Memorial Day Weekend in Canada

This weekend we celebrated Don's parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary! The actual date is June 7, 2007, but this being Memorial Day weekend for us we were able to travel up and celebrate together a few weeks early.

Here is the married couple surrounded by their children (and cake). There's Barb, the youngest, Don, the oldest, and Kathy, in the middle.
And here are their grandchildren (clockwise): Bryan (17) with Eric (5), Michael (2-1/2), Carolyn (14, almost 15) with Lucky (9 in a few days), Adam (16 in just a few weeks) and Brandon (12).

The end of the day found us relaxing on Kathy's deck enjoying a post-party BBQ and the warm sun as it set behind her neighbor's beautiful iris'. Cleo (9) kept watch. Good girl.

Missing from all photos are the two out laws, yours truly the photographer, and Doug who was fishing up north this weekend. Catch anything, Doug? Black fly bites maybe? Another missing person was our Carolyn who had serious beach plans, but whose photo I snuck in anyway.

We wish N&J a very Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary! It was a great weekend.

Day 12 - Deliveries

There hasn't been much to take pictures of the past couple of days because wiring and plumbing is not very photogenic. Sorry Joe and Joe - Joe the electrician and Joe the plumber, who has lately been bringing his son, Joe. Joe cubed.

Today the cabinets were delivered and they're sitting in our garage. The sliding glass door was delivered and installed!

Making life a bit easier, Joe, the electrician, was able to turn some of our outlets back 'on' so the coffee maker is now plugged in and extension cords are no longer running all over the place to keep the fridge running and my pc working.

But Joe suggested we update our electrical panel because its outdated and other Joe suggested our air conditioner is on its last legs (as he has had to reroute parts of the a/c piping). They both make good points ... ai yi yi.

Prom Night - May 18 '07

Bryan went to his first on Friday night. There were many pre-Prom gatherings throughout town that night, including the wonderful one that we went to for photos and gawking! The guys looked handsome and the girls were beautiful in their long dresses. After the kids took off in their limo, us parents stayed for more socializing. A fun night was had by students and parents!

Here are a couple of shots:

Bryan & his date, Alex.

The group in all their finery.

Day 9 - Let there be Light

Slowly but surely we are making progress. Today the window was added, lots of lighting boxes were installed in the ceiling, and the entrance to the dining room was widened.

See that scaffolding? The framers, as they are called in case you have not dealt with this breed before (I hadn't), stand on this make-shift scaffolding while bees buzz at them and winds come up out of nowhere. Are they crazy!? Probably.

And that piece of drainpipe that is hanging there? Its purpose was only to disguise the freon line from the attic to the air conditioning unit below. It was only pretending to be a drainpipe. Real sneaky. Fooled me ... until this reno. That line now has to be re-routed which will happen down an internal wall. This may come as a shock to my Canadian friends, as most in southern Ontario have had air conditioning forever (that being a shock to my American friends), but many NJ homes do not have a/c, or at least did not originally have a/c (even relatively recently built homes)! And our house is relatively new, having been built in 1983. I was surprised! Fortunately our home has it, added after original construction, and therefore disguised in drainpipes (but not for long).

On to other news: Our son is going to the High School Prom tomo night. The "news" is that his date is Canadian. Yes, somehow he found the only Canadian girl in our town in his grade. She is very nice. Her mom (pronounced mum, not mawm) is from Ottawa and father from North Bay. I'm sure they will have a great time together, eh.

Day 8 - A Little Roof

Another day, another step towards returning to normal life. Only Day 8 and this living out of our living room with a toaster in the bathroom and coffee maker upstairs is getting old. The challenge is the wiring of this house is not logical, so many of our outlets in random places are not working and we have extension cords snaking all over the place to keep our fridge running and our computer/modem/router etc. humming so I can keep working. Really, we're doing fine.

Today, around 2 pm a storm came whipping through here. By 2:30 pm we lost power. With no power to run all the equipment, the guys left before installing the window, but they did build the little roof that covers the window box. The window opening is partially covered by a piece of plywood leaning against the inside to minimize the amount of rain getting in. I took this photo in the rain so as not to lose a single day of this photolog of the progress. Blog dedication.

We didn't get our power back until 8:45 tonight. I've been on the computer ever since. I can't function without it. More news tomo, I'm sure.

Day 7 - New Outside Wall

I spent my day today merrily walking through the campus of University of Delaware with my son,
my two best Maryland friends, Anne & Jody, and their son and daughter respectively.
The six of us had a lot of fun catching up. It was a perfect day!

While I was driving and touring and driving, our kitchen wall was built.
Here's the inside and outside views again.

The window didn't get installed today, but perhaps tomorrow.
This is quite a bit larger than the previous window ... and I'll have a large sill for a few plants.

I had a sleepless night last night. I felt like I was waking up every 10 seconds rethinking every question the electrician asked me, as well as going over work-related details for my current project and then dreamt I was breathing sawdust (which I probably was/am). Ugh. The good thing is that I'm so tired tonight after a bad night, then driving up and down the NJ Turnpike today, I should sleep like a log.
A beautiful, sunny day in Delaware with great friends was just what I needed today.

Goodnight!

Day 6 - Kitchen Expansion

Day 4 & 5 were days of inactivity. Day 6 came on like gang busters with all kinds of people here shutting off our water, cutting the electricity, banging out walls, and creating new spaces.

The wall was removed to begin the 2-foot bump out.
This is a temporary support while the floor is extended out, and the new wall is built.

Here's the kitchen opening from the back. You can see the new floor joists
coming out to meet the existing overhang. They got a lot done in a day.
The window for this new wall was delivered today and may be installed tomorrow.

Day 2 & 3 - Kitchen Demolition

Day 2: Good-bye drywall.

Day 3: Good-bye sub-floor.

Hello insulation.

52 Years Together!

While in Florida in early April, we celebrated my parent's 52nd wedding anniversary!
Here's the young couple, pictured above, still enjoying married life.

Happy Anniversary H&B!

Two Wolves

Cherokee Wisdom

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

"The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

(Thanks Mrs G!)

Day 1 - Kitchen Demolition

A series of photos here show that the demolition has begun on time. The top one was taken late yesterday, and the other 2 today. All our cabinets just a pile of rubble now.

By the way, learned another Canadianism along the way. I was talking to the appliance guy about our cupboards and he asked what part of Canada I was from. Huh? Turns out American's don't say cupboard. Still acclimating!

Spring at the Tower

This Tower is the highest point in our neighborhood, which is nestled in the Ramapo mountains in northern NJ. The Tower is only a short walk from our house. During my last walk I noticed how perfectly this tree has blossomed.

The Tower has some very interesting history. From fire watchtower to enemy aircraft look-out, from fancy dining room with a view to a hideout for a jilted bride, it is a beautiful part of our scenery. It is now sealed up and serves as a community landmark and communications tower (cell).

The Urge to Purge

We have spent part of the day today purging. Oh how I love to purge. Having to pack up one area of our house (kitchen) makes me wonder whats going on in other parts of the house. So today I have been poking around all over the place, and purging.

Also, we moved the electronic keyboard into the den upstairs which led to purging in the den. It had become a dumping ground for all things no longer used - a real hodgepodge of junk. I'm thinking that because the contractor is bringing a dumpster for the kitchen demolition, perhaps I can throw out an old sofa that we inherited from the previous owners and other stuff that cannot be otherwise recycled.

Carolyn has started working with Habitat for Humanity and they will apparently take used appliances. I have a call in to them to pick up as much as they want from our kitchen demo. I'd rather see the stuff reused if wanted, than in landfill somewhere. I made about 20 phone calls a few months ago to find a place for some old desks we had ... NO ONE would take them. So hopefully their metal is going to good use somewhere. (Okay, they were very ugly & old.)

I'm slow to purge certain things. I have no problem throwing away clothes that don't fit or are out of style, and I'm not a pack rat nor a collector, but it is tough for me to throw furniture away. My sister-in-law, Vicki, seems to be excellent at moving on. "Good-bye old sofa!" (Resold so reused.) And my friend Anne, "Done with this, need a fresh look!" (She often resells too altho she does not recycle - boo!) I admire that quality to move on and get rid of the big clutter. (Anne, you must recycle but we've been down that road! Henry, I was counting on you to turn that household around!)

The urge to purge is a constant thing with me, BUT I am on a 5-year 'major purge' cycle since, historically, every 5 years I have moved, and thus I have spent my nervous energy preparing for the moves by purging. It is bang-on 5 years since our last move (MD to NJ) so I guess I'm right on schedule.

P.S. Col, if you happen to read this post, do you recognize the framed work on the left?! (I think you can click on the photo to enlarge it.) I know you were with me when I bought it from our fav 'Sampler' store in High Park. Talk about hanging on to stuff! (Bet you have all yours too! With neat backs!)

Kitchen on schedule to start

The demolition of our current kitchen is going to start on May 7 as planned. While I am excited about the outcome, I'm apprehensive about the mess, daily little decisions and being displaced. Maybe it'd be better if I didn't work from home, but it will be good to be easily accessible when issues come up. I know it will come to a happy close and that many before me have weathered home renovations. (Photo is of cabinet sample with granite sample, laying on wood flooring.)

Maybe its my age or just the closeness of my neighborhood, but there seem to be a lot of people dealing with more serious issues than a kitchen renovation - injuries, health, teen angst, aging parents, etc. So I will remind myself to keep things in perspective during this reno process and to laugh rather than cry!

The end of an era

Our current fridge has hosted many photos over its 10-year life as focal point in our kitchen. We bought this one when we first moved to Maryland. I don't think we'll be 'cluttering up' the face of our new fridge when it arrives and is installed, so this is kind of the end of a decorated-fridge era - what you do when your kids are young. Now there is less artwork coming home, unless we count the elaborate doodles in the margins of Bryan's notebooks.

Let me take you on a quick tour of our current fridge. As you can see, many photos have captions, thanks to a birthday gift Carolyn received last year. Clockwise from the top left: B&C posing for an early Christmas card, B&C at the waterfall park in Rocks Spring, MD, Don & I in Maryland house, glare, Eric (so cute), brother Michael (also cute), Lucky (handsome), B in High School hockey game, Dad's 80th birthday with B&C, B&C in another Christmas photo (1st Christmas in NJ), the family at TGIFriday's in Leicester Square celebrating C's 6th birthday, B&C back in Richmond Hill, Carolyn & I just before Barb & Doug's wedding - C was the flower girl, B&C at the Old Mill in Toronto. There is also a doodle of Bryan's and a cartoon about not listening while sports are on TV (NO idea who that would be referring to in our household).

I will miss this fridge with its decor. The end of the cluttered fridge era.