Our Vancouver living room

Let me introduce you to our living room (I'm obviously retired). In the top picture, from left to right, first there is the very large black leather TV chair--my throne actually. This is where I nap and watch TV for hours on end, particularly weekend evenings . . . well, likely most evenings . . . and the occasional afternoon. The ugly red cord goes from the amplifier to my headphones, allowing me to listen to TV while Janice is reading far more edifying material. You then catch a glimpse of our dining room, particularly the new table cloth Janice picked up in Provence (a yellow that was so typical of that region, with drawings of olives on branches). True to form, I managed to spill wine on it early on. Above the table is my last piece of stained glass work, possibly from the late 1970's. This lamp basically broke my will and I no longer know or care where my glass cutting tools are. Behind the table are the windows that sold us on the house. It had been a dark November in 1975, but we saw the somewhat decrepit house on a sunny afternoon with the sun streaming onto the wooden floor and it was love at first sight (at least it was the first one within our budget). The old Singer sewing machine in the corner was refinished by Janice's Grandpa Enos Aeschliman, who bought it at his cousin's auction, so it is sort of family. However, this particular part of our Vancouver family is presently dysfunctional.

Back to the living room, top picture . . . the little dark magazine rack is from Janice's Aeschliman grandparents, something we both treasure and hardly notice. The small black/brown chair is an 'academic chair', a gift from the Dean's Office to me on my retirement. Judy, the most wonderful secretary in the world who worked with me for seven years, knew I coveted one and she got the Dean's Office to deliver. It is my most comfortable reading chair, period. The next lighter brown chair is an antique rocker we found in upstate New York in about 1973 for $75. It had turned a crazed black, so Janice devoted much of a summer's evenings to painstakingly stripping it with string and tooth brushes (generally mine are in remarkably good shape) and refinished it. It is a delicate chair, comfortable to people of all sizes, including our very heavest friend who proceeded to crack it. Herb (from our church and our neighbour) lovingly took it completely apart, added bracing underneath and reassembled it beautifully. This will hopefully stay in the family. The final light brown chair is one we picked up at a yard sale in Vancouver and Janice refinished and built a new cushion and cover.

I have too many CDs, but may do a blog on them later. On the CD bookcases there are two Boston Acoustic shelf speakers (the woofer is hidden and unplugged, now that I think about it). You also see two large framed prints, etchings made by an acquaintance of ours in Geneseo, NY, from a series on old trees on stately valley estates. You might also notice that we have no pictures hanging anywhere. We used to, of course, but when we got the inside painted (8 years ago?) we took them down, and, well, I've been busy (watching TV etc.) Besides, we'll likely have to paint again someday. Finally, the glass door is neat, but I took it off the doorway at the top of the stairs on the second floor and got it to fit the living room doorway (sort of). It's fun to watch guests close it, not realizing that the bang will be absolutely alarming, complete with what promises to be the shattering many panes of glass. Of course the door has successfully survived some 70 years, including active children, for Aaron was 2 months old when we moved in.



OK, this is way to much info, but . . . the next shot shows the side table on which I pile everything I even vaguely hope to read (while watching TV and sleeping, I suppose). There is always space for a lone cold bottle or a lovely glass holding amber liquid. We found the old lamp being thrown out in our building on W. 113th and Broadway (New York City); I rewired it and we recently had the shade's bones be recovered. The gas fireplace is newish (to us) but is so old it should be replaced by a more trustworthy one. We used to have a badly-cracked tiled wood burning fireplace, but it only made us cold, so I bought a Bear (?) woodburning stove which will outlast the universe. I gave it away when learning that our fire insurance was invalid because I installed it incorrectly (surprise!) and anyway, we were tired of all the chopping, carrying and bugs warming themselves in our livingroom. We had the new mantel installed years ago, and the painting on it is done by Galen, who married Steve who sings beside me in choir. I officiated at their wedding, the one where Steve (an ultimate frisbie player) walked down the aisle (outside), turned, and fired a frisbie back to his fiancee. The hooked rug in front of the fireplace includes fabric from the suit Janice's Grandpa Aeschliman wore at his wedding in 1912 (top that!) I believe his wife made the rug, gave it to Janice's Mother Anna, who gave it to Janice (it was something she could carry on a plane). The candel sticks are admittedly obscenely large, possibly nearly antique, purchased from some rural shop in upstate NY. I suspect they came either from a mansion or a church. Neither is straight, and candels that size aren't free.



OK, if anyone is still reading, a final picture. We start with Janice's love seat. She loves the seat, a two-seater (I'm not allowed to sit on it), and it is hers, hers, hers. Unless Steve comes. Then it is all his, for he absolutely loves it and, marvels untold, the love seat fits both of them perfectly and they both look great in it. It is so neat to see Steve relax with yet more coffee and another newspaper, slowly unwinding from work in Seattle and the drive here. We had the seat made for that spot in the living room, so Janice can sit by the northern window evenings, look out, read, etc. She used to go over all her printed e-mails after supper, and then switch to her library financial spreadsheets, all the while with her feet up. Now she has time to read books for Book Group, the Sunday NY Times, etc. We got the little round table at a consignment shop on Dunbar, the crocheted doily is from Newfoundland, and the 'Tiffany' imitation we picked up at the Seattle Art Museum when they had their Tiffany exhibition. The smaller stained glass lamp in the window is one I made, and I made a similar one for Paul and Kay years ago in thanks for their repeatedly lending us their VW Bug so the four of us could drive to see relatives year after year when we simply couldn't afford to rent a car. You can hardly see the pillows Janice made for the loveseat, but each is a quilt-like (machine sewn). One is a Dresden plate pattern, my favourite because it is the pattern Mom's first quilts used when I was a pre-schooler. Drapped/piled on the stool is the exquisite triangular wool shawl Janice knitted in London, UK in the winter of 1981/2, where she was habitually cold (she stuffed all the window cracks with rags). The brown lap blanket is from our visit to the west coast of Ireland. You see one partially-closed shade, one of our new Duettes which go up and down, and down and up (don't worry about it). Another rocking chair from another Vancouver sale, and we come to the altar, the living room's raison d'etre, the TV. The oak end table was an old machine shop contraption the previous owner left here. Janice refinished it (who else) and I added more shelves for stereo and TV stuff. This brings me to the year's problem: where (and how) to put the inevitable new and much larger HD LCD? I suspect Janice hopes the Second Coming will beat me to the store.