Sunday, June 26, 2011

My Birthday Party







    Phil, Fer, Christina and her new boyfriend Patrick, Lara, Chad, our neighbour Mark and his family and neighbour Richard gathered last evening for a few drinks and a BBQ to help me celebrate my birthday. The food was great and I really appreciated all the kind words, gifts and love. For all those who phoned - sorry I missed your call Cesar and Rosalia! - thanks as well! And to my dear sweet Mom whose birthday I share -xxx ! gws

Monday, June 20, 2011

weekend @ ourcabin.ca


Some pictures from this past weekend at the cabin and the area. Woburn is the closest village (10 minutes away) with an entry point into the USA (Maine) at Coburn Gore. It is from here that we take a relaxing drive through some really beautiful scenery south for 3 hours when we want to spend a day or two at the beaches along the Atlantic coast. From Woburn north it is a short drive to Lac Aux Araignees (Lake of Spiders) and further up the road another 20 minutes will bring you to the bustling town of Lac Megantic, at the tip of  the dark blue lake of the same name. June in this forgotten part of Quebec is when these roadways are lined with purple, pink and white lupins that always remind me of our years in Nova Scotia.  gws


cabin front door

cabin interior

Lac Aux Araignees, between Woburn and Lac-Megantic

view approaching Woburn


lupins in our driveway

lupins at the entrance to 49 Maxime

sunrise, around 0520

Muffy  peeking around some new firewood

 Lac Megantic


my old pickup in the town of Lac Megantic


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Brick Refacing



Montreal seems to be a city of brick - everywhere you look streets of red brick homes, businesses, churches and duplexes like ours abound. Last month we decided to have the brick in the front of our duplex refaced. It is the original brick, put up in the mid 1920's and still sound, but the gaps between each brick were too deep and a potential cause of water ingress.  Brick refacing is dirty, hard work and the fellow we hired did it over a three day period while the weather was dry, using pure iron oxide pigments to make a a dark red mortar that makes our old frontage now pop out. Now we are good for another 75 years or more!
 gws



Monday, June 6, 2011

1000 Hits

                                   To everyone from all of the 66 countries who stopped by and met my wonderful family...



and come back often!  gws

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Phil & Fernanda's Bathroom Renovations Part 2

   As you can see Phil´s bathroom makeover is s l o w l y progressing! The walls have been painted and the lights installed- including three pots which look rather neat, the cabinet put in it´s niche and the heater nestled into a spot in front of the toilet. Last week I put on the ceramic floor tiles and ended up breaking a few so redid those. The toilet is in and a relief to all as late night excursions up the winding fire escape stairs in the back entry to go pee were not popular with Phil.







   Friday I finished grouting the remaining tiles and yesterday began tiling the shower enclosure. Once that is done the shower doors can be put up. Phil was in Toronto this week on a work-related course so he was eager to get back to give me a hand - read supervise. He and Fer took on this major project but stuck with it and should be proud of what they did. He has plans to tear down more walls, rip up the tile in the entranceway and upgrade the basement. Oh no! Chad, Lara and Jake, her kid brother - surely I have mentioned him in dispatches?- from Nova Scotia who is up to give them a hand with their own renovations, were over to borrow Phil`s sledge hammer and prybars Tuesday and I am secretly hoping they don't return them till the end of summer....Meanwhile Marie and I spent five days at the cabin this past week with Mario, Zoe and Adam. They had driven up from Cambridge, Mass. Friday afternoon.


Marie, Mario, Adam and Zoe

Zoe and Muffy

  We set up the old camper van on the flat spot where the house will go, adding the extra room that attaches to the awning and made it as comfortable as we could for them. Zoe put up her tent close by in the woods and roughed it, surviving the black flies and rain overnight the first two days. But from Sunday on it dried up, the sun shone and the flies all but disappeared. She was excited to see the Big Dipper in the clear skies overhead for the first time. The kids amused themselves as best they could - building fires, catching frogs and playing in the woods, and playing with Muffy, of course, who although getting on in years, still likes to explore in the woods.

camper and Zoe's tent

There were surprisingly few people about but now that it is June the weekend Domainers will be coming in from the cities to zip about in their 4 wheelers - I still don't understand the backwoods mentality of city folk who drive in their cars all week then, given a chance to walk and enjoy the peace and quiet, chose to ride around on a noisy ATV. We will be returning next week to finish the cabin interior and do some more work on the outdoor toilet...Have a great week!

Muffy surveying her domain from the ´Runner

phlox growing on the wall along our driveway,

pathway through the woods to the house site and camper

view from camper
 gws