Conclusion of the Saga of the Lemon Tree

 Yesterday I received a tree that was at least twice as large as the original, even after 3 years, with at least as much foliage! Needless to say, I am very satisfied with the replacement, except now I will have to buy a larger pot...

 

Meyer Lemon Tree

Well today was a sad day for me and my Meyer lemon tree, which was featured in my first ever post on this blog -- Introduction to Orangerie and Blue -- and is also the defining picture of my blog shown in the header. The US Department of Agriculture came to the house today to seize and destroy my little lemon tree because the company that sold the tree apparently got it illegally from the state of Florida, and no citrus trees can be shipped from that state. So it was cut up and disposed of down to soil level. The USDA has to go around to collect and destroy all Meyer lemon trees sold by this company, which will apparently be under a lawsuit. There are 300-400 trees just in Virginia -- it will take months to collect them all, and probably years for the lawsuit. I am slightly hopeful, based on what the USDA officer said, that I may be able to receive a replacement tree from the company, and I have already sent in the documentation.  If I do receive one, there is a pretty blue pot for it...

RIP

Envisioning

 My family knows me pretty well. This morning as I was standing looking intently through my framed hands, which I'm sure would look totally strange to another person who was not used to seeing me like this, Andrew says to me, "You're envisioning, aren't you?" Envisioning I was. I was having breakfast thinking about the wall color we had painted the kitchen -- Benjamin Moore Titanium, a pretty neutral that is a light grayish blue-green. For a while I have been thinking about changing the color of the foyer, which came with the house and I would describe as a butter yellow....a bright and friendly color that welcomes you when you enter. The problem is that on my house, the walls go off at angles other than 90 degrees.  Also, the foyer is two-stories high and connects directly to the upstairs walls of the landing which are visible from the foyer and adjoining to the foyer in the fore mentioned angles that do not meet at 90 degrees. What I was envisioning this morning was what the foyer would look like if it was painted Titanium...and then just as it usually does with me, I got carried away and began imagining the greater portion of the downstairs in Titanium and how it would work.  Will that ever happen?  I don't know.  There are certainly other more pressing projects to get to first, such as replacing the windows. But in the meantime, it does not hurt to wonder...

September 17, 1983

Watching weddings always makes me reminisce about our wedding 27 years ago, as it did this morning while watching the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (now Duchess of Cambridge). This morning I woke up before 5am to make scones and watch the wedding on television, as I had done years previously when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married. After it was over, I looked through our wedding photos, and decided to scan some of my favorites into the computer and share them here.

Brian and I were married on a beautiful late summer day in Catskill, NY at a historic home made historic, in part, as the place where President Martin Van Buren and his wife, Hannah Hoes were married on February 21, 1807 , and thus called The President's Wedding. Back then it was the home of the sister of Hannah Hoes. It also had a historic marker having something to do with Uncle Sam too, but I do not remember the specifics (*see Footnote at end). We visited this house years later on vacation, but by then it was a private home and no longer used for that purpose, although the historic markers were still there, of course. The present owners actually came out and talked to us and asked us if we had heard of or knew who the two ghosts were who they had seen in their house! Pretty stunning ... and to think that I had gotten dressed in the rooms upstairs! All we could think of was the portrait of Martin Van Buren and Hannah Hoes that hung on the wall where we said our vows (and you can see that in one of the pictures), but they didn't think that was who it was. Also, they did not know what happened to that portrait, which apparently did not come with the house when they bought it. Anyway, the home was a wonderful place to be married and have a reception. It even had a bar in the cellar for cocktails before dinner (I think Brian and my father may have even had a little something before the ceremony too).

The photos have faded and are probably so old now I will need a special preservationist to restore them, but these are my memories from our wedding day:

















*Footnote: After looking further I found this information on the Uncle Sam/ Catskill link -- from http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=8601 --THE HISTORICAL
MARKER DATABASE :

"Samuel and Nathaniel's families lived in a large mansion located at 251 West Main Street. That's were Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States, was married to Hannah Hoes in 1807, before he became the president.

This historical mansion, which was built in 1797, is still standing. Two plaques in front of it remind us of the time when Samuel Wilson and Martin Van Buren were there."

Hand-Knotted Ikat Rug

Also from the 2011 DC Design House ... normally not a huge Ikat fan, but I do like the rug shown in the foyer, especially the colors:

Entry & Stair Hall

Liz Levin Interiors

A hand-knotted ikat rug takes center stage in Liz Levin’s modern and elegant entry space.

from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/lifestyle/2011-dc-design-house/