flood

It's fall again, it started two weeks ago with heavy rains which let to a little flood in our basement because our sump pump was broken. It was actually worse in the morning. I took the pictures after work when I brought home the new pump and a lot of water already disappeared. We have propped up the washer and dryer on bricks to keep them dry. Of course this is not a permanent solution, more on that later...Look how clean and shiny the new pump looks compared to the old one, which looks kind of yucky.

Put the pump in by myself so I deserve a pat on my shoulder ;)

openhousenewyork 2010

Last weekend was the annual openhousenewyork weekend, the event was held for the 8th time. It was my 4th year attending and 2nd year volunteering. For more information on openhousenewyork go to www.ohny.org. This year my site assignment was not actually a site but a walking tour of Lower Manhattan. Starting at the Customs House we slowly made our way up to the Woolworth Building. The special treat of the tour was supposed to be a tour of the Woolworth Building lobby which unfortunately didn't happen even though the organizers of the tour had confirmed it the day before but I was able to sneak a quick picture of the beautiful mosaic ceiling...

I also saw great private residences and an architectural office but don't want to publish the photos I took for privacy reasons...As every year the weekend was great fun!