Banished Toilet, Sneaky Conservatives, Hotdog with Champagne

And now what I know you've all been waiting for:  An update on the bathroom project.

The drywall is in and now the "tape-ers" have taken over.

The before picture:

 And now:

The toilet is mostly out of sight!

I know, in the Age of Ebola, ISIS, and Marjorie Dannenfelser (see below), this is not a very big deal, but I'm very happy about this transformation, 30 years overdue.  And there are SEVEN NEW DRAWERS for fabric stacked in the basement.

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Yesterday, when I flipped open the latest issue of The New Yorker yesterday and found this photograph,  I thought, Whoa!

Does anyone else think this woman looks scary?  Her name is Marjorie Dannenfelser, and  she's the president of the Susan B. Anthony List.   Sounds feminist, right?

"Oh, good, she's on our side!" I thought.

But, no.  The sole aim of the Susan B. Anthony List is to abolish abortions; the group funnels money to anti-abortion candidates.   If you're a person who believes in reproductive choice for women, she's as scary as they come--clever, glib, and passionate about her cause,  a one-issue gal.

"We can't have a Democratic majority in the House or the Senate right now," she said.  "If we're close, I can't in good conscience, for the cause of life, support even a great pro-life Democrat."

The article's called, "The Intensity Gap," and, boy, can you see it in her face.

And why "Susan B. Anthony?"   Because in 1869, Anthony decried, "the horrible crime of child-murder...Guilty?  Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed."

You can read the article here and see how the quote was taken way out of context by the S.B. Anthony List.  Hey, I was taken in.  How many others?

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On Sunday, I was feeling so housebound from being sick for two weeks that I has to get out of the house, away from remodeling detritus/chaos, all of it.

So, we drove over to San Francisco to see a new show at the Legion of Honor, "Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House."  

Go, if you're an Anglophile like me.  Don't go, if you are driven mad by the gap between the rich and the poor and can't be seduced for an hour by paintings, china, furniture, tapestries, and other what-nots collected by the family of the Marquess of Cholmondeley.

 Houghton Hall, Norfolk.  Built in the 1720's for Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister.

 The Cabinet Room  (the remarkably small bed is in the show)

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 The Marble Parlour  (some of the furniture is in the show)

 The Saloon in Houghton Hall

Portrait of Sybil, Countess Rocksavage (Later Marchioness of Cholmondeley), John Singer Sargent, 1913.  She used funds from her family, the Sassoons, to restore the house.

 They're even selling English tea towels in the gift shop! Bought one, of course.  But the high point of the day was lunch: a hotdog and champagne.

Had to come home and take a nap

The Houghton Hall show is up through January 18, 2005.  Hard-core Anglophiles can even have an English tea in the cafe.

Taking Leah to Lunch

Yesterday, I took Leah to lunch, because she was leaving this morning for New York, where she lives now (boohoo), and we hadn't had a chance to talk.

Going somewhere with her when she's home is pretty easy, because she's right next door, and she's game for anything.


Me on Saturday:  Want to come over and get dead drunk?

Leah:  Sure!  Oh, wait, I can't.  Someone's coming over.

(Too bad, but really, I'm too old to get dead drunk.  Can't even remember what it feels like.)

Me yesterday after a harried morning:  How about lunch?

Leah: Yes!

Me, later:  Can it be late?

Leah: Sure!

Me, even later:  I got a reservation at Chez Panisse.

Leah:  Yay!  (Of course, who would say "no"?)


So we went.  We didn't arrive until 2:30, and it was quiet and spacious, and the food was wonderful.

Here she is at the Upstairs Cafe--the incomparable Leah B. at 23:

 Isn't she adorable?  As she was at seven...

...and nine:

I looked at my watch this morning when her plane was supposed to leave from San Francisco and felt sad, sad, sad that she was leaving, bu that's what she's gotta do.  Hoping she'll be back at the end of the year.

Nurses: What Would We Do Without Them?

My friend Jan called a couple of days ago and happened to mention that her 35-year old son, a nurse, is now working nights in the ER at San Francisco General Hospital.

Pause while I collect my wits and marvel that anyone would choose that work.  Also thank God that someone will do it, because anyone who can bring compassion and care to sick, scared people in the ER deserves much more respect and money than he's probably getting.

I asked her if he was apprehensive about Ebola, and she said he'd reported that the staff was about to "get some training on that."  This sounds astoundingly matter-of-fact to the layperson.  Get some training?  Not "how do I transfer out of here?"  I can't believe what nurses sign on for.

And what about the two young nurses in Dallas who've been diagnosed with Ebola?  First, they pitched in and worked with a desperately ill patient, and then very responsibly checked their own temperatures daily, and, in the case of Amber Vinson, even called the CDC several times about whether it was okay to fly.  Conscientious and brave.

I've had nurses hold my hand during procedures when I was scared, and that care always stayed with me more than the skill of the doctors who did whatever it was.  Their care made it bearable.  And being in isolation with a possibly terminal disease--the worst--what would people in that situation do without the patience, care, and company of nurses?  

That's what's been going through my mind as this Ebola outbreak unfolds, and with all the scary news. 
Whatever the CDC says, or NIH, or hospital officials says--so confusing--I'm thinking that nurses are the one reliable source of comfort for anyone with Ebola or any other serious disease.  What would we do without them?

 I read this series when I was a kid, but even thenI knew I wasn't brave enough to be a nurse.  (Loved the cap, though.)

This Says It All

Yes, I would put this on my windowsill.

Weary, weary, weary of cooking despite a pretty good meatloaf last night.

Arranging Wedding Flowers

Yesterday some readers asked if I missed my friend and next door neighbor Laura's wedding on Sunday.

Yes, I did.   I felt very sick when I woke up Sunday morning.  My voice was a croak, and nobody would have wanted me there.  So I missed it, although I was lying on the bed with a window open when the ceremony started, and I propped myself up on one elbow and could see down into Laura's courtyard windows when her two daughters walked her to the living room. I heard bits of the ceremony, including a lot of laughter.

The day before, her daughters, Leah and Annika, arranged the wedding flowers in our kitchen, so I  got to see that, too.

They showed up at 8:20 on Saturday morning with three big boxes of flowers that they got up at the crack of dawn to buy at the Oakland Flower Mart, $400 worth:

There were a lot more flowers than this looks like:  spider mums, hydrangeas, and a whole lot else.  Annika was the project leader, and Leah and her friend Corinne (who now works at PBS headquarters in Washington, DC, and writes for the "The News Hour," sees Gwen Ifill!) were production assistants.

Here they are in action:

 Corinne (foreground) and Leah stripping leaves off stems

Annika putting the finishing touches on the first bouquet

Most of the flowers were white

 Line-up of finished bouquets

Small bouquets for centerpieces

Annika at work on the last two arrangements

Putting on the finishing touches

All this took nearly five hours.  Then they were off for manicures.  Later, they returned to carry the flowers downstairs to the cool of our basement  and clean up the kitchen.

All very fun.  I did come into the kitchen at one point and tell them that if they ever found a house they liked that had laminate kitchen countertops, THEY SHOULD BUY IT ANYWAY.

Hello? Anyone out there with laminate countertops?

I've been sick!  Haven't been out of the house in days, bored to tears, carrying around my Kleenex and  Clorox wipes so Jerry wouldn't catch it (so far, so good).

I spent a lot of time collapsed in front of the TV watching HGTV's "House Hunters" because my brain wasn't up to anything else. 

But, honestly,  it wasn't very relaxing,  because this program drives me nuts.  It follows around people looking at houses to buy, and they all want the same thing and they want it right now.

I tell myself that it's generational, that of course it's mostly young people who are out buying houses, and I'm a different generation, but, boy, do I feel old and exasperated (and puzzled) watching this show.

The current crop of house hunters HATES (this requires caps) laminate counters, wall-to-wall carpeting,  wallpaper, anything "dated."    That includes white kitchen appliances, black kitchen appliances, and any bathroom without two sinks and a separate shower stall.  They not only hate it, they won't buy a house because of it.

When did this happen?  Back when my friends and I were buying houses, we all put up with the bad choices of former owners.  Some of us bought houses that were the pits,  but we had to get started somewhere. Really,  I can't think of a single pal who gave up on a house because it had the wrong kitchen counters and appliances. We all thought, "we'll fix it over time."  Down the road.

But today--and I verified this with friends who are realtors--many young buyers want perfect, move-in ready places, and it's always the same checklist:  hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and "open concept" design.  I don't think I saw one buyer deviate from that wish list, except a nerdie young woman in Ann Arbor, and I thought she had courage, big-time.

Has there ever been a time when home-fashion was so hardline?  A kitchen counter material as a deal-breaker?  And the wrong color appliances?

When we bought our house 30 years ago, the kitchen had pale green-yellow Formica counters.  I didn't like them particularly, but I took courage from this photograph.

Katharine Hepburn in the kitchen of her house in Fenwick, Connecticut.  She built the house in 1939, and this picture was published in a book by John Bryson in 1990 (The Private World of Katharine Hepburn).  I'll bet this was the original kitchen, and she was still cooking in it  50+ years later.   And she cooked, despite her status and money:

God knows what the counters were made out of

Of course, I know people who've  remodeled kitchens with granite counters and stainless steel appliances, and they're beautiful spaces that people enjoy working in.  My friend,  Suzanne, for one.  But she bought the house with a pretty impossible kitchen and a non-existent powder room.  She made it her own later.

Update:: here's picture of the Hepburn's former kitchen now, as shown in the recent sales brochure  for the property ($14.8 million):
 

A major overhaul

Okay, it looks cleaner and nicer, but for years it operated just fine for Hepburn.  She had the money to remodel it, but she didn't.  It worked.

Now I'll crawl back in my cave.

Look at Suzanne's New Kitchen! And more...

Enough about my bathroom already. How about my friend Suzanne's kitchen?

On Saturday,  Lin and I went to see the new kitchen, plus all the other remodeling just finished-up in Suzanne's house:  a powder room carved out of former kitchen space, new cabinetry in her sitting room, and a complete overhaul of the master bathroom.

My photos are a little disappointing--too much light from some of the windows, but you get the idea.

Cherry wood cabinets, a tile floor, and stainless steel appliances

Shaker style cabinets

The new arch leads to the dining room; beyond that is a sun room with a view of San Francisco Bay,which Suzanne can see while she cooks at the island, one of her special requests.

Looking from the dining room into the kitchen in late afternoon: glammy!

 New cabinets along the back wall

Gray-green granite counters with a pale green glass tile backsplash. All the windows are original.

My sister, who designed the kitchen, with a slab of the granite and a sample of tile during the "choose-the- materials" phase.

To give you an idea of how different the new kitchen is from the one Suzanne lived with for 2-3 years:

The new sink is in the same place and the window remains, but that's all that's the same.

Quaint but impractical, according to Suzanne.

The old fridge was in an awkward slot between two small rooms adjoining the kitchen.  The slot is gone, the wall is gone, and those two rooms are now  incorporated into the new kitchen, with a new powder room carved out of the room on the right (rust paint). 

Below, a new and improved fridge installed where the old stove used to be:

* * * * *

The brand-new powder room:

Before the remodel:.

The only toilet on the main floor of the house was this one, a lone fixture in one of the two rooms adjoining the kitchen, with no sink.  Guests had to go into the kitchen to wash their hands.  This interior wall was removed during the remodel.

* * * * * 

The master bedroom's sitting room has 12 new drawers for storage:

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A completely remodeled master bath:

 

 

A big new shower replaced the old shower-over-tub.  A bank of drawers and shelves was added, at right.

The shower features two shelves, one at perfect height for leg-shaving  (not this one, obviously).

New vanity, toilet, and medicine cabinet

The old pedestal sink smashed during demolition.  Suzanne wanted storage space around the sink.

* * * * *

And for Suzanne's cats,  Dilwyn and Gracie, who endured all this with her...

 

...a custom entry to the laundry room closet where their cat box lives:

 Although they seemed to prefer hanging out in the master bathroom before the shower door was installed:

* * * * *

Suzanne is happy!  I can only think that remodeling is like childbirth--you forget how hard it was once the baby arrives.  Two years of planning went into this project, and then seven months of construction.

The team that made this happen:  Madeleine Randal Interior Design, San Jose; and Geoff Semans of The Original Crafters, Oakland.  Yes, there was a lot of commuting on 880 and there still is, because these are the people in charge of our bathroom remodel.