Today for Second Helpings, it’s Deja vu all over again!
I mentioned a few posts back that we lived in Woodstock, IL and that I had had the pleasure of transforming a humdrum Victorian into a standout Painted Lady. That house is today’s secondhand transformation.
This is what the house looked like from the side before we made the dramatic changes to the color scheme:
And here’s a view of the same side after I boldly chose to go where no one had gone for one hundred years!
So you’re thinking OK, you’ll allow as how an old house can be considered secondhand (I think we were actually it’s third owners) and since I do “paint everything” it qualifies as one of my art projects. But even taking into account my love of word play and visual puns — February second, secondhand, second hand on the clock…. What the heck does my Painted Lady have to do with Groundhog Day?
Well here’s the thing. The movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, which actually happened to be one of Mike’s and my favorites long before we ever moved there, was made in Woodstock, IL. True story.
And even cooler than that, the street that the “Bed & Breakfast” that Bill Murray stays in was three houses down from our house:
The movie filmed in 1993 and we didn’t move there until 10 years later, but there were still annual tours on February 2nd through town and once I looked out my window to see Stephen Tobolowsky (“Needle-nose Ned”) leading a small group past our house to the “B & B” at the end of the block.
Here’s a picture taken probably sometime in February. See icicles, and the snow on the hedge?
I think the groundhog must have seen his shadow every February 2nd because winter always lasted a very long time in Woodstock, IL.
In spite of the cold, Woodstock was a wonderful village to live in. Our house was only four blocks from the town square and I made many friends in the too short time we called it home. They’ve probably forgiven me by now for shaking up tradition with my more colorful approach!
So for February 2nd, my Second Helpings how-to advice is Shake it Up, and Make it Colorful, and do it TODAY. Because as Bill Murray says in the the movie: “Well what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.”
Happy Groundhog Day everybody!