JUST A QUICKIE

Jones went to the groomer yesterday--doesn't he look handsome? And, best of all, he is almost fully recovered from vestibular desease. It is hard to believe that my boy had his 9th birthday earlier this month.

And now for an update shot of Cole who pretends to be not too smart.

And finally an update on Mia

  

That's Mia in back with her older sister, Lauren, trying to brush Jones before he went to the groomer. As you can see, Jones is much bigger than Mia, but she managed to overcome her fear of him and took him on a walk "all by myself"--Jones loves the girls and will just about let them do anything to him (within reason and within about 2 hours of their coming to visit. After that, he's done with the show). Mia continues to flourish. You would never imagine the 1.5 years that she went through with the brain tumor. She's just a normal 4 year old. Yes, she must be on heavy supplemental hormones and constant monitoring at Children's Hospital Orange County and St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Tennessee and her parents do receive $90,000 dollar healthcare bills (Oh, Yes!). But her Dad was fortunately to have excellent insurance and there have been many blessings. Mia has started to grow with the start of replacement growth hormones and she's catching up with her sisters. We are all so grateful for all of the prayers that were offered for Mia's healing. Thank you.

Have a wonderful summer week-end.

Mary & Jones & Cole

CHANGE OF HEART

We have had the most glorious cool and fresh few days--the forecast was for hot and steamy--but we have had the gift of sweet breezes and slightly overcast skies. I hadn't really noticed until this morning.......

So to honor this sweet August gift, this morning I took stock of what would truly give me joy today. And it is not going to Auction Thursday! Do I need another object, piece of furniture or whatever? No. Yes, I'll miss connecting with friends, but they will be there next week. Today I intend to treasure.

Jones and I will make the trip to LA to visit Carlos

  

and hopefully resolved the abattant key issue. I love connecting with Carlos who has been a faithful friend for many years.

Perhaps we will pay a visit to Pam

to take her fabric for more Scalamandre "Le Tigre" silk velvet pillows and silk backing for another pair of Fortuny pillows. I love spending time with Pam whose sweet yet strong spirit always seems to nudge me in just the right creative direction.

Maybe Jones and I will stop off at Dao's (just around the corner from Pam) to visit with THE GIRLS

who are having a sleep over with Auntie Dao. I can't believe how much they have grown (and how many things we are all grateful for since this photo was taken last year)--Ethan is now a sophomore and in all AP classes....Lauren has many new teeth and Ms. Kaia has lost one tooth! Of course, Mia is our little miracle.

Yep, taking time to intentionally be just me for today.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Here's to a glorious end-of-summer August Day for all of us.

Mary & Jones & Cole

TODAY--THE BEST OF ALL MOTHER'S DAYS

It has been a rather funky two weeks. I feel as if I were in a time warp re-experiencing many events a second time. Very stressful, but I do think that I did better the second time around.  TODAY MADE UP FOR THE CRAZY STRESS OF THE PAST.......just look at the little beauties that I spent Mother's Day with. That is Lauren on the left and Kaia on the right and of course, Jones getting more love that he can handle. Fortunately, he was being very patient.

I also spent the day with Miss Mia and her dad....

The rest of the clan (the tooooo mature boys) didn't want to have their photos taken--the parents: Dao & Josh, Grace & James weren't too interested either.

We all cooked and spent a wonderful afternoon together doing nothing except relishing the moment.

Have a wonderful week...hopefully, this one will flow a little better.

Mary & Jones (& Cole)

ANATOMY OF A RESTORATION III

This is what my c. 1680-1700 Dutch mirror looked like when I acquired it about ten days ago--rather neglected and abused.

I have been waiting for Roberto to have a free day to start the very exacting task of restoring the mirror without removing too much of the original patina. The first step involved testing the surface of the painted moldings to see which chemicals to use to removed that ugly aqua paint. Roberto had to resort to a "green" stripper to completely remove the paint (there was a bright blue underneath the aqua--lovely).

   

The next step was to tape out the beautiful 310-330  year old walnut veneer which appears to have maintained its original surface. The exacting task of sanding and then filling the major areas of losses was up next. When dealing with native European wood pieces of this age there is usually a certain amount of wood worm damage. These pieces were frequently subjected to extreme humidity and temperature changes which made the wood even more yummy for the wood worms.

  

You can see that Roberto has started the preliminary ebonizing (making a wood surface appear to be constructed of ebony, very rare and costly black wood). To complete the ebonizing process Roberto will finish sand the surface, apply another fine coat of paint, finish sand and then apply another fine coat of paint and then finish sand. The final step will be to apply two coats of hard paste wax--buffing in between coats.

   

Here is a reminder of what the Dutch mirror on 1stdibs.com looks like

  

  

And here is what my mirror looks like--not bad for the first level of restoration.

Did you spot Jones in the photo? He had just returned from daycare...spoiled?

Have a wonderful almost fall day.

Mary and Jones (and Cole)