Anatomy of Deliciousness

Fig. 1 Cross-section of my Plum-Crumb Pie, alias My Favorite Pie In The Whole Entire World.

Stick your thumb in that, Jack Horner.

Song Of Summer

This poem is getting me going on this Monday morning. But just for the record, I would never squoosh a firefly. They are one bug I am not afraid to touch and as a result have never killed. Luckily for other bugs in my vicinity, my husband doesn't believe in insecticide and catches and releases them into the wild .

"Fireflies"

by Cecilia Woloch

And these are my vices:

impatience, bad temper, wine,

the more than occasional cigarette,

an almost unquenchable thirst to be kissed,

a hunger that isn't hunger

but something like fear, a staunching of dread

and a taste for bitter gossip

of those who've wronged me—for bitterness—

and flirting with strangers and saying sweetheart

to children whose names I don't even know

and driving too fast and not being Buddhist

enough to let insects live in my house

or those cute little toylike mice

whose soft grey bodies in sticky traps

I carry, lifeless, out to the trash

and that I sometimes prefer the company of a book

to a human being, and humming

and living inside my head

and how as a girl I trailed a slow-hipped aunt

at twilight across the lawn

and learned to catch fireflies in my hands,

to smear their sticky, still-pulsing flickering

onto my fingers and earlobes like jewels.

from Carpathia. © BOA Editions, Ltd., 2009.

Bringing New Life To Old Chairs

As I mentioned in my last post, Mr. SevPrez and I have been busy renovating our back room. We spend most of our time there, so we're really excited about all the changes taking place. It's a pretty big space, as far as our little house goes, and it has bothered me since we moved in. Actually, we almost didn't even look at our house when it was on the market because I hated the pictures of the wood-burning stove in this room so much. Luckily we stumbled across the house when searching for another home in the area, and realized it was definitely worth a look inside. Mr. SevPrez promised me that if I hated the stove, we could take it out once we moved in, but more on that later.

One of the cornerstones of this room redo is the reupholstery of two wingback chairs I inherited from my Grammy via my cousins in Brooklyn. These chairs are at least forty years old and have seen much, much better days. The cushions are shot, and the fabric and stuffing has been attacked by cats. I actually can't even believe we've had them out for people to look at and sit in, because they are really in shameful condition.

As anyone will tell you, reupholstery is not cheap, but since these chairs have both sentimental value and good bone structure, it was the right option for us. And let's face it, to find a really great comfy chair, wingback or otherwise, is going to put you back at least $600. So really, reupholstery ain't so bad.

The serious upside is that you get to chose the exact fabric you like -- no settling! And of course I fell in love with the most expensive fabric on the planet, as my upholsterer likes to keep reminding me. I looked though probably fifty fabric books at his shop and only found one sample that even came close to my vision. I am a bit of a princess-and-the-pea about design things once I have a vision, and I don't think he runs into that very often. I think he deals with a lot of old Italian ladies who like all the stuff in his books. I found Trina Turk for Schumacher Fabric online and realized, after much personal accounting, soul searching, and talks with my husband, that we had no choice but to go with the cool expensive fabric. When you're already spending several hundred to redo your chairs, you might as well go all the way. So, without further ado, here's fabric we chose.

(I'm sure it'll make more sense once I reveal the details of the rest of the room to you, but you're just going to have to wait with baited breath!)

Looking To August

A post to acknowledge how quiet the blog's been in July... Generally my goal is to post at least twice a week, but I have been falling far short of that this summer. A combination of being exhausted by computers, renovating part of my house (something I thought I would blog about, and still think I will), and feeling a bit under the weather. I resolve that I will get back on the horse in August. One post a week will be the goal. And they'll be good ones. I promise. So don't abandon ship!

Just Because I Like To Mix Things Up

It's the afternoon before a big summer holiday weekend.

You need something to amuse yourself and put your work worries behind you.

You are hoping maybe that if it must continue raining, Point Break will be on TNT this weekend.

You secretly love Keanu Reeves.

This slideshow and accompanying Kean-U-Meter is for you.

Happy 4th of July! Don't let the fireworks scare your pets.