Sunday, October 20, 2013

SteamPunk before it was cool

So I went to the Metropolitan museum a while ago on the last day they were giving out the metal tokens. There are a number of advantages to going to a museum by yourself. One is getting to pick where you go and be a total nerd taking as long as you like in front of whatever you like :-)

On my trip I discovered something I had never seen in any of my previous trips: The Roentgen's Berlin Secretary Closet.


It caught my attention because of it's beauty and craftsmanship. But kept my attention because of it's amazing secrets. Behind all that spectacular painting, woodwork, and detail are dozens of hidden compartments. By the push of button gears and pulleys inside the closet open and close all kinds of different compartments. It is one of the most famous pieces to come from Abraham (1711-1793) and David Roentgen's (1743-1807) workshop. It has a writing desk and and a beautiful clock and behind that facade is a host of hidden storage, drawers, shelves, a strong box, and an easel. On the front panel are two key holes. The one on the left opens the panel to reveal storage. The hole on the left opens up the side panels by turning the key a quarter turn to either the right or the left.

Here is a video from the Met website showing all the secret compartments and a few views of the internal mechanisms amazingly from the late 1700s.


Sunday, October 13, 2013

New York is home but it ain't mine no more.

The ABF  truck was dropped off at my house in TN last Thursday just a few hours before my Mom and I arrived. Which was perfect timing since it allowed us to start unpacking it as soon as we got settled from the drive. We unpacked the truck for several hours until it was about half empty and then called it a night since we were tired from the drive. The next morning we had some of the NY bagels we brought with us and then started unpacking again. The night before we had taken out the furniture and we were now up to boxes of various wonderful things that I had found in my attics that at this point had survived so long I couldn't see just trashing them or giving them away. I mean all kinds of wonderful collectible things from the 80s and 90s; for example this entire collection of Nightmare Before Christmas action figures (Tim Burton's finest accomplishment).



It was another successful packing job. The only shift involved three boxes at the very back. One box had suffered a partial collapse and the two boxes on top had fallen forward. Luckily my wall of cardboard and bungee cords did their job and prevented any damage. About half way through Friday we finished unloading the truck. I called ABF to let them know we were done and it was ready for pickup. They picked it up sometime around six pm. I have nothing but good things to say about ABF. The drivers were all nice, the truck was dropped off and picked up in a timely manner, and the pricing was very fair. They definitely get a highly recommend from me!

The next step in the moving weekend was to make a few trips to my Mom's condo. We had packed a lot of kitchen items that we aren't using right now and some of my Great Aunt's things which will eventually be in my Mom's condo as well as my Mom's patio furniture. So while we had the time we took what we could over. It resulted in my truck looking like a vehicle you change lanes to get away from quickly!


That was how we spent the rest of Friday driving back and forth between the condo and my house and unpacking what we could in the condo. We stopped at a nice place near where Meghan works called the Brewhouse. It is an open air restaurant and since TN has nice warm weather for most of the year I can see this being a good spot to stop for karaoke and pub trivia!

Saturday we ran a bunch of errands and made some more trips to the condo. We did have time for a little fun. First I got a tablecloth for my dining room table and the room is starting to come together very nicely!


We also built our pumpkin witch. This was something we always did as kids. My Mom got the idea from a vegetable store she remembered as a kid in Brooklyn. Every Halloween the owner would make one and display it as a decoration.



It is a quick and easy decoration and very fun to do with kids, well I had fun as a kid. We used lettuce for her hair, bread and grapes for her eyes, a green pepper for her ears, red pepper for her lips, candy corn for her teeth, a raisin for her nose wart, and an Italian pepper for her nose. Also in between errands we stopped by a party being thrown at one of the empty lots in the development. It was a good chance to meet some of my new neighbors and we discovered that the area gets almost 300 trick or treaters.

Then I had dinner in my house on my birthday which coincidentally was the year anniversary of my being a home owner. By next year I will be permanently living there and not just visiting. That night we went into Nashville (I mean come on it was a vacation we had to have a little fun). First we stopped at The Wheel in downtown for a shot of fireball whiskey, which um...... my Mom did not appreciate. Then we moved up Broadway to The Full Moon Saloon. We liked the second bar (and band) much better and we stayed there for the rest of the night.

Sunday we started back to NY. Unfortunately so did the remnants of tropical storm Karen. As we were driving back the tornado warnings were moving with us. At one point my Mom said "We need to have a plan for if we see a tornado." I answered "I have a plan there is a video camera in my backpack and I can take pictures with my i-phone." Luckily we didn't see any tornados though there were some threatening looking clouds and a lot of drenching rain.

When we got back to NY it seemed to really hit. The house is mostly empty and strangely silent. My real home is in TN. This is just where I live right now.