Over the Top
Let's see, what was yesterday. Thursday. Library day. After I picked Sophia up at school we drove to the library and book browsed.
By the time we headed home it was dark. Nevertheless, the neighborhood was full of activity. People were walking their dogs, salting their sidewalks, practicing their cross country skiing.
And the humonguous house across the street was getting its Christmas act on.
I havent' written much about this house, but it is one of the wonders of the world. As in, I wonder why anyone would do that?
For the past three years the owners have been working on the place. They restored, remodelled, repainted. And it took a lot of paint, believe me. This house is about a gazillion square feet. Plus the carriage house, which is bigger than the house I grew up in. When I'm telling people how to find my house, I just tell them to look the house across the street. You can't miss it.
Don't get me wrong- the house is gorgeous, in a huge Victorian barn kind of way. It's just that I wonder how the members of the family that occupies it every manage to even bump into each other. You could get lost easy in a joint that size.
Anyway, yesterday they had the crew out, putting up the lights. I counted. I counted seven crew members and I think I missed a couple of guys on the roof. Plus a crane.
Sophia was delighted. "Oh, look! Look how fancy! Can we do that to out house?"
"No. We're going for tastefully understated this year."
Which means in part, of course, that in DIH's humble opinion you'd have to be nuts to climb up on a roof so you can staple a few strands of lights in place, ony to have to take them down a few weeks later. Risking life and limb for the sake of exterior decor does not strike me as quite in the holiday spirit. It strikes me as bonkers.
It also means I actually think my house looks kind of pretty. I laid a couple of strands of light in the windowboxes and lined the windows in Sophia's room with another strand. And you can see the tree through the livingroom window, and it looks nice and bright.
So to anyone trying to find me: follow the lights to the wonder of the workd, then look around for "tastefully understated." That's me.
By the time we headed home it was dark. Nevertheless, the neighborhood was full of activity. People were walking their dogs, salting their sidewalks, practicing their cross country skiing.
And the humonguous house across the street was getting its Christmas act on.
I havent' written much about this house, but it is one of the wonders of the world. As in, I wonder why anyone would do that?
For the past three years the owners have been working on the place. They restored, remodelled, repainted. And it took a lot of paint, believe me. This house is about a gazillion square feet. Plus the carriage house, which is bigger than the house I grew up in. When I'm telling people how to find my house, I just tell them to look the house across the street. You can't miss it.
Don't get me wrong- the house is gorgeous, in a huge Victorian barn kind of way. It's just that I wonder how the members of the family that occupies it every manage to even bump into each other. You could get lost easy in a joint that size.
Anyway, yesterday they had the crew out, putting up the lights. I counted. I counted seven crew members and I think I missed a couple of guys on the roof. Plus a crane.
Sophia was delighted. "Oh, look! Look how fancy! Can we do that to out house?"
"No. We're going for tastefully understated this year."
Which means in part, of course, that in DIH's humble opinion you'd have to be nuts to climb up on a roof so you can staple a few strands of lights in place, ony to have to take them down a few weeks later. Risking life and limb for the sake of exterior decor does not strike me as quite in the holiday spirit. It strikes me as bonkers.
It also means I actually think my house looks kind of pretty. I laid a couple of strands of light in the windowboxes and lined the windows in Sophia's room with another strand. And you can see the tree through the livingroom window, and it looks nice and bright.
So to anyone trying to find me: follow the lights to the wonder of the workd, then look around for "tastefully understated." That's me.
Ok, I have to do it, come on post a picture of the large Victorian Barn, and Carriage House. Please.
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