Christmas Decor 2009

These photos are from a private home that I have been doing with a friend for about 8-9 years now; except for last year, when they had a plumbing leak and the dining room ceiling caved in. We finished this job in three days (sometimes, it takes four). My daughter cannot believe that there is a house that takes as long as the Governor's mansion to decorate!! I made this arrangement around the Florentine angel this morning. Fresh holly, fir, ribbon and cording.

The chandelier in the breakfast room; fresh greenery, incorporating faux pepper berry garland, and hung with gingerbread ornaments made for the owner's children when they were babies.

A small white tree, hung with hand-blown sugared fruit ornaments and tiny glass balls.


The grandfather clock in the kitchen, with faux garland and pepper berries.


A detail of the ribbon used in the living room (mantel).

The foyer; main stair railings festooned with faux garland, dried red hydrangeas, exquisite silk ribbon embroidered with holly leaves and berries and three gilded acorns on the newel.

The living room; a china/book cabinet topped with a Florentine gilded angel, faux garland and magnolia leaves.

A detail of the tree. Approximately 2000 lights and 300 Christopher Radko hand-blown glass ornaments.


The tree, nestled in the curve of the main staircase.


The grandfather clock in the foyer.


The gilt mirror in the dining room; hung with four Italian angels, faux garland and gold ribbon (which was later changed to raspberry red silk cording).


The china cabinet in the breakfast room.


The living room mantel; faux garland sharing space with two Chinese horse statues and gilt pears.


A better photo of the Florentine angel in the living room.


The owner's study.

Believe it or not, this is not all we do for that home. We also garland the stairs leading down to the lower floor and a mantel in the den downstairs, do three wreaths for exterior doors, one wreath for indoors, a second tree in the dining room with all sterling silver ornaments, light 2 outdoor topiaries, garland an outdoor terrace railing with fresh greens, a lamp post, a tiny tree for the lower level and a table decoration for the terrace! See why it takes three days?

Street Gangs.....

in Helena, Montana

Observations on Maturing ..... It's harder to tell navy from black. Everything old is new again, but if you wore it before, you're too old to wear it the second time around. Your kids are becoming you...and your grandchildren are perfect. Yellow becomes the big color...walls...hair...teeth. Going out is good. Coming home is better. When people say you look "Great"...they add "for your age." When you needed the discount you had to pay full price. . . Now you get discounts on everything...movies...hotels...flights. You forget names...but it's OK because other people forgot they even knew you. The last 2 outfits you wore had spots on them. You ask your husband or friend how your outfit looks and they tell you the truth. The five pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds. You realize you're never going to be really good at anything... especially golf. Your husband is counting on you to remember things you don't remember. (because he can't either) The things you cared to do, you don't care to do, but you care that you don't care to do them anymore. Your husband sleeps better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring then he does in bed. It's called his "pre-sleep." Remember when your mother said "Wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident"? Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident. You used to say, "I hope my kids GET married. Now, "I hope they STAY married!" The best place to have a conversation with your husband is in the bathroom...you have his full attention. Who wants to wear 3" heels anyway? You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch. When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem were unheard of and a mouse was something that made you climb on a table. You use more 4 letter words..."what?"..."when?" Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere. Your husband has a night out with the guys but he's home by 9:00 P.M... You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it before. Notice everything they sell in stores is sleeveless. Many of the people in People Magazine you've never heard of. Your concealer doesn't conceal. Your lipstick bleeds. Your mascara clumps and your eyebrows are disappearing. You don't have hair under your arms and very little on your legs but your chin needs to be plucked daily. What used to be freckles are now liver spots. Everybody whispers. Now that your husband has retired ... you'd give anything if he'd find a job.. You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet....2 of which you will never wear. But old is good in some things:...old songs...old movies... best of all: OLD FRIENDS

What to write?
Where to start?

I've no ideas or plans tonight.
Let's see what happens, shall we?

The day started with a haircut for me; one sadly needed, since I had begun to resemble a Q-tip. I persuaded mr. kenju to go with me so he wouldn't have to spend the day by himself. I'll be working tomorrow and Wednesday, and likely be gone all day. After my haircut, we went to Penney's, the Post Office, Costco, Trader Joe's, the gas station, two banks, Chick-Fil-A for lunch, then he got a haircut* too, (different place) and on to the pharmacy for yet another prescription.

* Mr. kenju was blessed with good thick hair, but as it grows, it gets curlier and curlier. Because I've been working so much, he hasn't been able to get out for a haircut. I told him this morning he looked like "Luigi" who just landed off the boat from the old country! Luigi and the Q-tip really needed haircuts today!

Getting into and out of the car all those times made my hip hurt. I don't usually like leather seats in the car, since they burn me up in summer and freeze me in winter. But now I'm beginning to see the beauty in being able to slide in and out instead of dragging my (increasingly large) butt over the velour upholstery.

Remember when I ranted about the digital conversion fiasco? On Thanksgiving I asked my son to take my TV out of the garage and put it upstairs in my office. It is a newer and better TV and I was hoping that it would get more channels than the old one did (with the digital converter box). Today I finally removed 4 years worth of dust and grime, plugged it in and did a new scan. I now get two more channels, (bringing the total to six) although still not the one I want - WTVD (ABC). I'm trying to be grateful for small advances. The next move is to get a cable splitter and more cable and hook this TV up to that. I'm fearful that it might make for difficulty in keeping my computer connection, but I won't know if I don't try. I can always switch it back.

I love my cats, but one of them is driving me nuts. She constantly sticks her paw into the water bowl, knocks it about until some or all of the water spills and laps the water off the floor. She does this even when the bowl is clean and freshly filled. I don't understand why. I surmised that she may have cataracts and the only way she can test if there is water in the bowl is to stick her paw in it, but that doesn't really make sense. I am at my wits end. The hallway off the kitchen where I keep their food and water is also home to their litter pan. They track clay litter into the wet spots that are always on the floor and it leaves an icky residue that I have to mop everyday. I've looked for heavy, flat-sided bowls that wouldn't tip easily, but I haven't found any. The other idea I had was to get a wide board and glue the water and food bowls to it so it can't be tipped over. That would make cleaning and refilling a pain, but at least the floor wouldn't always look so bad. What would your solution be?

When Farmers Get Bored

Which one do you like best?

Quote of Note + a Confession

Man can be the most affectionate and altruistic of creatures, yet he's potentially more vicious than any other. He is the only one who can be persuaded to hate millions of his own kind whom he has never seen and to kill as many as he can lay his hands on in the name of his tribe or his God.

Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and author (1903-1998)

***

I'm bone tired. I have worked nine out of the last ten days straight and it is finally getting to me. I have to admit that such constant labor is too much for my body. I used to work long, hard hours like this and after a night's sleep, I could get right back to work the next day and be like a new person. That's not happening as well as it used to. The problem is that I still want to do it. I want to be able to do the arrangements, the bows and wreaths and whatever else is asked of me and do an excellent job; one that will make me proud and my employers happy. I suppose I'm going to have to cut back on the hours next year, and it kills me to say that.
Anyone know where I can buy a dose of stamina?

The Rest of the Decor Pix

This one and below: close-ups of two of the arrangements I made at the Mansion.

Below: one of a pair of arrangements made by Rhonda, that flank the grand staircase in the foyer. It is so hard to get a good, color-true photo here. The large ball in t he arrangement is lime green, but here it looks silver.

Below: The dining room mantel; done by Rhonda this year. Some of the other women studded fruit with cloves, which are displayed in silver bowls and trays on the mantel and throughout the dining room.

Below: part of the dining room table decor; it was a group effort this year. Mel made the tree with fruit in it, both Rhonda and I each made some of the arrangements with fruit and glittered ornaments.

I made this arrangement.

I made this dried hydrangea topiary and sprayed it gold. It sits in a gorgeous silver urn and is surrounded by a mirrored mosaic wreath.

There were four of Mel's seashell wreaths hanging on the windows in the library.

This is the children's tree on the sun porch in the Mansion. It is decorated with ornaments made by NC schoolchildren. Below this photo is a close-up of some of the ornaments.

I had to show you this lovely hinge I kept looking at every day. It was on the doors to the kitchen, and although someone needs to remove the paint and go at it with some brass polish, I think it is one of the best things there. It was probably original to the Mansion; which was completed in 1891. It is too bad that builders and hardware manufacturers don't pay that much attention to detail any more.

Rhonda made a pair of these sprays to hang on double doors leading from public to private areas of the Mansion.



The top third of the tree in the Ladies' Parlour. It has an angel this year instead of bows. She's a little crooked, but no one minds, since she is so pretty.



This is the bottom third of the Ladies' tree; replete with beautifully wrapped gift boxes (unfortunately empty!)

The Governor has invited the decorating crew to a small party at the Mansion on the 13th. I will try to get some outdoor photos at that time, as well as some more indoor ones from better perspectives than these.