I’m writing this between trips to the Home Despot and I’m really tired of running around. But what I am happy about is the sign of plumbers hooking up the toilets. Yay! Also David, my contractor, had me show his guy what to paint. He said that he really needed something for one of his guys to do, but I think he really hates the paint job I and my friends did. And the guy painting is saying I didn’t have enough paint.
Speaking of paint, which I need to go grab after posting this. I still can’t decide on the color for the living room. I had a paint fiasco, sort of with the Community Forklift eco-paint. As it was explained, they had some trouble with the color mixer and it is alright now. Anyway I wound up with two different colors of pink. I sort of liked one, and hated the other and didn’t like the one I did like enough to go out of my way to match that color. So I’m looking at other pinkish reds. The goal is to have a red in the room, but not be overpowered with red. So I’m looking for a dark pink or a washed out red.
Anyway, the end is looking close. Once the toilets and bathtub are in, I just need to get carpet in and have the 1st floor sanded. Oh, and the heating needs to be hooked up. Then I get to save my pennies to get the AC hooked up next summer. And if I save a lot of pennies, maybe get that extra shower.
Month: June 2007
Scene at the Blomingdale Farmer’s Market
Bloomingdale Farmers Market
You know that feeling? That feeling you have when you look around and all is right with the world. That’s what I had sitting inside the Big Bear, sipping an ice tea, looking out the big open windows and watching business at the new farmer’s market buzz along.
When I got there it was midday and apparently there was a rush and some producers sold out. I heard tale of a big crowd of people waiting on the sidewalk, curving around the corner waiting for the market to open at 10. Then this crowd bought a bunch of stuff, leaving just flowers, lamb, plants and berries to the after church crowd. Really, at noon there wasn’t a lot to choose from, you early people bought everything!
I wound up buying strawberries, cherries, the last head of lettuce from one vendor, and some frozen lamb chops. The lamb was a bit pricey for me, so I probably won’t be buying it on a regular basis. But the cherries were just right and very sweet.
Sitting with some friends I noted how the market and the cafe fed off each other. The Big Bear was a bit crowded inside with every table taken lucky us a couch had just freed up. People wandered from the cafe to the market and from the market to the cafe. This was the best location for both.
Some of you may remember there was an attempt of a farmer’s market a few years ago that failed. It had several problems. I went maybe once and it was a hot dusty parking lot at Florida and North Capitol with a sprinkling of vendors. The produce was pitiful looking, Mary Ann Wilmner mentioned she bought strawberries from the failed market and the berries were rotten below the surface. The poor fellow who representing the non-profit running that market got reamed at the BACA meeting by the citizenry. This market is a far cry from that sad memory.
According to the fliers I have, there will be more vendors next week. Considering I wasn’t at the market during the rush, I guess Sunnyside Farms was there with the eggs and the veggies. I guess the people selling the cherries was Reid’s Orchard and the ones selling all the flowers Dragonfly farm. Next week Truck Patch Farms, producing salads, greens, and pasteurized pork. And at some date not mentioned there will be a cheese vendor and a baker. Another flier lists a laundry list of herbs, fruits, veggies, flowers and meats that will be at the market.
This market and this coffee shop seems to be just the thing that the area needed. It has been wonderful to run into friends and neighbors at the Bear over the past few days. Mary Ann said that it was nice for the community to come and meet at some place other than a BACA meeting. Where if you’ve been to a BACA meeting, much bitching takes place. Then she or someone else also threw around the idea of starting up a neighborhood knitting group. Beautiful.
Scene at the Bllomingdale Farmer’s Market
Sat June 16th
Boi Tarde,
If you can please post this annouvment on your blog site:
Good Libations is hosting a Cachaca tasting this Sat. June 16th 6-8pm. 1201 5th St NW
Come out and sample Pitu Cachaca
Cachaca is used to make
Caipirnhas (the Libation of Brasil) Yes!!! we make some.
As part of the evening tasting
The DC Capoeria School will
give folks a taste of a lively
Brazilian cultural
dance/martial
arts performance
Oh don’t forget our regular wine tasting every Third Thursday.
Ronny. Any questions please call or email. 202.347.1006
Friday miscellany
One. Shaw, or the Shaw School Urban Renewal Area is Florida Ave, North Cap, NY to M St, to 15th St. And if one of the creators (national capital planning commission) of that border keeps fiddling with the Shaw plan but not the borders, then what was Shaw in 1973 then it is still Shaw in 2007. There are enclaves within Shaw that have exerted their own identities, but in my mind they are still in the dysfunctional family called Shaw.
Community Reporter Jenny Johnson is incorrect in her article saying that Big Bear is part of Shaw’s Rapid Transformation. Eckington/Bloomingdale is the neighborhood the Bear is in. The Bear just sits on the border, so Shaw’s TCer’s are happy it is so close.
Flipping through some early 20th century neighborhood history Eckington and the TC have been closely linked. Or so it seems. My fav was the Eckington Citizen Association complaining that there were too many schools being placed in the 1st Street/ North Cap region along P.
Two. Going to see the family so no posting for a while. I’m going to Florida in the Summer.
Three. Sunday. Go to the Big Bear between 10 & 2 and hopefully there will be a Farmer’s Market.
The bathroom that might brake my bank
This bathroom, still incomplete, because it needs the tub, toilet, sink and lights installed. They are things I already had or have been bought already. It’s the labor that concerns me.
I knew that this bathroom would be expensive simply because of the tile. Tile and the labor to put in the tile. Tile is something I could do but because of the order of how the bathroom needs to be complete, some things couldn’t wait for me. Because the toilet, tub and sink (things I can’t install myself) go on top of the hexagon tile, which goes in after the tile baseboard (black tile). The space will be tight when the tub comes in so the walls go in before the tub.
What’s left in the coffers is in the low teens and there are some important things that are still left to be done. Finishing this bathroom is one. And I can’t help but wonder if I had gone with something more simpler if there would be more wiggle room in the building budget.
Summer and Crime
Some folks on the other side of New Jersey Avenue report a shooting on Q or P and 7th or 8th Streets on Monday night and the possible end to the gang truce (unless this wasn’t gang related then truce on). Over on this side a resident was mugged by kids hanging out behind G & G market around midnight on the weekend.
And well, this would sort of fall under the heading of crime prevention, but I really, uh, take it however you’d like. Last night, or more accurately this morning at 12:30AM I passed by the Florida Avenue park, where the characters hang out, and the police were there. Big bright blinding lights, a police van and some bored looking men in blue. For a time that was the safest corner in the hood.
Renovation 2007: Paint values
You know the values you have when you keep them even when they are at their most inconvenient. That’s what I was thinking when I wandered over to the Home Depot looking getting painting supplies and noticed how much was the cheap paint. Well, the really cheap stuff was around $20 or less, but the higher quality paints were in the mid to high twenties. The eco-friendly low to no VOC paint, $30-$40.
When I was hit with the $40 price tag at Benjamin Moore for their semi-gloss low-VOC paint I started looking elsewhere. Community Forklift carries the American Pride brand of paint, selling between $29-$33 a can, depending on the finish. Cheaper but not as cheap as regular paint.
It would be easier on me if I just went with the regular old paint you find at Home Depot. And I went into the idea of painting the house myself (with the help of friends) to save some money . This paint is not money saving paint, but I guess saving the most money is not my highest value right now….. We’ll see if I can keep it up through this week.
PS– I reserve the right to use whatever paint already my basement from previous paint experiments.
PPS- I want to publicly thank Cerise, Dr. So N Soh, and Elizabeth for helping me paint this weekend.
By the way
Big Bear Cafe at 1st and R NW is open.