It was a spectacular day, and while i did retreat into my nerd-hole to setup my new PC we did get out for a little while to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.
Not far from the homestead is George Bush Park. It’s actually a very nice space. There’s even an airport for R/C aircraft and you can see some cool planes flying around.
Cynthia and I decided that it was a good day for feeding ducks.
The bar area between the kitchen and the main living area was lacking something….BAR STOOLS!
Over the years we have casually shopped for them. You can easily spend $250-$400 a piece for nice ones at The Billiard Factory or some other specialty furniture store.
We finally decided to buy some plain ones from the unfinished furniture store down the road.
Cynthia figured she could paint them to match the color scheme and make some custom cushions.
They came out very nice!
As those who know me can attest, I am not lacking for many good meals in my life. I don’t measure my relationship with Cynthia in years so much as I measure it in pounds.
Besides being an awesome cook, she is also a pretty mean seamstress.
Combine that with her odd sense of humor and quirky aesthetic and the results are quite astonishing.
I live my new sushi shirt!
I call it Lounge-wear for the 21st Century….
Here’s some close-up shots to show the detail of the fabric and the buttons…
In our main living area of our home there is this triangular shaped section of wall above the bar. It’s pretty high up and has always been something Cynthia wanted to decorate in some fashion or another. At one time we had hung some pictures but you really can’t see them way up there. We had hunted for a larger picture but never could find anything suitable.
Years passed and Cynthia eventually decided to make a colorful quilt to hang in that spot. Over the last few months Cynthia started to put one together and completed it last week. It’s almost entirely made from fabric scraps she had laying around and I think her total cost out of pocket for the project was $8 for some dowel rods and the batting.
We were going to hang it last weekend before we discovered that the ladder we owned was not tall enough to reach the spot where the nails had to be placed to hang the darn thing.
This weekend I was able to borrow a suitable ladder and up it went. I think it looks pretty awesome.
One of the luxuries we afford ourselves in our home is having good art professionally framed.
We have a frame shop we use that is owned and run by a wonderful married couple from the UK.
It’s not cheap but it’s always worth it as they are very good at assiting us with choosing just the right matting and frame for our art.
We went to our framers today to see about having a mirror created for the master bathroom.
To our delight the pictures I gave Cynthia for her birthday that we dropped off last weekend were ready!
We were not expecting them until next weekend.
As you can see, they came out very nice.
Cynthia’s *mumbledy-mumbledy* birthday is coming up in November.
I wanted to get her something nice and started planning at the beginning of October.
I decided to commission a couple of original illustrations from my friend Minnie in Bombay, India.
She does some very lovely work and I am a huge fan. I gave her a basic outline of what I wanted which was a frog getting dressed and ready in the morning and a giraffe reading a book in a library or book store.
We e-mailed back and forth and she sent me some sketches for approval.
We hashed it out and the final product arrived in the mail today.
Sam Suspenders
© MMV, Minnie Sukthankar/womaninthemoon.org
Grayson Giraffe
© MMV, Minnie Sukthankar/womaninthemoon.org
Sam is 5×5 and Grayson is 5.5×10. They are both getting professionally framed and Sam goes in the “Toad Commode” while Grayson will take his place in the Dining Room of Giraffes.
Cynthia’s face literally lit up when she saw the art pieces.
Cynthia poses proudly with the new addition to the giraffe room.
The sculpture was made by Cynthia and is the reason there is a giraffe room in our house in the first place.
Thanks, Minn! Cynthia loves them both!
Cynthia and the hummingbird, originally uploaded by The Bald Heretic.
We sat quietly amongst the hummers and I got this GREAT shot.
Ren Faire rapidly approaches.
My band is playing again this year.
Four shows a day for 8 weekends!
Over the last few years Cynthia has taken to replicating the band in puppet form and putting on shows while we play. Each puppet character is hand made with a hand sewn costume.
This is her from last year with a puppet of herself holding a miniature puppet of me.
This year she has added to her puppet arsenal many supporting characters including members of Istanpitta. EJ the Piper, a devil, an angel and many more on their way. Sometimes, late at night, I can hear them skittering across the hardwood floors laughing and laughing…
