Hermes Cafe Bon Temps~Good Times Cafe

[etoile de mer]

Oh, etoile, I don't remember what coast you are on. Here (New England) the deer eat everything, and roof replacement is quite pricey. I am going through the same thing. EEEK. Makes me want to get up there myself with a hammer.

That makes 3 of us.
We need a new kitchen roof which is an extension to the back.
It's currently a flat roof and we would like to replace it with a slightly pitched one which requires planning permission from the local authorities.
We start the drawing process this week.
It is not going to be cheap!

Moma and Capri, good luck with your projects! Moma, DH was happy to follow the first roofer up on the roof of our two story house, "to get a better look". I was cringing because he was wearing his clunky, tippy gardening clogs, and I was hoping he wasn't going to fall off! I'm staying on terra firma throughout the process, thank you very much! We've gotten two roofing quotes so far, and the second was 3x that of the first. Second seems to be the "Hermes" quality roof! We'll see what quote three brings, but with this item we're looking for functional, not fancy, as it's actually pretty hard to see our roof. Scoping out roofing, painting, and windows all at once, and hopefully we can move forward soon. But apparently everyone else in the county has decided they need a new roof now, too!

 

[Cordeliere]

My dear cafe friends I am excited to report that we have booked a holiday.
This is quite a big deal for us, it has been a few years and I have had to push to get a fortnight off, but we are going!
Hopefully it won't be too crazy when we arrive at the airport.
Any information on American Airlines and what to do in Miami will be gratefully received!

If you have a weather related lay over or something that is going to extend your connection or possibly force the airline to cancel your flight and rebook, go to the Admirals Club immediately. You can get a 1 day membership for about $100, and they will really take care of you. After a ugly weather shutdown at Reagan, we we something like 7th on the standby list and the woman behind the desk used her connections and made us first on the list. If she had not done that we probably would have had to wait 12 hours to get out.

Besides in weather related debacles, everyone's flight is screwed up and the airports are packed. The Admirals club is an oasis in hell.

Another AA idea..While on the plane they will offer you a credit card. If you fill out the application in flight and turn it in, they give you about 40,000 miles signing bonus. DH and I both applied for one last summer. We already have AA card, so I didn't think they would give us another, much less two, but they did. 80K miles for 5 minutes effort.

And for something to do in Miami--go to Hermes in Miami and Palm Beach and report back to us.

One more edit: Download the AA ap. You will be as informed as the gate people on any delays.

 

[etoile de mer]

I've been so busy that the other day I was walking through the pool garden and said, "Wow, it smells marvelous back here, I wonder why." Lol! Then I looked around and saw that all of the gardenias were loaded with creamy white blooms. After I've complained for two years that they were hardly blooming....and they had probably been that way for days . I guess that's why they say to take time to stop and smell the flowers. Now I make a point to cut through that garden as often as possible on my way to the house.

I love the heady smell of white flowers. This year we tried planting Tuberose bulbs for the first time, so we'll see how it goes. I try to stay detached because on some level I don't quite believe they'll come up. After all these years of gardening, I still find it remarkable that you can just plunk a bulb in the ground and it will grow. But they always do. Hooray for Mom Nature!

Yum, prepster regarding the gardenia, and best wishes with your tuberose. We have a wisteria covered trellis, and on warm, early spring days the sweet, peppery fragrance is intoxicating! Love white flowers, and especially love an all white garden. We have small yards, and that's what we've had front and back. Just so refreshing and peaceful I think to see just green and white, and especially pretty with fading light at dusk.

 

[etoile de mer]

Beautiful flowers etoile, PbP! I am jealous! We are spending most of our time in our city pad at the moment due to various reasons and haven't been to our country house for a while.
So we watched part 1&2 of the Twin Peak the return last night. All I can say is WTH? It's so weird! NOTHING makes sense. Now I have to carry on watching it in the hope of some of it will start to make some sense. If you haven't watched it, I must warn you don't watch it when you are eating, or alone at night.

Twin Peaks is weirder than ever. I gave up after Episode 1.

hee hee yep it was just so weird! But I think we are going to give it another chance in a week's time. Can't deal with another episode too soon.

Yikes, xiangxiang and periogirl, hard to imagine it being even more weird! Will wait for further updates, xiangxiang, regarding watchability and decipherability!

 

[etoile de mer]

If anybody is interested in more exotic TV series I can recommend:
Midnight Sun - Swedish/French crime, mystery
The 100 Code - Swedish crime
Braquo - French police drama
The Tunnel - English/French crime
Spiral - French police, I have recommended here before a while back, waiting for the new season to be aired on BBC and Canel+ at the same time.
Fortitude - Sky original series set in a town inside the Arctic Circle. Probably most mainstream of all.

Love having all these program ideas! Thank you, xiangxiang!

 

[etoile de mer]

A little late but we have finally gotten to the garden. DS1 went away for the weekend, so DH took it as an opportunity to trick me into going to Home Depot and literally leaving me there. It's not like I dislike it, it's that I forget how much I like it. And then after spending quite a lot of time and money yesterday, my mom and I went back today because we didn't get enough flowers for our planters.

But now the garden is full. I am happen last year's miracle tomatoes and peppers return because I have planted around them. I did strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sugar snap peas, pumpkin, different peppers, basil, rosemary and mint for the garden.

I may have been hungry when we bought the plants.

We also got a ton of plants for our twelve planters and some for the front entrance, where I also made a heart out of rocks. Our soil is very rocky so I decided to use some. I do go all out when I plant!

Yum, BBC, I'm coming over when you start harvesting everything!

 

[Notorious Pink]

Yum, BBC, I'm coming over when you start harvesting everything!

Thank you EDM! It's a little sad that DS1 actually has to go away for me to get all of this stuff done. We even barbecued and DS2 got me in the pool with him. It was almost like living a 'normal' life...[emoji848][emoji38]

Up until last year I figured the garden wasn't great for growing anything (after not touching it for ten years I discovered about 100 tomatoes and several pepper plants growing in there). Hopefully the birds won't eat too much...certainly I will get the pumpkins and the herbs. I will keep you posted!

After I pick DS1 up tomorrow I'm going to had downtown and pick up my Battery park scarf. I hope the colors are flattering!

 

[eagle1002us]

My dear cafe friends I am excited to report that we have booked a holiday.
This is quite a big deal for us, it has been a few years and I have had to push to get a fortnight off, but we are going!
Hopefully it won't be too crazy when we arrive at the airport.
Any information on American Airlines and what to do in Miami will be gratefully received!

AA is good. We use them to Miami.

 

[lulilu]

Moma and Capri, good luck with your projects! Moma, DH was happy to follow the first roofer up on the roof of our two story house, "to get a better look". I was cringing because he was wearing his clunky, tippy gardening clogs, and I was hoping he wasn't going to fall off! I'm staying on terra firma throughout the process, thank you very much! We've gotten two roofing quotes so far, and the second was 3x that of the first. Second seems to be the "Hermes" quality roof! We'll see what quote three brings, but with this item we're looking for functional, not fancy, as it's actually pretty hard to see our roof. Scoping out roofing, painting, and windows all at once, and hopefully we can move forward soon. But apparently everyone else in the county has decided they need a new roof now, too!

Etoile, I have had a lot of work done on the outside of my house too. Some more painting and a new roof are planned, but I have put it off until the fall, after the pool is closed up. I was consumed with my dog, Rocky, being sick and sort of passed the time when it was feasible. My garden, awning and pool are up and running and I couldn't stand more workmen around the house (I had them here for weeks doing work already in early spring.). Nothing is an emergency, thank goodness, but should be done. Fall will have to do. I hope DH is working with you on all the estimates and dealing with the various companies. I was going crazy trying to compare quotes etc. ExDH has been some help, but I am more responsible for this stuff now.

 

[lulilu]

Thank you EDM! It's a little sad that DS1 actually has to go away for me to get all of this stuff done. We even barbecued and DS2 got me in the pool with him. It was almost like living a 'normal' life...[emoji848][emoji38]

Up until last year I figured the garden wasn't great for growing anything (after not touching it for ten years I discovered about 100 tomatoes and several pepper plants growing in there). Hopefully the birds won't eat too much...certainly I will get the pumpkins and the herbs. I will keep you posted!

After I pick DS1 up tomorrow I'm going to had downtown and pick up my Battery park scarf. I hope the colors are flattering!

BBC, isn't it amazing how you have to keep getting more plants? I have been back to the garden center several times. Now, I am fussing with the planters and thinking I need to add a couple more plants. Hopefully, I can keep stuff alive with the now heatwave we are having. I spend my mornings and evenings watering.
Please post a photo of the scarf!

 

[FizzyWater]

I have no pictures, but the existing roses are blooming various delicate shades of pink and the peonies are blooming various violent shades of pink. We put in four more roses which were blooming at the garden center a few weeks ago but are now done - I assume they'll come in with the others next year.

The big excitement for me was getting to take a scythe mowing course Sunday morning, so now I'm the proud owner of a scythe (and a killer sunburn). The boyfriend didn't want to take the mowing course but i think he's intrigued enough now to take the sharpening course with me next month.

 

[momasaurus]

A year ago @Cordeliere and I were in Paris ogling stuff like this:
I miss Paris!

 

[Notorious Pink]

BBC, isn't it amazing how you have to keep getting more plants? I have been back to the garden center several times. Now, I am fussing with the planters and thinking I need to add a couple more plants. Hopefully, I can keep stuff alive with the now heatwave we are having. I spend my mornings and evenings watering.
Please post a photo of the scarf!

Hahaha I keep telling myself NOT to go back! We really could use some more up front, and my portico plants are technically low on soil [emoji51] plus there's one more planter we put nothing in and I'm hoping we'll just hide in the garage this year....

I thought the trick is to water in the late afternoon after the sun. Should I do morning, too?

 

[lulilu]

Hahaha I keep telling myself NOT to go back! We really could use some more up front, and my portico plants are technically low on soil [emoji51] plus there's one more planter we put nothing in and I'm hoping we'll just hide in the garage this year....

I thought the trick is to water in the late afternoon after the sun. Should I do morning, too?

I only water twice a day when we are having a heat wave. And really it's the planters as they seem to dry out fast. lol re the soil -- we were getting bags of that too. DD2 is doing vegetables and has all kinds of soil and fertilizer going in her little raised beds and planters.

 

[lulilu]

I have no pictures, but the existing roses are blooming various delicate shades of pink and the peonies are blooming various violent shades of pink. We put in four more roses which were blooming at the garden center a few weeks ago but are now done - I assume they'll come in with the others next year.

The big excitement for me was getting to take a scythe mowing course Sunday morning, so now I'm the proud owner of a scythe (and a killer sunburn). The boyfriend didn't want to take the mowing course but i think he's intrigued enough now to take the sharpening course with me next month.

You are so brave, Fizzy! I'd be scared to be swinging (or whatever it's called) a scythe. Your roses may bloom again this year. Mine are like the ones in PbP's photos and they bloom for a long period and then bloom again later. They have been blooming for weeks now. I am trying to be better about sunscreen or hats -- I've gotten the killer sunburn in years past. You lose track of how long you've been out there.