Louisville.

A few photos from a very brief, yet fabulous Louisville escape over the weekend ...

An eerie, yet beautiful foggy drive to Kentucky ...


Immediately followed by a scrumptious Southern lunch (and amazing bloody mary) at one of Cat's favorite restaurants ever: Lynn's Paradise Cafe. So fun. And delicious...


CatMatt drove the Bourbon Trail and toured Maker's Mark, an absolutely beautiful distillery in Loretto, KY. One of the more impressive parts of the tour - other than the gorgeous old buildings and fall scenery - was a room filled with 8 gigantic barrels of mash, each in different stages of fermentation...


In addition to strolling down Bardstown Road, window-shopping, people-watching, and spending time hunting through used CD bins like college days of yore (we bought 5), our trip included drinks on 4th St., a night's stay in the Galt House downtown on the river, brunch at one of Cat's all-time favorite brunch stops (North End Cafe), wandering through the most amazing antique mall ever, and a visit to the Louisville Zoo, where Cat demonstrated a hippo's ability to fertilize land in its habitat. Fascinating ...

CatMatt & Tuckpointing.

Over the weekend, CatMatt tried their hands at some masonry.

Mortar between bricks was deteriorating and getting worse every season ...


Matt used his brand new angle grinder (This thing cuts through mortar effortlessly. Well, almost). Sweet.


This is a pretty dusty job. Matt, you rock!


Said dusty job continues well into the evening..


Holy crap. It worked.

More fall harvest, choices.

Acorn squash and carrots, a first this year:


In other news, a big decision to be made. Paint's been peeling on CatMatt's house for about a year now, and they can't ignore the need to paint any longer, if they're to avoid damage beyond what's fixable with a mere paint job, at least. So - time to paint. And CatMatt are using this opportunity to (hopefully) change the look of their lil old house for the better.
Right now, she's a beige hue with dark brown trim:


CatMatt have decided on gray with white trim. The question now is, which gray of the Sherwin Williams variety? Thoughts? (samples painted on back side corner)

Trim color's pretty much chosen - a slightly-off-white:White Hyacinth.
Darkest gray option is to the right of the window: Peppercorn
Second darkest is top left side of window: Roycroft Pewter
Below Roycroft Pewter on left side of window: Cityscape
Lightest option at the bottom: Gray Matters

Seriously, this is a tough call. Opinions welcome. :)

Hutch numero dos.

On the same day and at the same antique store where they found their new dining room hutch, CatMatt bought a sweet old cabinet that was begging for a little love. This piece had likely been sitting in someone's barn or garage for who knows how long (before that - ??), and was dusty, chipped, scuffed, and frankly - a little stinky. Cat cleaned it up and aired it out, gave it a fresh coat of paint, moved it into the den, and filled it with cookbooks.

A glorious fruit.

CatMatt harvested edamame a week or so ago. It took a while (seeds planed late April; harvested early September), but it was worth it. Serve: at room temperature or chilled after boiling in salted water and seasoning after with a pinch of sea salt. Yum.