Wednesday, August 15, 2007

And more renovations...


Hellooooo! We're still here. I'm sitting in my house, all alone, for the first time in what seems like months! All of our company is gone again, and I was very sad to see them go. Our friends Amy and Dennis are coming out from Victoria next week, so we have one week to get our bathroom into a functioning space. This is what it looks like now:

The walls that needed to come down are down, the first layer of subfloor is screwed in, and the plumbing is all roughed in. I go back to work at the cabinet shop tomorrow, but Jai is hoping to get the wiring done, and hopefully screw down the next layer of subfloor.

At the same time as we are renovating the bathroom, we had to take down the ceiling in the pantry because of the leak, and I started building the bookshelves for the library, with some help from Mom. The whole house looks like one giant project right now.

We took most of today off, as Errol and Justin came down to pick Mom up and take her back to Halifax. They went swimming in the river behind our house, something we have not been brave enough to do yet. They gave it good reviews, though, and Jai and I are considering a way to orchestrate some serious inner tube floating.

We still have Jane the cat, her and Emma have worked out a somewhat uneasy truce. We'll see how it goes now that Mom is not here to keep the peace any more. She has been the resident cat herder for the last week, a practically full-time job that I have neither the time nor the willingness to take over. Jane is a sweety, though, so hopefully we'll be able to get everyone sorted.

Last night, Mom and I volunteered at the King's Theatre, where Jai works. It was pretty fun - she ripped tickets, and I was the usher. We got to see the play for free, but we were only able to stay for the first half, because we wanted to sneak off and do the graveyard tour. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died AGAIN, and I didn't get any pics to share with you, but I would HIGHLY recommend the graveyard tour to anyone who might be interested, and around. It was so neat - everyone gets a candle lantern (95 people last night) and then a fellow in period mourning takes you around and tells stories about the oldest English graveyard in Canada. It was the perfect night last night, totally clear, and you could see millions of stars. The cemetary is in Fort Anne, right on the water, and it was absolutely picture perfect. If only I'd had my camera!

We had a big wind and rainstorm here a couple of days ago, and it was very hard on the garden, so Mom and I spent a couple of hours re-staking all the tomatoes. There are literally hundreds of tomatoes coming, so hopefully I can figure out what to do with them. Already I am giving away cucumbers left, right, and centre. All the fresh food is so good right now, though! We've been eating handfulls of blackberries every day, and perfectly ripe peaches (ok, I didn't grow those!) cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. We are overflowing with basil and jalapeno peppers, and the carrots are actually growing quite big. Having a garden is so rewarding. I'm already thinking about next year, when it will be even bigger!

1 comment:

The Mama said...

Hi Family! Just wanted to drop you a line to see if you've survived or are still surviving your renovations. Talk about WOW! It's nice to have seen the house and feel the character. It makes me appreciate all the hard work you guys are putting in. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Lauren - two questions. #1 - what was the website that you guys use to download all the programs? #2 - what kind of herbs were they that you made the tea from? Lemon balm? Spearmint? Can't quite remember. I've been craving it ever since we got home. I've searched high and low and scavenged every garden store around but everyone is sold out for the season. I'm going to drive out to Ritchers Herbs which is an hour away to get what I need. I HAVE to have that tea!