Happy Thanksgiving from Joan

Hello, everyone!

As the newest member of the Mars household, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Joan The Mouse:

I'm living in the upstairs bedroom, and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the accommodations. The room is spacious and warm, and the furry thing with the teeth who also lives here leaves behind plenty of crumbs for me to eat. The two fur-less ones that live here have been cleaning up the crumbs far too thoroughly and far too often, in my opinion, but I'm sure they can't possibly get all of them every single day, so I'm sure I will be fine. I plan to stay forever.

It's certainly a fun place to live. I miss my mouse friends -- the tall fur-less one has figured out how we were getting in (again) and blocked up the holes (again) -- but this week, there was some sort of occasion, and two other fur-less ones came over and spent the day cooking and laughing.

The ones who live here put together a festive centerpiece of flowers, a small pumpkin, and, just for fun, a turkey made out of a toilet paper roll and scraps of paper and ribbon:

The cooking smelled wonderful. I was greatly disappointed that they cleaned up so well. I missed out on pistachios that were perfectly toasted for the salad:

I also missed out on this incredible fish that the small fur-less one made:

Didn't get a single bite of these delicious roasted brussels sprouts & home-pickled garlic:

And these beautiful cheesey chivey Yorkshire puddings! Again, not even a morsel left for me. Sigh. Here they are, straight from the oven:

And then seconds later, in their deflated, dense, most delicious state:

Other things I missed out on: homemade saag paneer (spinach and Indian cheese) and mini-papadum (a type of Indian cracker), sweet pickled limes, and mashed potatoes. Here's the whole tantalizing dinner, laid out beyond my reach:

For dessert, the small fur-less one made a special German layered poppyseed flour cake called a mohnkuchen. The strawberry-cardamom-vanilla jam that went between the layers was homemade by the special fur-less guests. And of course, there was fresh whipped cream:

I wish I could have gotten as close to that cake as that fake turkey did. 

Even though I didn't get to have any, I'm sure it was absolutely delicious, judging by the excited babbling of the four fur-less ones and the great interest of the furry one. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

The next morning, the small fur-less one was at it again, making cheese-filled croquettes with the leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast, along with these perfect biscuits:

Again, much to my disappointment, the cleanup after the meal was thorough, so I can't tell you first hand whether any of it was good. The babbling sounded positive, though, so I guess it was.

Well, I have to sign off for now -- I need to get over to the closet to nibble on some sweaters. I hope everyone had a happy and healthy occasion, as well, and I hope you all left more crumbs out for your mice than these jerks did.

Guitar

Not much excitement to show lately -- it's been rainy and chilly, so we're spending our weekends doing some tidying up & decluttering inside the house -- but I thought some of you might be interested in this:

My dad wanted me to have one of his guitars. It arrived safely last week, and last night I put a wall mount up in my office (I don't like the word "office" for this room, but I haven't come up with a better one. "Den" isn't right, either. Any ideas?). Looks pretty good there, next to a framed series of Lowell postcards that belonged to Jack.

Now I just have to re-learn how to play it!

Halloween & Todos Santos

Back on Mars this week, just in time for two important events: Pickles' annual Halloween portrait, and the celebration of Todos Santos.

At Amanda's suggestion, Pickles decided to be a justice this year. While taking the portrait, however, she discovered that she wasn't really into the wig:

She received many treats as compensation for her dissatisfaction, however, & finally agreed to sit still for fifteen seconds,

Presenting the Honorable Zo E. Pickles, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Critter Justice, California District:

Happy Halloween!

The next day, we set up our altar for Todos Santos (Day of the Dead), where we remember and honor loved ones who have passed away:

Bob Desrosiers, 1944-2015

No work on the house again this week. Instead, we both flew back to New Hampshire to say goodbye to my father, Bob.

1962

He was a funny, humble, affable guy. He was a fixture in the neighborhood, spending summers sitting on his deck, looking out on the lake, and waving to neighbors driving by. About 70 people turned out to pay their respects at the memorial on Friday night.

Here is his obituary, for those who never had the opportunity to meet him:

Robert R. Desrosiers

June 3, 1944 ~ October 13, 2015

Robert Rene Desrosiers, 71, passed away at his home in Derry, NH, on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, surrounded by loving family.

Bob was born on June 3, 1944 in Lowell, MA, to Albert Desrosiers and Florence (Lemire) Desrosiers. He loved playing the guitar, spending time on his boat, and cooking for his family. He was also a proud veteran of the Navy.

He leaves his devoted wife, Toni Desrosiers of Derry, NH; his daughter Christine Desrosiers and her partner Adrienne Johnstone of San Francisco, CA; his daughter, Angela (Northcutt) O'Brien, her husband Michael and sons Jacob, Patrick, and Sean of Swansea, MA; his son Anthony Northcutt of Fayetteville, AL, and his son Jacob Hernandez of Casper, WY; his son, Terry Northcutt and his fiance Marty Ray of Jacksonville, NC, and his son Todd Etress of Charleston, SC; his older brother, George Desrosiers of Lowell, MA; and his loving dog, Meili.

A gift from a secret admirer

Last week we got a surprise in the mail -- this beautifully painted portrait of Pickles!

The card with the cute owl didn't say who sent it, but we suspect it's one of Pickles' admirers in the great Commonwealth of Virginia.

We love it very much, and put it up immediately in a place of honor in the kitchen:

It's basically the first thing you see when you walk in. Just as it should be!

Thank you so much, Secret Admirer! Please come visit again soon!

Speed Bag

No mural this week after all. We got the front & back yards tidied, AJ fixed her bike, & I got the present AJ gave me for my birthday set up:

Of course I had to try it out for a while, using these great mitts she also gave me:

Both the mitts and the speed bag are vintage, to go with the overall aesthetic of the garage/workshop/DuserHaus. Of course, at this point, vintage can refer to things that are much younger than we are, but they do look great down there with all the 60+ year old stuff from the "rooms" under the kitchen.

After all that, I was pooped. So, no mural. Next week, I'm going out of town for work, so maybe no mural then, either. But it's next on my list!

Bedroom done!

It took a few evenings & one whole day, but the bedroom is now done!

The pink trim has been eradicated:

I did two of the walls in the same blue-gray as my work room, and two the same ivory color of the new rooms:

When the construction guys jacked up the back of the house to repair it, they caused a shift in the bedroom wall that loosened & tore some old wallpaper that people have been painting over for decades: 

When we saw that, we immediately peeled some of the paper back, to make sure the wall wasn't cracked. It wasn't, but we exposed a couple large bare patches of old plaster that we've just been living with all this time. As a quick cosmetic fix, I tried to cut away as much paper as I could to get to the places where it was still stuck to the wall, while not making the holes too much larger, and then painted over the holes. It worked pretty well:

It doesn't catch the eye when you're in the room, so all's well that ends well. We can do a real fix later, when we have the ceilings redone.

Pickles, meanwhile, couldn't understand why I would want to do all this activity in the evenings instead of doing normal couch time with her:

In the end, she went ahead & compensated herself well. I cleared out some dead plants from the garden bed on Saturday afternoon, & she spent Sunday morning in the sun, on the soft, warm soil:

The garden has a ways to go before I can replant after the Mouse-pocalypse -- I have to build a contraption -- but the bedroom is now totally done & checked off the list. I didn't get to work on the mural because I have a school assignment to finish, but I'm still satisfied with the progress this week. Next week: a return to the mural, along with some overdue yard cleanup!