Franz Liszt, Pirate Flag, Power Plants and a Big River

Pirate flag to please the youngins on the river cruise.
"Smoke Stack" - a faux one, on the boat.
Smoke stacks- real ones- at the power plant
Old bridge into Maysville

View of the Belle of Cincinnati from my upper window.View of my house from the boat. You'll have to guess which one.



Six weeks of working on the house and then a weekend full of activities here in Maysville, took a pleasant break from all the work and enjoyed. Saturday night saw the arrival in Maysville of the Grand Prize Winner of the 2008 Franz Liszt Piano Competition. His only other venue in the USA was NYC. Pretty amazing. Just two blocks away from my house, ticket cost five dollars and what an evening of pure enjoyment!
Sunday, the stern wheeler, Belle of Cincinnati made a stop in Maysville for a brunch cruise and later dinner cruise. Three hours of eating wonderful food and cruising up and down the river. The cruise covered what I can see from my windows, to the power plant to the east and the new bridge to the west. Beautiful day, fabulous experience! Caught a picture of the boat from my house when it was out for the dinner cruise.

Bed of Dreams

Guest bedroom on the top floor- out that window is the Ohio River Valley. At night the bridge is lit. Window is ancient, not in the best of shape, project for later. What a way to greet the sunrise. If you look closely you can see that all the walls are made of wood, bet it will be cold up there this winter!

One of the Many Things I Learned Today

When you get stung by a hornet on your thumb while picking up a pop can that someone decided to throw in your yard, you break off the end of a cigarette (cigar will work too I bet), get the tobacco moist and apply it to your thumb along with an ice cube. Feels better fast and no lingering irritation.

Just a Random Photo

While looking through my old photos I found this one- taken on Kelly's Island last summer. Nice color, nicely oriented Mayflies on a traffic sign.

Thank you for Suggesting I take a Break!!

Got up, clear coated 3 floors, used my whimpy hand tools to fasten a big barn hinge on my kitchen sink's stand to hang a towel from, dabbed some paint on wood putty on the front door and decided enough was enough for the day. Gorgeous sunny cool day so the dog and I got in the car and headed to Ripley, across the river. No flood wall there so the downtown is right on the river- well, on the first flood plain so all the houses in the photos must have flooded more than once. Here are some relaxing pictures of a sweet old river town.

Nosing around the Cellar, Treasures, Horrors and Intrigue

You know how it goes with old houses, I was wondering why the lower level's closet had cardboard on the floor over the wood, started tearing it away and low and behold found a very strange enclose (sort of) space that runs completely under the big built in cupboards down there. Maybe a secret hiding spot and definitely a cold air conduit in the winter- reason for the cardboard! So, my helper guy and I headed down to the cellar to see exactly where this space was and while down there did some exploring. I'd been down before a few times, usually run right back out pretty quickly. There's some rather disturbing stuff down there, like tree limbs on stacked rocks holding up the house, the old wiring, the old plumbing, the old gas lines, the list goes on. But way back in one of the rooms I saw an old sink top leaning against the wall. We dragged it out and my goodness, it's pink marble and in perfect condition. It was covered with decades of dust and dirt and I was just hoping it was stone and not broken. I was in total shock when I took the scrub brush to it! Unfortunately it won't fit in either bathroom, but we'll come up with something for it.
Pictures in order- great idea for insulating pipes-will have to find the date on those papers, thing that looks like a giant cannon ball or bomb is an old boiler I guess, I think every house along here has one of these tunnels out under the sidewalk- no one knows what they are, the 10' long hidden compartment, the fabulous find- a pink marble sink!

Rethinking the Concept of a Kitchen

Pretty soon there will be new windows above the sink- there are 2 new ones to the right, more coming soon. New flooring, rustic sink bottom with the salvaged cast iron and porcelain sink top, my mini fridge. Can't see my planter's bench where I cook with either a hot plate, grill or crock pot. I've decided to completely rethink the whole concept of kitchen. I love this room and don't want big energy hog appliances in here- those windows overlook the river. All the walls and ceiling are all pressed tin. It's an amazingly cute room. This picture is pretty rough- still have painting supplies all over the sink along with clean dishes on the drain board. Maybe a table and small cupboard and that will be all that goes in here. It's a real joy to watch the boats from the window while making sun tea.
Little Chinese looking cupboard just got a cabinet to go with the doors that I have had for years and years. And now I have a place for my spices, sauces, oils in the kitchen. I don't have to walk 2 rooms away to get them anymore!

Resurrecting the Front Door

The original thought was that the front door was too far gone- kicked in, bad repair, missing parts etc etc. But, after seeing how difficult it was going to be to find an antique door that would fit, we decided to resurrect this door. It came with the original bell, beautiful knob and lots of problems. Here it is before mid-repair and primed. It looks so cute white I may just go with white rather than the pumpkin I'd planned on. Continued.... trying out the pumpkin, I think I like it after the first coat, will be darker after the second coat. Continued..... keeping the pumpkin, reinstalled all hardware and I have a door that doesn't look like a kicked in piece of garbage! It looks quite happy now- instead of the sad and broken, neglected mess it was.

Back in Ohio for 48 Hours

Drove back to Ohio for a fast 48 hours of taking care of business on this end. One of these garages is mine. Quite a different atmosphere from my place in Kentucky wouldn't you say? There are incredible differences beyond the scenery. No wonder I always felt weird and out of place in Central Ohio and don't feel that way at all in my new town, well at least not yet.
I think I would sum it up by saying that I'm noticing a sort of lethal hurry here in everything people do which leads to a rather unpleasant life-style.

Keeping Out the Evil Eye

Today was stenciling day as my helper people painted floors and porches on the lower level. Did a boarder in one room and Hamsas at all the entrances. Now I need a nice big one on the outside to keep that pesky Evil Eye far away.

Can You Say RELAX???????

My River View Room is done, completely and totally done. New flooring- one of the few rooms that gets new floors- these were unbelievably gross with layers and layers and layers of sticky tiles and dog pee and other lovely thing, new windows, everything painted, all the outlets redone so the plugs don't just fall out of the sockets, new light. Done. But, yes, there is still a cock roach beer trap there on the floor by the plant, good news is after 2 days only a couple of roaches are on it rather than being full as it would have been a month ago. So progress is being made. I spent a long time in that rocking chair this weekend just watching the river. Maybe I shouldn't have put the rocker in there yet since there is still so much to do.

Increasing the Spookiness Factor

Since I've been working on this house it is getting surprisingly unspooky so in an attempt to get a little gothic I hung 3 antique christening gowns in the front window. I sleep right by this window and am a little tired of feeling like I am on display as I read on my camp cot and watch people pass by on the sidewalk. Thought about shutters but this is way better. Got these at a flea market for very cheap, hopefully they will survive being in the window!

New Floor and Camping In

While I was back in Ohio my work crew tore out the totally nasty floor that was layers and layers of sticky tile and dog pee and now I have a nice new floor in this room. Most of the rest of the house is the original wood, in fact the whole house except the River View Room (this one), one of the kitchens and the baths. I love this floor!
I made my first hot meal in a month. I brought down my indoor grill and set up a temporary work table to make a salad and marinade some salmon and made grilled salmon and a nice tomato and cucumber and onion w/ feta cheese salad. Wow, real food, something other than cheese and crackers. My kitchen consists of a ratty old sink a mini-fridge and a grill and I'm still sleeping on a camp cot but loving every minute of it. We are making lots of progress. Some new windows should be in this week, the lower floor is getting all new windows and the north side of the main floor. But the house is just not letting me take out the old windows in the front or the awesome big double swing in window on the top floor. I'm listening to what this house tells me. I'll go with storms over the front windows, keeping the feeling of old in the front of the house. They are lovely big old windows with the old wavy glass. The house hasn't argued with me about the new windows on the north side- my river view windows and cold north wind windows, so hopefully they will be in by next week improving my view. All the north ones are sealed shut with layers and layers of paint and caulk so now they will open.
Pretty soon I will be ready to actually move in and end the camping-in phase of living here.