OUR DAILY BREAD

I ain't baked anything since my sisters had a Easy Bake Oven and a light bulb was the heat source. Stacey and I like fresh bread and have no where to get a loaf on the south side. So when I read about a recipe for bread made from 3 ingredients, cooked in a dutch oven, in you home oven, I had to try it. Here is the recipe. I have never been to Sullivan St. Bakery, but I have heard how good it is. Here you can read the article about the guy who invented this recipe, it was in the NY Times.
I haven't tried my bread yet, it just came out of the oven. This is a photo of it, if it taste as good as it looks..........

MORE WORK EQUALS LESS WRITING

And so it goes...... The more I build and paint the less I write. Also we have had a crew of sheet rock artist working on the master bed and bath. It is a very messy job that goes on longer then planned.
Whatayagonnado? This is what I did this week.


This here table is a checker board table. I used an old column for the pedestal and I used lumber from my bed room renovation for the top. I spray painted beer bottle caps for the checkers.

This here is another table made from salvaged materials. The metal top is from the slave quarters at the Oak Grove Plantation just south of Atlanta. Painted black and distressed. I delivered both of these tables this morning.



I painted this here painting this week from a photo a lady gave me. Her good friend grew the veggies and she wanted a painting of them. I didn't think I would like it, but when I was finished I liked it a lot. I offered it as a donation for an auction along with the pig painting. I told them to pick one for the auction.



They picked the pig.

WALKING 'ROUND NEW YORK

Check out this short video, I want to do this. Everyday.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html?hp&hp#/maggie_nesciur

NEW WORK

So if you wonder what the hell I've been doing since I haven't posted here lately, just have a look. As you can see I've been busy. These are all custom orders. For each of these pieces I have used wood salvaged from a KOR Mardi Gras float. All furniture orders, no art,whats up with that. Would someone please order a custom painting.
Thank you very much!

Tall cabinet. Doors are original shutters from plantation home.


Cut down columns. I cut out the door and put tops on to make end tables.

These folks sent a photo of an old bench they found and wanted duplicated. Done.

EAST POINT, GEORGIA

A few weeks back we were having brunch at Chefs house. Chef and his wife host a brunch at their home about 4 times a year. We always meet someone new at chefs house. This time I was talking to a guy I had just met and when he learned Stacey and I live in East Point he wanted to know more. It seems his wife was interested in maybe buying a house and moving to East Point. I gave him my digits and told him to come on down and I would show them around. Well we tried but could not connect so I told him I would do a pro/con list on East Point and get it to him and his wife. I made the list but never got in touch with them so I thought I would do a little something on sososouthern and send them the link.

Stacey always refers to EP as Mayberry. That's cause it kinda quite down her and a much smaller city then Atlanta. EP is about 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta and 20 minutes from midtown Atlanta which is where most of the fun is. Being on the southside of Atlanta the traffic is not nearly as bad as the northside.

Crime is most folks concern about the southside. We have lived her 10 years and have been the victim of one crime. Our car was stolen, wrecked and totaled. Kids, 13 years old! Our home has never been broken into, but 3 or 4 houses on our street of 20 house have been. It is always the same. Bust in grab the change jar, camera, ipod, ect and run. I do not know of much violent crime in EP.

We lived in Grant Park before we moved to EP and the panhandlers were the worst. You could not go to the gas station or a store without being ask for money. Our cars were broken into very often. In EP the package stores or gas stations/convenient stores can not sell single beers and it makes a difference. I get ask for $ sometimes, but not much.

We love to eat and although there is not a lot of "fine" dining on the southside there is some and like I said midtown is 20 minutes away. There are some great "hole in the wall" restaurants. I can get fried chicken, shrimp poboys, apple pies and tacos as good as any in Atlanta, and for a lot less $. There are a hand full 0f good bars, Brake Pad, East Point Corner Tavern and Manchester Arms which is both bar and restaurant with really good food.

Grocery stores are plentiful, but the good ones are a 10 minute drive. That would be a Kroger and Publix. The Camp Creek Market Place has about everything you need for shopping and is in EP. Click on it to see list of stores.

The city of EP is broke. They have closed half of the fire stations. Police have been cut back. The streets are a little run down, but EP is by far not the ghetto. There are some great houses and some with huge lot's and when the economy turns things will get better. Before the shit hit I was able to buy and flip 2 houses for a good profit.

Some of the best things going are the Truly Living Well Farm and another urban farm in EP which I have not yet found. But I did do a post on the TLW Farm just look back on this blog. It is great and has a lot to offer. Every Wednesday it is open for retail at 3 in the afternoon.

The Fort McPherson project is gonna be huge. I think 700 acres. Although in Atlanta it boarders EP. I am sure it will be a live/work, retail and entertainment complex.

The Ford plant in Hapeville which boarders EP has closed and was bought by the folks that did Atlantic Station. It to will be a new "small city" within a city. I think both of these projects will have a huge impact on EP. Click on them for some good info.

Marta has a station in EP, we use it for big events in town when parking will be a problem.
The Airport is nearby, noise from planes is no problem.

There is a small plant in EP that makes "treated lumber". The smell is a problem for a certain neighborhood in EP, Jefferson Park. I don't think any other neighborhoods suffer from it.

Schools? We don't have children, but lot's of our friends do and it the biggest problem they face down here. A group just got together and earned a charter to start a school. I think it will be for early ages, but they hope to grow as their children do. The Main Street Academy. Check out their website.

So for my new friend, his wife and their two children and anyone else interested I will tell you we love it here and would make the same decision to move here again.

Somtimes.......

Sometimes I feel so good about everything I can't stand myself. Should a body be so happy. Yea, my back hurts, my feet stink and I don't love jesus,(thanks JB) but there ain't enough room on this here blog to tell you bout all the good things in my life. My yard needs cleaning, leaves need raking, grass needs cutting and hedge needs trimming. I don't care. I know most the women in my life are pissed at me right now, but I don't care cause they still love me. And just look at how my wife sparkles, it must be love.

Setting up house with Dr. John in Duluth.

OK. So I showed up in Duluth 3 days before classes started at the
University of Minnesota. The U. sits on the flat area at the top of the
hill above Lake Superior and the old neighborhoods filter down the slope
toward the lake (which, by the way, holds 10% of the world's surface
fresh water - just f'in huge!) You can't see the lake at the U but once
you start going down the hill, you have a view of the Duluth harbor.
You don't get an appreciation of the vastness of the "inland freshwater
sea" until you go up the north shore a ways towards Canada. Yet still,
it is a pretty picture. I was driving on the streets that cut across
the slope when I saw a "For Rent" sign in the front yard of a three
story Victorian home with a slate roof and steep architectural angles.
I parked and walked up the cracked sidewalks to the steps leading to the
front door. I noticed the front door was wide open and so I just walked
into the foyer. The huge door into the living space was
also wide open. Bold, dark wood floors and pillars, 10 foot ceilings.
I could feel the energy of the open space. I walked up the four-foot
wide stairs to the second floor where a guy was playing drums in his
room. I knocked on the door and introduced myself.
"So I guess you live here?"
"Yeah"
"Are you the landlord?"
"No"
"How much rent do you pay?"
"350"
"Does that include utilities?"
"Yeah"
"Where can I see the landlord?"
"Well, he is actually on his way here at this exact moment."
"Sold!"
And so I moved in that night and slept on the couch in the living room.
Glen, the landlord, had told me that the house was built in 1903. There
was a wall separating a second set of narrow stairs that went into the
kitchen. Glen said that those were the servants' stairs. The only
problem with the house was the dust and clutter that others had left
behind. Former tenants had no appreciation for the grand eloquence that
they were living in. They probably had just become down-trodden cynical
beasts paying an over-bearing landlord, "the man".
I spent four hours boxing up shoes and coats in the foyer, washing and
organizing dishes in the cabinets, dusting, sweeping, throwing away
junk, and just generally making the place look like someone cared to
live there. I told Glenn about it later and he paid me 75 bucks.
I spend most of my time in the living room reading and doing homework by
lamp. I sit on the big front porch during the day when I have time. I
live at 2019 East 1st Street. I can walk to school in 25 minutes,
bicycle in 20 minutes, or take Duluth transit (free for U. students!)
one block from the house. When I ride my bicycle, I have to crank hard
up the hill but I fly like a bat out of hell on the ride home. On 19th
Street, half way up the hill, I found a cafe (Chester Creek Cafe/At
Sara's Table/?Market - it literally has 3 names) that serves locally
harvested organic veggies, or Lake Superior fish, or locally harvested
grass-fed beef in all its menu items. And 5 blocks towards downtown,
parallel to the shore, there is a Farmer's Market every Saturday.





No
need to buy apples at the market though. They are everywhere. Many
yards have apple trees and it was an abundant year for them. Just
harvest on the way home. Tres nombres Cafe (or would it be four now?)
serves fruit pies using major ingredients from the 'hood as well. I
snatched some grapes off a fence that were over-ripe just yesterday.
Which reminds me .... Someone needs to get the pecans in the empty lot
next to my house.
jd