No Christmas For Betsy

In the spirit of Christmas......

I'm going to write about flowers!!!!!

Just like last year, 

and the year before.....

THIS IS A NO CHRISTMAS ZONE!!!!

Under the RULE OF BETSY....

we don't need no stinkin' holiday.

Just as in years past,

NONE OF MY FRIENDS HAVE ANY TIME FOR ME!

Thank goodness I have saved a bunch of "normal" shows on my DVR, 

so at least I have something to watch while all my Christian friends are involved with their Christmassy stuff.

Since my great nephew, Leo, is only 7 1/2 months old, 

I didn't buy him anything for Hanukkah, as he is too young to remember what I got him,

 so what's the point?

I have a truly generous spirit.

As you may have been figuring out.....

this is not my favorite time of year.

Now, let's get to the flowers.

As I wrote in my last post, since I haven't been blogging very much, I have a backlog of photos that are out of time with the season, as I took them this past summer and fall.

So,

today,

I am going to write about using REAL flowers in my house!!!!!

I know!

I know!

I am the queen of the good fake flower!!!!!

I love good fakes.

In the image below is a shot of a bouquet in my living room in Massachusetts.

With good fake flowers!!!!!

BUT

this past late summer,

when I was trying to grill on my outdoor grill,

and I was having a hard time getting to it through the jungle of my hosta and hydrangea tree....

(My grill is just to the right in the picture below.

You can see the corner sticking out from the side.)

I had to step around the blossoms and the leaves to get to the stuff on the grill.

All those flowers were in the way.

I had an epiphany!!!!!

You know what you can do with flowers that are in the way?????

That's right class!!!!!

Cut them!

But leave the good ones, 

don't cut too much.....

So,

that's what I did, and I ended up with a bouquet of real flowers.

I arranged them on my kitchen counter just like a country gentlewoman would.

Here's a close up of my excess blooms that I assassinated 'cuz they was in my way.

Then,

I got so giddy,

I took a lot of close ups.

Now, 

as I've mentioned before,

the reason I like fakes is because they don't start dropping blossoms and pollen and end up sitting in stinky water.

So,

before even a week was up,

these flowers started dropping blossoms and pollen, and the water turned stinky.

So,

I threw them all out,

and......

that's the end of my story.

So,

for those of you who are caught up in the madness that is this time of year.

Slow down,

enjoy the season,

and have a happy holiday.

Tonight I am having dinner at my brother's for a family Hanukkah celebration.

I plan on getting dressed up.

I washed my sweat pants!!!!

On that note,

Latah, Gatah

Shopping For Antique Lighting

I have a new computer!!!!!

Isn't it pretty?????

After I calmed down about how different my new Surface Pro 3 computer was, I realized that it wasn't so bad, and it would satisfy my needs after all.

I don't use it the way it is meant to be used.....

I have  a big monitor that I attach it to, and it works great for fabric design.

The solution was to connect my Intuos touch pad to it, and draw on that instead of the glass of the Surface Pro screen.

The main point, is that it is light enough to carry back and forth to Flerida without needing some strapping young dude to sling my carry-on into the overhead bins on the plane.

I want to sling my own stuff, thank you very much.......

I've been going over my files of photographs that have accumulated since I stopped blogging so much.

There's a ton of material, so you guys are going to be seeing things from the summer that I never got around to sharing with the class.

My buddy and bidness partner, Kris, needed to find some sconces for her front porch.

We couldn't find any new ones that we liked, so we went to the Yankee Craftsman in Wayland Massachusetts to hunt for something that would satisfy our very particular tastes.

They have barns of old stuff just waiting for some sucker one with discerning taste to come along and pluck them out of the dust and have them refurbished into a wonderful piece of lighting.

There are buildings all over that are just full of stuff!!!!!

Everywhere you look, more structures with old things!!!!!

We didn't get a chance to see what was behind the doors in the barn below, and we wanted to.....

I mean...

don't you just wonder what they're hiding?????

Well, 

the main barn is just chock full, so I took lots of pictures for you guys to ogle all the dusty dirty treasures.

This is where you can hunt around, and choose something that the restoration geniuses will fix up, clean up, and wire for anyone with a large enough bank account!

 I loved this chandelier, but we gots no more places for no hanging lights, no more.

A virtual cornucopia of glass and crystal chandeliers.

Tons of table lamps.

Check this girl out....

she has no shame!

'Course if I had a bod like that, I'd pose for a lamp statuette too......

Do you think she's sucking in her stomach?????

(OK Betsy, get you mind back on lighting.....)

I found this glass lamp that I fell in love with,

BUT I HAD NO PLACE FOR IT!!!!!

Cleaned up it would be perfect for a dressing table.

They had some wonderful hanging lanterns,

but we didn't need no stinkin' lanterns.....

Then I stumbled upon this wall of cool rings.

They looked like crowns from the side.

(If you had a really really really big head....)

They will all eventually be made into chandeliers.

Soooooo.....

after screwing around for a while, not focusing on what we were supposed to be doing.

Just looking at all the neat stuff....

Kris and I got down to the serious business of finding a pair of old carriage lamps to bracket her front door.

We found this pair, but they were too big.

Then we got distracted by more chandeliers....

I loved this one that's all metal rings.

One of the owners was in the back part of the barn and came out to see if we needed any help. Next thing that happened was that the three of us ended up spending around 1/2 hour chatting about all the cool things that could be made from the various parts that were strewn around the place.

I mean, don't you just want this?????

He's making it into a fabulous hanging light for some university or library or restaurant or something or other, I can't remember, it was this past summer that we were there.

He told us that in the front barn there were a pair of carriage lamps that he thought would be what we wanted, so we agreed to meat him up there.
On the way we got distracted.
They had a couple of miniature horses that required some of my time.

The horse didn't know that it required some of my time, 

so I needed to convince explain it to him.

or her.....

Finally she (or he) deigned to accept some grass from my hands.

Then Kris pulled me away to get back to work
Then Kris and I entered the front barn, where we found this pair of carriage lights that were the perfect style and scale.

They were old and beat up, just like us.

Kris and I discussed with the restorer how we wanted them refurbished, and I must say they did a really nice job.

We had them installed on either side of her front door, and they looked truly handsome.

So that's it for stories about Kris's front porch, until the spring, when we will add the finishing touches.

On that note,

Latah, Gatah

Porch Furniture for Kris

I don't know if you guys can remember back a while, but I was telling you about my buddy Kris's front porch redo.

We had gotten this far......

Here's a before and after to help your feeble minds recall the project from the beginning.

We still have to add the dark green shutters, and re-roof.....and do the sides of the house.....

but at least we got the furniture!!!!!

I helped Kris with the floorplan, putting a sofa in front of the windows on the left side with a chair perpendicular to create a seating group.

The chair had to be a small one, as there wasn't much depth to the porch, so I chose the dining chair as apposed to the lounging chair in this Lloyd Flounders collection, called Nantucket.

We still need to find a bench to place in front of the sofa that will serve as a coffee table.

It can also work as an ottoman if you put a toss pillow on it.

That's what I do with mine in Flerida.

On the other side of the porch, we placed 3 rocking chairs.

Kris didn't want 4, as she felt that her house would look like a nursing home.

(She is getting on in years.....)

She found two pairs of lily pad nesting tables that she will put between the rockers in the spring.

I didn't take a picture of them, so I grabbed this image off the World Wide Web so you guys would know what I was going on about.....

I had found a pair the year before last for next to my napping reading chair, and I love them.

There is a level for the newspapers, and a level for my iPad.....

Kris and I didn't want to use wicker tables, as we like to mix up our materials. She found this table online and we felt it would be the perfect size next to the sofa.

Next spring, we will decide what to do with the top.

We like beat up, but it may need a leetle help.

Kris found this iron bunny several years ago and has been storing it in her basement special storage area for when the porch was done.

It's her attack bunny.

Any body coming to the house with harm in their hearts, may end up tripping over it.

(So, if you have harm in your hearts, you'll be attacked by a hart!!!!!)

At the other end of the sofa we placed this wonderful 3 tiered plant stand that will do double duty.

It will hold plants.....

AND IT WILL HOLD DRINKS!!!!!

It's a plant stand....

no it's a drink table....

No It's Both!!!!!

Kris has a condition which causes unknown and unusual objects to follow her home.

They just mysteriously appear in her basement.

The little stand below did just that.

But don't worry, we will find a place to use it.

I swear, every time I go down to her cellar, there's new stuff.

Her go to answer is "What do you mean????? I've had that for years!!!!!"

She must think that I'm as gullible as her husband.

Well, 

I'm not!!!!!

I'm a very accomplished decorator with amazing powers of observation!!!!!

Anyway...

where was I????

Oh, yeah, decorating Kris's porch.

We chose fabric that resembled French grain sacks, but is an all weather material.

And very comfy.

This is a hugely important detail, as my very qualified decorating @$$ plans on spending tons of time on these cushions.

Kris's sister's dog agrees.

He's too cute for just on picture, so here's another...., 

Sooooooo.....

Now that there's snow on the ground, I felt it was time to finish up writing about her porch.

On that note,

Later, Gator