That was a nice summary of the unusual weather during that period. I think one of the more important points in the article is that the unusual coolness was not confined to New England or the USA for that matter. It affected large areas of the northern hemisphere. Interestingly, most people forget that the summer of 1992 was extremely cool in North America. In fact, in some locations within the US (including Boston) it was one of the coolest summers in the 20th century, although nothing like 1816, which is why we forget. This cool anomaly interrupted the trend of record warm years in the USA as a whole. The cool summer of 1992 is generally attributed to the eruption of Mt. Pinitubu in the Phillipines earlier that year, which was one of the larger eruptions in the 20th century. While nothing like the weather in 1816, the summer of 1992 provided another "test" of the theory that strong eruptions may be linked to global cooling during the year following such an event. So, it is very likely that Tambora was a contributing factor to the cold summer of 1816. The extreme conditions probably resulted from an extraordinary eruption superimposed on a weather pattern that was already primed to produce cooler than normal conditions. It just made it much worse....bad luck.

ferrygirl - 5 offers just means our chances are about 20% of getting the house. Encouraging for the sellers maybe! herbflavor thanks for your words of caution. There's a long back story but to be brief, we've targeted an area in a neighboring town that's approx 7 blocks by 4 blocks and have looked at houses as they come on the market in that area for the past 3 years. This is an area with very low inventory, perhaps 3 houses per year come on the market. They're immediately pounced on with multiple offers. We're not going to find the perfect house, but what we'll find is the house that we can make perfect for us. We renovated the house we just sold, and have thought long and hard about the elements we want to bring with us to our next house. The house we buy will either have those elements already, or we'll work with our architect to build them in. The ballpark cost given by our architect was within our expectations for the amount of work to be done. We've already signed a lease on a rental house and close escrow on our current house in 2 weeks. If ours is the high bid on this house that's for sale, we'll start working right away with the architect and the renovation can be done while we're in the rental. If we lose out on the bidding war, we'll just keep looking!

I'm the project manager for a hotel in Maui, HI. Trying to gauge interest in a 16x20 Florian glass greenhouse, 10'-6" tall. Freestanding gable design, all glass. 5' sliding door and 6' double door. Unit is two years old. We set it up in the lobby twice ( couple of weeks) for use as a temporary sales kiosk. We have both glass and polycarbonate panels. Researching original cost now, but I bet it's 10k plus. Want to sell, as hotel is under renovation and storage space is a premium. Any thoughts on who might want this/how to market appreciated.

Beckysharp - so sweet to post this! Its been so long since I've blogged and I love the fellowship with other design lovers! My hope with my new "old" house was to historically restore it, but alas it was too far gone. Time, weather and new building standards and codes made it too cost prohibitive for us to tackle in the most museum like- historic sense. We are trying very hard re-create many of the original features of the house and keep all its inherent charm. Like all old homes, over the the years there were updates and renovations. The kitchen was re-done in the late 60's early 70's, walls were removed, a library ripped apart to make room for a family room, and the cook and maids rooms were rehabbed. A bathroom was added to the first floor in a very odd location. The original house was set up for fine living and as such household rooms (i.e. kitchen, Laundry, pantry) , which in the 1900's were delegated to the staff, were small, cramped and not very attractive for a modern family. In fact, prior to the 1960-70 renovation, the only way to enter the kitchen was thru a small butlers pantry. Original owners spent their days in the living room, dining room, library and beautiful porches. The original home did not even include a bath on the first floor. We did not change the floor plan from the previous renovation except to move the bath, the rest remains the same. This project is a labour of love for us. We have done exhaustive research to try to be accurate as possible, especially with the exterior, as we love the old New England shingle-style homes and want to preserve the aesthetic and the feeling of our beautiful area. But it's important for others to remember that it will be our year round home, not a summer cottage, so liberties were taken inside to make the house usable for our family now and in the future (empty nesters, children and grandchildren!). Over the next few months we will be putting everything back together - so keep checking in and remember things are just starting to taking shape - sometimes the smallest detail can be the one element that makes all the difference. We are very excited to finish! Thanks for sharing! xox