A LITTLE MAXINE HUMOR FOR THE HOLIDAY

Thanksgiving with Maxine Okay, so the cartoons didn't load; I am sure you have seen many of them before. My parents came down from Vermont a day early to avoid all of today's rain and now my schedule is all off, plus my MIL is not doing very well, so I have become Nurse Jane FuzzyWuzzy ( anyone remember Uncle Wiggly's muskrat housekeeper??). While my parents are contentedly watching Family Feud on the Game Show Network...someone spare me please...I am sneaking a bit of computer time, maybe a few games of Super Text Twist or Web Suduko to relax before the cooking marathon begins. Wishing you all Best Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving Later, Janet

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BUSY, BUSY

Sorry to have been absent since Friday and to leave you all in the lurch. I have been trying to get my house in order for Thanksgiving and the way too quickly approaching Christmas festivities. I am not much of a housecleaner. I can't stand clutter or messes, so that is not usually a problem and my house is never really dirty, but it is rarely as clean as I think it should be. Case in point...Monday night we moved the stove out and cleaned under and behind, plus the sides and the sides of the cabinets. I don't even want to tell you the last time that was done, but it is done now. That of course prompted me to take stuff off the backsplash and clean all the little spots. Remember my kitchen gets used every single day and it does take a beating. I cleaned a couple of the copper pots, not all; I wouldn't want it to look like a kitchen showroom!! Last night we moved the refrigerator out of the space it occupies. The space is approximately 1/4 of an inch bigger than the fridge, so maneuvering it is a challenge. But should anyone want to look under or behind it is spotless.

After all this work I decided to take a break this morning. I set the oven to clean and left the house for my Root Canal appointment. Still numb.

Later,

Janet

YELLOW HOUSE

144 Brattle Street sold recently for $3,777,350 in 34 days. I swear I took a picture of this very house, but it is gone. There is approximately 5900 square feet of living space and don't worry there is an elevator from the basement to the third floor. Taxes are $19,400 per year, pretty reasonable for the size, location and the history. Just a couple of pictures for you to enjoy the ambience.

Lovely staircase...just picture Loretta Young, hand on railing

Cabinets not my style, but I would live with them forever to have that stove. I also love the chandelier over the table, sort of Gothic/Spanish and moody. And I would use all the copper pans ( I use mine all the time and sometimes I even polish them!)OK, so there is vinyl on the floor...so what?I would write my memoirs at that desk in the window while watching colorful leaves slowly drift by, or maybe snowflakes. The room just looks so welcoming and I think I can smell soup simmering from the kitchen.

Then I would retreat to my bedchamber with a cozy fire to read before retiring.

Fantasy over..back to life with my abcessed molar.

Later,
Janet

CAMBRIDGE LIVING

This home looks very much like one I walked by on Brattle Street, but is in a similar neighborhood not far away. It recently sold for almost $5,000,000 in just over a month. Recession? What recession? I thought it would be fun to show you the pictures that accompanied the listing.

This gives me some "kitchen envy" even though I can't see the whole room. Coffee and a good book by those windows, anyone?
Then we will wander out to the patio for our glass of wine before dinner


Nice retreat, I might want some window coverings, especially in the winter months
Was that fun? Tomorrow I will show you interiors of one of the houses I did show you on Brattle Street. One of the yellow ones. Stay tuned.

Later,
Janet

CAMBRIDGE PART II

Look at the size of these leaves I picked up. They are huge and will look wonderful on the Thanksgiving Table. I love to pick up leaves and press them, oftentimes forgetting them in a book...do you pick up and save leaves or am I just strange??

This Second Empire Victorian looks absolutely modest compared to some of the huge Georgian and Federal Colonials.

Yellow seems to be a popular color on Brattle Street

Perfect symmetry...Georgian Colonial

This home dates from the late 1600s...can you imagine?

Now you know why these are known as "Burning Bushes"

Do you like to shuffle through leaves like this? I just can't resist, no matter my age.

That's the end of the tour; it was a really fun day despite the large blister.

Later,
Janet

HAH VUD

View of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River

Wednesday I went to Cambridge, home of MIT and Harvard ( get it??) ,with my hubbie. While he worked in the morning I wandered across the Harvard Bridge to the Back Bay of Boston and browsed (really I didn't buy a thing) a few shops on Newbury Street. Very nice shopping, but way too posh for my current budget for sure. Then I walked back across the Charles River("Love That Dirty Water"...remember that song?) to Cambridge and off we went to Harvard Square. We had lunch and then we walked and walked and I know that we walked at least 6 miles and that doesn't even include my little side trip to the Back Bay in the morning. The first pictures here are a few I took as I ambled about in the Back Bay. The rest are of either some buildings from Radcliffe College ( now a part of Harvard) or of Brattle Street. There will be limited commentary so that you can enjoy the very impressive buildings and private homes. I believe the late Julia Childs lived on Brattle Street. Many of these homes date from the late 17oos and some from as late as the early 1900s. The prices are astronomical and there is a lot of "old money" and a tremendous amount of American History on this street. I can't imagine the maintenance required in homes of this age or size to say nothing of the property taxes. Several are being extensively worked on...new roofs, new paint, new landscaping...in *this* economy. Okay, sit back and enjoy.

Even city folks decorate for fall!

The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House built 1759
Home to George and Martha Washington during the British seige of Boston
Later Home to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was here that he and his wife, Fanny Appleton raised their five children and he wrote such poems as "The Song of Hiawatha" and "Paul Revere's Ride". The home is open to the public seasonally, but apparently not this season. Beautiful grounds with formal gardens in the back. Next year I hope to go and tour the house and gardens, I amagine they are lovely in the summer.

A former Carriage House that was next to the rear grounds of the Longfellow House. Hard to see, but it was so beautiful hidden behind the golden leaves on a cloudy day. The epitome of cozy.

I am going to end here for today so that I can get some cleaning/laundry/errands done. More on Saturday or Sunday.

Janet

Edited to add: Julia didn't live on Brattle Street, but on a street closer to Harvard Yard. Whoops!