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surprises

  • Jun. 15th, 2005 at 3:12 PM
Simon van Alphen by Nicolaes Maes
I bought Delia a necklace from this artist for her birthday - we were at that amazing crafts fair at Lincoln Center 2 weeks ago, and it was almost the first thing we saw, and I'd just been thinking, When the hell am I going to have time to go shopping and buy her something . . .? We had to have it shortened (Delia loves saying that, like Anne Boleyn, she has a little neck), so the maker took it home to Maine to cut out a bit, promising to mail it to me in plenty of time. Since Delia doesn't remember much that doesn't have to do with tiles or wallpaper these days, I figured she'd forget all about it and I could spring it on her on her birthday next week on the 22nd.

This did not quite work as planned, since when it arrived in today's mail I spent a certain amount of time staring at the Overnight envelope and musing loudly, "Jodie in Maine? who the hell could that be? feels like a box! why would anyone be sending me overnight express from MAINE?!". . . until Delia said, "Oh!" and wryly remarked, "Well, at least it was a surprise for somebody."

Comments

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[info]ravenedgewalker wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 12:24 pm (UTC)
very amuzing! my darling has a habit of marching into stores and attempting to buy what ever item I have carefully bought and hidden away. no abouts of hints can disuade her until I finally have to say 'for pities sake I already got it for you....' surprise over again!
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[info]ellen_kushner wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:41 pm (UTC)
Oh, yes! Well, at least you definitely have the same taste.

Our funny story is from back when we had just become a couple. At Boskone, I think, Darlene Coltrain was showing a necklace I adored, but wasn't willing to put out the $$ for. Delia went and bought it from her. "I'm almost sorry to sell it to you," Darlene said; "I was hoping Ellen Kushner would get it." Of course, Delia was buying it for me (silver, after all, is not her color)!
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[info]snakey wrote:
Jun. 16th, 2005 05:06 am (UTC)
Although I think the worst (being ravenedgewalker's darling...) was when I spent a great amount of time and money arranging for one of [info]kerrykate's incredible art dolls to be shipped to us, and my father saw the parcel first and yelled down (in front of Raven) "Who's sending you dolls from America" - so, suprise over....

One day I will plot a successful suprise, sigh....
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[info]j_bluestocking wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 01:44 pm (UTC)
That sounds exactly like something I would do. But at least it's a gorgeous necklace, if the website is anything to go by!

So -- wallpaper and tiles? I used to dream about wallpaper from this place:

http://www.bradbury.com/

It doesn't really go with my house, but I love their Arts and Crafts line, and there's a Moorish ceiling somewhere on their site that my inner drama queen fell in love with.
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[info]ellen_kushner wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:32 pm (UTC)
Funny you should mention Bradbury & Bradbury - Delia's old house, the 1880's Queen Anne manse in Newton, Mass., was done almost entirely in it, and I loved it exceedingly. All our current cottage (ca. 1900, but not grand at all, so the scale would be wrong) can sustain is a little bit of thornberry in the upstairs hall.

We are, however, moving; I have not yet had the nerve/time to work up an announcement on LJ, but we're closing next week (also on Delia's birthday)and the place - large rooms, built in 1909 - will be nothing but Bradbury if we have our way - including the border above the paneling in the diningroom - Delia's thinking http://www.bradbury.com/for_oakleaf_fr.html because it will not fight with all our tchatchkes, but we're also inclining toward http://www.bradbury.com/for_land.html - or possibly the Galleons that you have used for your "ID photo" here (though Delia thinks they - or maybe the River might do better in the bedroom. The bedrooms are nothing to write home about - as was the custom in the period, all the glory lies in the public rooms. But that's why there's wallpaper, isn't it?).

Lovely to hear from you - I am sweating with joy over the gorgeous pictures of your place, and glad to know you'll like ours as well. Come and stay, once we're settled.
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[info]hangedwoman wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 04:17 pm (UTC)
I've never seen any of that Bradbury & Bradbury stuff before - I'm in love. *sigh*
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[info]j_bluestocking wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 11:41 pm (UTC)
Congratulations on almost-closing! And I'd love to visit -- the very phrase "paneling in the diningroom" is honing my desire to see it.

The River and the Galleons are two of my favorites. Imagine how lovely it will be to go to bed looking at them -- like sleeping in a childhood fantasy novel.
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[info]beth_bernobich wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 02:23 pm (UTC)
I can just picture this scene. :)

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[info]ellen_kushner wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:45 pm (UTC)
You know me far too well. . . . !

(Are you coming to Readercon?)
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[info]beth_bernobich wrote:
Jun. 17th, 2005 06:05 pm (UTC)
I am still dithering about Readercon. We get back from Hawaii the weekend before, and so things are in a hectic undecided state.

Must try to locate my spiffy fan-girl hat.

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[info]hangedwoman wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:22 pm (UTC)
Hee hee hee. My mother has a tendency to buy gifts long beforehand and then forget where she stashed them - but she'll tell the person what she got them. Then maybe it will turn up later or maybe it won't. And sometimes she'll completely forget all about getting the item as a gift, and maybe I'll run across it while I'm over at their house. Then I have to decide whether or not it would be politic to tell her.
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[info]ellen_kushner wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:51 pm (UTC)
Oh, god. We actually have an entire room with presents in it (OK, there's other stuff, too, but...). I have finally separated them into paper bags (with handles) with recipients' names on them. This way (1) If I'm going to visit them, I can remember to bring them something - especially the kids!; (2) I stand a chance of actually giving the right gift to the right person someday. Delia has embargoed all the "Anyone would like this!" presents I used to buy with such abandon. Well, really, what can you do when you love to find strange and exquisite objects, but your house is completely full already? Buy them for others, of course! (My humble duty to madam your mother, clearly a kindred spirit.)
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[info]hangedwoman wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 03:59 pm (UTC)
Mom has a Gift Closet, mostly for the For Anyone gifts. So kindred spirits indeed. The gifts she misplaces are never in The Closet.

Actually both my parents are forgetful about books they've borrowed, but they're terribly nice about it when reminded. Unfortunately they've done this so many times that a few years ago we had a problem with the opposite. They'd given me a lovely first edition of Andrew Vachss' Flood, so I gave them my paperback as a reading copy. After they asked me about four times if they were supposed to have returned the paperback to me, I took it off their hands to save them the stress.
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[info]redbird wrote:
Jun. 15th, 2005 04:15 pm (UTC)
I have an aunt-in-law who used to be in the habit of buying Christmas gifts about three years in advance. This was mostly just general efficiency, not the "oh, cool, something really neat, one of my friends will like it!" which meant, for example, that it was no use telling her that wool makes me itch if she'd decided two years ago that all her nieces, nephews, and partners thereof were getting wool knit hats.
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[info]jenwrites wrote:
Jun. 16th, 2005 09:34 am (UTC)
LOL! That pretty much sounds like something that could have happened in my house.
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(Anonymous) wrote:
Jun. 16th, 2005 01:13 pm (UTC)
Hee! I can just see this [and hear it], too.

We have a "mathoms" basket for miscellaneous "anyone would like this" gifts, but lately Sarah's been getting into it: "What's this? Is this a present for someone? Is it a present for *meeee?*"

--Els
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[info]ikaev wrote:
Jul. 7th, 2005 12:26 am (UTC)
Yes it's surprise
I wish you better luck next time.
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