This past couple of weeks has been busy for us with sorting things out that arrived from Paris.
With three chandeliers needing to be hung it is not so easy when your walls are made of steel and concrete.
First, two handymen with a powerful drill came to install heavy duty hooks for the chandeliers. Then my husband had to connect the chandeliers and install the ceiling medallions. With a screw driver in his hand he was balancing on the very top of the ladder and me trying to show support and asking a million times if he switched off the main switch on the circuit breaker.
Then it was my turn to climb that ladder. I had to finish the medallion job plastering small cracks between the medallions and the ceiling first and then sanding it smooth the next day.
Well, I can say I’m happy with how it all turned out and that it actually is done.
This is it – the one in the master bedroom.
These two are of the same style and in my son’s room now.
And here is my plastering job. Not bad, don’t you think?
This past June at Porte de Clignancourt flea market in Paris …
When the dealer told me the price, I thought it was a good deal.
The other thought was ‘I don’t have any room in my apartment for it.”
Lesson learnt – if you really love it, buy it.
Unfortunately, it is too late for these two.
I wished I could say that everything has found its permanent spot. But the reality is far from it. The chandeliers are in the boxes, the frames either leaning on walls, lying on the table or on the window sill, the bed waiting to be reupholstered.
Here are some of the things that I picked up last June in Provence and Paris. They’ve found their new home and I love them all.
A small vintage marquetry night stand with marble top and bronze decoration that first landed in the kitchen but now is in the right spot.
A beautifully embroidered turn-of-the-century chair. Can someone not admire the colors, pattern and workmanship on it? It is in a very good shape for its age. It’s crazy, but I much prefer to look at it rather than sitting on it.
Tapestry close-up:
Antique middle and late XIX c. wooden frames. Aren’t they gorgeous?
It’s all in the details.
And here is the elegant lady – long legs, wearing pink, with pretty bronze details and gold embossed leather top.
No, it is not about eating it for the first time. After ten years in Hong Kong there has been plenty of different kinds of Moon cakes eaten, fancy and traditional but they all came from a shop. This time it is different … I’ve learned how to MAKE my own.
Thank you to Candy, a Chinese lady from my morning dancing class, for offering us a cooking lesson on making Moon cakes. Six of us spent a few hours making total of one hundred cakes, joking that we could open a Moon cake factory. We had so much fun!
{ready to go into the oven}
They came out beautiful and oh, so tasty!
{ready for tea time}
To learn more about the Moon cakes go here.
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 13th this year and it is one of the four most important Chinese festivals.
It’s been 10 years and one month today since my family and I moved from Florida in the US to Hong Kong.
So, here are some of my photos, older and newer, from the city I live in and love.
Enjoy!
{this is one of my first photos of HK. I took it from Victoria Peak in 2001 a few days after our arrival in HK}
{“небоскребы, небоскребы, а я маленький такой”}
{lovely #1}
{lovely #2}
{D&G boutique’s window last Christmas}
{this used to be our apartment view for five years}
{Canton Road always has nice flower arrangements along the street}
