a picture of their house on top of Rattler Mountain in Tioga County, PA.

Olivia and Her Hopewell School Awards Triumph

2010-06-14T17:34:00.004-04:00

Daughter Olivia is just finishing her school year as a 6th grader. She rocked it. Totally. I mean she owns that 6th Grade.
At the Awards Ceremony she received lots of awards but the reality is that she won the two most important ones. She was chosen as the Best Overall Student in The Academically Talented Program and she won the Math Olympiad. That means she got the highest score in math. Out of everyone in the 6th grade. Everyone. Even the boys. She goes to the public school, that means there's like a million kids in that 6th grade, not 23. A million.

Stone Wall Rehab and Facelift

2010-06-10T22:43:00.000-04:00

So I'm thinking it's been a long time I've been hating on my stone wall out front.
A stonewall-hater, really? Yes, they exist in rural Chester County, PA, and I am one of them. My particular stone wall is covered in cement and chipping, filthy white paint. Sacrilege. It has been seven years and ten months that I have been forced to live right behind this... this... this...abomination. No, I didn't do it. Shut up. The vandalism occurred before I bought the house. I actually bought the house this way, that's right, wheeled the wheelbarrow of money to the closing table with the stone wall in that condition. Genius. If you're faint of heart where stone wall are concerned, avert your eyes....

O jeez, YOU LOOKED! OK so now you at least have some idea of the scope of pain I've been suffering these past 7/10.

But seriously, how cool would it be if there was a real place, not a make-believe place, where rock piles sprung from nearby woods? If only the Universe would send me a sign.....something to let me know what direction to go...anything at all will do. HOLD ON, WAIT FOR IT... Is this a sign?

YES! It is. It is a sign. Unfortunately not a sign for rocks, for that I had to drive three towns over to find a rock pile sprung from (not nearby) woods. Oh yeah, now that is a rock pile.

If only I had some minions to throw the rocks into the truck.....check it out, minions! One minion even has her work shirt on already. It actually say "rockin' out" on the actual work uniform, uh, I mean T-shirt. I take that to be yet another sign from The Universe saying "it's time to move the rocks out of the pile and into the truck for our Mommy Overlord."

Three trips, much gasoline, sweat, more sweat, filth, and smashed fingers later....

There's a respectable pile of rocks not stacked in front of the offending stone wall.

It's a start on the most massive cover-up since Watergate.

Texas and Kansas Inspirations

2010-06-09T13:11:00.000-04:00

Wow, such wonderful and intense bloggedy blog girlies out there! How much do I enjoy checking in with Joni at Cote de Texas every day? She is my reason for living anymore (OK, one of my many reasons). She inspired me to clean my floors yestersay. She inspired me to make the call and claim the craigs list swivel club chairs--a mere 75 miles and two states away. I have fallen back in love with my house again. And that my friends is due to Joni.

Oh and of course Rechelle over at My sisters farmhouse keeps me rolling. So funny and yet so serious. How does she balance the two? Not well sometimes but she suffers for her art and we reap the joy of her journey. Sometimes you plant a tree and sometimes the tree plants you, right Rechelle?

The Egg or the Potato?

2009-11-14T17:46:00.000-05:00

I FEEL LIKE CHICKEN TONIGHT...CHICKEN TONIGHT...CHICKEN TONIGHT

How do you thank a chicken? I mean besides not cooking her for dinner. They get themselves into the cutest little predicaments and scream "take the picture now!" Like say maybe she's in the clay pot ruining pansies....

Maybe she and her best girlfriend are on the window ledge passing time just ruining a window box...

Or maybe she just laid an egg the size of a potato and lived to eat out of the dog's dish another day.

Miss Henny Penny you're all that!

The Vineyard

2009-11-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

Am I really that person who knows there's got to be another destination on the annual vacation other than Ocean City MD? Hey, it's been working for 45 years...why the big rush into some vast unknown? I could learn something very new, thus forfeiting a cherished and all too familiar sweatpants feel of a night strolling the boards...

Is every vacation meant to be me trying to get the fantastic action shot of either Liv or Francis enjoying Trimper's Rides to the fullest?

Or maybe I was meant for more sophisticated surroundings...surely if it's good enough fro Barack and Michelle, I should fit right in.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD

OK, SO THIS IS THE REALLY CLASSY EXPENSIVE PART, we didn't stay there but...we did stay on island--as opposed to off island. Here is our darling little cottage.

Oh so just kidding! I actually forgot to take a picture of our charming little cottage except for the window.

So this is how; with the help of a friend, I finally broke the bonds of Ocean City, MD

THANK YOU DONNA!

2009-10-14T14:02:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Henny Penny is taking a dirt bath in a pot that should have some lovely pansies in it but instead she's probably trying to lay an egg in it.

The cutting garden is full bloom. It's mostly cosmos and some other orange flower which I forgot I even planted. I did have sunflowers but they're all gone now.

OK, I give up. How do you delete a pictue after it's been posted?

2009-09-12T22:18:00.001-04:00

But Why Can't I Live in a Stone House?

2009-09-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

I don't know the exact day or year even when I became this person with superior taste. Only a house made of stone will make me truly happy. Big and grand as it is, Cannondale is only a lowly brick house. The stone foundation, stone steps and stone wall out front are only a reminder of what I don't have. A stone house.

More About That Dining Room

2009-09-12T21:37:00.000-04:00

The floors have been stained and polyed. I've moved the farm table forom the kitchen to the dining room and put a mishmash of dining chairs around it. Happily painted the mantel black (thanks Donna!).

Olivia Conquers Broadway

2009-03-13T14:19:00.000-04:00

My daughter Olivia is an absolute star. Here she is with her tall friend Morgan (Witch #3). Olivia performed the part of Witch #2 with an unbelievable amount of believability in The Elk Ridge School production of Macbeth. The talent and dedication she and the entire cast put forth were truly admirable. Well Done All!

2009-03-10T10:20:00.000-04:00

The dining room in fabulous Cannondale has two personalities. The first and most domineering side of him (her) is regal and commands respect. "I have a corner fireplace, my ceiling is 10 feet and am in possession of two large sash windows" Now the flip side to that two-faced little witch...floors are an unholy mess and what floors there are--are sloped at an alarming angle. It faces north and the wind howls fierce and shakes the windows. And sunlight, there's not enough.

So in an effort to tame this shrewish side of Cannondale's Dining Room, I've commissioned floor boards from the repurposed lumber of the Oxford Water Authority Covered Bridge plained and sanded. I had Rueben and Levi fit the boards. Now apparently its up to me to sand and refinish.
Here are some before and after photos. Good luck figuring which is which!

2009-03-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

So I've painted the library with Farrow and Ball Pavillion Gray and used Hardwick White for the trim and fireplace, still not sure what color the bookcases will be....

2009-03-09T22:45:00.000-04:00

Working on the library.

Finally Done (sorta) Painting

2008-11-03T00:07:00.001-05:00

So now I have my own Big Green Monster!

Gettysburg Grey

2008-10-06T21:02:00.000-04:00

After many long and agonizing indecisive months I have finally chosen a color to paint the Fabulous Cannondale. The color chosen is Benjamin Moore's Gettysburgh Grey. I have a few pictures that I am happy to share with both of you readers out there on the Blogeshpere.

Mow Better Now

2008-04-20T19:07:00.000-04:00

RECIPE FOR ABSOLUTE FRUSTRATION:

Buy an acre and a half on a hilly, slopey damn lot, add 187 year old house, stir in a limited budget, fold in a not-so-handy husband and that my friends is the recipe for an overgrown lawn.

As luck would have it it, our saviour neighbor is God on earth and fixed our riding mower and now spousal unit is actually mowing the lawn.

It's the little things...

A New Cutting Garden

2008-04-08T21:35:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I broke the news to spousal unit that I wanted make a cutting garden (read: you dig holes, make fence and let me spend 200 bucks). So guess what he says? Yeah really, he says "well that's what we're out here for"-- Boom, I finessed my neighbor Andre (hardest working man on my block) to bringing his tractor over and tilling the grass up for me. Then continued perfecting my finessing abilities by making unit dig fence post holes (it is NOT a cutting garden without a picket fence around it!) and tonight we kept up digging holes--lots of holes for a 12' x 18' garden I know. Anyhoodle poodle, I need to figure the easist plants that will grow and not make me work too hard. So far so good on that front.

Garden craps out --I'll bury dog in it.

I will buy a new camera, God is my judge!

It's Medication Time

2008-03-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

Whoa! Can't even believe what happened last night on the HGTV DREAM HOME GIVEAWAY? I only wish I could have been at the bar with Lauren Lake after a couple of Appletinis! That alleged "winner" and I use that term loosely gave me the "willys". She was so weird, all those ticks and folded arm body language. She choked out her thank you and left it at that. Boy oh boy the show I would put on if they'd knocked on my door and handed the million-dollar house-keys to me. "Where's the jet? LET'S GO LAUREN!! We're going to FLORIDA right now! Richard Branson, one jet please and yes you may stay overnight in my dream house, and bring a guest! JUST GET ME AND MY NEW BEST FRIEND LAUREN LAKE to FLORIDA and into my new Dream House nowsa!
Why her? Why not me?

Hello Again, Rumors of my Demise have been Greatly....

2008-03-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

Well, you know the rest...exaggerated. My only, and it is an incredibly lame excuse, is that my digital camera is broken. I can say that I've really missed sharing my thoughts with all the nice bloggers who've been supportive with so little asked in exchange.

So no new pictures but here is something you haven't seen yet--my bathroom, it's back and white!

I would love to show pics of the new trampoline we got the kids...of my new soapstone woodstove that absolutely saved our bank account this winter...and my two new mantels, one in my office and the other on my bedroom fireplace--just too gorgeous. There's so much!! I'm buying a new camera today!! Thank you for helping me make that decision! You guys ROCK!

2007-11-02T12:19:00.000-04:00

Hello Ladies of the Club!

I'm busy with my job lately

and busy supervising my neighbor boys who are scraping and painting the Cannondale front door surround and front windows.

I'm also trying volunteer more at the kids' schools--Book Fair and Halloween Party--oh yeah and not miss my daily excersize...

and reading a super-fantastic book: "The Virgin's Lover" by Phillipa Gregory. It's historical fiction about Queen Elizabeth, highly readable, cannot recommend enough!

Hey Ann! Some chesse with that wine?

I'm fine. Lost more weight, my doctor thinks I'm her best diet patient ever. I'm crazy happy about this turn of events.

Is everybody enjoying my bullets? I couldn't be more proud.

I really am going to try to find a Russel Crowe picture and put it up on this post. His new movie "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington is opening today! Liam and I are going to see it this weekend for sure.Anyone go see "3:10 to YUMA" it was Russel's last movie and was fabulous! Take your husbands to it--you owe them one after all those chick-flicks they sat though...Fingers crossed for this picture post.....

I suck at this, it's taken me one hour to get this done.

Me, me, me

2007-10-24T21:03:00.000-04:00

Great news--lost five pounds at my weigh in, things are coming along fine.

But more importantly--I have found out that the Amish man who made my gorge kitchen island will plain some wide-width floorboards for my dining room! He won't have them available until after Christmas but that's fine because I won't have the dough 'til then anyway!

This picture is of my dog Scruffy--he's got flaws--basically he's the reason why we have to pull up the carpet and put down hardwoods in the dining room!!!

Chug, Chug, Chugging Along...

2007-10-23T13:02:00.000-04:00

I notice, quite interestingly, that my one post about me going on a doctor prescribed diet had zero comments. Since everyone is soooo interested...I've lost eleven pounds so far and have not cheated once. I'm really doing well with my exercise too. My darling friend Tracy took me on a
4-plus mile walk last Friday at the Ridley Creek State Park. She's fit and energetic and refers to it as "our little walk"---I saw it more as a death march! Yowsa, was I sore! Seriously folks though, I'm so glad she kicked me in the but I do think she could have warned me and I could have at least "powdered up" for the ordeal. I have to admit that two hours of uninterrupted chat time in a scenic, shaded park while getting the fitness benefits was heavenly! Now my 1.4 mile walk around my block seems like not such a big deal and don't ever put it off or skip it. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to check in and see if I've lost anymore--wish me luck.

Football Game

2007-10-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

Well my son's first big game "under the lights" was played last night. But not by him. He was on the sidelines, not one play did that coach put him in. He broke his arm for that team and they won't put him in for one play in the last home game? Am I allowed to be outraged? On the good news side of things, we received his standadized testing results and it turns out he's a genius boy! We're taking him out to dinner Friday night--his choice, and then to a sports store for a weight bench.

There's not enough Welbutrin on the internet to make my anger go away.

Low Key Day with my Boy

2007-10-16T14:26:00.000-04:00

Another gorgeous day. I want to amend an earlier statement--I said the walk around my block is just under a mile...incorrect...it's actually 1.4 miles! Ha, look at me exercising like my life depends on it.

My 12 year-old son, Francis is home sick with a very sore throat today. I only hope that he feels well enough to go to school tomorrow. He is on the football team at his middle school and has been practicing since July. He broke his arm during an August practice--continued to run drills with the team, cast and all. He now finally has the cast been off --over three weeks--- and the coach FINALLY gave him his pads and helmet. Wednesday is the big game "under the lights" and if that coach doesn't let my kid on the field tomorrow night--there's gonna be trouble in Dodge City!

I cannot abide it when adults treat children as if their dreams and passions don't exist. I will always listen to my children and when they have a true passion for something--encourage it and allow them to explore it.

Nice Weather for a Walk

2007-10-15T14:29:00.000-04:00

So what do I enjoy most about my home? Is it the $5.00 bouquet of flowers from the Amish roadside stands, or the green fields with majestic draft horses grazing after a long day's work? At harvest time especially, the wagons rumble past my front door, eight mules being driven by a fourteen year old boy. He's taking the corn to fill the silo. He waves and smiles always, and if it's a neighbor I know well--maybe Beniel or Daniel , they'll stop and ask how I am today and aren't I enjoying this fine weather too? That's always so sweet to have a team of eight mules hauling two wagons pulled to a dead stop to find out if you're having a nice day--isn't it? Actually it's rather ego lifting if I'm being completely honest with you! Don't forget the black and white Holsteins curled up in a cozy bunch on my side yard. I say Hi! to "the girls" when I step outside to throw the crusts from my daughter's peanut butter sandwich to my little hens...so many things to love and how lucky I was to find this home.

Amish Barn Raising

2007-10-09T20:01:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad you're all getting a kick out of my rural Amish community. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who appreciates them, I know now that's simply not true. There was a barn-raising around the corner from me this summer. I'm so glad I had the presence of mind to snap a few pics! Enjoy.

Ann

Olivia

2007-10-09T19:54:00.000-04:00

I could not begin to explain how special my daughter Olivia is to me. She's sweet, smart, kind and can play soccer better than Beckham!

More About My Walk

2007-10-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

Trying so hard to get these pictures just right...The shot of a little white shed is of my Amish neighbor's 17 year old daughter on the telephone. The other is a list of prices of mums written on a piece of cardboard and a tiny little box to put the money in if by chance you would like to buy a mum. I think the clouds one is pretty clear, and the horses one are trotters who are trained by my neighbor around the corner--he's not Amish, English as the Amish call us. In the background of that shot is my house.

A Morning Walk Around My Block

2007-10-09T10:02:00.000-04:00

The word is out, I'm on the mother of all diets prescribed by my doctor so I have to start exercising. Luckily I have this gorgeous block to walk around, it's just under one mile and has a few steep inclines, so I think it's a good start for now. I brought my camera with me and really want to share what I saw today--hope the pictures post OK....

New Gate

2007-10-09T09:56:00.000-04:00

Hi All and Good Morning

Here's a picture of my new gate my darling husband built over this past weekend. The hardworking hens are named Kay Kay and Flapper.

My Needs and Wants

2007-10-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

Can't a sister get a French Confit Jar? I see them in The English Home (you know the drill ladies, bow your hread and avert your eyes in reverence to the magazine) all the time and some of those homeowners have like, ten of them all lined up in their kitchen! Where's mine? I look everywhere and can't find one to call my own. D'ya guys ever see them at those yardsales you're always at? I told my husband I have a blog now, think he'll put 2 and 2 together?

Ann

2007-10-08T20:10:00.000-04:00

You all waited so patiently through the heat of the day and the trials of a Monday and still no picture of the new gate on my chicken run. Sorry. Like Aurora in Terms of Endearment said to her feisty neighbor "boys who are hasty sometimes get no dessert!" So patience:)
I've got bigger news...I saw my doctor today and she started me on a new weight loss program. I won't bore everybody with the horrid details, needless to type, it was a long time 'acoming.
Wish me luck and when its all done (as if) maybe I'll be a better housekeeper.

Ann

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight!

2007-10-07T20:24:00.000-04:00

Well it was a nice weekend, winding down now...So no global warming, huh? You should have been in Southeastern PA today, it reached near 90 this afternoon. My husband put a gate on our little chicken run this weekend, he made the gate himself. This by the way is a very big a accomplishment for a man who works in an office. I'll take a picture of the chickens and their new gate and tomorrow. Try to contain your excitement 'til then...
Another project I did this weekend was to repair my homemade hassock/coffee table/thingy-ma-bobber. I've been seeing them in my beloved English Home Magazine (please bow your head and avert your eyes in reverence to the magazine) for a good five years now. They are just so claaaaassy looking. I ordered the legs from a catalog and the casters too and just got the fabric at a fabric store in Delaware. I'm looking for a picture to share with you guys.

Batting at Clean Up

2007-10-05T12:49:00.000-04:00

I seem to be thinking about how to make my house really nice and original but have this huge problem--how to keep it clean? How many hours a week--day? does anyone of you spend cleaning? Also when it's a work in progress it's tough to keep the dust at a minimum. Oh yeah and don't forget the 186 years of use built up. No, I'm not complaining, a little maybe but... So did I tell everybody that I invented toile? That's right. I had it in my dining room in Chevy Chase about 10 years ago. I've yet to see a dime in residual payments. I'm sure the check is in the mail. I'll just sit and wait patiently for the mailman and not clean anything.

Kitchen Story

2007-10-04T23:13:00.001-04:00

Oh boy, I've had two comments. Who'd a thunk I'd be such a smashing success in such a short amount of time? I really want to pretty-up this blog but can't figure out how to--I'm working on it. Meanwhile here are a few more pictures of my kitchen. The construction remodel was done by my Amish neighbor, Christian Fisher. He took down a wall between the kitchen and family room to make one big kitchen. I bought some old oak barn beams from The Barnyard Boys in Lancaster and those are what hold up the house since that wall that "had" to come down was actually quite important to the structure. I brought in a picture from my The English Home magazine of a Chalon kitchen island to another Amish guy (furniture maker) and he copied it exactly. Oh man, is it perfect, and the price was unbelievably inexpensive. I actually ordered it through an Amish middle-man at the farm market in town, but, get this, just three days ago I found the carpenter's actual workshop--and the prices were even more fantastic.

Catching On...Kind of...

2007-10-04T14:31:00.000-04:00

OK, figured out how to add some pictures. Look out all you readers (both of you) big thanks to Cindy for posting a comment. I'm going to clean my house for sure, you ladies clean homes are very inspiring, but have noticed everyones trick of taking tight, close-up shots. Is that the way to banish the dust bunnies from the public eye? Isn't amazing what will show up in a photo? Like for instance the electric cords from lamps, etc.? They look so yucky in photos and yet I don't even notice them in real life. Oh boy, I just figured out how to use the spellcheck. So fun.

Day Two: The English Home

2007-10-04T11:56:00.000-04:00

I've been telling anyone who will listen about the magazine called The English Home. It is my reason for getting out of bed. Google it and than order it. The inspiration it gives is remarkable. There are no ads for SUVs or bladder control medication or yeast infection cures. It is pure decorating. Gorgeous homes in England are featured, pages and pages of stunning photos. So as you see on my photo, I have an old georgian style brick farmhouse, it's 186 years old and looks every last day of it. It's a blessing and a curse. Some friends just shake their head and others are so in love with it and shower me with compliments. But the bottom line is its a lot of work and a lot of cashola keeping that baby heated and kept up. Which brings us back to The English Home, just when I'm about to stick a For Sale sign in the front yard, a new issue arrives and I fall back in love with my house.

Whoooaaa Look at Me on the Internets

2007-10-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hi Everybody,

I love decorating and want to share my ideas and failures--many decorating failures--hey, at least I opened the can of paint. But mostly I want feedback and ideas and lots of propping up. Needed lots of that lately. My house is old, old, old. Which is why we bought it-my husband and I. It's in the middle of Amish country in Chester County. PA and is just fantastic. The countryside is beautiful and as I sit and write this, my Amish neighbor is mowing the field, which is basically my backyard, with two mules. I have two youngisher kids and they're great. A 12 year old boy who broke his arm first season of tackle football and a 9 year old daughter who is officially perfect. Who is that child's mother? OK, I'm posting to see what happens. I hope I remember by passwords and all that crap. Please be kind, I know I'm going to get better at this and make it worth your while. Peace.