Whales of Sag Harbor #8

On Long Wharf in town there is a tiny mall that only contains a few stores, an ice cream shop, a consignment store, a barber/beauty parlor, and (much to my happy discovery) an upholstery shop. There are also a couple of little kiddie rides, one of which is this cute tribute to Sag Harbor's whaling past.

Trimming my bush

When my sister was here she was haranguing me about trimming the privet at the base of my driveway. It had gotten so overgrown that when we would take out the car the branches would come inside the open windows as we backed out onto the street! I'm sure the side of the car was getting some scratches but that car is so old (it's a 2000) that you wouldn't even notice a few more blemishes to the finish.
So this week I decided to get a workout and get the job done. All I had was a little hand hedge clipper but I got out a metal file and sharpened the blades and it worked really well. After much hacking and sweating the job was done and now the car backs out of the driveway without a hitch. :)

The final paint job

I recently wrote about the odyssey of getting the house painted. You can see that post here.
All the French doors were painted last week and I think it was the right direction to take. It's a pretty handsome 'look'. I think the sliding French doors are going to be a situation of constant upkeep because they're powder-coated metal and plastic. So be it, I think the overall look is worth it.
One of the dining room windows was broken in the process, it's still broken. A new one has been ordered and it will be a few weeks before it arrives. It will need to be primed and painted after being installed. The termite rot at the base of the dining room corners will also be repaired at that time.

Beachtime

Had a great week with my sister here visiting. It was a lovely day on Gibson Lane Beach when she took this pic of me relaxing in my favorite hat.

My favorite meal

It was my sister's last night here in Sag Harbor and we decided to do my absolute favorite kind a dinner, a "grazing table" as I call it. It's just an assembly of a bunch of delicious things that you put out and just nibble on til you're stuffed.
Here's what we had tonight on the front porch surrounded by tea light lanterns:
various salamis
pepperoni
two kinds of hummus
sliced apples
blue cheese
pepper jack cheese
goat cheese
mozzarella
sharp cheddar cheese
3 kinds of crackers: rosemary, sesame, and pretzel crackers
grapes
carrot sticks
green olives with pimientos
watermelon salad with chopped basil
2 kinds of mustard, course grain and dijon
red pepper jelly
bruschetta artichoke spread
and some crisp white wine
It was SO good!

Champagne bistro chairs

My sister has been here visiting for the last week. We had a bottle of Preseco for dinner one night and I told her about making a little "bistro chair" from the bottle's wire cage that surrounds the cork before you pop it. It's a fun little crafty thing that I've seen before. She had never heard of it. So I got out my needle nosed pliers and made her a couple of souvenirs from Sag Harbor to take back to Atlanta. Super charming, no?

NYTimes article: "Sag Harbor, NY: Celebs & Small Town Aura"

The New York Times published an article yesterday about living in our favorite town, complete with a rundown on the mix of old and new lifestyles, plus a description of life in the village. There are lots of photos including one of a house that's for sale on my block for $1.1M!! You can read all about it here.
And here a few of the pictures with the captions included:











And here's the house on my block:

Twilight in Sag Harbor

The evenings have been really lovely these past couple of weeks...and the new porch colors don't look so bad either ;)

Pooltime

It was a GLORIOUSly beautiful day today...probably 80 degrees and no humidity.
My friend Dean (who has the week off) invited me over to spend the afternoon at his stunning pool in East Hampton. The pool is heated so it felt amazing...cool but not frigid, so you could stay in in for hours...AND I DID!

Beef paprikash

I had texted my friend Ron to see if he wanted to have dinner with me in Sag at the place I call "Whaleburger" (it's really called "Bay Burger", long story). He asked how I felt about Estia. I didn't want to admit that Estia can be expensive and since I'm on a major budget I offered to have him to dinner at my place. I had already bought the fixings to make one of my favorite (and easy) skillet dinners, beef paprikash.



He brought a bottle of wine, a very nice and light screwcap called "Alois Lageder", a pinot bianco.



He also brought me a book we had been talking about, a mystery that has gotten a lot of praise called "The Magpie Murders". He zipped through it. We both share a love of mysteries and thrillers. I can't wait to dive into it.



After he left I took a hot shower and settled in to watch the old "Frankenstein" from 1931. I was in the mood for something spooky. It's a classic.



A nice evening all around.

Backyard Bermuda Triangle

There is a spot in the back yard lawn that I have not been able to grow grass on for almost 20 years. It's a Dead Zone. A veritable Bermuda Triangle of unsightliness.
I have tried sodding it, seeding it, watering it, irrigating it...nothing has worked. It's just a dry patch of dirt in the corner of the yard next to one of the hydrangea beds. It's probably one of the hottest spots in the yard, it gets a LOT of sun in the summer. But still. Really? I see gorgeous green lawns all over the village and I can't get one little patch to grow?
So I said "enough" last week. And took matters into my own hands.
I decided to cover the spot with rocks, bricks, and odd pieces of bluestone and shale that I have lying around the yard, some are extra pieces from the retaining wall. I've added a few stones every few days or so (it's very hot work, I can only do it for about 30 minutes before i'm a sweaty pig). I finally finished, or I should say almost finished, today. I'm leaving a little space next to the fence because I still want to put up a new fence here and I think it will be easier for the workers not to have to work around the stones.
I think it looks good...at least it's better than an ugly patch of dry dirt!

A good hydrangea year

After several years of very cold winters which caused a paucity of hydrangea blooms in the summer, this year turned out to be a good one for all the bushes in my backyard. I have the very common "Nikko Blue" variety on both sides of the yard with a row of white lace caps in front of the holding wall just outside the dining room windows. They've all come in with a lot of blooms this year. A very lovely sight when I'm sitting on the back deck.

A still raccoon cookie jar

I've written several times about how racoons are a recurring theme with me. I've decided that the racoon is my spirit animal...I do love how smart and wily they are, two character traits I'd like to think I possess! And it doesn't hurt that my name is an anagram for "STILL RACOON".
So it's no surprise that when friends learned of my fascination for the animals they send me funny racoon YouTube videos (there a lot). This week I was having dinner with my friend Ron and he brought me a present. It was a racoon cookie jar that he and his boyfriend, David, found at a yard sale for only $2.00! It's a racoon peeking out from a tree stump. It's so bad it's great. Kitsch heaven. I adore it.