Here are the promised pictures of the New Chandelier and the Ugly Bathroom. And as a Bonus Feature, here at the Blog today, the Wee Little Owl. Read the whole story here on our Hot Birdchick’s Blog . Sharon also has a book coming out soon, which we are very excited about called ” Disapproving Rabbits ” , more on that as it gets closer. Party at Dreamhaven for the release on November 2nd, with music at Charlie’s after. I’ve seen an advance copy and laughed SO hard, wonderfully done it is.

Can this be my Kitchen??? Oh yes, the chandelier was MEANT to be in my kitchen. All kitchens should be so elegant.

Here it is, The Ugly Shower!!!!!

Let there be light…NOT!!! They are SO out of there….And your little wallpaper too!!

And finally, the very cool bath tub , which is not so good for taking bathes. I do love it, it’s lovely and old, but I do so want laundry up there, near the bedrooms, and as you can see, it is now being used as a planter. Those pots of plants, by the way, Malena made for me last year, and yes, they are still alive. ( Tho Freaky Venus Seaweed does her best )

Sharon and I spent the afternoon ripping out the Evil Buckthorn from the woods, where is seems determind to try and take over. ( The world most likely, this stuff is insidious ) So I will park myself on the couch with ginger tea and a fire and try and stay awake until , oh, at this rate nine or so. ( tho the hot tub doesn’t sound like a bad idea either, the Evil Buckthorn resisted us strongly )

Love and Hot Water,
Lorraine

Saturday was a really fine days all around, except for the fact that it was 87 degrees, kid you not, broke all the records. The Bridchick was out with some Bird Friends ( no, THEY weren’t birds, they were men who were friends of birds, like the Birdchick ) and they spent the day banding all the little birds they could catch. You can read about it HERE

They let me ” help ” them some and even let me hold a wee bird, which have never done before, and then release it.

The dishwasher and garbage disposal are in ( can you handle the excitement ??? ) and I have been giving a lot of thought to my washer/dryer in the upstairs bathroom situation. If I am going to take out the tub, I may as well take the separate shower unit out and get a new one. My shower is BEYOND ugly, I’ll take some pics for you, it looks like something you would buy if you had no taste and wanted your home to look like a pre-fab middle American house. Ugh.

Ok. So the shower unit goes and I get a nice new one.

Well, we didn’t re-do the wallpaper when I moved in. It’s pretty horrid too. So we may as well take that down, and re-paint, deep purple for the wainscoting and an off white for the upper half.

Hmmm…I hate the lighting too, faux Tiffany stained glass with gold/brass coloured metal bits. Again, WAY middle America. ( I can’t think how else to describe it, can anyone ? We need to explain the horror of this to our friends from Europe. ) So, new lights all around.

I couldn’t help but notice that the windows have silly faux lace curtains and blinds that do not GO . So they GO too.

I can live with the floor. Largely because I haven’t a clue how much this is already going to cost me. See? That’s home owning. You decide to do ONE LITTLE THING and BAM! You’re re-doing the whole darn bathroom.

( oddly enough I have been listening to Malena all week describing the horrors of HER re-doing the bathroom. It always happens like that with us. We do the same things, same time, half our conversations go ” I’m doing this…Oh Yeah, me too! ” We have ceased to be surprised by this )

Love and such ,
Lorraine

Got lucky today while walking around the yard and found the ‘ol Grifola frondosa , otherwise known as Hen of the Woods. It’s basically a mushroom as big as your head. Kid you not. I know, I am the LAST person to wander the yard seeking random fungi to cook up, I don’t even LIKE mushrooms, except for this one. And maybe morels. But these guys are GOOD.

Here’s a picture:

I made a Hen of the Woods Risotto. I can only make it pretty much once a year, these things only come near fall, at the very end of things. I like it too because it doesn’t look like any other mushroom on the planet. ( I hear you can get into trouble with some of them, remember Alice?? )

Right, ok, enough with the nature. I feel some ROCK coming on and am off to get ready for my gig tonight, which will entail finding something other than my mushroom hunting wear , that is fairly clean ( Tell us, Lorraine, what does one wear for hunting mushrooms??? You are always SUCH a fashionista on stage……HA! Ask Malena, SHE is the one with the fashion sense. I am just going for CLEAN tonight, which may be harder than it sounds…)

Ought to be fun, Joe Smith from Bedlam is coming down to sit in ( largely because he wants to borrow half my PA and I am not letting him at it until he plays for us ) and I have been missing Charlie’s.

Speaking of Charlie’s, I should mention, Lojo Russo and I are playing a show together on Thanksgiving weekend, Friday and Saturday ( at Charlie’s ) Not that we are a band, not that we much know each others music, but, hey, any excuse to hang out with her for a couple of nights, I can promise you, tho, it will be entertaining. ( and I bet the music won’t be half bad either. )

Our Malena has been beyond busy these days with movie and TV sorts of actress things, you know how they are. Last I heard she was working with George Lucas, re-shooting the first three Star Wars movies, starring as Han Solo, no Princess Leia for this Girl! Give her a gun and let her at the bad guys! I think she plays an alien or two as well. ( SUCH an acting stretch, I slay myself! )

Kimberly Butler called today to say they were deep into the edit and did I have any opinions on things. ( well, maybe, I want to look like Malena. Only shorter and with red hair. She says there is only so much they can do in CGI ) We ought to have more cd and video news very soon for you, and you will be the first to hear it.

I’ll leave you with more mushrooms, I don’t know who this guy IS at all, but I know how he feels finding Mushrooms as Big as Your Head! ( this will be me in 40 years, Malena will be there too, in a long black dress, complete with cauldron, cooking up my mushrooms…)

Love, Music and Mushrooms,
Lorraine

Hmmph. Have you ever noticed Home-owning is one step forward , two steps back? This morning the Electric Dudes came over to hang my new chandelier ( well, not NEW, very old actually ) in the kitchen. It’s very lovely and Spooky and cool and ought never be in a kitchen in any home except for mine ( and perhaps our Malena’s ) and I was very excited to get rid of the horrid 70’s florescent light that was there.

Well, it looks great. WAY out of place, which I love, only….Now the table and chairs don’t go. Completely wrong. They must go.

I even know what I want in there. I know the PERFECT table and chair for the space. The sad thing is they currently reside in Malena’s dinning room and even if she WOULD send them to me ( selfish creature ) I would need to get rid of the re-fridgerator, which might create it’s own set of problems.

Again, Hmmph.

I also have a plan to ditch my claw foot bathtub ( which is currently a planter ) and put in a washer-dryer in the bathroom, saving me hauling my laundry down to the basement and having to use the most non-code Steps of Doom. May have to wait for St Pats Day to pay for it tho.

I picked up Melissa Etheride’s new cd yesterday. She does a lot of things I like, some 60 second interludes every so often, and there are a couple songs I do like, and I do respect any artist to make the album they need to..One makes the cd one needs to, but, well, she’s really happy, in love and having just beat cancer, really closer to the spirit side of things. All good. And yes, War is bad. Again good. I don’t know, I like hungry in music. I like a bit more of an edge. I like doom, disaster, broken hearts and need.

I am glad for her tho, being so in love and happy, and am going to play it a bunch and find the things I like best on it. I love ” message to myself ” and ” I’ve known you before” and all the interludes, it’s a well made cd, with some great guitar work, nice cd to dream to I think. She makes some good points. I want a cover cd from her, tho, like Tori did a few years back.

Ok, high time I went off to work. I shall listen to my cd, and dream about my house. ( of course, if I am going to dream , I am SO adding a garage with a secret passage to the basement and a circular staircase to replace the Steps of Doom….)

Love, Music and Houses,
Lorraine