We Made it through the Storm

Well, we made it through Irene at Crest Avenue.  Although there was flooding and property damage and people without electricity for 57 hours in other parts of the Metropolitan area, we did not sustain any damage nor were we without electricity for other than a few brief moments.  I was up early Sunday morning surveying the property and the streets to see what happened during my slumber.  Here are some pictures.

Twigs and leaves along the front sidewalk.

A view of the sidewalk in front of Crest Avenue.  More twigs and leaves.

This is a picture between 2502 Crest Avenue and 2504 Crest Avenue.  This is a Rose of Sharon hedge planted by the owners of 2504 Crest Avenue.  It is a little windswept but no worse for the wear.

The planter of bamboo took a tumble.  I was inside when this went over and when the stainless steel planter and the bamboo reeds hit the patio stones I thought, "UH OH!  That doesn't sound good."  Fortunately, it fell in the right direction and was easy to stand up again on Sunday morning.

As I ventured further into the back yard, I started to see the true remnants of Hurricane Irene.

A view of the deck on this wet Sunday morning.  Everything still intact.

Here is a picture of the east side of Crest Avenue.  The awnings survived without a problem.  Although there was widespread damage over our area, seeing these awnings still in place gives you an idea of how strong the winds "weren't."  Had these been up during Isabel in 2003, they would never have sustained the winds.  Isabel was a really horrific storm for the Washington area.

A quick picture taken through the crepe myrtles.

And here was the big find of the morning.  This is enormous.

This fell from the Sweet Gum tree in the back yard.  I tried to find the spot on the trunk where it made its escape, but I could not.  A definite "widow maker."

So there are my pictures of the storm of the year, at least so far.  I have begun to hear rumblings from the weather guys that there is another storm in the Atlantic - Katia.  They tell us this storm is brewing, but they quickly move on to other weather forecasting and say that it is a week or two weeks out to sea and nearly impossible to predict at this time.  Hmmmm.  I don't know if I believe that.  As for me, I will continue to track Katia on MSN Storm Tracker and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, the way it looks right now, she is headed straight for the Mid-Atlantic.  Let's hope she fizzles out soon.

We Made it through the Storm

Well, we made it through Irene at Crest Avenue.  Although there was flooding and property damage and people without electricity for 57 hours in other parts of the Metropolitan area, we did not sustain any damage nor were we without electricity for other than a few brief moments.  I was up early Sunday morning surveying the property and the streets to see what happened during my slumber.  Here are some pictures.

Twigs and leaves along the front sidewalk.

A view of the sidewalk in front of Crest Avenue.  More twigs and leaves.

This is a picture between 2502 Crest Avenue and 2504 Crest Avenue.  This is a Rose of Sharon hedge planted by the owners of 2504 Crest Avenue.  It is a little windswept but no worse for the wear.

The planter of bamboo took a tumble.  I was inside when this went over and when the stainless steel planter and the bamboo reeds hit the patio stones I thought, "UH OH!  That doesn't sound good."  Fortunately, it fell in the right direction and was easy to stand up again on Sunday morning.

As I ventured further into the back yard, I started to see the true remnants of Hurricane Irene.

A view of the deck on this wet Sunday morning.  Everything still intact.

Here is a picture of the east side of Crest Avenue.  The awnings survived without a problem.  Although there was widespread damage over our area, seeing these awnings still in place gives you an idea of how strong the winds "weren't."  Had these been up during Isabel in 2003, they would never have sustained the winds.  Isabel was a really horrific storm for the Washington area.

A quick picture taken through the crepe myrtles.

And here was the big find of the morning.  This is enormous.

This fell from the Sweet Gum tree in the back yard.  I tried to find the spot on the trunk where it made its escape, but I could not.  A definite "widow maker."

So there are my pictures of the storm of the year, at least so far.  I have begun to hear rumblings from the weather guys that there is another storm in the Atlantic - Katia.  They tell us this storm is brewing, but they quickly move on to other weather forecasting and say that it is a week or two weeks out to sea and nearly impossible to predict at this time.  Hmmmm.  I don't know if I believe that.  As for me, I will continue to track Katia on MSN Storm Tracker and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, the way it looks right now, she is headed straight for the Mid-Atlantic.  Let's hope she fizzles out soon.

Good Night Irene (We Hope!!)



So here we are, the 26th of August 2011.  On Tuesday, we had an earthquake which registered 5.9 on the Richter Scale.  Yesterday, large stones just outside of Rosslyn, VA fell onto the George Washington Parkway closing it for quite a few hours.  And today we are preparing for hurricane Irene, who is lumbering up the east coast and due to bring us tropical winds and rains starting tomorrow.  What next, . . . a plague of locusts?  I mean, really!  There have been aftershocks from the earthquake throughout the week down in Central Virginia.  I know this because I have been following friends and family on Facebook who still live in and around Orange, VA, which is close to the epicenter of the earthquake and my hometown.

So I have decided to carry on with my weekend in a positive manner and not get mired down in what has been and potentially will be a challenging week.  I will continue my painting project in the dining room and will post finished pictures of that on Sunday.  And I am making cheese souffle this weekend.  I have a hankering for cheese souffle - really good cheese souffle and I don't know anyone who makes a cheese souffle better than me.  I think I will make individual cheese souffles rather than one large.  I'll just take the recipe I use for a large souffle and make 6 individual souffles.  That way there will be some leftover.  Weather permitting, I might even ask a few close friends to stop by tomorrow evening for Hurricane Irene Cheese Souffle.  We'll see about that.  I'll take pictures of the storm and post them for your review.  Hopefully there will only be pictures of a lot of rain and no damage.  Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.  Everyone be safe!

Good Night Irene (We Hope!!)



So here we are, the 26th of August 2011.  On Tuesday, we had an earthquake which registered 5.9 on the Richter Scale.  Yesterday, large stones just outside of Rosslyn, VA fell onto the George Washington Parkway closing it for quite a few hours.  And today we are preparing for hurricane Irene, who is lumbering up the east coast and due to bring us tropical winds and rains starting tomorrow.  What next, . . . a plague of locusts?  I mean, really!  There have been aftershocks from the earthquake throughout the week down in Central Virginia.  I know this because I have been following friends and family on Facebook who still live in and around Orange, VA, which is close to the epicenter of the earthquake and my hometown.

So I have decided to carry on with my weekend in a positive manner and not get mired down in what has been and potentially will be a challenging week.  I will continue my painting project in the dining room and will post finished pictures of that on Sunday.  And I am making cheese souffle this weekend.  I have a hankering for cheese souffle - really good cheese souffle and I don't know anyone who makes a cheese souffle better than me.  I think I will make individual cheese souffles rather than one large.  I'll just take the recipe I use for a large souffle and make 6 individual souffles.  That way there will be some leftover.  Weather permitting, I might even ask a few close friends to stop by tomorrow evening for Hurricane Irene Cheese Souffle.  We'll see about that.  I'll take pictures of the storm and post them for your review.  Hopefully there will only be pictures of a lot of rain and no damage.  Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.  Everyone be safe!

Color is our Friend

I decided to paint the fireplace mantel.  A few years ago I did a faux stone finish on it and with the new stipple finish on the dining room walls, I thought it was too much to have a faux finish on the mantel and a similar, but different faux finish on the walls.  So I decided to paint the mantel white.  I'm not a big fan.

The white is too stark for me.  I want some color on it.  So I went to http://www.behr.com/ and used their ColorSmart system to coordinate a color for the mantel that would complement the new color on the walls.  The stippling effect I've used on the walls has a basecoast of Swiss Coffee and a topcoat of Castle Path.  Since Castle Path is the predominant color in the room, I asked their system to coordinate colors that would go well with Castle Path.  The Behr ColorSmart system is really wonderful and gives you many options to choose from.  I have decided to go with Platinum Gray for the mantel.  Here is a color swatch:



I think this will give the mantel a great look and will make the fireplace the focal point of the room.  I'll do the mantel in high gloss and I think I'll paint the walls and each side the same color in eggshell.  We'll see how that turns out.  More on this project to follow.

Color is our Friend

I decided to paint the fireplace mantel.  A few years ago I did a faux stone finish on it and with the new stipple finish on the dining room walls, I thought it was too much to have a faux finish on the mantel and a similar, but different faux finish on the walls.  So I decided to paint the mantel white.  I'm not a big fan.

The white is too stark for me.  I want some color on it.  So I went to http://www.behr.com/ and used their ColorSmart system to coordinate a color for the mantel that would complement the new color on the walls.  The stippling effect I've used on the walls has a basecoast of Swiss Coffee and a topcoat of Castle Path.  Since Castle Path is the predominant color in the room, I asked their system to coordinate colors that would go well with Castle Path.  The Behr ColorSmart system is really wonderful and gives you many options to choose from.  I have decided to go with Platinum Gray for the mantel.  Here is a color swatch:



I think this will give the mantel a great look and will make the fireplace the focal point of the room.  I'll do the mantel in high gloss and I think I'll paint the walls and each side the same color in eggshell.  We'll see how that turns out.  More on this project to follow.

Last week I decided to change the look of this blog.  This was not well received.  I heard from many that they preferred the original layout and graphics, so . . . they're back!  I have pictures to download from the work completed over this past weekend.  Stay tuned for those updates.

Last week I decided to change the look of this blog.  This was not well received.  I heard from many that they preferred the original layout and graphics, so . . . they're back!  I have pictures to download from the work completed over this past weekend.  Stay tuned for those updates.