The House of Good News

View of living and dining rooms from stairs

View from dining room

New walnut florring in kitchen

Rob and Andy 

Our contractor, Joel, calls our  Pine Street house the "House of Good News".  By this he means that the our renovation project has not hit the big bumps and problems that can typically slow down a project on such an old house (1901 construction).   As we get closer to our move in date of October, we are seeing the house come together.  With most of the structural and mechanical elements in place, we are moving into all of the fun topical stuff--walnut floors in the kitchen and family room are being installed, the bathrooms are being prepped for tile, the bedrooms have been primed, counter top material has been chosen, cabinetry design is nearly complete, etc.   All the wood trim throughout the house is now being treated to a thorough cleaning and re-staining.  It is a laborious job, but proof that almost anything can be fixed and brought back to life with the right equipment and skill.

A Day in Denver

I visited Granite Imports today to pick out a slab of cararra marble for our bathroom vanities.  After finding a very nice piece of marble, we were close enough to the Denver Botanic Gardens to pop in for a visit.  I have been meaning to pay them a visit since we got to Boulder two years ago, but after visiting the High Line garden in NYC and fell in love with Piet Oudolf's gardens there, I was more motivated than ever.  I want to consider a planting plan for our new back yard that is in the spirit of Oudolf's gardens--natural, a little chaotic, heavy on  perennials.  I purchased a membership so that I can visit the plants that I like in every season to see how they change and  are reborn.  His philosophy on planting is to choose plants that look good after their flowers have died away, picking plants for their structural and color relationships and emphasizing plant architecture over showy flowers.  So, with four boys in tow and 90+ degree heat, we walked through the many wonderful garden spaces.  The boys found one sprinkler to cool off in and I snapped many photos of gorgeous plants.  The best thing about doing research at a botanic center is that nearly every plant is well marked.  It will be a wonderful resource for future gardening endeavors.

Slipper Tub

My slipper tub for our master bath arrived.  I couldn't stop myself from climbing in and giving it a dry run.  It will be positioned in a similar location in the adjoining room, with the same view of the mountains.  Bliss!

Quinn in NYC

On the roof at the Met

5th Avenue statue

Quinn and Jonathan

The earrings

A belated birthday celebration

At Rag and Bone in NYC

Trying on clothes in the cold room at the Burton Store

Enjoying the perks of getting bumped up to seat 6A

On my recent trip to NYC, my traveling companion was my 7-year-old son, Quinn.  As anyone with more than one child knows, traveling with just one child is a wonderful treat, both for the parent and the child.  It was so successful, in fact, that I am tempted to start an annual tradition of taking one of the boys traveling with me.  For the first three days, before my sister and niece arrived, it was just Quinn and me.  On our second day in New York we traveled to Brooklyn by subway to see my friends Jonathan and Barbara and their kids.  Jonathan is an artist and he was selling his paintings at a street fair in Park Slope.  At the booth next to him,  a woman was selling jewelry.  While I was busy talking to Barbara and Jonathan, Quinn was sitting quietly counting the money in his wallet.  Then, a few minutes later, he asked me to come with him.  He brought me to the jewelry lady.  "I want to buy you something, Mom.  Do you like these earrings?" he asked.  Apparently, while I was busy talking, he had walked over to the jewelry booth and asked the woman if there was anything he could buy with $22. I was overwhelmed by the spirit of his thoughtfulness as well as his gumption. It was the beginning of a wonderful trip for us together.....

NYC in June

Janet and Alex

Quinn and Alexa

Alex and Lara

High Line

High Line

High Line

I just returned from 10 days in NYC.  I went with Quinn to see my mom, sister and niece.  My sister and niece live in Modena, Italy, and they were there to drop my niece off at a summer program at Taft.  It was a long awaited reunion with my sister and niece.  Without the full brood of kids--Cole and Carson were at a two week overnight camp in Colorado and Lara's son, Charlie, was in Italy with Max--it was a recipe for a very active visit.

My mom's apartment on East End Avenue is an oasis in the jungle of the city.  With its rooftop pool, courtyard gardens and gym, I felt spoiled and relaxed.  By day, we meandered around the city, crisscrossing the streets and neighborhoods of upper and lower Manhattan.  The highlight:  the High Line, a newish urban garden 30 feet above ground in the space that formerly occupied a 1930s freight railway line in Chelsea.  The amazing plantings were created by the brilliant landscaper Piet Oudolf.  I loved the juxtaposition of the naturalistic plantings against the intense urban buildings and grit.  Other things that I loved in NY:  the roof at the MET, the Ace Hotel lobby, a Brooklyn street fair, the Rag and Bone store on Mercer, Eataly, and just about anywhere in the meat packing district.  New York has changed so much since I as a student at Barnard College in the early 90s.  And I have changed too.  I am more observant and appreciative of what New York has to offer to the tourist and occasional visitor.   I am less critical of the crowds and noise and filth and disconnect from nature.  Perhaps it took moving to the quiet and small town of Boulder to help me correct the tension that I experienced on previous trips to New York, to help me accept and embrace a world that is 180 degrees away from what is now my home.