I'm liking it here, but uff da! Enough with the moving!! If it weren't for my grandson Sam, his mom my daughter Sally, my friend Marteal's son, Julian, my neighbor Barbara, my housemate Donna, and my longtime companion and inseparable coworker, Cathy, I'd still be up a creek. They all worked long and hard. Julian came after work one night and hauled many boxes down to the main floor so Sam et al. didn't have to do it the following day after their 5 hour drive from NJ: "You and my mom and your books!!" he puffed. Ah, but there's nothing like those teenage athletes (Sam, lacrosse; Julian, football)! The legs! The backs! The biceps!! The lungs!!
I ate my hot dogs tonight speared on a chopstick because my entire set of stainless steel flatware disappeared, along with my second-level corkscrew (numero uno vanished almost immediately), and the five remaining pieces (salad plates) of my parents' first set of dishes. Ah well. My Irish friend Andrew always says you can't be attached to your possessions when you live in a city. I agree.
Anyway. It's very comfy in this apt, although there is not much furniture at the mo: seating for five (six if you count the hassock), bed for one, a highboy (or, as they call it east of here, "chesterdraws"), and a desk that I bought for $20 on the sidewalk in front of the stationery store on Connecticut Ave at its going-out-of-business sale at least 10 years ago. We've had lots more furniture than that over the years, but as I get older, it's just easier to give furniture away than to move it. It can be replaced by visits to the fabulous local yard sales throughout the summer.
So now it's nest rebuilding time again. It's also book sorting time for the first time ever. Categorizing. Alphabetizing within categories, etc. It's slow going--I keep stopping to READ!
*Wikipedia says Takoma DC is "also Takoma Park." Don't THINK so! The longtime Takoma DC residents in this building are very clear that Takoma Park is across the street!
Happy new home!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnother move? A rolling stone gathers no moss, or so they say.
ReplyDeleteAre you planning to stay in this location for more that ten minutes?
I was amused by your mention of "chesterdraws". My DIL calls this piece of furniture a "Dresser" but I always call it a "Chest of Drawers" and every time I say it she falls about laughing her head off.
ME--Good show on the move. I'm happy to see that you go with the flow! As to furniture with drawers: If it is low, probably with a mirror above the flat surface, I call it a dresser. Most "dressers" of the past 40 or 50 years have been double or triple - meaning that there are two or three stacks of drawers. If it is tall, I call it a chest of drawers - mostly comprising full-width drawers, but may have a section that splits into two stacks of drawers or shuttered bins.
ReplyDeleteCop Car
You are so funny Mary Ellen (I am still laughing over 'chesterdrawers' because I have heard that regional accent.)
ReplyDeleteAmazing that you can keep your sense of humor after a move. I hope I never have to go through that ordeal again, but know it's probably coming down the pike when I can no longer live alone.
Putting photos of keys on the internet is NOT a good idea! Bad boys could cut copies from the photos and then break into your place. Take the photo down, Mary Ellen, having it unfocussed is not enough :-(
ReplyDeleteKay: Thanks...it is!!
ReplyDeleteShammy: I'm staying put...unless I win the lottery. Then I'm going to the S. of France as fast as aeronotics can take me! If I win enough, I'll send you a ticket so you can visit!
Cop Car: I'd call it a dresser, but people who know their furniture would call it a chest of drawers.
Darlene: It's "chesterdraws," not "chesterdrawERs." That's how they spell it on the "for sale" signs for yard sales on the Eastern Shore.
Stu: Calma...it's just very kind and touching of you to watch out for my safety. The only key pattern visible in the photo is the key to the back yard, where we lock our bicycles against the fence. And there is NO ENTRANCE into the building from the back yard. You have to go all the way around to the front and pose for the security camera. Just behind that key is the key to the laundry room, which is never locked anyway cuz the sill is out of whack. None of the really bad boys in DC have time to fiddle around making keys from internet photos. They are too busy legislating--a much easier way to steal us all blind than ripping off our bikes.
Sounds like Takoma is a good place! Home of vegetarians still? Hope Grandma and Grandpa's dishes show up yet. Glad you're back on the blog!
ReplyDeleteThe D.N.
DN: many vegetarians, many carnivores, many omnivores....Mark's Kitchen, a restaurant on main street, is a place where vegetarians never have to feel sorry for themselves. The food is fabulous, and my favorite waiter is from Minneapolis!!
ReplyDeleteLatest news flash: Twins have arrived.... doubled my grandchild count in one fell swoop! WOOHOO!!!!! I'm a happy Nana.
ReplyDeleteGreat! I'm always interested in good veggie restaurants, even though I'm still not a full-fledged vegtn. Another reason for a visit. The D.N.
ReplyDeleteShammy: Hooray! Congratulations, Grandma!! What lovely, adorable children! Emma and Max. Love the names!
ReplyDeleteDN: I tried going vegetarian for a number of years, and felt good mostly. But I realized I needed to eat meat at least once a week. Liver, especially. Go figure. My recent favorite meal is simply onions, cabbage, and potatoes with butter. yum!
Now you've made me hungry for onions, cabbage, potatoes... and liver. When I was growing up in upstate NY, the family would go out for dinner to Scarcella's diner south of the town we lived in, and my dad and I invariable ordered John Scarcella's liver and onions. Several years after I had moved away to California, I came back for a visit and stopped by the diner for lunch on my own. Old John didn't recognize me (it had been years) until I ordered liver and onions. "You're that Harrington boy, aintcha?"
ReplyDeleteLiver and bacon is good, too, but only for very special occasions.
Sherwood: How sweet to be remembered!! When I was growing up, liver and bacon was what we always had. Liver and onions came later--after I was married, my husband and I followed Adele Davis for a while. I still prefer it. Onions, cabbage, and potatoes with a good knob of butter is a separate dish, the king of dinners. Now that I'm old, I can eat what I want, and there's nothing better. The cabbage from the farmers market here are small and hard as bocce balls, but they're sweet and tender when boiled. If I don't have carrots, I just mix in some red cabbage for color.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on surviving the move!
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with you people? It's a "chestadrawers."