More on this amazing house

When you're inside watching it snow in Vermont, it's good to be in a beautiful house. My best friend's grandmother, Elizabeth Brouha, was an artist. She attended an arts school in Belgium and brought her riches, her belief in art education, and beauty, to Vermont. She and her husband left Belgium right at the brink of WWII, in 1940. They bought this land in Vermont, and slowly made it their own.

I don't remember this lady very well, as kids often don't know adults. In fact, in my mind she was a brusque, no-nonsense woman, but seeing her art and design as an adult opened my eyes to her amazing talent. In this picture of the living room, you can see a mural. (click on it to get a bigger image) Elizabeth Brouha painted it.

Then, she painted a needlepoint canvas, and needlepointed this chair to match. At this point, the chair is a little sunbleached, and it's in need of restoration. Does anyone know a skilled textile restorationist, who could stablize this and restitch the worn parts? Obviously, this chair should be around for a lot longer, it is amazing.

In my house, things are no where near so beautiful!

I am on a new antibiotic and hope it will make me feel better. The good news? It's Hanukah (thanks for your well-wishes!) and we are taking time each night for a little revelry. Last night, it was Chinese Carry-Out, some of it fried, (we'll get to latkes later on, I promise) and my mom sent me several Elizabeth Zimmerman books as a present. I even had time to knit on the couch! When feeling under the weather, there's nothing better than that. No snow here in Kentucky, and for that, I'm a little sorry. I love me some snow in the winter time.

On Friday, the professor's lab research students, grad students and undergrads, will come over to celebrate the end of the term with us. I'm baking challah (for the second time, I screwed something up first time around!) and will cook up a big meal for 15...or so. This is probably the total of our Hanukah education efforts for this year. I've been a bit busy working on the book to organize a public gathering this time around. More on my trip and other excitements in the next installment.

Whoa, A whole needlepointed armchair---can you imagine doing that!?