Sunday, August 30, 2009

N.Y.'s Narrowest House For Sale



The skinniest house in New York City is on the market for a fat price

The 9-1/2-feet-wide townhouse was built in 1873, and is located at 75-1/2 Bedford St. in the West Village. It was put up for sale this week for an asking price of $2.75 million, or $2,777 a square foot.



This is how the house looked in 1932 ...

It's a unique space - one of a kind.

Built in 1873, the diminutive house is squeezed between 75 and 77 Bedford St. and has been home to a who's-who list of luminaries, including anthropologist Margaret Mead and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Author Ann McGovern lived there briefly and the red-brick house inspired her to co-write the novel "Mr. Skinner's Skinny House." Actors Cary Grant and John Barrymore also once called the thin house home.

The residential interiors are a tight squeeze even by New York standards, measuring just 8 1/2 feet wide and 42 feet long on each of its three floors.

"Due to the narrowness of the house, I think you have to be very clever in how you decorate," Nicholas said.

The current owners bought the house for $1.6 million in 2000.

The broker's Web site describes it as a vertical suite, with a kitchen, dining room and parlor on the first floor, a double living room on the second floor and a top-floor master bedroom suite. A trapdoor in the kitchen floor leads to a finished basement.

Large windows in the front and back of the house and a garret skylight, plus a small backyard garden, give it an airiness, a sense of light and charm.


Your guide shows how wide the house is ...



The city's skinniest house, 75 1/2 Bedford St. in West Village, is listed for sale for $2.75M. The home's interior is slightly more than 8-feet wide.

Real estate records show the current owner, Steven Balsamo, purchased the house in 2000 for $1.6 million from Christopher Dubs, an architecture preservationist.

Dubs bought the house in 1994 for $270,000 and spent about $200,000 fixing it.

So if you act now this could be yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

High Stress Day

OK I am starting Foto Friday early ... it has been a highly stressful evening and I just needed to scan through some pictures I have taken and smile once again!! So here are a few of my favs that I took ... and one more for Foto Friday!!!

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE ....

This was taken in the moutains of New Hampshire ...blow this up, you can see the hair on it!!


I saw this guy out painting in the field and thought he was a GREAT shot!!


Just a Mt. lake I came across in my travels ...



Beautiful Hollyhocks I found in Scotland!


My first eagle sighting ... the pic is so so but I was exstatic!!!
San Jaun Island, Washington


My friend Rich, playing his heart out ...


As you may know I love to take pics of flowers and bees!! (blow up to see his eyes)


Candid shot of the sunrise in Wildwood, NJ, with a happy morning seagull! (yes blow up the pic you will see the seagull)


OK ... I thought this was very funny, a little after dawn and here is this girl taking pictures of her PUMPKIN on the beach ... hmmmmmmm


Whale Watching in New England! I started doing this over 30 years ago ... before it was "cool" ... I use to go out about three times a summer, it was a hike, but very much enjoyed ... until you see one of these majestic creatures only feet from you ... well ..........


My grandson ... he was so amazed to watch his footprints behind him in the sand ... a wonderful memory!!


Ahhh another of my grandson ... to be two ... he thought he was so funny to hide from grandma !!!


Seagulls looking for food ... so easy to take, just bring a bag of bread and have someone throw the bread in the air!!


OK OK OK only a couple more!!!

Grandpa taught me to jump over the waves, but I have to hold on to my shovel to dig later!!


I took this while in Ireland

also this one ...


WELL now it is time for bed ... and doing this has actually settled my nerves ... I have sooooo many pictures that I love ... so I may do this again ...

Well my kitty is sleeping so I guess I must say goodnight also!!!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Senator Edward Kennedy dies

Senator Edward Kennedy dies aged 77 .... may he rest in peace .... another sad day in the Kennedy family.










Sunday, August 23, 2009

BITCH

FINALLY - Someone is bitchy enough to say it like it REALLY is!

BITCHOLOGY When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch. When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch. When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they call me a bitch. Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart. It means I live my life MY way. It means I won't allow anyone to step on me. When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch. The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish. It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I 'should' be.I am outspoken, opinionated and determined. I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that! So try to stomp on me, just try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed. And if that makes me a bitch ,so be it. I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

B - Babe
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

or

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle 'anything'

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Place the blame on her ........

I saw a post on Facebook about a rape incident and then started reading more ... this is what I surmise ...

Stamford Marriott Hotel and Carleton University - or more specifically their lawyers and administrators who are using victim-blaming in the court cases brought against them by women assaulted on their property.

Carleton University in Canada is being sued by an assault victim who says the school failed to have adequate security measures in the building where she was attacked.

In response, Carleton has said that the student didn't keep a "proper lookout" for her own safety and should have locked the door to the lab where she was working.

Similarly, a woman was raped in front of her children in the garage of the Stamford Marriot Hotel, and sued the hotel for a lack of security and failing to notice her attacker - who had been suspiciously hanging around the garage for days.

In response to her suit, the hotel's lawyers say that the woman is to blame and "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."

WHAT!!! It is their fault!! Because as we all know, if we just used our senses and facilities better, women would never get raped.

I know we're used to seeing victim-blaming in the media and in the courts - but the combination of these two cases coming out in the same week and having such similar narratives really just pissed me off.

How long will we have to wait until the blame for rape is placed where it belongs - with the rapist?

So, Carleton University administrators and Marriott hotel lawyers, for victim blaming and for being all around assholeness, FY.


(AFTER POST) ... new update ....
The Marriott hotel chain on Monday abandoned its legal claim that a Connecticut woman raped at gunpoint in a hotel parking garage, in front of her young children, had been careless and was partly at fault.
The withdrawal followed days of backlash against Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc., which had claimed in its defense of a lawsuit by the woman that she had "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities." (Emphasis mine)
The statement given by the Marriott says they are "profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime" and that the lawsuit has "created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect" for victims of violence. Blaming a rape survivor for her assault? That's no mistaken impression of disrespect, but a certainty.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Last Day

Well today was my last day of employment after 27 years .... I am sad ... and wish I was working ... YES, working!!! I am not ready to become a PC slug yet ... because I know that is what will happen!!! Deep breath ... it could be worse ... good-bye Lockheed, and me, and VH71!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Benson The Carp

Do fish feel pain??

OK forgive me if this seems silly, but did anyone read about Benson the Carp?? Seems that Benson was a catch-and-release attraction in Bluebell Lakes, a private fishing complex in Tansor, England. Anglers came from all over to catch Benson, a 16 year old, 64 pound Carp. BUT ... After Benson was caught the agreement was that she would be released back into the lake, after each moron got their picture taken with her that is!! Yes, it was a catch and release agreement made by the owner of the complex. She was a money maker!! She was a plus-size phenomenon. Fishermen from as far as Germany trekked to this lake hoping to hook a fish the size of a family dog. It is beleived that Benson was caught and put back in the lake 63 times, hitting a high weight of 64 pounds two years ago

Sadly Benson turned up floating ... yes folks, her stardom days have come to an end. Can you imagine 63 times fighting for your life, with a hook caught in your lip, or gill, or what-not!!! Only to be thrown back in ... the stories she must have told at dinner .....

Benson was also big business, and Bluebell Lakes was already suffering in the recession. The owner estimates around 40% of Bluebell Lakes' anglers came to try to catch the leviathan fish. LETS ALL SAY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH for the poor owners of this complex!!

OK, call me crazy, I feel sorry for this dam fish, am I nuts, or just an old sappy lady!!!!

Well here's to Benson, may she be dusted regularly on who evers mantle she hangs above!!!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Dinner

You guys missed dinner tonight ... the best dam corn all season!!! YUM!!!!!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Foto Friday!

I thought I would copy my daughters blog and do a Foto-Friday each week!!
Hmmmmm now which picture to choose ....

Here is a pic I took on the back roads of PA ... you can see the little guy peeking out the window ...beautiful horse ....


Here I zoomed in so you can see him ... neat silos in the background too!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Renaissance Faire



"Good Morrow", "Good Day", "Good Eve", "How Now" or "Well Met" ..... these are all good replacements for hello in conversation.


I spent Sunday at a Renaissance Faire way upstate N.Y.. near Oswego, N.Y. in a wee town called Fair Haven. This festival gets more grand ever year, it is like being in a live "play" all day long, actors and artisans all are back from days long ago, and speak the tongue of the day, by the end of the day you find yourself cheering HAZAR!!!



Fear not, it does not take long to pick up the basics ...
anon (until later), morrow (day), e'en (even/evening), fare-thee-well (goodbye), aye/yea (yes), nay (no), ne'r (never), oft (often), wherefore (why), mayhap/perchance/belike (maybe), enow (enough), aroint (away), verily (very/truly), prithee/pray (please), and you never want any of the Lords or Ladys to place a Fie on you!!! a fie (a curse), grammarcy (thank you)



















There was even some Elizabethan Cursing going on!
"You poor, base rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate!" "You bottle-ale rascal!" "Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustalarion!" "Standest thou there the lyingest knave in Christendom." "Thou art a boil, a plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle." "Whoreson cullionly barbermonger!" "Thou art...the son and heir of a mongrel bitch!"

For some name calling you could always you these nice verses!
You are fat:
By my trowth, thou dost make the millstone seem as a feather what widst thy lard-bloated footfall!


You've got a big mouth:
In sooth, thy dank cavernous tooth-hole consumes all truth and reason!

You are ugly:
Thy vile canker-blossom'd countenance curdles milk and sours beer.

OK back to modern day vocab .... Here are a few snaps of the day ...















I thank thee for visiting my blog!!