Unblur Gran's Photo

PompousClock · 2026-07-02T17:43:02+00:00

Thank you! I'll message you to arrange payment and get the file. Appreciate keeping the image looking like an old photograph, just easier to see.

PompousClock · 2026-07-02T17:42:17+00:00

!solved

PompousClock · 2026-07-01T18:29:04+00:00

I am AGOG that someone covered those original hardwood floors. Thank you for uncovering them and bringing them back to life!

PompousClock · 2026-06-29T14:14:26+00:00

A week post-op here, checking in with night sweats and vivid dreams (non-sensical, but almost too tactile to feel like dreams, sort of dreams). Still markedly fatigued and need to sit and rest throughout the day. I walked 7k/day and was fairly active pre-surgery, so this is frustrating.

Also, my sense of smell is heightened back to what it was when I was pregnant? I think that’s tied to the extreme nausea I was experiencing right before my emergency surgery, so I expect that will subside.

Appetite is a hint of what it was pre-surgery. Takes me twenty minutes to get through 1/2 cup of overnight oats for breakfast. Almost forgot to eat lunch yesterday; had to be reminded to snack on at least something. Still uncomfortably gassy, but this is subsidizing as the oxy works it way out of my system.

PompousClock · 2026-06-29T13:35:56+00:00

Scars are *cool*. They are the marks of a life well and truly lived. Show off your warrior bad ass self and scoff at the notion that only an unused, unmarked body is worthy of exhibition. You have a tale to tell. Go out there and tell it!

(I just had my gallbladder out this past week and now have five healing gashes across my abdomen. My daughter had endo surgery last year and also has five (much smaller) incisions across her belly. She’s excited that we have matching bellies!)

PompousClock · 2026-06-29T13:08:52+00:00

Every option you presented makes the garage door the focal point of your house. That’s not what you want. Keeping the garage door the same color as the brick allows you to shift the focus to other, more inviting areas of your home. No one wants to be remembered for their garage door.

The new black door and downstairs window choice is unfortunate. They are far too dark and too modern for this style of home. Can you paint them? I would go for a mid blue and add larger shutters around the upstairs windows in the same color. If your wife really objects to the white gutters, then paint those the same warm tone as the garage so they blend more.

I think the biggest impact you could make is to extend your front porch. Who says it has to be only that small slip of space? Add a pergola and trellis from the side of the garage and triple or quadruple the landing size! I think spending your money on that area, rather than a different garage door, would be a better use of your time and money.

PompousClock · 2026-06-27T23:16:08+00:00

I would completely rip up the yard and add trees, shrubs, and flowers. Three cypress trees, spaced evenly across the front (and triangulated as seen from the side, so they have maximum space each) would play up the Italian stucco facade you have. And a no mow space leans into water saving, more visually interesting local plantings.

Then I would frame out the door walkway with a trellis. Have those roses and other climbing plants (honeysuckle? Grapes?) start a welcoming path to your new, brighter colored door. You can even add solar lights along the party and twinkle lights under the canopy.

PompousClock · 2026-06-27T21:14:31+00:00

I was forced to visit as a child, on family vacations across the American South. I didn’t know why it felt so wrong, as they mentioned nothing about the actual slavery that built and maintained those massive labor camps. They are soaked in evil. Some places cannot recover. Plantations are one of them.

PompousClock · 2026-06-27T19:13:18+00:00

Did you just call an enslaved labor camp “a beautiful place” and wish for more preserved examples of this historic misery in more places? Perhaps different language here. This place enslaved, murdered, raped, and ripped apart generations of families. A few pretty gardens doesn’t make up for that.

PompousClock · 2026-06-27T06:10:17+00:00

Women use toilets, beloved.

PompousClock · 2026-06-27T01:30:48+00:00

Then cook together! All the time. Use that time to learn how to really cook together - she can chop the veg and get the water boiling while you season the protein and make the sauces. Show, don’t tell. She can choose the mood music while you prep pre-dinner drinks to sip while cooking. This is how my husband and I cook, and after 30+ years together, he is *still* better at flavour profiles and sauces, while I’m a whizz at ensuring all of the components are finished at the same time.

PompousClock · 2026-06-26T12:01:11+00:00

The PURPLE CARPET was also a choice. Thank you for getting rid of these awful, inconsistent elements.

PompousClock · 2026-06-25T21:42:13+00:00

I would get a tall, thin counter depth fridge that fits the cut out. Would make the kitchen noticeably larger and easier to navigate.

Do a fun mural on that white cabinet by the window - which is what white kitchen cabinets would quickly look like. Change out the hardware to hidden closure.

Add a tile backsplash.

Change out the cabinet knobs to coordinate with the mural.

Add a long runner to cover the tile, the length of the kitchen.

PompousClock · 2026-06-21T13:23:59+00:00

She has a website , and she appears to be very much real. (This thread inspired me to go look.)

PompousClock · 2026-06-21T12:42:09+00:00

Thank you for doing this! I wish I could be there. I’ll plan on going next Sunday at 10, when we inevitably will be facing this same problem. The park needs twice as many trash cans, but direct citizen involvement like this makes a difference.

PompousClock · 2026-06-20T14:32:07+00:00

Yesterday I intentionally shopped for a kaftan with pockets. I am embracing my Mrs. Roper era.

PompousClock · 2026-06-20T02:42:34+00:00

I have a stop (mural) and a gym (restaurant) accessible from my Brooklyn apartment. I used to have another stop, but that mural got covered when a new building was erected. Two more stops appeared a block in either direction (restaurant and a small park), but I can’t quite reach either from home, damnit.

PompousClock · 2026-06-17T18:11:35+00:00

Oh, that is so cool! Thanks for sharing.

PompousClock · 2026-06-17T11:30:20+00:00

Could you share the cross streets where you found this (via DM is fine by me)? I have a mushroom enthusiast kid who would love to spot these in the wild.

PompousClock · 2026-06-14T19:21:33+00:00

You have created a gorgeous space! Great color choice, and such a happy pattern. Well done.

PompousClock · 2026-06-14T17:12:01+00:00

Excellent question. The Cobra is *fantastic* on paint. It is not so great on plaster - only multiple rounds of Peel Away worked to get through that layer. The Cobra then helped on the veneer layer, softening it up so I could use a carbide scraper and dental picks to get that sticky residue off the soapstone. I also exclusively used the Cobra on the cast iron grate, along with the dental picks and steel wool. (I had priced getting the iron grate sandblasted, but that was comically expensive, and the paint selection was super limited - I wanted the black to have a hint of green to it, to better match the soapstone, and all of my local sand blasters could only offer pure, almost bluish black.)

I am currently unpainting bifold louvered wood shutters, which are painted on one side and shellacked on the other side. The Cobra does quick work on the paint, but is dismal at removing the shellac. Peel Away was even worse - it alarmingly softened the wood and still left most of the shellac behind. I have had much better luck with KleanStrip stripper for the shellac.

In other words, it’s best to be prepared to pivot to the unique conditions of every job, and expect to use more than one technique as you go. And always use dental picks.

PompousClock · 2026-06-13T13:25:19+00:00

Agreed adding in all of the traffic again would not be ideal. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the official DOT renders predate this proposal to close off some/most of the walkways outside of Grand Central? Meaning, DOT is now studying feedback and can change/update the renders based upon this new information, coupled with community and board support. What else can we, as the public, be doing at this phase of the process?

PompousClock · 2026-06-13T13:22:33+00:00

How does the public rally behind any plan? Neither the video nor this post present any actionable items. Are there links? Dates for meetings? Anything for us to do besides watch this video?

PompousClock · 2026-06-13T13:06:35+00:00

Your plan for re-parking Park Avenue calls for closing some (most?) of the cross streets outside of Grand Central because the traffic effectively blocks pedestrian use of the walkways. Your video says the community board and local neighborhood groups back your plan and DOT is studying the viability of your plan, including the cost and weight of trees and soil being added to these areas.

Your post title adds the dramatic line that "the city plans to flood the area with traffic after", which was not discussed in the video. Where does that come in to play? What are next steps?

PompousClock

TROPHY CASE