Lullabies and a Lick o' Lovely Lavender

I bought my home over 10 years ago, yet it was only this past week that I finally corrected something that had been nagging me all that time... I painted the master bedroom a color I actually like.

Originally, it was yellow. Oh, so very yellow. And I'd left it because initially there were so many other, more pressing things to deal with when I'd moved in. And the yellow went well-enough with my belongings. But then time marched on. And life happened. And to be honest, I don't really care for yellow that much. I just don't find it soothing. And soothing is really what I wanted in a bedroom.

So I finally got my act in gear and busted out some lavender paint. (Eddie Bauer's Craftsman Bungalow "Globe Thistle" shade, for anyone who was wondering. Available at Lowe's. I like the colors from that Eddie Bauer collection because it really does seem to work well in an older home to set a tone.)

Anyway, the updated wall coloring gave me an excuse to frame some decorative old sheet music I'd been holding onto. This is on my bedroom door...

Here's the view from the doorway... The standing wardrobe is an Ikea piece from a while back that I'd stenciled with roses...

Here's the left wall, on top of my dresser (sorry it's blurry, I had to do this with my camera phone as my regular camera is being temperamental.) The little ballerina doll there on the left was my mother's. The brush dolls next to it came from my great-aunt's home. I love the big dramatic expression of the face of the silent film actress on the central sheet music.

 Just another little display here along with some of my art deco prints. The framed photos you might notice there are of Gregory Peck. I thought he was a handsome addition to the decor. :)

This is my far wall where there had once been a fireplace. I love coming up the stairs to this floor, peering into the room and seeing lavender instead of yellow on this wall. It's such a relief.

A close-up of the central focal point here. I got this matted vintage photograph years ago in an antique store in Cape May on vacation. She just fit in the frame, which is actually a shadowbox to display t-shirts I found at Michael's. It felt very lucky!

 

Now, tell me your opinion on this-- and I haven't done any research to confirm it-- but doesn't the girl on this sheet music below look like the same girl from the diamond-shaped photo? Reine Davies seems to be the name. I need to do some investigating and find out who she was.

I get a chuckle how much of the sheet music in my bedroom is now sleep or dream-related. This is the far right wall.

This is a little blurry, too-- sorry 'bout that-- but I thought you folks would appreciate the nice color combo between the wall, the purple and orange bedding and the large art deco print above the headboard.

Lastly, this is my side table. The kitschy plaster lamp there was $6 at Goodwill, and I suspect it came from around the 40s, but I'm not sure. It's one of my favorites.

So, this is what I've been up to lately. This and trying to write my second book. It's been keeping me busy!

Hope your week has been as soothing as a smooth lavender coat of paint. And wishing you a happy grand entrance into Spring.

Of Curios, Cats and Catastrophe

So I had a more exciting Saturday this last weekend than I had wanted, and I imagine it's a tale--or, um, tail-- my fellow pet-lovers will identify with.

I was eagerly awaiting a curio cabinet I'd bought from a local furniture store which was the perfect size and style for my dining room. As you may know, I pick up inexpensive but pretty late-Victorian plates and bowls at thrift shops and antique malls, and I wanted to be able to display my favorite pieces. Here it is in situ...

So I had gotten a phone call the day before from the furniture deliverers that I would be getting it between 11am and 2pm. Excellent!

I invited my friend Scoobie over to hang out and have lunch and see the new curio cabinet. I had a couple of recipes in Fanny Flagg's WhistleStop Cafe Cookbook I'd wanted to try, and thought this would be a great opportunity to make decadent homemade mac and cheese and some fried green tomatoes (never tried 'em before, but was curious.)

Now, regular readers might remember, I have two cats, Harry and Alice. (Harry-- the little bugger that this story will be about-- is on the left.)

So when the delivery guys came early, their truck grinding loudly throughout the neighborhood, I wasn't quite prepared. My cat Alice, who fancies herself the congenial hostess of my house, ran right to the door to greet them as they were propping open the front door.

I grabbed Alice to put in a safe room, and planned to go back for Harry. He had run under my dining room table, (his favorite hiding place), as he's initially a bit shy and sees no need to steal Alice's social thunder.

Well, the deliverymen had the curio cabinet in the house lickety-split, before I even returned from closing Alice in. I signed for the thing, and away they went.

That's about the time Scoobie and I discovered Harry was gone.

He was no longer under the dining room table.

He wasn't under the beds.

He wasn't hiding under or behind sofas, hadn't gotten into cabinets, and wasn't in the kitchen.

He didn't come when his name was called-- unusual! He didn't not apparate when food was poured or tasty treats rattled.

No one had seen him make his grand exit, but a second search of the house, calling his name and rattling those treats, well, it seemed to indicate the very worst.

Harry had pulled a Houdini!

Now, by this time I admit, I was freaking out. Harry has never been an outside cat and I adopted him when he was a teeny kitten. With the many dogs and stray cats and speeding cars in the neighborhood, I had every horrible vision that there was coursing through my mind.

Scoobie and I went on a cat-hunt.

Around and around the neighborhood we walked, calling for Harry and rattling the beloved treats. We asked neighbors. We checked backyards. Harry was nowhere to be found.

So we returned to the house. Alice was there waiting and pacing by the door, and I resigned myself to calling all the local animal agencies to let them know Harry was missing. It was hard to even imagine my buddy-- the goofy little cat who fetches and chases his own tail and can't let me sit in a chair without being in my lap--might no longer be such an integral part of daily life.

Part of me began to rather irrationally wish I didn't even have the curio cabinet, if it was going to cost me one of my great furred friends.

Two long hours had passed by now, and I was sitting in the living room trying to post Lost ads on some pet websites--thoughts of mac and cheese well-forgotten-- when out of the corner of my eye...

...The pillow on the windowseat moved.

I honestly thought I was seeing things. I think I might have even asked Scoobie, as a more reliable witness. Yes, yes, she saw, too. We paused, waited.

The pillow moved again.

I seized the pillow, and like a flash emerged Harry... zipping upstairs and out of view. It took me a moment to even realize I'd truly seen him and this wasn't all just wishful thinking for a happier, yet less likely resolution.

But Harry had apparently gotten scared by the truck noise and the large moving men and somehow found his way from under the dining table, unseen by any, to the livingroom and was hiding so long, he fell asleep. He never heard me calling.

So Harry is home now, though he never really left. He got hugs and a little extra kibble and me, well, I felt like I needed to be shot with a tranq gun before the day was through. :)

I'm enjoying the curio cabinet a lot more now. There's probably some great line out there about curio-sity and the cat, but I don't think I'm quite ready to try to find it yet. :)

I hope you all have a great weekend-- and for my pet-adopting friends, that all your fuzzy and feathered buddies stay safe.