And a day of shopping!

There is nothing like a shopping trip to relax one!  After several weekends of painting, painting, painting, I enjoyed a fun Saturday with friends.  We stopped for breakfast at the Arnprior Truck Stop before heading off to Ikea.

Janet, Dodie and Wanda

Sally (somehow I didn't quite get her in a pose!), Jennifer and Katrina

Katrina and Alex

We spent hours at Ikea, and I could go into great detail about all that we saw there, but it's much more fun and interesting to experience. I didn't actually buy anything, but got some good ideas for the closets and saw some interesting curtains.  After a visit to Michaels (where Jen, Janet and Katrina were seen with very large wine glasses....) and lunch at Montana's (and several games of hangman) we made a brief stop at the new mall on Hazeldean, where Katrina was picking up one more huge wine glass (not for herself, okay?  she doesn't even like wine much).  Several of us decided a quick dip into the Bed,Bath and Beyond was necessary.  There, I found a bathmat with a microfibre top and memory foam within, which I will be convincing Iain to buy (I have to convince him it's needed).

I'm looking forward to our next semi-annual girls' shopping trip already!

....And more painting.....

We're getting there!  We had just one bedroom left to paint this weekend, and that was done on Saturday.

Iain cutting in the bedroom.

That means that the next step is to paint all the trim.  Trim isn't difficult to paint, but it is both time-consuming and space-hogging.  We set up a system of both working on the same piece, and setting each aside to dry as we painted them.   By end of day Saturday, we had about half of the trim done.

Sunday morning, before taking all the painted trim off the ladders where we'd left much of it to dry.

On Sunday, Dodie helped me paint (an interesting choice for her birthday) while Myles helped Iain with the conduit in the trench.  We packed it in at around 1:00, and there is more trim to be painted next time!  The ice is mostly off the lake, so water is easily accessible.  I am really looking forward to running water in the cottage, however.

That's all for now!

Misty morning

Pics from last Sunday morning: mist rising on the frozen lake.

I just thought these were kinda cool.

The painting continues....

This last weekend we went to the cottage on Friday night, so we'd be able to start working bright and early on Saturday.   Sleeping on the floor for two nights was made much easier by the purchase of a 3" thick pad of memory foam!

On Saturday we did make an early start, but it was quite hazy outside.  That didn't stop us from getting into the painting as soon as we had a coffee in us.

By afternoon, we had finished the entire living/dining/kitchen area's second coat.

We had a visit from Chris Lorbetskie, who will be doing our ceramic tile.  Here, he is working out some figures while Iain puts the finishing coat on the linen closet.

The sun came out in the afternoon, and it was beautifully warm!

This is the new hydro post, installed by James Welk's company.  So nice to have the hydro in, and that work (almost) completed.

After getting a coat of paint on the walls in the utility room, bathroom and mom's bedroom, we decided we'd done enough painting for one day.

Iain fired up the grill and que'd up a couple of wonderful steaks.  So long since I'd had a nice steak, and they were delicious!

There was time to do a few things after dinner, too.  The paint was nice and dry, so we put some of the plug and switch plates on.

A trench has been dug for the well line, that will have conduit laid for the line to pass through.  With the heavy rain last week, and the snowmelt, the trench was full of water, so Iain dug a little canal to allow it to drain off.


Just a young lad playing in the mud...

When the sun started to set, we sipped our martinis and watched a video on the laptop before heading off to bed.  It was a good day!

A Good Weekend of Painting

Last weekend we headed to the cottage on Saturday morning, determined to get painting again. When we'd visited with Carl and Irene, we had been able to put primer on the utility room, bedrooms, bathroom and one closet, so our plan for this weekend was to attack the living area.

It snowed a bit in Renfrew, but we weren't expecting what we found when we got to the cottage road:  6 inches of fresh snow, and not yet plowed!  I was a bit nervous about driving through it, but Iain understands what the truck can do with its four-wheel drive, and knows how to use it.  We sailed through easily.

On the way in we met someone coming out, so the path was broken for us!

We got into painting right away, taping off the ceiling to protect the wood, and throwing on a coat of primer.  The work went very quickly.  We painted for six hours, stopping for a quick lunch, and managed to prime the entire living area, plus get one coat of colour on the stove wall, and one coat of ceiling paint on the utility room and mom's bedroom.

Iain cutting an edge.

After that much work, it was nice to change into comfies and have a martini!  I was glad we brought the poang chairs to relax in.  We were happy to put our feet up!

Iain with a wee 'tini.

Most of the place is pretty messy, still.  We really concentrated on doing the wall behind the woodstove, so we can use it next time we are up.  The electric heaters have been a godsend.

You can see we wrapped the wood stove so it wouldn't get paint splatters.  Don't the walls look nice with some paint on them?  We went with a very light colour called "Start Fresh"; it has just a touch of warm orange in it - goes nicely with the wood and keeps everything bright.

We sat watching the sun fade behind clouds, and had a bite of dinner (stew).  Then a movie on the laptop was our evening's entertainment.

A quiet evening, feet up:  wonderful!

We slept on the cement floor:  camp pads, foam, duvet, and sleeping bags, and a comfy blanket over top.  We were both a bit restless, though - it was like camping, but only if you made your tent on a rock.

A little coffee gets us moving!

Sleeping on a cement pad does not lead one to linger in bed.  We were up bright and early, sipping our coffee and watching the sun hit the frosted trees.

It's really hard to capture the sun glinting off the frost.  It looked so lovely, I had to try.

We got right back at it, and got a second coat of paint on the stove wall, then a first coat on the rest of the living area.  After that we packed up and headed home.  Tired!

On the home front...

I would love to make a gif of this! I'm not quite that capable, though.

Snaps and Onyx play every day.  Onyx takes it a bit seriously sometimes, I think:  it isn't unusual to hear a little yelp from Snaps, and see Onyx trying to spit out a mouthful of orange fur. 

Snaps will sit and meow plaintively as they stare at each other, as if to say "You're playing too rough!". He has the advantage in size and youth, though, and keeps coming back for more.

Weekend at the lake

It is so nice to visit Irene and Carl at their cottage: toasty warm, delicious meals, comfy bed and, best of all, pleasant, fun company. We always bring little but snacks and drinks, and the snacks are hardly touched, since there is so much food already available.

Here is the gang waiting patiently for breakfast: pancakes and sausages on Saturday morning. Yummy!

After breakfast Iain and I went back to the cottage to paint (we had started in the morning).  By early afternoon we had decided to knock off for the day, but we made good of our time:  when we finished on Sunday we had painted the utility room, bathroom, both bedrooms and two closets, including ceilings.

So far, the painting has gone well.  Nice to do when there is no flooring to worry about.

The weather turned nasty on Saturday afternoon.  The wind whipped up whirlwinds on the lake, and the windchill was unpleasantly frosty.  Walking into the wind was not fun.

Theo, who is Bob and Helene's dog, was limping through the yard in the wind and snow.  Poor old boy: he finds it hard to get around, now, but he likes to make his tour anyway.

I got out my portable weather station and clocked the wind at 43 kph; it gusted higher, I'm sure.

All the trees - in fact, every upright surface that stood still - wore what Myles called "skunk stripes", thanks to the horizontal snow.

So we stayed inside, did a puzzle, enjoyed a few drinks, and played some charades.  After a great night's sleep, another excellent breakfast (scrambled eggs and bacon), and more painting, we headed home.

There were two of these lovely deer, but one was a little shy and I didn't get her picture.  This one regarded us quite cooly, before flipping up her tail and leaping away.  Isn't she beautiful?

Just odds and ends being done at the cottage right now.

Last weekend Iain and I both went up on Saturday.  Installing plugs, switches and checking the breaker circuits was time consuming, and Iain went back on Sunday to tackle more of it on his own.

I helped as best I could, but am more comfortable having him do the wiring of the plugs etc.  My part was stuffing the plug or switch into the box, screwing it in place and applying the face plate.

Before we left, Iain took a reading off the meter.  Hopefully Ont.Hydro will accept the reading, as we have been using space heaters and we need to start paying for some of that power; I'm worried about getting a huge bill when they get around to reading it in the spring.

Today, we marvelled at how the mild weather has brought the dirt road into view!  I can't recall ever seeing so much melt in February.

Today we met with Susan, our kitchen designer at Home Hardware in the Bay; just trying to finalize things, and we're not quite there yet.  Gotta wrap it up soon, so we can get the cabinets on order.  After a quick bite to eat at Vito's, and a brief stop in Combermere, we went back to the cottage.  We have one circuit that is giving us grief:  it has a hard short, and we're having trouble tracking it down.  I can report that the heaters are all wired in and working perfectly, however:  Iain took a day off work on Friday to install them.  I couldn't get the day off, and I would have liked to go to my Aunt's funeral in any case (I was glad to attend the wake on Thursday evening, and pay my respects).

We probably won't do more this weekend; Iain has been working hard on it, and deserves a rest.

A Goodbye

Mom's oldest sister, dear Aunt Margaret, passed away last night.  She had just celebrated her 99th birthday on Sunday.

I think the secret of her longevity, if there was one, was in living well and simply.  She was straightforward, down-to-earth and loving.  Her children and their families will miss her immensely. 

Those of us in her extended family remember her with fondness.  Some people are dragged into nursing homes, kicking and screaming, but Aunt Margaret found pleasure in spending time with others and she moved into the Bonnechere Manor quite happily.  She liked to take part in the crafts they offered, even before she moved in, and I recall being amazed at the talent she showed, the first time I saw hand-painted notecards she'd made; I'd had no idea she was so gifted. 

Katrina, Wanda and Janet still like to talk about the time Aunt Margaret came to the office where we work, for an eye exam.  (It was a few years ago, while I was away on summer holiday, but I've heard this numerous times.)  The front door must have been left open a crack, and a garter snake found his way in.  Katrina made the effort to be brave, but didn't want to tackle the snake herself.  Janet and Wanda were up on their desks, scared to be on the same level as the snake.  Aunt Margaret came to the desk and offered, "Give me a glove to wear, and I'll catch it for you!"  A woman in her nineties put them all to shame; they didn't take her up on her offer, but I've no doubt she would have done it!

A wonderful lady; she will be missed.

A Beautiful Weekend

The weather has been beautiful; this is the warmest winter I remember.   It's been great for us, having to run to the cottage on the weekends.  Normally, February is not the time you want to be doing outside work, but as you can see in the picture below, Iain is able to install an outdoor fixture without wearing his gloves.

This time the sun shone when we were at the lake.  We sat in our living-room-to-be and ate lunch, looking out at the view(s).  This picture is out the south side window, but looking south-west.

This is our view out the front window, from where we sat munching our sandwiches.  I mentioned to a friend, a few days ago, that it all seems too good to be true.  We are so very, very blessed.  My greatest hope is to have the place in dwellable shape by spring, so my mom can come and enjoy it with us!

Water, water everywhere

Last weekend's trip to the cottage revealed several things:

1. Nothing adds humidity to a place like mudding the drywall, and
2. All efforts to remove said humidity by use of paper towels will be for naught (though one feels useful in the attempt).

We had lots of work to do, so Iain was a bit nonplussed at my picture-taking.  In this shot, he is just about to move out of the way because he thinks I'm trying to get a picture of something behind him.  I'm really taking his picture, though.

 Look at this ceiling! We love it.

The peaked ceiling is as nice as we'd hoped.

This may not look like much, but you see that grey conduit in the middle?  It was a son of a gun to get together.  We were glad to be finished with it.

I'm not sure what Iain is working on, here.  It didn't seem like we accomplished too much, but the time went quickly.

 It snowed while we were there.  Some of the local lads were out at the fish shack; had a fire going and the tip-ups set.

The driving home wasn't very nice, because of all the snow.  Next weekend's tour should be better; almost no snow in the forecast.