A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a matchflame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away."
How quickly the days fly by since last I posted! - the poem by Elizabeth Taylor aptly conveys the hectic and rapid passing of the past few months! It's been almost 4 months that we left Ottawa for Montreal and work on our duplex continues and will do so for some time yet. But between painting, scraping, sanding, nailing and sweating Marie and I have had time to spend a few weekends at our cabin in the mountains, take a week off for my birthday in June to fly to Florida, and enjoy a day by the ocean in Booth Bay, Maine. It has been an unusally hot summer here in Quebec so we finally had to break down and buy a portable aircon to make working on the renovations bearable. As you can see from the pictures the old place (built in 1924) is hardly recognizable. Phil has been busy as well - tearing down concrete block walls in the basement and adding electrical outlets to his workshop, and installing a beautiful deck in the back yard. Upstairs we have yet to install two new windows in the dining room, replace some doors and completely redo the front balcony. Meantime we have enjoyed the fruits of labour from the garden and the masses of flowers I planted this spring (see pix above) and are slowly getting to know and appreciate the neighbourhood - the varied and international shopping, parks and the convenient access to the Metro. As well as living in close proximity to ones neighbours - forget about privacy here!! But renovations have occupied most of our time and I often wonder where we can still find the energy, drive and pleasure to continue. We never realized the sheer volume of work that had to be done to bring the place up to our standards. As an eventual rental unit there are things that can be completed a little cheaper but in the long run everything we do really reflects on our own personal satisfaction to a job well done. So, without further ado, the before shots......
and after....
It was great to be able to fly down to Florida on my 60th birthday and surprise Mom - she turned 83 as well on the 25th. Marie and I drove to Plattsburgh, NY, our favourite jumping off place to anywhere south as its cheaper to fly out of there, its only an hour from Montreal, and parking is free! We flew Allegiant into St Pete, where we rented a car for the week. We picked up some flowers from us and Phil and hid behind them when we rang the doorbell at Lyns place when we arrived. By prearranged agreement Mom was to be there and answer the door and look suitably surprised. Dad said he knew it was us at the door posing as the flower delivery men! We had a wonderful birthday party there at Lyn's with everyone pitching in with the food and cooking and were even successful at getting Mom into the pool. Don and Lyn took us out to a Thai restaurant the next day and Dee and John, with Tyler, took us out to Skippers Smokehouse in Tampa. Later in the week we all went out to Homosassa Springs on Don's new boat before heading down to visit with Dee and John, before heading back to the airport. But before we left Marie and I drove down to Ft De Soto and spent the day on the beach and explored the old fort. The beach was voted the best in Florida last year and the Fort, built during the Spanish-American War, actually never fired a shot in anger. The weather was hot while we were there but returning to Canada we never thought it could actually be cooler in Florida!
When we returned to Montreal Phil had finished his deck so we enjoyed the use of it as well as tasting some of his famous ribs he has perfected on his new BBQ. The deck itself is over 20 feet and as solid as a battleship - it was his first attempt at carpentry and should outlast the building itself!
The next weekend I drove up to the cabin with some tongue and groove pine planks to start the inside walls. I had laid cedar planks on the floor just before we went to Florida and was happy with the way they looked and was eager to finish the interior. We have had the cabin for 2 years now and slowly getting it to look the way we want it. I moved the outhouse a foot away from the dripline of the roof to prevent ice and snow buildup and installed our Separett composting toilet. The first picture was taken during the World Cup - I still am flying my England flag. Phil and Fernanda spent that week touring Cape Breton and as predicted Fer fell in love with Nova Scotia!
Lara turned 30 on the 20th July and we invited her and Chad over for cake and wine. They are both eager to move into their new duplex that is being extensively renovated. They actually gutted the whole first floor and are completely bringing it up to date. There are some roof and foundation problems that have yet to be addressed and after working on this place since April I can sympathize with them both. They are about 5 minutes from us by car here in NDG so I'm sure we'll see more of each other. Next milestone will be Fernanda's 33rd tomorrow on the 6th of August and then Christina's 30th on September 23rd! Why do I feel so old?
A few weeks ago we went back to the property for a long weekend to work on the van which I will be driving down to Florida in September for Dee and Johns wedding and purchasing another 10,000 square feet of land to our north, just where the edge of the house will be built. As it was a rainy weekend we spent Saturday in Maine, crossing the border at Coborn Gore and taking SR 27 south to the very end. We try to find a different spot on the water everytime we go and this time we ended up in Boothbay Harbour, a very touristy spot in Lincoln County, near Bath. I did not remember at the time but part of the 1956 movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel was filmed there.
Tonight we are off to see Michael Bublé at the Bell Centre downtown for Fernandas b-day then heading east to our property on Friday to finish putting up the walls in the cabin. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can do what we most enjoy there at night - sitting around the campfire and watching the stars! I will try to post sooner next time as I know you are all eagerly awaiting our further adventures!Till later, much health, happiness and love gws
