Hanging out in my reno-messy house

Hello Knights,

 It's cold up here... about 20 degrees below freezing. We re snug in our house, keeping warm and trying to clean up after more renovation. I have no climate change story today, so I will give you a tour of the downstairs of my house.  I thought Wandering Brook was a more appropriate place to put it. You will see it is a bit messy but clean and cozy. We have crammed a lot of stuff into fewer rooms because we have turned the upstairs into a separate apartment.

 

Uncle Brian has taken over my desk in my private office that I call my' hidey hole'. His papers are everywhere...even on top. His desk is in another room but he can't use it at the moment so he is messing up my desk.

 As you can see there are polar bears on top. People buy them for  me. I wonder why. I also like pictures of all the people I love around me.

This painting is in my 'hidey-hole'. It is Indonesian and about two hundred years old. It was given to me by the man I married before Brian. I think he said it was a wedding. I wouldn't have those people at my wedding. But I love it for it's antiquity and out of respect for the artist who is long gone.

See the little rug under the chair  in the hidey-hole? That is Mika's secret hiding place. She thinks no one knows about it.

This bear is Huggy and Mister Noodle always sits on his head because he is the brains and makes all the decisions for both of them. I have lots of stuff in my little office. Uncle Brian made me let him get that new floor put in. I don't like it but it's stays warm no matter how cold it gets.

This is a real eskimo carving, not the fake stuff you see in gift shops. Most Eskimo men carve and they used to sell the carvings for necessary supplies. Nowadays, I think it is just a good business for amusing the tourists.

Uncle Brian used my petrified dinosaur poop to hold his papers down. He has no respect for my treasures.

 

 Even when it is arctic outside, Mika still has to go outside to do her business.  You can see she is not happy to about it. She is so spoiled, she thinks she should be allowed to poo on the carpet when it is so cold outside.

 This is an old painting by a well known American Artist who lives in the south. Most of his paintings, I believe are of things in the Florida Keys... lots of boats and water.  His name is Russ Smiley. I think it was painted in the early fifties and was so abused and discolored, you could hardly tell what it was. The paint  was cracked with parts missing.I am restoring it. I love to restore old art. I have had to paint most of it over and guess at some of the colors. I still have more to do.

 This painting is by an indigenous artist who  died very young because he, tragically, got mixed up with drugs...Cecil Youngfox. His paintings are worth more because he is dead and there are not many of them.

I like the painting on the left because it is of the Canada I grew up with before climate change, frigid, white and starkly beautiful. Sorry I did not get a good picture of it...the camera shifted down when I wanted up.

This is some of uncle Brian's collection of chunks of lead crystal. He likes all shapes and colors. They are heavy. When I dusted them, one fell on my foot. My foot was black for a month and hurt to walk.

This is the family room. If you look really close in the corner, guess what you can see?? Polar bears of course.

I love this old antique sideboard. Someone kept it highly polished for  a century or so. You touch history when you touch where all those loving hands touched. It's not crooked like in the picture.
 Uncle Brian's crystal balls are here too. At least I own the two Antique plates.

I just noticed the  candy dish is empty again. Uncle Brian and his sweet tooth. It's amazing he still has his teeth. He has strong bones and teeth. Drink your milk Knights.

This is my Dad's old cabinet. He kept his treasures in here. Some things from his family were hundreds of years old. They are in a very safe place now.

This is one of the ugly tapestries I told your mama about. My Aunt Rose makes them. I have two. They don't look good no matter where you hang them. Maybe it's the peach colored sky. Nana would come down from heaven and bonk me on the head if I dared to get rid of them. Maybe I can hang them in my closet.

 Uncle Brian's papers are all over the kitchen too

 My daughter Jaye had my dogs' pictures  put on canvas. Maxy was always smiling, Moochy always looked sad. Black Scruffy lived to be eighteen and could say 'hello' and 'go out'.  But Chucky was the smartest dog I ever saw. You could say, "Bring me my slippers, newspaper and an apple", and he would.

I stopped painting this picture because it was boring. Maybe I should put all my dogs in the picture. Or at least a little clown on the bridge

 

I will show you some more sometime when my brain is too dead to write something useful.

Love to you all

 Aunt Jeannie