Close-up of Fudge Minties. Made of dark green white chocolate, milk chocolate and mint-flavored fudge filling.

Close-up of a few Mom's Cameos. Made of white chocolate, coral colored white chocolate that I mixed myself, and milk chocolate.

Close-up of Butterscotch Dreamies. Butterscotch flavored white chocolate outside, gooey vanilla filling inside.

This is the top layer in the box for the James Place Inn. From the top left to the right and down, here are the candies: Milk Chocolate Fruit Creme, Butterscotch Dreamy, Fudge Minty, Make Mine Buttercreme in Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Strawberry, Milk Chocolate Crisp Rice Jewel, Dark Chocolate Toffee Crunchie, Solid Milk Chocolate Mini Butterfly, Milk Chocolate Almond, Dark Chocolate Marzipan Wonder Bow, Oh Canada!, Mom's Cameo.

Candyland Crafts in Somerville (they call me Our Lady of the Free Plugs) had a sale on molds, including two of these which I bought for a dollar a piece. Inside the milk chocolate is a whole California almond. I buy my nuts from Trader Joe's because they're the largest and best tasting around. I'm particularly fond of their cashews with 1/2 the salt.

O Canadaaaaaaaaa. Well, not so many a's, but that's the name of this candy. The filling is a maple walnut ready-made variety.

These are classic caramels. I use Peter's caramel for the filling.

This set of jewels was half solid (the upward facing portion) and half milk chocolate mixed with tiny crisped rice bits. They're much shinier in "real life."

Yes, those are paintbrushes soaking in a bucket between the columbines and the forget-me-nots. They're soaking because the painters are finished with their work for the day. I wouldn't have chosen the garden as the ideal place to put the bucket, but the painters didn't damage anything or drip paint on the plants, so I am not complaining. Below is a series of photos taken last Thursday and Friday while the house was being painted. Enjoy!

I didn't take a post painting photo of the bathroom, but here's the color, Whipple Blue. I really liked the color and the name reminded me of an old friend who passed away not too long ago, Bob "The Whip" Whipple. I hadn't seen The Whip in a few years, having moved away from the Montclair area more than 6 years ago. Lenny told me of his passing, and I was reminded of his struggle with cancer. I have fond memories of The Whip and was inspired by his strength and perseverance. It's a very soothing blue.

Last Thursday, the painters started with the trim (except by the floor) and doors, then they were able to apply two coats of brand new green paint on the walls before leaving at 4:30.

As you can see, we still haven't finished the deck because it rains and soaks the thing before we can stain it.

John did such a good job lugging all the huge, heavy furniture into the middle of the livingroom. We then covered it all with plastic just in case anything should drip. Our friend Chuck (see previous postings on the rose bushes) helped haul the big tv into the diningroom and out of the way. We were very grateful for his help and last-minute availability.

The guys sealed off the kitchen with plastic and tape, then did the same with the opening to the dining room.

Then, they painted all the edges around the ceiling and trim.

Next, the painters used a wide roller to apply the paint within the dried edging.

The guy were taking their lunch while I lurked around the livingroom snapping shots here and there to capture their progress.

Right here, you can tell the difference in the two shades, but ordinarily it looks like it's all one color where the two tall walls meet on the second landing of the stairwell.

You can still see the old hooks to the right and left of the halfmoon window. We forgot to ask the painters to remove them prior to painting, but they were nice about it, spackling and repainting so well that you can't tell there were hooks in those spots previously.

Sooner or later we will replace the rickety fireplace doors, but it looks so much better with the new paint. It dried darker than it appears here. It's much closer to a dark spring leaf green than anything else.