Tender Loving Care

Every little detail, here Chris presses in the waterproofing cloth

Wide view of waterproofing cloth, to be painted black.

Our initials (M+C) just before being covered with the cloth

Covered with a heating blanket! To warm for next day's work

Another First - (Successful) Pump Concrete Pour

Next will be the removal of the form...

Before and after combo of a section

 
My artwork, the scoring of the concrete

Ooze, the concrete makes a sound through the pipe like waves hitting the beach

 
Close-up of my wiring together of rebar for the form

Ground level view of the form filled

 
Overhead view of successful pour

Pipes and rebar in the form

 

The rebar I measured, cut and wired together looked like train tracks

Always Loved a Good Puzzle

Currently we are building a water feature downtown, a long water trough that will have a bubbler and two weirs. It's hard to explain so anyone interested please return for the update photos. Yesterday's take: a view of our form, the long piece to the left, as it takes shape; a close-up of the circular area where the bubbler will sit; a sliver off a 2x4, even concrete wants exact.

Maintenance Bug-a-boo

I wanted to post photos of our new project, an amazing water feature at a downtown residence, at the the exact time that photo uploads are down for maintenance...
Come back tomorrow if you dare, ha ha ha ha ha

At Nineteen...

Nineteen years ago today I was married. It almost doesn't feel real, not kidding when I say that I never thought it possible. Sure I wrote our names in notebooks with every guy I had a crush on as a kid, but after childhood, nope.
Fact is, Chris and I were talking, years ago, about life and such when I told him I never expected to receive a proposal and was okay with that, I don't remember him having any particular reaction to my words. A while later he left the room, came back, got down on one knee, presented a ring and asked me to marry him.
We have been up, down, straight around, here and there. We have had better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health. I love my husband!

Yes, I had very short hair.

Lion King!

To date this has been the most satisfying job in my new career, just great fun to be part of this transformation and witness the joy in a client's eyes. Not only did we get the fountain working, and filled with LED light, we repaired and dug in the existing lights of the courtyard. When we went for an evening visit, a final check, before their party we walked into an enchanted scene and really happy clients!

To see the water play the day is a touch better, top, but oh my look at the night!
They had not planted flowers in front of the fountain yet, that was supposed to happen the next day, but here is a wider view which shows some of the light play!

Not Lying it's a Lion

I hope I will get a great photo of the finished product, here is the process... We have restored a lion fountain in a cozy courtyard that is so European it could only be in New York! The main feature of course is this lion head, here he is a a sad, dingy, broken fountain; resting up on a cat bed at our house where i gave him and his basin a couple coats of paint; waiting on site to be hung back up; up and running with water!

Potpourri

Speaking of the sublime

to the

ridiculous...

Lana falls in love with another, smaller box; an apartment building staircase that is large enough for living and a driver who, not believing the wide turn side, acted it out on a New York street corner!

Lovely New York - A Fine Place to Work

Does it get any more wonderful than this? These are just two examples of the amazing nature I get to see and work around every day!

Then of course there is lunch... 

this one, Central Park on a beautiful day. I make lunch, usually cheese, bread, olives, popcorn and hot sweet tea.

And when we are working the views are rarely disappointing...

Morning Glory!

At the last gardening class the teacher gave us a packet of Morning Glory seeds, we had to use it as part of the final exam. I have NO outdoor space of my own but I really wanted to germinate the seeds, so I did - hilarious when the moist paper towel in a plastic bag went very suddenly from flat to about an inch high. Well who could kill little germinated seeds, not me, I planted them in a pot and my oh my did they start to grow by leaps and bounds. I got to see the cotyledons or seed leaves pop up to help with photosynthesis (left) until the true leaves grew. I got a fluorescent light to help out and saw inches of growth each day and now have stems and leaves growing up a paper trellis we fashioned in the kitchen window (right). Don't know about watching paint dry but it is fun to watch a (fast growing ) plant grow!

Showing Off

So here is the deck before and after my power washing. How lucky am, I edited Pulitzer Prize winners and I did this, very cool in my book!

Power Play

Talk about satisfaction, oh my goodness, this is cleaning heaven! It is just a part of two decks in a backyard that I am power washing. I thought about very little, loved just doing each inch, watching it transform. It is not to say that I have not loved being a journalist, especially working with the best images and most talented photographers in the world, it's just that this is like a second chance to see what makes me tick and I am so grateful for it.
I still have the second deck and the brick work to finish up tomorrow, I will post comparison shots if they work out.

New Life

Finishing up the 'quiet season' for the irrigation business, which has been anything but quiet for me. It was the first time to love my life without a news obsession or deadlines, without a worry about what would await me after the couple short weeks of a vacation. I have been quiet by myself, loud with friends, took an very intense gardening class, complete with homework, quizzes and a final exam and I have cared for my house plants within a inch of their lives! I worked 9 hours today, helping to clean and organize a large workroom as well as help design and fabricate unique drain covers to will help a senior residence in Queens avoid future flooding of the classrooms. I have found that beside for working with photographs and people I love to work with my hands, really work. Here, the sun shining through a new leaf (so appropriate) on my Alocasia Polly.

Not Snow Nice

As blizzards go, the first (hopefully the last) of 2010 in New York City is nasty. The snow is heavy and wet and grey almost the moment it lands. I got a couple of nice moments this afternoon but they are the exception. Almost as distressing as the snow was the news coverage but I am not going to get into a rant against it, we have had enough opinions!

My Latest

I have never liked following recipes or patterns, paints are messy and my apartment is too small for a potter's wheel, so freehand needlepoint is how I satisfy my passion for creating and color. I start with a blank canvas and a box of thread, working as pleases me. It still has to be stretched and framed but here is the latest work, finished last evening, and a detail.

Life as mine

This quiet time in the seasonal work is the first time in my life that I have time off without counting when I have to go back to the office. So I have been doing life, just life, housekeeping, bookkeeping, socializing, watching movies and doing my needlepoint. Actually it sometimes feels like I am doing all the others so I can get to the needlepoint. I work without a pattern so it is me at any given moment, the colors and shapes I am in the mood for, I love it!
As a journalist, trained in the objective style, I kept my opinions to myself but now I can express some and attend events or rallies that I wish to support. My first foray was a rally in support of my community, Stuyvesant Town, which a couple years ago was sold to a greedy real estate firm who has now run off broke, after doing significant damage. We, the tenants, are working to see that the next owners, if it can't be us, be at least someone who understands that the real value of the place is it's middle-class-ness. We all hope that Sen. Chuck Schumer attended because he really will be backing us, not just for the news coverage. I enjoyed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, left, interact with the people because she makes eye contact and is still genuine (I hope).

Switzerland 2010

This trip to Switzerland was one of the most special ever. On one hand it was somewhat melancholy because it was the first since the passing of my wonderful mother-in-law, Elisabeth. On the other hand it was the first (in more than 20 years of visits) without a journalism job to be on call for, or to return to, wow!
We spent time in Bern, visited Ascona in the south (snow for the first time in a long time) and spent a couple days at a spa in Vals. We had great food, time with family, wonderful conversations, laughs, quiet times and breathtaking scenery. I had moments of glorious comfort, feelings of freedom, and some moments of panic, which quiet meditation soothed. Though it all was a feeling of gratitude, an awareness that fear can be replaced with peace by being in the present moment.

A dog named Tim

Timu is a big dog, even the dog loving Swiss give him a wide berth, with a heart of gold. His story is sad. My sister-in-law met Tim several years ago when she and Tim's human mom would walk their dogs. Tim's mom was stricken with a brain timor and died a short time later. My sister-in-law told the overwhelmed family that she would help take cate of him so she takes him for walks and company/love on a regular basis. The really sad part for me is that Tim's human dad does not think dog should be in the home so Tim lives in a dog house in the yard, year round. He is a healthy dog but darn, living outside all the time. My husband and I take Timu and or Lisa (my sister-in-laws wonderful dog) for hours-long walks when we are visiting but it is always hard to say goodbye and this year it was heartbreaking when we took him home and he didn't want to leave the car to go back into the yard! The family is thinking of finding a good farm home for Tim this coming year and while I would miss him, I am praying that he finds a place where he can be the energy-packed, cat chasing, barking, sweetheart that he is, with folks to hug him regularly.