You Never Forget Your First Time

Myfanwe, Norbert and I enjoyed our first visit to Shell Cottage. We did a little rearranging, a little cleaning, a little cooking, and a LOT of lounging. (Lounging being a family favorite!) We were at the cottage from Thursday the 31st until early this afternoon, so we celebrated our first New Years Eve, our first Shabbat, and my 46th birthday boom! boom! boom!

We also enjoyed the 18 inches of snow we received over the long weekend!


We found a veritable treasure trove of furniture in the basement! You may note that the only items of substance in the picture below that were NOT left behind by the previous owner are the lamp, the rocking chair, and Mitzi, the dog!


This cabinet, in particular, made Myfanwe very happy. It doesn't have any interior shelves, although it clearly had them at one time, so I am going to have shelving cut to size.

This six-sided table was my favorite piece left behind. I love the claw feet and the Greek key motif. I'm not terribly big on the silk flowers, but they add visual interest until we are able to replace them with a lamp.


See this tree? I own this tree! I have absolutely no idea what kind of tree it is, but I believe it is from the genus mine mine mine mine mine!

I don't own this tree -- at least not directly. It is in Dewey Cannon Park in Three Oaks, Michigan, just a couple blocks from Shell Cottage. In the summer there are band concerts in the band shell every Saturday night.

This is the Dewey Cannon.


After a couple of nights of (restlessly) sleeping on the air mattresses, Myfanwe wanted to make sure this was not a long-term arrangement. So we went to a mattress outlet in Michigan City and ordered three beds -- all very high quality -- a twin for Norbert, a surprisingly comfortable futon sofa for the loft/guest room, and a queen size for us. We wanted a king, but realized that it would a) be too big for the room, and b) that a king mattress would never fit up the tight little stairway. A queen mattress can be bent enough to get up, but not so a king. We then realized that a queen box spring wouldn't make it up, either, so we bought a split box spring. They all will be delivered next weekend! We weren't going to buy beds so quickly, but I'm glad we did. Now we can have people come to stay.

It just hit me that, since we have a king size and a twin at home, we have now have a queen size bed and a full size bed in Michigan and do not own a single set of queen or full sheets! Oh, well. If people want to come, they can bring their own sheets!

MORE EXCITEMENT!

Today I spoke with my cousin Katie who lives in Piney Flats, Tennessee. She is going to be coming up to the Chicago area to help her parents pack up and move house to be nearer their other daughter near South Bend, Indiana/Notre Dame University.

Katie is one of my favorite cousins. She's so good and kind and gentle. She looks a lot like our cousin, Sister Clemente, who is also good and kind and gentle.

When Katie comes up, she is going to bring me a present. A spectacular, heartbreaking, wonderful present. She is bringing me a set of china which had been my grandmother's which, when Katie got married, my grandmother gave to her. It is beautiful china. I plan to take it to Shell Cottage and make it our Shabbat china. I can't wait.