Casa Decrepit
Small Progress
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- Published on Saturday, 18 May 2013
Authors: ayse
So, I meant to post this on Monday, but a medical emergency interfered. I had a stroke. I was lucky enough to have this stroke while in the emergency room at a stroke care center, damage was minimal (I lost my balance), I was released today, and I'm expected to make a full recovery. So good news, but kind of a derailment of lots of...
Garden Report: May 12
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- Published on Sunday, 12 May 2013
Authors: ayse
The last time they came, the gardeners worked on the Fern Walk (which I should rename or at least think of some other way since it is not working out the way I originally planned, but that is another story).
This is what they had to start with:
What you can't really see is a massive Bermuda grass infestation right by where I'm standing...
Baby Bees
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- Published on Saturday, 11 May 2013
Authors: ayse
Today I went into both new hives for a full inspection. I'd like to not disturb them too much while they're still getting established, but I wanted to see a couple things: first, that the queens were both alive and laying, and second, that the bees were accepting and cleaning up the dirty equipment I gave them.
On the first concern,...
A Brief Midweek Update
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- Published on Thursday, 09 May 2013
Authors: ayse
Because tonight Noel finished the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom.
YAY!
There's still a lot of fireblocking to install around the perimeter, and Noel wants to get back to the wainscoating work. ...
Victorian Wooden Houses in Turkey
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- Published on Monday, 06 May 2013
Authors: ayse
I'm not going to bore you with an exhaustive recounting of our trip to Turkey (if you'd like to see a larger set of photos, including tourist things, I have some up on Flickr), but I thought this blog's readership might be interested in traditional wooden Turkish houses.
Most of the existing, surviving wooden houses in Istanbul are...
Garden Report: May 1
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- Published on Thursday, 02 May 2013
Authors: ayse
So while we were away, the garden kind of exploded.
The smaller side of the front garden is hip-deep in poppies and, amusingly, sweet peas. They seeded themselves here and it's just kind of funny how they are growing all over the California poppies.
The back is just as insane. This used to be a path. And, well, a lemon tree. Can you see...
Ceiling by the Inch
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- Published on Monday, 29 April 2013
Authors: ayse
Noel did some work on the upstairs bathroom ceiling today. This after we had a brief discussion of him mowing the lawn -- it's knee high on even tall people now -- and were dissuaded by angry bees. They calmed down quite a bit later in the day but any lawn work was out of the question and probably should be for a few days. They've had...
Travel and Cancer and Bees and So On
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- Published on Sunday, 28 April 2013
Authors: ayse
So this week we got back from two weeks in Turkey. We visited my paternal family, saw a lot of interesting things (we're kind of suckers for ruins, as you might have guessed), and brought home about 100 lbs of books, since for some reason books in Turkish are hard to find in the US. Photos from the trip later when I have time to sort...
Crimes Against Victorians, San Francisco Edition
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- Published on Sunday, 21 April 2013
Authors: ayse
Our last Crimes Against Victorians post (seven years ago!) was about Alameda, but the bad behaviour is not limited to one city, by any means.
On our walk around San Francisco the other day, we saw some stellar examples of the bad things that can happen to a house when nobody gives a crap.
This colour blocking style is super popular in...
Some Other Italianates
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- Published on Sunday, 14 April 2013
Authors: ayse
The other day Noel and I took a walk around a neighborhood near Cathedral Hill in San Francisco, looking at other examples of Italianates (and other Victorians).
What we were looking for (well, apart from a little house-gawping which is fun on its own) were original facade treatments. We've been talking about doing some major work on...
