blue coyote laughing

odds & ends and odd ends

*My show at Aroma Co comes down officially on the 26th of Sept. Which means I've basically had two months of show. Which totally rocks. It also means any stragglers have a little longer to see it in person. Open daily 6pm-2am. Virtual show here.

*This is from the Sept 120 Challenge. Shoot a roll of 120 in 120 minutes. The truth is, the Florida Ave Market is such fertile photo territory, I took three rolls of film in three cameras. The below are from the Diana-F. Slideshow here.

*If you're tuning in to find out how what happened with Fort 5th St., it all ended in a bizarre anti-climax. Went to bed on Day 7 with the "movin sale".

Got up to nothing left but a box spring and recycle bin full of trash. I didn't even get a picture before a trash truck hauled it away. I'd heard something the night before. Looked out the window to see a pickup truck taking some of the things. Have no idea if the owner found somebody to haul them for her, or if she left it unattended and pickers took it. Someone else said they saw a flat bed truck taking things in the night, also. So it ends as oddly as it began. Most neighbors feeling strangely conflicted about the whole thing.

trash man cometh...

and he taketh away...

and he goeth.

and most of the stuff stayeth.

Fort 5th St saga continues...

day six

She spends the days sweeping and re-arranging. This morning there was a prolonged discussion with the guys on the recycling truck about which stuff was trash, and which stuff was stuff. As if they care. They won't even take our stuff if it isn't in a proper bag.

Fort 5th St

anatomy of an eviction

So, the occupants of the twice raided neighborhood drug house were finally evicted. Which seemed like a good thing at first.

Three US Marshals showed up with about 15 guys who evicted the tenants along with all their stuff. It was pretty bizarre, actually. Watching them unload an entire house onto the public tree boxes in less than an hour.

About an hour later, the tenants (two women with a little girl) came into my yard. I thought maybe they were coming to ask me to use the phone or maybe even come inside the house. I was alone and that wasn't going to happen. So I just sat quietly in the same way I would if three young guys in white shirts and ties showed up at the door, waiting for them to go away. But the knock never came. So I looked out the window to find them in front of my basement door, behind the stairs... taking a pee.

Leaving a pee, actually.

I came out my front door and said the only thing my stupefied brain could come up with.

"Uh, EXCUSE me???!"

"She was just straightening her slip."

I suppose everyone needs toilet paper to straighten her slip. Because it was there when SH got home.

It gets better. Or worse. Depending on your perspective.

During the course of the weekend, the pile of evicted stuff slowly turned into a fort. Fort 5th St, I like to call it. Or Hooverville, as my codger SH likes to call it. The bookshelves, mattresses and a picnic table umbrella were arranged around the couch and chairs. The bags were opened and the clothing draped over fences. They were unpacking. Settling in.

We were informed that they would have 72 hours to get their stuff moved or it would be hauled away. So we spent our Labor Day Weekend listening to all the people coming and going from Fort 5th St. Picking through the stuff. Arguing over the stuff. Having friends and clients over for brunch. That kind of thing. All day. All night. But the stuff didn't go anywhere. Neither did the ex-tenants.

We tried to be patient, thinking that Tuesday would bring resolution.

Today is Tuesday. ( You know what that means? We're gonna have a special guest... Sorry. Mousketeers flashback)

After at least 5 people called the Government of the District of Columbia Citywide Call Center, non-emergency police 311 and various other contacts and agencies, we got this:

A trash truck and a police officer who informed me that they couldn't/woudn't take any of her personal stuff. They took the few things she set aside as trash, and Fort 5th St. remains...

kitchen/stove update

I know, I know. You didn't vote for the pink one .

But the pink Chambers had decided advantages. Namely, it was here in town at a shop that would deliver it for $50. And if you wonder why that was a deciding factor over eBaying it and picking it up ourselves... well, you should try shoving a 600lb, 3ft square box up a steep flight of stairs and through four narrow doors.

Plus, it is a high back model. We wanted to put it against the brick wall and that posed the question of a backsplash. You don't really want your food splashing on a rough brick wall like we have- it would be impossible to clean. The high back is basically a built-in backsplash, so it solves the problem.

Plus, it's just damned cute.

I will let you know how it cooks next week when we get the gas line hooked up.

My amazing husband did all the work to refurbish it. Cleaned it. Scraped rust. Replaced insulation. Primed it... Basically took it completely apart and put it back together.

I am in awe of that man.

We also decided to put silver legs on the drawer units. They came with black, metal toekicks. They looked fine with the previous owner's black and white tiled floor. Terrible with our heart pine floor.

Originally, we wanted to do a furniture kitchen. Which is to say, very few built-ins, and moveable kitchen furniture like hoosiers and such. But, as we worked on it more, we realized that we are serious kitchen people, and have serious amounts of kitchen stuff. We needed more storage than that could provide. We also have small square footage, but high ceilings, so we had to think vertical storage. And, as you know, we got a damned good deal on this set of vintage metal cabinets...

The legs were a good compromise. They make the drawer units look like furniture. I think the legs also make the room feel bigger because you can see across the whole floor.

Come on, you know you want Barbie's Dream Kitchen too...

reality tv in my front yard

You know how sometimes you're awakened in the night by someone banging on a door and shouting, "Open up!"

And you say, "I think they're raiding that house across the street."

And your Sane Half says, "If they're raiding the house across the street, where are the 30 bazillion police cars?"

And you both go to the window and say, "Oh. There they are."

No?
Well, don't bother. It's not as exciting as it looks on TV. It's mostly just trying not to flash your boobies while taking pictures through the curtains. And lots of yelling and laughing coming from the open door of the house. And lots of post-coitalraid smoke breaks by the police. And trying to keep your husband's hands off the boobies for an hour while you're waiting to take pictures of the people being taken away in handcuffs.

See? Boring.

big decision 2004

Is it Easter? Or did someone just barf The Fifties all over in here?

In case you're new around here, you'll find the renovation saga, along with pictures of the other kitchen components, in the renovation category. And info on my obsession with retro color palettes and vintage items here.

Specifically note the cabinets. Which are partially white, partially aqua #43 (it's marked on the backs in grease pencil). When I originally contacted the woman who was trying to sell them, she made a big point to tell me over and over about how they were professionally repainted white. As if that was a strong selling point. I didn't tell her that to freaks like me, her cabinets would have been worth 2-3 times as much in their original, 50s colors. Like aqua #43. I've been trying to figure out how to get them back to their original color, or just somehow show the color that is still on the sides of the cabinets.

And then there's the mint green sink. Oh, how I love my sink.

So, we spent part of the weekend researching and looking at some Chambers stoves. You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but, like my sink, these babies are porcelained cast iron and steel. 500 lbs worth.

We've always liked them, and we've looked at them before. Even tried to buy a blue one at the start of the renovation. Unfortunately, they were very fashionable at some time in the recent past. The 90s, maybe? It seems to be mostly a California thing, with people restoring their bungalow style houses and using vintage appliances. Several companies completely refurbish (repair porcelain, replate metal parts, clean rust) vintage appliances, bring them up to code, and sell them in the $2,000- $10,000 plus range. Non-white models are premium.

Anyway, for some reason, people selling the rusty and chipped ones out of their garages, thought (think) they can sell them for the same price as the refurbished ones. We weren't able to negotiate a price both of us could accept (we offered $800-above reasonable).

But then there's eBay. The price point directory, as SH calls it. Once in awhile, you'll get a sane seller who wants to get rid of the giant space hog stove to someone who will appreciate it. Suddenly, we have three choices. In color. At reasonable prices. Within a close geographic area for pick up.

We don't know which happy-easter-tribute-to-the-fifties color to choose.

breaks

I've been trying very hard to focus on all the good stuff that's happening in my house. Trying to shut out what I'm really feeling. But, two nights ago, I had a meltdown.

Not only is my house a fixer-upper, so is the entire neighborhood. Abandoned houses surround me. Abandoned businesses. Abandoned churches.

Abandoned people.

I've lived with hopelessness before, but this is different. It's hopelessness with anger. A constant anger. An anger at people like me. Gentrifiers. As much as my liberal arts heart never wanted to be that.

Here I am.

tale of two families

When SH and I told our respective parents about our plans to buy old metal cabinets and install them in our 1890 townhouse, they had different perspectives on the issue:

My Dad: What a bargain!

My Mom: I can't picture it, but I'm sure you'll do something neat with them.

SH's Dad: You might have a problem when you try to sell your house.

SH's Mom: We had those when you were a kid. The neighbors had mice problems, but we never did. I think because of those nicely sealed, metal cabinets.

Is there any question as to why we fell into our respective places in this relationship? And why I call him the Sane Half?

new photos in the renovation album

cabinet day

I realize you're probably bored with my real life posts by now. I'll try to get back to the existential artistic angst shortly.

But today is cabinet day. The day we pick up the set of high quality,50s metal cabinets we bought for $400. That's right. An entire kitchen of cabinets, including; three sets of lower drawers, one two corner lazy susans, two nifty sets of glass uppers, two six eight-foot pantries, and all the uppers and base units in-between.

When you're using reclaimed materials, you often have to make compromises. But I'm feeling really lucky today because these are so much better than I hoped for.

Now, if I can just get Sane Half to act his name. He's running around the house looking for my work gloves and silently calculating whether all the cabinets will fit in the 10ft U-haul we rented. I can tell because his lips are moving, his fingers are counting one another, and smoke is billowing from his head.