iseecerulean

I didn't make Susan a Halloween present this year....I didn't have any good ideas.  She told me she'd be happy with a picture of Ester dressed up in a costume.

Happy Halloween Susan!  I present to you.... Ester dressed as a mummy.

I still need to photograph the Cedar Kitchen...it's been rainy, snowy, chilly and just plain dreary all week.  I need to take it outside after I'm done with this post, the forecast calls for rain again this afternoon, then snow tonight....if the ground is still wet from yesterday's shower I'll have to elevate the house with blocks.  I had planned to take it down to the beach for its photo shoot, as I did with the Michigan Lake Cottage last autumn, but I don't dare venture out of my yard, where I can hustle it into the house quickly if the sky lets loose.

While I've been fretting about pictures I started back to work on the English Cottage Kitchen.  This build is so cooperative, particularly compared to the last one.  I've accomplished a little bit every day this week...I installed the windows, glued the structure together, put the stoop on, filled the grooves in the walls to make them a flat surface, and began adhering the egg carton stones.

I'm hoping to get most of the stone work done this weekend...my husband thinks I'm being too optimistic...he's probably right.

The Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion has not had the restoration the Campbell House had, but was still a wonderful home to visit.   I was lucky enough to be the only person on my tour, so my guide and I had a leisurely conversation about the house as we progressed through the rooms.  The house had been turned into apartments in the 1940s or 50s, and when it was saved from demolition in the 1960s and opened to the public it was made more cheerful by painting most of the original woodwork white.   It was obvious the foundation caring for this house is not as well funded as the one which cares for the Campbell House...at the Campbell House the restoration was complete, at the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion it's as if the the restoration has been paused.

Geographically this house is not as conveniently located as the Campbell House, which I'm sure doesn't help.  I took a cab to get there, and when I stepped out of the cab I fell in love.

Many of the photos I took inside, especially on the first floor, didn't turn out, because there was not enought light for my camera to focus.  The window shutters were closed to protect the room's furnishings from the sun, and, because in October they decorate in Victorian mourning, the mirrors that would normally reflect light were draped in black fabric.  The portraits were draped as well, but the fabric was drawn up to the top of the frames so that guests could see the artwork.

On October 26th the mansion hosts it's annual Mourning Event, which I would love to attend one day.  I got to see some of the prep work for the event on my tour.

There was more natural light upstairs in the bedrooms....

The attic houses a collection of 1904 World's Fair memorabilia which was donated to the museum by the family of a collector.  It was neat, but not my thing...the only picture I took in the attic was of the temporary caskets that will be used for the Mourning Event.

After my tour I bought a couple of things in the gift shop basement to support the renovation, then walked next tour to have lunch at the Lemp Mansion, which is now a restaurant and B&B...it's the Haunted Mansion...but I had a very quiet lunch.

That concludes my trip to St. Louis, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  My next post will be back to normal programming....dollhouses, miniatures, Susan's gratuitous cat pictures, etc...

The Campbell House is unique in that it has been restored to be as the house was in the 1850s, with 99% of the original furnishings and decor purchased by Robert and Virginia Campbell.  The walls, ceiling and floors have been refinished to match the fabric and carpet samples Virginia saved, and to photographs taken in the house by one of the Campbell's sons.  Our tour guide was spectacularly knowledgeable and passionate.

I took several pictures of the kitchen...I'm fond of kitchens...

I took a picture of a silk quilt (for Susan) on a stand in the cook's bedroom before the batteries in my camera died, so I have no pictures of the rooms on the upper stories of the house.

The guys who work in our St. Louis office told me there is no explaining the City Museum, it has to be experienced.   They were right.  Wow.  It's amazing.  The closest description I can give is that it's a gigantic fantastic art installation you explore physically...a bizarre real-life game of chutes and ladders....with caves, a ferris wheel, aquariums, airplanes, a pipe organ, and the world's largest pair of underpants.

I started on the roof...

Then shot down a ten story spiral slide to the caves...

I wandered up, down and around a maze of tunnels, stairs and chutes for at least half an hour, eventually emerging into the bright light of a giant tree fort...

I climbed up to the mezzanine...

then wandered around in totally goofy wonderment...every once in a while I'd walk into a room so normal looking it seemed out of place...

I ended outside in the MonstroCity...

I didn't explore as much of the museum as I would have if I were younger, limber, and had worn proper shoes....I hadn't planned for climbing.  Next time I go to St. Louis I'm going prepared and alotting time to spend the whole day there.

My pictures don't do it justice...watch this video...

I'm back from St. Louis, I got in very late last night.  I'm exhausted, and I think still a bit hungover.

There were intense meetings during the day followed by late nights laughing and drinking with my coworkers (cohorts, really).  The meetings wrapped up on Thursday, I hugged and kissed everyone goodbye after a late lunch.  I slept Thursday afternoon, then took a vacation day Friday to squeeze in visits to the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion, the Campbell House Museum, and the City Museum.  I'll post pictures later.

I made some flowers in the morning to finish up the house....my mom came over, we played with dollhouse decorations for a bit, then went yarn shopping, she's going to knit me a sweater...I love spending time with my mom...I treated myself to a mani-pedi when I was out running errands...had lunch with my daughter...then in the early afternoon the mailman brought me my Halloween present from Susan.

There were a bunch of cool Halloween goodies in the box, a big jar of the best hand lotion in the world, which is made locally where she lives...and she made me a quilt!  Hot damn!

Look at that, it's like she had the measurements of my sofa!  It's warm, and snuggly, and perfectly me!  I love it!  I have the bestest best friend in the world!

I spent my afternoon snuggled up under my quilt watching movies...my hubby graciously waited on me hand and foot because I claimed I couldn't get up as I was too snuggly warm under my new quilt.  Ha! 

This morning I need to finish the house...I want to get it done before I leave for St. Louis, which is before the sun comes up Tuesday morning.  Then I'm headed back to my sofa and my quilt for more snuggly movie time.

Susans' gratuitous cat picture...

It's not really crooked, it's square...my camera angle is off...

That was fast and easy...I see many more punchneedle rugs in my future...especially since I can make them while I'm sitting in my recliner watching TV in the evenings.