Weekend Activities

July 12, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Seattle is in early summer full bloom. The sun is out and the temperature is perfect! These conditions led to a really good weekend:

Slept had friends stay with us Friday night and Saturday morning
Big yummy breakfast
Picked three big bowls of ripe Lapin cherries
Ate a lot of cherries
Went over to my mother’s house
Took care of house projects for her
Had a yummy dinner
Nice bottle of red wine was opened and mostly consumed
Read American Gods aloud with Stamps-With-Foot before bed

Brunch with Friends
Went to the Sunday farmer’s market
Bought cheese and honey!
Went to the garden store
Bought a bunch of flowers for the yard
Walked the puppies
Planted flowers
Scattered weed&feed in the 1/3 of the back yard that is void of Ireland-green grass
scattered and raked grass seed.
Murdered dandelions
Picked up a mountain of puppy-made landmines 🙁
Mowed the yard
Installed new tire cover on Jeep spare
Put Jeep on the car lift – also now refereed to as “The Jeep Sex Swing”
Changed oil and filter
Only 42 more Oil Changes and the lift pays for itself!! 🙂
Lubed the chassis
Checked and topped off all the fluids
Made happy noises
Had a Coke and smile afterward while sitting in the shade
Printed out GAINT ’84-’86 Jeep Maintenance Manual
Let my internal OCD monster out to play
Custom labels and tabbed separators were made…
Added folders with Maintenance Manuals to shelf in the garage
Watered the garden, yard, and newly seeded dirt patch
More reading
Sleep

Garage Sale Saturday

May 9, 2017 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

We have a LOT of crap. No, like a lot, lot. In an attempt to simplify and sort our life out, we need to purge and are using the normal options: Craigslist for some of the furniture, books to the used book shop for credit, eBay for anything with real value to nerdy-folk, Goodwill for this and that, and we are having a garage sale.

Starting a couple of weeks ago, we started the planning and logistics to be included in the yearly West Seattle Community Garage Sale. It is huge with more than 180 individual sale sites, press, an online map, etc… and increases our changes of selling more stuff due to the increased possibility of traffic.

We had a yard sale before our move to France, but this one will be larger and as we have a garage now, it will be a proper all-weather shindig. My mom and a couple of neighbors are throwing stuff in and we are selling tools, books, bikes, furniture, dishes, electronics, computer cables, sports gear, fishing gear, clothes, shoes, picture frames, puppy crates, posters, some more tools, nick-knacks, furniture, and gobs of other stuff.

Stamps-With-Foot is hoping to make $700 from the sale. I am not that optimistic, but you never know.

5/13/2017 Update:
The sale went OK, though I think that the weather conspired against us a little. We made $480 total with some Craigslist help and did get rid of a ton of crap. What didn’t go will be headed to next week. Side note: Someone puked wine on the side of my garage after a little neighborhood after party.

A Little Trip to China and the Phillipines

March 17, 2017 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My body clock is finally back to normal after a recent 11- day trip to China and Hong Kong, with a stop in the Philippines on my way back to Seattle – just in time for Daylight Savings Time (insert grumpy face…).

It was a trip for my J-O-B and not a vacation, but I did have a chance to get out one day in Hong Kong and an afternoon and one evening in the Manila. I took my GoPro with me and I carried it around as I walked the streets of Hong Kong and during my entire Junk ride. I am working on putting together a small film about the ride and the boat.

I spent 7 days in the southern city of Dongguan. It is a vast web of medium to heavy industrial firms that build all manner of parts. My employer manufactures aircraft and medical cable assemblies there, but there are hudres of machine shops, PCB board houses, mold makers, and the Apple production site is in the area as well. The trip to the factory every morning was eye-opening: traffic hazards, Grade-A people watching, construction, etc… I rolled up to an intersection on my last day there just as the motocart got t-boned by a mini van. Red lights are really just suggestions in China.

When I arrived in Hong Kong, my hotel room that had been reserved had been given away to another party. before I could even ask, I was swiftly upgraded and put in a “Tower Suite” with 3 rooms and a view of the harbor that was sunning. Probably the 2nd or 3rd nicest room I have ever stayed in my entire live – my suite a few years ago in Shanghai was stunning (no view though) and huge the suite in the Riad l’Aziza in Marrakesh is #1. The only thing that would have made it better is if Stamps-With-Foot could have been there to enjoy the room and view with me. Below are a few shots of the harbor view from my window.

The one day that I had off, I had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out early in a light drizzling rain through Kowloon Park to the Metro and on to a tourist market and a street on Kowloon Island that deals in very high priced antiques – window shopping for me, thank you very much.

After a little market stall bargaining, I made my way to the docks to get a few shots of the harbor and tour the maritime center. I happened to be taking pictures when a Chinese Junk boat glided into the frame and docked 50 feet from where I was posted up. Luck would have it that it was a tour boat and I signed right up and paid the nice lady standing by the gang plank my money as I hopped on board.

The boat is called the Duk Ling and is that last surviving original sailing junk left in Hong Kong. There used to be 1000’s of them. They were ubiquitous and feature prominently in 70s era Kung Fu movies shot around HK. I am told that they were casualites of the 1999 hand over and modernization of the harbor.

Built in the 1950, and rescued from a watery grave after a monsoon in 2004, The Duk Ling sails Victoria harbor as a floating time capsule. I took a harbor tour aboard from Kowloon Island to Kowloon and I smiled the whole way.

My room in Manila, where I spent three nights, was not as swanky as the Honk Kong suite, but the view was just as sweet.

I was in the Conrad – Pasay , which is connected to The SM Mall of Asia. I was told proudly by the hotel staff that it is the 11th largest mall in the world, but that is, to date, an unverified claim. Regardless, it was huge and had a whole section that was grouped with music and instrument shops. I may have bought another ukulele… IF that happened, that would make three. There were two stores here that only had ukes and uke related items for sale. OK, I admit it… I picked up a little pineapple shaped mahogany Kala. I couldn’t help myself. Iit was retail and even in Manila it wasn’t a great deal, but it was about 10% cheaper than I can find online in the US AND I have a cool souvenir from the Philippines.

The Jeepney bus is still everywhere in Manila. As an owner/caretaker of a 1986 CJ7, it makes my heart happy to see the pride that some of the owners take in keeping their vehicles in immaculate shape. It sounds as if they too will soon be a victim of the modern world: while I was there, it was announced that there was going to be a government crack down and all the old Jeepneys would have to be retired – pollution and safety issues. The owners got super pissed and held a protest and a day long strike. I hope that they remain a fixture of the city in some way or form..

When I made it home from Asia, it was really nice to see/know that my sweet wife and Truffle missed me. Truffle demanded my time and attention for hours after I walked in the door. I spent a little time in the sunshine, serenading her with a little ukulele while she napped on my lap – we were both happy.

Farewell to France Tour – 2015

November 25, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We had grand expectations of weekend and holiday travel when we moved to France two years ago and while we have done a good bit, there were some places that we still wanted to visit before we return to Seattle. Stamps-With-Foot went into over drive researching, planning, calculating the budget and logistics to fit as many of our wants into one trip as possible. The below are posts from her web journal as we made our way, day to day and from place to place. I have included pictures from both our phones as well as some additional commentary.

Matt

On the road – Farewell to France tour
Matt and I will be leaving France at the end of November, so we had to plan a great trip to say Farewell to this beautiful country. We’ve got 12 days off sans puppies and a whole country to explore. Obviously we can’t go everywhere, but we planned a nice loop. We each had a place we wanted to go (for me it was the Dordogne to see castles, for Matt it was the Loire to see castles) and we both wanted to go to Paris again although we have both been there before, It’s Paris. So the trip goes as follows – one day and night in Rocamadour, one day and night in the Dordogne, two nights one day in Versailles, four nights and four days in Paris, two days one night in the Loire, a night and a day in Saint Emilion for our ninth wedding anniversary, and a night and a day in Bordeaux visiting our neighbor and friend Nico who has just moved there. And then home!

Farewell to France tour – day one
We got on the road later than expected and had to forgo one of our stops (the caves of Peche Merle) but our stop in the beautiful picturesque village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie more than made up for it. It was so cute, we would totally live there!!! Next stop was Rocamadour. We arrived just after sunset when the lights were already shining on the ramparts of the castle. Beautiful. And our little hotel was right next to the castle! We had a fairly disappointing dinner at a tourist trap (mt: hundred+ of flies in the dining room and bloody-rare beef), went home to the hotel, planned the next stage of the journey and turned in early. I was so tired – it was the first day of “fall back” in Europe and it was past my bedtime.

mt: I would live Saint-Cirq-Lapopie: Open a little wood shop near the church and have a 5 or so bee hives in the fields above the village. The village is known for its view and boxwood craftsman. Tiny shop in town with a turner that still uses an overhead shaft and leather belts for his lathe, drill press, band and tiny/scary table saw. No pictures allowed, so this is all I could snap.

Farewell to France tour: day two
Woke up in Rocamadour. We had no idea the fall in France would be so lovely. The autumn leaves are stunning! We had breakfast at our hotel, with views of beautiful trees in golden hues. Then we went to the Main Street of L’Hopitalet and saw a few ruins while waiting for our tour at the Grotte des Mervilles to start. It’s an underground cave discovered in 1920 which has gorgeous stalactite and stalagmite growth, unground ponds and cave art. There are other more famous grottoes and caves in the region, but we are on a whirlwind tour and can’t do everything. This was right there and easy to do and we are so glad we did. It was truly amazing. Afterward we checked out the Maison des Abeilles which Matt really liked as he is super into bees and beekeeping. Then we got on the road and drove to La-Roque-Gageac on the Dordogne river to take a boat tour. We saw five castles from the water and learned about the history of the region and the river. Next we went to the Château de Castelnaud where Matt was like a grinning nine year old. They have a huge collection of swords, armor and artillery including several huge trebuchets. We also saw a metalsmith demonstration and I almost took a dare to use the ancient garderobe but the door didn’t close. All in all it was a very busy and wonderful day!

Mt: While at Castelnaud, France and there was a guy doing a lathe demo/sale in front of his little shop. Wooden lathe bed the hardware from a 1920s US made saw. His grandfather made it. Look at the wooden pulleys and detail on the machine. Was really happy to share his tools, method, and story.

Farewell to France tour – day three
Lots of driving today. We traveled from a tiny village on the Dordogne (Vezac) all the way to Versailles today. We went for awhile through gorgeous French countryside until I got carsick from all the windy roads and we switched to the freeway. We stopped for lunch in Limoges where I have been wanting to go and buy all new dishes for a few years now. I didn’t break the bank and go all out, but I did buy a beautiful porcelain gravy boat with gold detailing that makes me feel all swoony inside. Remember the pilot of the TV show Friends where Rachel is talking about breaking up with her fiancée? She says “I was looking at this gorgeous Limoges gravy boat and I realized I was more turned on by it than I was by Barry.” I’ve always remembered the line. I love to quote TV shows. I guess I needed a Limoges gravy boat of my own.

Mt: Lesson Learned: When your wife wants to “pop into” the Royal Limoges factory store (oldest in region -1796 – and super bougie), keep driving or fake a seizure or heart attack. Really, really. If you let her through the door you will be doomed to own plates that will only be used if the president or royalty comes to your house for dinner. No one else, including you, will be allowed to even breathe on them.
There will be indecision about the gravy boat and one of the sweet old ladies in the shop will help her find the one that was fired with unicorn horn and has adamantium detail work written in ancient Atlantean. Fucking “helpful” old ladies…

Farewell to France tour – day four
Slept in. So nice. Lots of driving yesterday. Leisurely morning, then hit Versailles. Our Airbnb is just fifteen minutes walking distance. We did the low key way – started at the far end of the park and made our way backward, going to the palace last. There was no line. One person ahead of us. But I am getting ahead of myself. We took the “Petit train” to the Petit Trianon and walked hand in hand to Marie Antoinette’s little hamlet. I loved it before I ever saw it, and loved it even more when I visited last summer. It was wonderful getting to show Matt a place I love so much, and knew he would love in equal measure. The fall colors were stunning. It looked like rain but the sky never opened up and soon the sun broke through. We saw lots of animals at the little farm, and made our way back toward the palace. (Pictures to follow at some point.) A new exhibit had opened the day before called Le Roi est mort (the king is dead) all about royal funeral practices. After that we went to the royal apartments and walked the hall of mirrors as the sun was going down. The lights were spectacular. Laurel has always wanted a chandelier. Now she wants more of them.

mt: I would give up a finger and one testicle if I could live in and use that mill! I would have an overhead line shaft running a huge lathe and a 14kw generator head hooked directly to the waterwheel shaft that would power the house and the rest of my shop. There would be bees and chickens in the garden. I may have put too much time into lusting after this daydream…

Farewell to France tour – days 5 to 7
Paris…

Oh, Paris. Je t’adore. No matter how many times I visit, I am happy I did. I love Paris. I didn’t do that much in the way of sightseeing, as I was there to visit a friend and attend a convention, but I did have a wonderful time.

Day five: drove from Versailles. Checked in to the hotel in Montparnasse. Rested a bit. Went to Notre Dame for vespers (first time inside the church!) and heard beautiful singing. Walked around hand in hand with my sweetie, who also loves Paris. Saw other churches. Paris at night is especially wonderful. Ate Thai food for dinner (it was ok) in a lovely little restaurant with a good vibe, music that made me happy and a gorgeous chandelier in the entrance. Also did a little shopping. Got a new winter coat and a pretty black wool cape for half off!

Day six: got up early with Matt to help him get out the door for work. Also, our check engine light came on – Roxanne (our 2013 Suzuki Swift Diesel) needed her 30,000 km checkup and Matt took her in for servicing. I so appreciate him! I spent the morning in the bath, had lunch by myself, and went lingerie shopping. So much fun! I had help from a very chic French woman who must have brought me 50 things to try on. Afterward I was so tired I needed a coffee. Met my lovely friend Nina at the History of Paris museum, and afterward had mint tea and falafel plates in the Marais neighborhood. Attended he start of the conference, then home to Matt and a glass of red wine at the hotel.

Day seven: all day conference- It was fantastic. Afterward I met Matt at our favorite bookstore in Paris – Shakespeare & Company – where I bought my dad something special for Christmas and also got myself a book on Parisian street fashion. Wandered the streets again hand in hand with Matt. It was Halloween on Saturday night in Paris and there were lots of people out and about in costume. Had dinner together and shared a bottle of red wine (Côte du Rhone, one of our favorites). I ordered a rump steak and fries. Matt ordered a Caesar salad. My jaw dropped. My husband is trying to eat more healthfully and I’m super proud of him. I’m also marveling over the fact that we as people can change over time and together. Matt and I will celebrate 9 years of marriage next week. When we met I didn’t eat steak (or drink wine, or coffee!) and he sure didn’t order salad. Fell asleep reading my book on Parisian street fashion. A very long and wonderful day.

Mt: I spent the day working in Paris and lugged around a bag full of crap from appointment to appointment all day. I dumped it out when I got back to the hotel and decided I have what professional organizers term professionally as “A lot of shit.”

iPhone, cord and euro-plug, city/metro map, funny book to read while on the metro, sunglasses, regular glasses, glass cloth and case, REWE fountain pen (green ink), Lamy fountain pen (brown ink), Sennhiezer headphones and pouch, Faber ‘Perfect Pencil’, passport with 55€ stuck inside, gumX2, pocket knife, pipe, tobacco pouch, matches, two tins of tobacco (actually picked up for a buddy) Rhodia notebook, accordion receipt organizer (it was a work trip and I have to turn in an expense report), used Metro tickets, and a tote bag I got with my Monocle Magazine subscription to put it all in. None of this counts my keys, work computer, wedding ring, wrist immobilizer (broken wrist 3+ weeks ago), watch, hat, and coat….

Jesus, it is like I carry fucking hipster Bug Out Bag everywhere I go!!!

Farewell to France tour – day nine
Woke up in the footprint of the Château de Chambord (which we could see from our hotel room yesterday by opening the window and hanging out of it.) This morning the fog had rolled in and the castle was shrouded in mist. Pretty cool! It’s still surrounded by wild lands (and acts as the largest game sanctuary in Europe) and it’s easy to imagine what it was like when Francis I used it as a hunting lodge. After breakfast we drove an hour down the Loire to Amboise and toured two châteaux. First stop was the Château d’Amboise where Francis I was born, and Leonardo da Vinci is buried in a sweet little Chapel. We also went to the smaller Château de Clos Lucé where da Vinci lived and spent the last years of his life. Lots of cool things were seen – pictures to follow. And perhaps even cooler – our Airbnb down the street from both châteaux happens to be in a troglodyte cave in the side of the hill that the Château d’Amboise is built upon. It’s a stunning little studio apartment. Photos to follow as well!

Farewell to France tour – day ten
Woke up, all snuggled up in our troglodyte cave, and didn’t wanna get up! But it was our anniversary, and we had a full day planned. First we went to a lovely little breakfast at the patisserie/chocolatier recommended by our Airbnb owner. I had an “omelette natur” and the best coffee I have perhaps ever had in France. As I travel I have taken to drinking it black with a lump of sugar, since I am lactose- intolerant and it’s inconvenient to carry my own milk for 12 days. (Okay so I did for the first few but then I threw it out.) I also avoid gluten and have carried my own bread. Matt ate a croissant that he said was to die for. It was really tempting! But I enjoyed my omelet and coffee, and bought a chocolate bar on the way out. The shop has been open over 100 years and was started by the owner’s grandfather.

Next stop was the gorgeous Château du Chenoncheau. It deserves a post all of its own, so I will save that for another day. But I’ll just say, for all the castles we have seen over the past week, it was by far our favorite. Guess we saved best for last! We had a beautiful anniversary lunch in the former orangerie on the property, complete with local wine of course. Then we got on the road to complete the final long haul of our trip, since we had a reservation at a hotel in St Emilion that night.
After checking in, we walked across the street and had a fabulous meal at a little resto called L’Alcove, which I had bookmarked on yelp as a possibility for dinner having no idea it was across the street. The local red wine was of course fantastic – we ordered a Demi bottle of 2005 St Emilion. Our steak was melt in your mouth. Pictures of course. Soon.

Mt: The next couple of days were spent wine touring and shipping. In addition to shopping for us, we also picked up some wine for some family and friends back in the US. Notice how low the car is riding in the picture below? It was due to the 8+ cases of wine stacked to the roof. We overloaded the rating on the suspension by 15kilos or 33ish pounds according to our car’s info book. Also notice how happy my wife is in the front seat. It really was a fine couple of days and I cannot imagine the village of St. Emilion and the surrounding vineyards and prettier than when we were there: the leave of the vines were all turning orange and fire-red, there was a complete lack or tourists overrunning everything. The temperature and sunshine were as perfect as one couple ever hope for. Really a magical trip.

Lectern rebuild and re-thinking the plan

May 22, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Early last year, I picked up an antique copyist’s lectern (the top part only) that originated in a French Abby. The lectern was riddled with worm holes, a couple pieces were missing, and there was some damage to repair, but the first thing was to make it bug free so not to infect all our other furniture with wood worm. The thing spent a couple of months in a plastic bag full of insecticide and chemicals that makes for square babies. According to the interwebs two months bathing in said concoction would make the piece safe to bring out see the light of day again, so after fumigation, it sat in our living-room as decoration for 12 months before I started the rebuild in earnest.

Initially, I sketched up a few column profiles in my ubiquitous little black notebook and settled on a somewhat simple design that matched the overall style and period of the piece. Next, I spent a little time one Sunday turning a new pedestal out of beech scraps from my workbench build. I glued them all up into a single 5″ X 5″ x 32″ hunk of wood. I then measured and turned matching intermediate supports from a scrap oak rolling pin with curves to match the column. A couple of weeks later, I used the last of the beech scrap and turned the pedestal base, which ended up 16″ in diameter and 3″ tall.

After gluing it all together, applying matching stain, and putting 4 coats of polyurethane on the base, it was time to start on the lectern top. All was going to plan right up to the moment that I removed a damaged shelf and saw what looked to be fresh wood damage… In one of the joints there was a small white bug larvae… Son of a bitch… I immediately put plastic on my bench top and took apart another joint. I found more LIVING wood worm. I started picking at the capped holes here and there and more worm… Shit!!! I wrapped it up in a trash bag and out to the street it went. It would seem that my lethal chemical treatment wasn’t that lethal. Just REALLY, REALLY happy that the hatch hadn’t started and that my house was no full of bugs that would lay word worm eggs all over our other furniture. I took pictures and measurements and I am now planning on building a copy of the top over the next month or so and I will post the finished product here when I am done and it is installed in the living room.

The Grand Bazaar – Istanbul 2015

March 22, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is purportedly the largest tourist attraction in all the world. Maybe. We were there in the winter – snow on the ground – and it was still packed. After an accidental trip to the Egyptian Bazaar (cabby issues are the bane of every traveler’s visit to the city), we decided on the full Grand Bazaar experience: walking all the lanes, seeing the sites, listening to all the languages and the sellers hawking their wares. My wife, who is an expert haggler, attempted to buy all the scarves in Turkey. We bought a few little souvenirs for people we love (my mother’s and my father-in-law’s birthdays were coming up). I ate a significant amount of pistachio Baklava and honeycomb. We also had lunch and coffee at a kebab place hidden in the bowels of the market that was serving the market sellers when we arrived – a sure sign of authentic yumminess.

Stamps-With-Foot had a “No Pestering” policy and when one of the sellers started harassing her to buy or to come in his shop, she would move on. It seemed to work and she was left alone to browse and shop and got a couple of bargains. I was the designated pack mule and carried all the bags. I also assisted in the negotiations for some of the goods – playing the tired husband who’s wife is on a spending spree – they had no idea that the bags were filled with $1-10 dollar items. It worked great and she got a gift for her dad at 1/3 the original asking price as well as a couple silk scarves for a ridiculously low price. The scarf seller looked at me with knowing eyes and brought me apple tea while she tore through his stacks looking for “the right one… or five…”

Words fail me in describing all that we saw and did, but the images below should give you an idea.

Turkish Honey

March 21, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The Turkish know how to present a breakfast spread! My hotels on two recent trips to both Ankara and in Istanbul had a fresh honeycomb (Petek Balout in Turkish) for breakfast every morning. Slabs of raw, dripping, delicious goodness. Honeycomb was also available in the street markets and in a couple of places where I had dinner. I got to enjoy some pistachio baklava and honeycomb with my morning meal AND while walking down the street. Awesome!

Turkish Carpet Sellers

March 11, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Carpet Sellers: I have purchased rugs and carpets from multi-generational vendors from Istanbul to Marrakesh, Casablanca to Chendu, Ankara to Toulouse. These men, always men, have spoken every conceivable language – especially the numbers – and have seen every bargaining trick known to man.

My wife is an expert haggler and has no qualms about walking away from a market seller and going to the next stall in full view of the first seller. She was in Marrakesh when I bought my first Moroccan Hanbel, but she didn’t do the actual bargaining – she drank the sweet mint tea and watched. It think this left a hole in the part of her soul that needs to haggle (the Burton side of her genetic pool) and she has been twitching to buy a carpet ever sense. I think that she wanted to bargain with the best of the best – to test her mettle and skill. Our recent trip to Istanbul provided her with that opportunity.

Our first carpet stop was at a 5-story establishment late one evening just before dinner near the Blue Mosque. We were handed off to a tall, greasy, smooth-talking seller that had spent lots of time in the US and was the picture of shady used car salesman. Seriously. We let him talk and lie and talk and lie. After about 2 hours and in the middle of what was probably his dinner time, we started negotiating prices. I really wanted a unique 5X7 kilim and Laurel was eye-balling a wool runner. The seller wanted BMW prices for the equivalent a small Honda with a tiny engine. Laurel gave him a final price for both and he unceremoniously ushered us out of the door. I really liked that Kilim and it became another “One that got away.” A shame that it did not go home with us… It will forever be like the hanbel (kilim is the Turkish word) in Essaouira, Morocco that I left folded on the floor there that still calls to me. Every so often my wife will say, “Remember that rug…” and we both get a little sad.

Our second stop was the next night and due to my schedule, we showed up 15 minutes before their scheduled closing time. No worries, three people stayed and tea and carpets and rugs appeared from all corners of the shop. My sweet wife busied herself inspecting a $3000 silk carpet that stayed in the store where it found her. Our seller was another guy that had spent some serious time in the US and although would also have been at home at any New Jersey used car lot, was more polished and a touch more upfront than our dealer the night before.

Laurel went to work on him. We were good-cop bad-cop right away. I was the bored, broke husband upset at my wife’s spending habits and she was the doe-eyed, sweet little girl who couldn’t make up her mind. She is awesome at that. We work the shit out of it and she was so good that she completely had me convinced that she wanted an entirely different rug – crafty that one is.

In the end she got an amazing small wool rug with insane knotting and detail for our bedroom and I got a small wool on wool rug for the living room. Now, we did not get the deal of the century, but we didn’t have to sell blood to finance our taxi ride back to the hotel either. We got a decent price, but make no mistake – the seller made good money.

My hope was that this one experience might satisfy her need to buy Turkish/Persian/Moroccan carpets… Nope. She talked about “the next one” on the taxi ride home. I have helped created a monster.

A trip to Istanbul with my wife

March 9, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I spend 1/3 to 1/2 of my work life on the road and away from my wife and hearth: Crappy food, shitty airports, empty hotel rooms, taxis, trains, assigned to the middle seat in the plane, another awful airport, missed connections, terrible coffee, jet-lag, missing luggage, etc, etc, etc… It was all very exciting when I started this 15 or so years ago, but it has gotten very, very old. Most of the time when I travel I get to see the inside of meeting rooms, lounges, and hotels, but every so often I get out to see some local attraction and one of my first reactions is ‘I wish Stamps-With-Foot was here to see this…’ Traveling alone when you love your wife sucks. There is a bright spot every so often though – when my schedule and our finances work out so Stamps-With-Foot can come along.

A couple of weeks ago the stars aligned and we bought a super cheap (somewhat uncomfy) flight to Istanbul for her to spend a couple of days there while I was working. It was fantastic. We got to tour some sites together after work, do a little shopping, make some memories, and neither of us was all by ourselves waiting on the other.

Istanbul was on both of our bucket-lists and we only had a few hours each day to cram stuff in and although it was cold the whole time and pouring rain one day, we made it all work out:

A tour of the Blue Masque
Raw honeycomb every morning with breakfast
Tour of the Hagia Sophia
Late night Carpet shopping
Criss-crossing the Bosphorus – back and forth between Europe and Asia
An accidental trip to the Egyptian Bazaar
The full Grand Bazaar experience – sites, sounds, and lots of haggling
My wife attempted to buy all the scarves in Turkey
Little souvenirs bought for people we love
I ate a TON of pistachio Baklava
Great food was eaten
Serious snuggling in a king-sized bed sans puppies

Buying a Moroccan Rug: How-To

December 15, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Below is a link to a PDF document that contains The VERY little I know about Moroccan carpets and how to buy them in Morocco. I put it together of multiple trips and years and thought I would share with the general public on the interwebs. Disclaimer: This work is not 100% mine. I have kludged together some of the knowledge and wisdom of others that has helped me in the search for my own carpets and have added my own thoughts, ideas, and text here & there.

I will say that the statements contained are not purely academic: I have perused Medinas and souks in Marrakesh, Fez, Casablanca, Essaouira, Rabat, Dubai, Ankara, and Abu Dhabi. I have purchased rugs from multi-generational vendors who spoke every conceivable language – especially the numbers – and who have seen every bargaining trick known to man. You have not lived a full life until you have seen a mustached Moroccan man and a tiny Chinese lady in serious heated discussion over the quoted price of Beni-Mguild, wildly gesturing with their hands while barking in Mandarin at each other.

I have also walked away from deals after bargaining for a couple of hours. There is a hanbel (kilim is the Turkish word) in Essaouira that I left folded on the floor there that still calls to me. Every so often my wife will say, “Remember that rug…” and we both get a little sad. I do not claim that I am the world’s greatest negotiator or that I have never been taken advantage of by a market seller – I have.

If there is someone out there reading this that feels my info – any of it – is wrong or misleading, write me, tell me what I need to know/change. I will update this doc and list them as a primary source in an endnote/footnote.

Buying a Carpet in Morocco V3

Home From Morocco

October 28, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As mentioned in a previous post, my J-O-B sent me to Casablanca, Morocco recently for a few days. I had a free afternoon the day I flew in, so I headed right to the “New” Medina Market (the Old Medina is where the locals shop for fruit, fish, scarves, socks, underwear, etc…). I picked up a few things for gifts and spent almost 4 hours with a carpet merchant bargaining for two carpets and drinking glass after glass of hot, sweet, Moroccan mint tea. I can say that after haggling with carpet sellers in Marrakesh, that the carpet soul in Casablanca seemed almost laid back. The were no histrionics and the opening price did not equal the price of my first vehicle. I was pleasantly surprised.

Things turned out really well and I got a decent price for the carpets – 1/5 of what they go for in the US and half of the European mainland retail price. In addition to bringing back a horrendous cold, I also brought back a large red leather pouf and 1 square meter of Zellige tile for my sweet wife – she danced a little when I pulled them out of my bag. I got the tile at a giant outdoor bizarre that was full of used and new plumbing fixtures, tile, lumber, tools, doors, etc… It was like 2 Home Depots , a Lowes, and 10 architectural salvage places set up all their wares under tents in a football stadium parking lot. It was vast and cramped and noisy and awesome. I wanted to spend hours there, but it was getting dark and this pale gent doesn’t plan to get caught in a dark ally in the middle of a foreign bizarre after sundown, no sir. I got my tile and zipped away on the back of a borrowed scooter, piloted by a Moroccan carpet seller with a who had a schedule to keep – which is a whole other tale in-itself!

On the day before I left town, I had had a couple of hours and I went back to the Medina and bargained for a few cushions and pillow covers for my wife. Same thing – very laid back. There was nowhere near the selection, but it was worth it not to be constantly harassed and pawed at by sellers trying to drag me into the shop for a “special price just for me…”

Headed to Morocco

October 15, 2014 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Later this month, my J-O-B is sending me to Morocco for 3 days/4-nights. I haven’t been there since Laurel and I went in 2008 for our anniversary. That was a relaxing trip: Palatial riad, going out, romantic dinners, the beach, camels, etc… This trip will be a good bit different: Budget hotel, meeting after meeting all day, e-mails/drawings/spreadsheets at night, hasty meals, and early flights. I do get a free Sunday afternoon the day I fly into Casablanca, so I am headed right to the old Medina Market and plan to do a little gift shopping for my wife and all the birthdays coming up.

We sort of have a Moroccan/Sherlock/Boho thing going for our home deco and I am going to take the opportunity to pick up a few small things for the house while there this time:

A 3-4 meter long meter runner for the living room
A very small rug for our entryway
A few small tiles to make into coasters
A leather pouf foot stool
Some throw pillow covers – as many as I can carry back actually
A couple of small tajines
Slippers for my wife

Market Stall Finds – China 2014

March 25, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My mom drug me all over Texas as a kid; visiting antique markets, flea markets, auction houses, garage sales, junk shops, etc… I hated it at first, but more and more, I would find some cool old nick-knacks, books, or a tool that would make the trip worth it. I think my dad made her take me along so she would not be tempted to buy out every shop. I had side deals with both of them: to rat mom out and keep my mouth shut when Daddy asked about the amount spent. It was a lucrative arrangement and usually netted me $10 a weekend in hush money and my father would slide me a Verboten Sneakers Bar under the table for tidbits of information. As I got older, I became my mother’s pack mule – training that my wife now truly appreciates!

My first sword came from a garage sale and was a rusty WW1 Cavalry saber that I defeated entire imaginary armies with, became a pirate, an Arthurian knight, a samurai, a ninja, a Jedi, and was Teddy Roosevelt leading the charge up San Juan Hill! As a note, that hill was a mound of dirt pushed up by a dozer at a construction site, but it didn’t matter to my 9-year-old self. I now look back with fond memory on all the bits and bobbles that came home with me from that time and those early trips into the dusty corners of market stalls has left me with a love of the same. I hope that when I retire from my J-O-B to have my own little Rag and Bone shop of furniture and antiques to while away my time in.

For now, anytime I travel, I try to take a couple of hours to explore the local markets. I have spent hours roaming, looking, haggling and bargaining in market districts from Berlin to Paris, Marrakesh, New York, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, London, Belfast, Beijing, Hong Kong, Montreal, Calcutta, New Delhi, Los Angeles and so many points in-between.

I just returned from China where had a little time in Xi’an and Chengdu to do some wandering and I found a few treasures to bring home and some that stayed right where they were… Some of the offerings included:

Wooden and stone beads
Cabinet Hardware
Brass statues
Corn and honey sweet treats
Bamboo chop-sticks that were made right there in the stall (~10 cents a pair)
Human skull caps (stayed at the market!)
Teapots
Hand bells
Military Surplus
Old Suitcases
Musical Instruments
Dried fruit and nuts
Polished turtle shells
Go game pieces
Furniture
Fans
Paintings
Silk
Reproduction coins
Terra Cotta Figures
Chinese calligraphy paintings
Religious mementos
Animal horn combs
20 different poses of Buddha
Porcelain dishes and bowls
Wood Carvings
Old books

Off to the Antique Market we go!!

March 13, 2014 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

A couple of months ago while talking to my son on the phone, I mentioned that Stamps-With-Foot and I had been at the monthly Antique Market here in Toulouse. My boy, The Ruminator, started roaring with laughter and said something about how “…going antiquing was for old ladies!..” I let him laugh a while and then explained how awesome it was to find bobbles and treasures and cool stuff at the different stalls. He wasn’t having it and continued with the giggles. Fast forward to this past weekend (1st full weekend in March). My lovely wife and I planned the day out around going to peruse the market: Coffee and lunch and wine and crapes while touring strolling the lanes and bargaining for small bits, talking to the locals, and looking a treasures that we won’t ever be able to afford – the 7’X12′ landscape paining from 1930 or the french-polished table form the reign of Napoleon.

There was a little of everything to be found: a jar of brains, a VERY cool turtle, black powder shotguns, Persian rugs, linens, paintings, desks, tables, tapestries, rusted iron tools, old dolls, military medals, an anvil, low chairs, cutting blocks, glass ware, sculptures, books, etc… We ended up with an 18th century book stand from an Abby, a haberdasher’s display rack (our new entryway coat rack), a SWEET industrial Cast-Iron-legged table that has a 28″X72″ oak slab top that is over 100 years old! I also happened upon a rusty axe head in a stall full of miscellaneous crap that resembles a large 17th Century broad axe in the Armor and Weapons section of the Louvre. Not saying that this one is the same thing, but it looks REAL close. I immediately sent my son the following text:

“…Made fun of me for going to the Antiques markets… This weekend I got what looks like a 300 year old Battle Axe made for storming castles. It was $40. Too bad antiques are for old ladies and you won’t be going to any any markets while you are here. Are you laughing at me now? Mwahahaha!!…”

As a note, The Ruminator is enamored with Vikings, swords, castles, armor, and all things Medieval. I did my black heart some needed good to wave his antique-arrogance under his nose a little. It make the evil-inside almost giddy thinking about the “AWE MAN!” face he made when he read my note.

Below are some shots of both the market and our haul.