Improving the Manse

 Hello Dear Ones,

While this is not of interest to everyone, I'm posting it for my own record. That is what a "log" is all about. A blog is a "web-log" or a log on the web. The original "log" was a ship's log, where the captain kept account of the hour by hour and day by day weather and ship happenings. So, this is a log of my observations.

I am sharing today a picture of some of the improvements around here. Last week I spray painted this wrought iron scroll  a color called "Modern Mint" from Krylon and finally placed it on the outside wall of the house.  The nails cannot be removed or lowered because they were inserted into the plaster and the concrete when the house was built in 1960. I will have to have some special nails, a drill and some safety glasses before I put any more nails in. (Unless I'm "not allowed" due to danger).

As you know, the house is not my own, but I like to quote Kate in "The Quiet Man": "The house may belong to m'brother, but what's in it belongs to me."  Remove all these embellishments and it would be a bleak house.

These metal scrolls will also be suitable as shutters,(one of my readers commented that shutters would look good on this place) should I happen to locate another one like this.

After seeing this picture I am considering a much larger one. It hardly shows up from the road. But would not it be nice to have them around each window!

I also painted this metal lantern post with the Modern Mint. I keep a solar light in it.

At 5 a.m. the daylight is just emerging and it is misty.

This old wall candelabra got a coat of Modern Mint, too, and I painted that old nail (that won't come out, because it is inserted in a concrete wall) white:

It makes for a much more refined look.

 I asked Mr. S. to fix the screen door because the latch stopped working, due to the fact that the house is made of concrete, which wears out the latches.  Mr. S. found the only thing that worked:

When not in use, it hangs decorously on the coat rack. On a positive note, at least it is a color that goes with.

While I would like it all to be Pinterest-perfect, you'll just have to understand when you come to visit me that it will be a mix of duct-tape (in white, of course), bricks to hold the floor down in the corners,bungee chords (do they come in pastels?) and tea cups.  I think the tea set takes the edge off the roughness:

You never know when HL will re-create this sort of thing and make a status symbol of all those tweaky things we do in an old house! When I go there I say, "Look, Pa, we used to have one of those back on the homestead, and we DIDN'T WANT IT!"  Now it is all sentimental and very attractive, especially if its at Hobb Lobb!

 Mr. S. has an absorbing hobby: yard work.  On his day off, or in the evening and early mornings, he does not want to go anywhere. He wants to clean up something instead. He is always cutting and trimming, digging, pulling grass and weeds, tying up vines to the trellis, mowing, and moving the sprinkler.  

A few years ago a wedding coordinator left a metal arbor with us, as she didn't want it anymore. I used it for various things and decided it no longer suited, so I put it on the side of the road. Over the years many people have taken my old things and come to the door to thank me, but with this thing, there were no takers. Mr. S. used it for the grapevines and what a nice idea it was. The grapes took to it like they had found their home. The arbor is so flimsy, it is the grape vines that are holding it up, not vice-versa.

We were visiting on Sunday with his brother and wife, and talking about how fast the time of life seems to have gone. How did that happen?  One thing for sure, is, it is not our fault! Let's just be really NICE old people and not the difficult ones!  I'm sure that habit begins at a young age, and then multiplies as we get older. I alluded to that in a post I have somewhere around here, addressed to the young.