Under a Blue Moon

   

We had our annual Halloween Soiree last night.  I must say it was an exceptional party.  *I* had a fabulous time, anyway – and by the looks of things so did everyone else.

The very, very, VERY best part of the night was a surprise guest.  My sister Trish has a passel of kids that travel with a pack of their friends and when an unknown, masked partyer showed up with them we didn't think much of it. 

Except WHO was it?  The person appeared short and I assumed it was my niece Emily.  But I was assured it was not.  Then I figured it was just one of their friends, again – assured it was not.  It was suggested I hug this person.  So I hugged Edvard Munch's scream and it was a little more substantial than my niece Emily (who must weigh about 95 lbs. soaking wet). 

I went in for a second hug (dearly hoping it wasn't some mortified friend of my nephew Scott's) and felt a tell-tale braid.

It was my sister Mary from Wisconsin!  Secretly flown in and a surprise to everyone except my sister Trish. 

 

The night was just fun fun fun.  Lots of food, drink and laughing.  Great sound track courtesy my sister Kate. 

I'm the one in all the cheesy MySpace poses above (no. 2, 4, and 19) if anyone wants to know what I look like.  We even had one of the Vice Presidential candidates show up, with a rolled pumpkin cake (won't tell you if that swayed my vote or not).

This is just the most fun party.  Everyone is so clever with their costumes.  And I am stuffed full of tootsie rolls and jalapeno poppers.  The one day of the year I allow myself to eat them

 

I'm procrastinating on the mantel so for now we'll just stick to the outdoors. 

Rick made me this pyramid trellis a few years ago.  Before we ever put our house on the market I am going to have to dig up the jasmine and hide the whole thing so potential buyers don't think it comes with the house.

My favorite part is the glass doorknob at the top.   That door knob came from our house in Los Altos. 

 

So, yeah, deck is still blue.  It didn't magically turn grey/green overnight.  Maybe over winter.

It is supposed to be 85 degrees F. today.  Where is our Fall weather?  I need changing colors and sweater temperatures. 

I will eventually get back to the mantel.  It's just not cooperating the way I want it to.

   

Mario Testino for Vogue Magazine

You must click on the above photo to see it larger.  Actually what you must do is go buy the November US Vogue magazine and see the entire photoshoot of Natalia Vodianova and her family by Mario Testino.

I just love that picture.  So enchanting.  The man in the picture is the husband of the model.  He reminds me a little of the Wine Maker.  I think it is the hat.  Sara, we must buy the Wine Maker some stripey pajamas so he can serve you your morning tea properly.  And you must lounge about in your peach silk nightie (maybe ditch the matching Converse).

What I really covet, other than a pajama clad butler, is the bed.  Even without all the moss and other flora.   What I wouldn't give to have that in one of our guest rooms. 

 

First I need to convey the acreage that is our back deck.  Oh it seems all nice and intimate and a normal size until you have to sand and stain it.  Then it gets humongous.

Here's Belle, supervising the project.  I tried to convince Rick that the managerial role was mine but, yeah, that didn't pan out.  So Belle's in charge.

 

The above shot is from the back corner – what little glimpse of the house you see is the dining room (where I am right now!).  The deck is 1200 sf if I haven't mentioned that eighty-seven times already.  Our last house was 1140 sf. 

So this is before sanding.  The picture below gives you an idea of how far-reaching that 1200sf deck is.  There is a big, main area on the left where we normally have our big outdoor table.  In front of the big picture windows is a six foot wide area that connects the main deck to the deck outside our bedroom.  And there is Belle, supervising.

 

I'm supposed to mention that we are planning on painting the house.  We're thinking a grey/taupe color with creamy white trim.  Right now it's tan with darker tan trim. 

 

Here it is all sanded.  I freely admit that Rick did all the sanding.   I acted as errand girl and made lunch and went out for more sand paper. 

Is this boring?  This is probably only interesting to me.  Rick would be interested but he's passed out from all the sanding he had to do.

 

Look at that pretty wood.  This deck is at least 20 years old.  Maybe older.  It's held up pretty well.  We haven't done anything to it in the 7 years we've lived here. 

You can see some discoloration in the pictures above.  There are just dark spots that will not sand out.  So we decided we would use a semi-transparent stain in a greenish/grey color that would blend well with the surroundings and with the color we are planning to paint the house.  So we picked out a color called Drift Grey (from Behr) that had decided grey/green tones.  We bought five gallons of it.  And when we tested it out it was very definitely a light blue color.  In the can it looked greyish/green.  On the deck – blue. 

We aren't blue people.

So we went back to Home Depot with our five gallons and they monkeyed with the color the best they could and it looked darker and greener. 

So we stained.  And now we have a blue deck. 

 

Okay – this picture looks kind of grey but believe me – it's blue.  And can I also mention what back breaking work it is to stain a deck.  I didn't get to be errand girl today.  I was slave girl today.   I kept trying to convince Rick I was a delicate flower and this was too much for me but he wasn't buying it.  Then he told me how red my face was getting and still didn't buy it with that kind of irrefutable proof.  I'm too delicate for manual labor out in the sun.

So our plan is to see how it weathers over the winter and if it stays blue then we'll re-stain it with a solid color rather than a semi-transparent.  We will also be painting the railing a creamy white to match the trim on the house (when we paint it). 

Where is management when you need them?