In which her house is painted

[zeborah]

The brand-new-paint effect is a tad spoiled by the boarded up window, but these things happen in an earthquake when you have an unsecured wardrobe. On the other side of the house, between the two leadlight windows, you can see where the chimney's been removed - the plywood's been painted over here, which is a much nicer effect than most houses get. (It's still just a temporary fix of course.)




There are traces, on the doorstep here, of a cat's pawprints. I'd been warned to step over it while it was drying but Boots didn't get the same message and as she tends to follow me around to keep an eye on me... I washed what I could off her paws before she finally escaped from the towel (oh there was howling and hissing, let me tell you) and decided that what I couldn't wash off, she couldn't lick off.

When the painter came this morning for the last of his gear he asked if he can take photos and get a recommendatory quote from me for his website, so he can't think the purple looks too ridiculous. :-)

Now to tidy up the lavender and roses. The existing lavender is quite old and prone to splitting in storms / when crushed underfoot by painters / when you look at it (so I don't blame the painters at all - they were actually really careful) so I think I need to both do some seriously careful pruning and also to buy some new bushes to replace the ones I ended up rooting out entirely. Or I could grown my own new ones from seed but this would take longer.

In other news, "Other [bugs in one's pantry] chew straight through any packaging - they've got diamond-tipped mandibles. Once you've got them, you've got them."

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

that looks really good and I love the purple highlights :-)

snail

[(Anonymous)]

Becky here. I think it's quite lovely, and that purple puts in just the right accent. And those lovely big windows. (insert big thumbs up here)

[irinarempt.pip.verisignlabs.com]

I love the purple! Goes well with that shade of green, too. (Also like your "seal of approval" userpic)

[(Anonymous)]

Becky again. Is that Boots I spy in a corner of the last picture? If it is she looks very much like Sophie.

[ex_heleninwales860]

It all looks beautifully fresh and clean and the touch of purple is nice.

I assume the pretty cat sitting demurely on the step is Boots?

[green_knight]

This looks lovely - I should hope the painter is proud of it!

[zeborah]

That's her. :-)

[zeborah]

That's Boots. Don't let her demure act fool you. :-)

[dendrophilous]

I love the purple! Our house is green (v. pale, with pale green accents), and I would like to add purple accents.

[(Anonymous)]

She's very pretty, and appears quite the lady. What's funny is that she's a doppelganger for my Miss Sophie. How interesting!

[poetrychook.blogspot.com]

The bugs that chew through packaging are the reason that a lot of the dry goods in my pantry are in glass jars with screw top lids. A good thing that none of them crashed to the floor in the earthquake.
Love the purple!

lavender

[(Anonymous)]

You could try starting with cuttings from some of the remaining bushes. It would be much faster than seeds. In my limited experience lavender is extremely enthusiastic.

I love the purple; I thought there was going to be more of it.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

[brooksmoses]

I agree with everyone else saying that the purple looks great! It's a nice subtle colorful touch.

(Of course, my mom's whole house is pale purple with a bright blue door, so this looks quite tame by comparison!)

Re: lavender

[zeborah]

Ooh, cuttings - good plan. I'll have to do something about that. At some point. When I have gardening enthusiasm back...