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Time for a chair restoration update!  Remember I had been working on a little 19th century chair named Jocelyn (after my friend who introduced me to restoration and gave me the chair as my first project)?  You can see more about it all here and here.

Things have progressed substantially with Jocelyn and now she awaits the arrival of her new skin upholstery!  However, before I could even *choose* a fabric, she needed a lot of work on her interior.

The joy and pain of restoration, it seems, is that you never know what you’re going to find underneath the layers of fabric and varnish.  These are her insides:

Not pretty.

The real hope, as we dug down, was that Jocelyn’s primary support structure – the wood, the springs, the ropes – would be sound, and that she would need little in the way of internal rebuilding.  But, alas, the springs were too weak (my restoration guru gave them only five years to support my expanding butt)  and all of her guts had to be removed and replaced:

This was particularly painful because it took another TWO WHOLE CLASSES!  Besides which, the sound of Jocelyn’s screams as she was disemboweled still haunt me… *shudder*

But, Grasshoppah, no pain no gain.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Et cetera.

Now Jocelyn will live for another 50 years and I know how to respring a chair!:

An odd skill perhaps, but that, combined with my ability to sing and pickle beets, should surely secure my position as one of the last to be eaten in the event of a nuclear holocaust.  And really, that’s all that matters in the end.

Oh, by the way, the Netherlands/Uruguay World Cup game was playing the night Jocelyn was resprung.  Here’s the group watching it on a laptop:

Back to work…

The springs had to be covered by a protective layer of burlappy stuff (technical term alert!):

Then I was able to secure the old seat cushioning – apparently saving me another two weeks of classes:

Nice.

And here is Jocelyn!  Freshly covered and ready for her new upholstery.  Before I left for Montpellier I stopped in at the workshop and FINALLY chose a colour.  It hasn’t arrived yet but I should get it in a few weeks.  Very exciting!

My next class isn’t until September 20, but in the meantime I have bought a new project to work on after Jocelyn: an Art Deco wardrobe with a beveled glass door.  I’ve named her Roxanne (after the shop I found her in… and Sting’s whore).  Sorry no photos yet!

And The Netherlands won the game:

A good evening all around!

Posted in: Daily, The Hague | No Comments »

Since we’re on a France theme, I figured I should mention Le Tour de France.
I was in Rotterdam for the start of it back in July.
July 4th to be precise.

Why it started in The Netherlands, I’m not exactly sure.
Apparently it’s normal to start Le Tour in a FOREIGN LAND.
And the Dutch do love their bikes.

I have to confess that I’m not actually a follower of Le Tour.
I find it too long and I just can’t commit to it.
You know, since I have the attention span of a brain damaged goldfish.
But my big sister is a big fan.

So when I found out (purely by chance) that Le Tour was starting in Rotterdam,
I decided to go.
And experience it on her behalf.

Rotterdam is only a 20 minute train ride from home.
Great city. Bigger than The Hague.
Lots of arts, dance, and music.

So I was happy to go to Le Grand Départ.
I went with the intention of meeting a friend and cheering on the riders.

But I couldn’t find her in the crowds.
So I just ended up walking around on my own.

It was a great party atmosphere that morning.
Lots of happy people wearing yellow.
Lots of sunshine.
Lots of bikes.
But I wish you had been there, Tracey!

*ahem*… Any chance you know who won the race?

Posted in: Daily, Europe | No Comments »

Ah… Just returned from a week in France.  And MAN what a week.  Gorgeous weather, gorgeous people, gorgeous city.  I arrived by train late on a Saturday evening and this was the view from my hotel the next morning:

I KNOW!

I actually groaned with pleasure when I opened the curtains.

I could have flown – it would have been faster – but I took the train because I’m tired of feeling like a criminal for carrying a bottle of water.  It was long (9 hours door-to-door) but it was around the same price, it was WAY more relaxing, the view was spectacular, and it was so incredible to watch the weather change as we sped south.  Imagine leaving rainy 14 degree misery and gradually making your way to 30 degrees of liquid sunshine.  Si bon!

This was my first time in Montpellier.  I was there for the week for a French course with my friend Christy.

Montpelier is an ancient city situated just a little inland from the Mediterranean.  It’s the 8th largest city in France and essentially made up of two distinct sections, the old and the new.  The old centre is definitely the most interesting part of the city, and that’s where Christy and I spent most of our time.  With winding streets, high walls, unique shops, apartments, franchises, museums, churches, bars and restaurants all mashed together, there was something new to discover around every turn.

I have actually been to France three times before – to completely different regions on each visit – and each time has been amazing.  I’m not sure how it is to live there, but it is probably my favorite place to visit.  The relaxed vibe, the awesome weather (in the summer), the beautiful architecture, the food.

Good LORD the food.

Especially the bread.

Hoo Nelly! On this trip I swear I’ve never eaten so much bread in my life.  It couldn’t be helped: it’s laced with cocaine.

True story.

Every day I would say, “Ok, I really have to stop eating so much bread.  I’m developing a baguette belly”, and every day I would have a pain au chocolat for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a baguette with my evening meal.  Savoureux!

As for the French course, unfortunately my command of the language was really atrocious, but I managed to fudge (fondant) my way into a medium-level class.  The classes were good: small groups (no more than 10 people), all completely in French – no English allowed – and personal attention when you needed it.  A week is really not long enough, but I suspect I’ll try and return in the future.

In fact, it was stupid how much DUTCH I spoke when I was there.  I could smell the smoke from the old brain gears grinding: “Hm… this isn’t English, so let’s just spit out any old non-English word that comes to mind”.  I was actually quite pleased with how much Dutch I knew… although it fundamentally defeated the purpose of the trip.  Jammer. C’est dommage.

Christy’s French was miles better than mine (my future children will definitely be in an immersion language school), so while she did help me out with vocabulary and such, we ended up speaking English with each other most of the time.  Shame on us.  But, you know, MEH, because the best part of the whole learning experience was that it was combined with VACATION.

Here are some photos of us enjoying Montpellier.  The first is the huge central square, La Place de la Comedie:

Here is their local Arc de Triomphe, the Porte du Peyrou:

Here I am in front of the énorme Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Montpellier:

Here is a building that stands in front of the church of Saint Roch (local saint form the 1300s who people still come to to pray for healing).  The amazing thing (besides those silly miracles of course) is that this building is just a flat wall.  The entire surface is painted with trompe-d’oeil technique.  It’s hard to tell where the real people end and the painted people begin.  Très cool:

Here I am striking my most natural pose in front of the local dance threatre, the Agora. :

Here is the Saint-Clément Aqueduct.  They built it and never used it.  A medieval make-work project.  Now it’s a parking lot and people play pétanque under the arches:

Christy and I made it to the beach in Grau du Roi after an hour-long mystery bus ride (Do we get off here? Here? Here?).  We aimed for a beach as far outside Montpellier as possible in order to avoid the crowds.  Unfortunately the crowds had the same idea.  Here’s a picture of me and everyone else in the world:

But the sun was warm and my boobs got to see the Mediterranean.

The night life in Montpellier was pretty spectacular: many happy people from all over the world enjoying the cafes and restaurants.  This is where we ate pizza:

This is me enjoying a caipirinha (with tequila) in my new frilly yellow dress – Mom, does this frilly yellow dress remind you of something I had as a little girl?  (Yes, another frilly yellow dress):

Here is Montpellier’s huge annual summer festival, Les Estivales, filled with food, wine, music, performers, and of course, PEOPLE! Bon temps:

Huge thanks to Christy for the great company and for inspiring such a cool holiday break.  À la prochaine fois!

Posted in: Daily, Europe | 4 Comments »