Thursday, July 05, 2007

Four New Things

New Baby

As I said before, I'm an auntie again!

My niece is tiny and pink and waves her fists in the air while making gurgly sounds. Quite lovely, as babies often are.

But probably a bit more lovely than the average baby, I think....

She also came into the world after only (not to diminish the actual work involved) forty-five minutes of labour. My sister-in-law almost didn't make it to the hospital in time. When I mentioned this at work, my co-worker gushed, "Now doesn't THAT make YOU want to have a baby!?"

Well, in a word, NO! I'm sure 45 minutes can still seem a VERY long time....

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New Chair

I may not want to have a baby, but I did want to have this chair.

Circa 1910. Victorian-style channel-back armchair. Reupholstered in the 1940's.

I pounced upon it in an impulsive fashion while browsing in an antique shop this weekend in Victoria. It's amazing what one can stuff in the back seat of one's car if one is motivated.






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New House
As in the new one that Tai is renting and moving into in a couple of weeks. It's gorgeous. Really.
I'm experiencing pangs of friendly, happy jealousy. I especially love the wooden floors, high ceilings, the stained-glass windows, and the little built-in details like spice cupboards and china hutches. The house was built right around the same time as my newly-acquired chair, but has just been extensively renovated.
(Later, I spent a happy evening on the MLS real-estate pages pretending I was shopping for a character home in Victoria, but I couldn't find anything this nice that was under three-quarters of a million or so.)
The yard needs some work, but after a morning making sure Tai had her very own Weed Pile of Doom with the clippers I'd brought from home, my friend and I wandered around a garden center (one of my favourite things to do) and made plans....















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New Window
...at the daycare where I work. We had to have it replaced after the Lawn Mower Man sent a rock pinging like a bullet all the way across the playground and sent it into our tall glass door where it shattered top to bottom into a spider-web like mess of cracks.
Thank goodness for safety glass (and that we don't let kids outside when the gardener is there). We could hear the door crackling for the next half hour as the cracks got bigger and bigger.
The rock that hit it? Smaller than my little fingernail!
Me and the children were very impressed.

10 comments:

kimber said...

Baby = beeeeeeeeeutiful!

House = gorgeous! gorgeous! goooooooorgeous!

Rock = holy crap-o-rama! Duck and cover, kiddies!

Hermes said...

Holy crap! Look at all the stairs! What have I signed up for? Beautiful baby. Definitely greater than average.

Pol* said...

GREEEAAAAT post!
baby is pretty adorable, and I am having pangs of jealousy at the short labour, I hope the mommy is doing okay with the sleep deprived aftermath?
House is SO COOL! My sis and I were saying if it weren't for huusbands and kids we would love to own a tiny character home with an intimate little garden, both with loads of treasures in the craftsmanship and details.
Beware the lawn mower!
My sister's new house was barely a few months old when the same thing happened to her kitchen window. It didn't go through both panes though, so they picked out the glass and it is a single pane window until the feel like replacing it. Terrible.

BostonPobble said...

I'm sure the baby is WONDERFUL! And the smartest, cutest, strongest baby ever. How do I know this? Because I'm an aunt and all mine are the exact same way! ;)

And I'd'a wrastled you for that chair!

Crazy Me said...

I love that house. It's beautiful! And the baby is too, of course!

Big Brother said...

Hello, came over from Tai's blog, curious about the lady with the clippers. Really beautiful baby, but 45 minutes of labour. Tell your sister in law to never get stuck in traffic whilst pregnant.;o)

Mz.Elle said...

I am SO jealous(in the nicest possible way) of that house!
Tai,you are one lucky girl. I hope you enjoy it forever!

Your neice is SO sweet.
I love your find too,great chair!

Anonymous said...

I want that house! I grew up in one built c. 1910 (Dad did some reno, but kept the wood floors, the deep sills, and the claw-foot bathtub), and for another while was in one built 1905 (by a man who sold woodworking machinery so he got some good deals on work done: the surrounding houses had oak trim, ours had mahoganey with a beet stain! Original beveled glass windows! 3 fireplaces! etc!)
LJ

Anonymous said...

I feel left out... :-(

Jo said...

What a beautiful baby your niece is!!! Omigosh. Beautiful chair too! I want one.

I just saw the picture of Tai's house on her blog. Beautiful house!!

You guys are all having the times of your lives :-)