Lorenzo headed over to Mayne Island on Thursday night and came home Saturday morning. I am thrilled by how much he managed to get done in essentially one day. As I mentioned previously, the wood stove stuck out from the wall by nearly five feet which made furniture arrangement nearly impossible. We also decided that we wanted an open fireplace. In addition, the brickwork was very ugly...

Lorenzo pulled out the stove and managed to lug all three hundred pounds of it out to the porch with the assistance of our neighbour, Neil. (thanks Neil!) Then he smashed the brick and made a stack outside to be used for a fire pit we're going to build...

I appreciate how clean his work-space is...here's another view:

After this, he framed in our new fireplace!

We decided to move it down toward the north wall and have the firebox elevated. This makes for much nicer viewing and with the hearth, you can sit down and warm yourself up...

The new fireplace will only extend two feet into the living room. What a difference! Here's another view...

Prior to Lorenzo leaving, we were both feeling discouraged about the snail-like pace of this renovation. But this new development has renewed our enthusiasm. We drank tea and talked for hours about how we're going to dress this (probably pebble tile) and how fabulously wonderful our lives will be when this cottage is done...

When Lorenzo arrived on Thursday night, a bat followed him into the cottage. It flew down the staircase as he was heading up and it came right at his head - silently. It was rather jarring, but Lorenzo said it was a fascinating encounter. It exited the cottage without any protest. Bats are wonderful for the environment - they can eat up to eight thousand insects in a single night, and they assist in seed disbursement and plant pollination. So, not only do we have frogs singing away at night, but bats swooping around as well. How cool.

While Lorenzo was gone, I refinished a sofa table I bought last year on Craigslist for fifty bucks. It's a very heavy, solid pine piece of furniture but it was a weird pinky beige colour...

I sanded it down outside, then painted it. I splurged on a small can of Benjamin Moore's Regal line. I have never used paint like this...it went on like silk. When you're painting spindles it's difficult to hide your brush-strokes, but this paint made them disappear. The table now, looks as though I sprayed it. Afterwards, I applied three coats of wipe-on polyurethane to the top portion. This prevents objects from sticking to the surface and provides some protection against spills. The colour is a soft greenish-gray and it looks very nice. Finally, I attached one my big happy knobs...

I love painting furniture!

Now I have to tell you about the most amazing garden tool ever invented. A few days ago, I noticed that my front & back lawn have become a patch-work of weeds. They are so tightly compacted that I felt despair in trying to get rid of them all. I started digging them out by hand and realized that I could spend my entire summer doing this, only to turn around to see that the weeds have returned and invited all their friends. I will never, ever put chemicals into the ground so I went on Canadian Tire's website and read about a weed puller made by Fiskar. It has rave reviews and has a 25-year warranty. I announced to Lorenzo that I intended to purchase one. He said, "Actually...we have one under the deck somewhere."

I can't say enough about this thing. It was FUN to pull weeds - they come out like butter and I de-weeded my entire back yard in about an hour. You just push down on the weed, pull it out, and eject it into the bin. Whoever invented this deserves a Nobel prize. I pulled out weeds that were so huge and deeply rooted, it would have taken all my strength to get them out. This handy-dandy invention made them slide out of the ground with ease. Yay!

Lorenzo finally took his boat out of storage today and is tootling around Indian Arm as I write, pumping pollutants into the ocean, terrifying the fish, and causing waves that will no doubt contribute to soil erosion. Why do human beings need to defile nature in order to amuse themselves?

The other day, my son was mowing the lawn. He asked if he could leave a small circle of clover...for the bumble bees! Lorenzo was watching him from the sundeck and said, "Mow the clover. I want it gone." My son said, "Dad, did you know that if the bees die off, we have three years left to survive on this planet?" Lorenzo said, "Well son, that's why we have oxygen tanks and canned chili. Now you just keep mowing over there."  He loves saying things like this.

At least the bats on Mayne Island are safe...ciao for now.

So, here is what got done at the cottage. All the insulation was done (walls & ceilings) and the plywood was installed on all the walls. Lorenzo says the house has a heavy quietness to it, which is good. Previously, if the radio was playing on the main floor, you could every word from upstairs. Now the sound is muffled.

The pillars which support the second floor were boxed in and Lorenzo says he's happier about these posts than anything else he's done. Why, you ask. Well, they're BIG and they're BOXY. And there's electricity running through them, so what more could a guy ask for. Big, massive hulking posts that can fire up a super charged ear-splitting power-tool if one were so inclined...

Lorenzo installed the lights in the bathroom...

He said is was so nice to just turn on a switch and have the bathroom light up. No more having to use a flashlight. If there was ever an invention that pulled us out of the Dark Ages (literally) it is electricity. Lorenzo said it feels as if the cottage now has a soul - it feels friendlier...

There is still so much to do that we both get tired just talking about it. The ceiling needs to be boarded, then the fireplace brick will be torn out. We plan to install a real wood-burning fireplace and it will be moved slightly northward to allow more room in the eating and kitchen area...

Lorenzo has done a lot of reading on how to install a fireplace and feels confident that he can pull it off. After this is done, the doors will be replaced, the pine paneling will be installed, then paint, then flooring, then....it just goes on and on. We are doing a complete renovation on this cottage, including electrical, plumbing, windows & doors, hardwood flooring, kitchen & bathroom...all for $25k. If we had been paying for labour, we would have run out of money a long time ago.

I just can't believe how long this is taking. It would have gone much faster by now if my husband was willing to accept the many offers of help which have come his way. But he prefers to be alone - he finds making conversation and being in close quarters with someone for days on end too stressful. He loves that show which airs on PBS all the time called "Alone in the Wilderness." I rented it from the library for him to watch at the cottage. Maybe he was a hermit in a previous life, living in the northern wilds and carving things out of stone-age tools....he would have invented a leaf blower no doubt, or some other noisy contraption. Or maybe some MASSIVE support beams to hold up his puny pup-tent...

No sooner had Lorenzo come home from Mayne Island when we had to pick up the kids from summer camp. They had a great time...at least two of them did. That's a whole other story...
The washing machine has been going all day - load after load of filthy clothes and stinky towels. The kids said the food at camp was generally atrocious - mac & cheese with potato chips thrown in and other such culinary delights. So I made tortellini for dinner and they ate with gusto and appreciation. It was really nice to sit down to a family meal tonight and look around at those three glowing faces. There was much to talk about and the house felt noisy again. I like it - I thought I would love a week alone but after the second or third day, it began to feel strange.

After dinner, Lorenzo and I took the dog for a long walk in the woods and talked about what we'd do if we won the lottery. We ended up having a huge disagreement as to how the funds would be dispersed. I would give a huge amount to the Green Party, another sizeable chunk to the David Suzuki Foundation, percentages would be divied up to support wildlife causes and efforts to clean up the oceans and rivers, I would set up a philanthropic organization to support environmental research.... Lorenzo would buy a Ferrari. I asked if it's possible to convert a Ferrari into a non-fossil fuel burning vehicle. He looked at me like I was insane.

Well, life is back to normal. Until next time....

On Saturday, our kids and two of their friends went off to summer camp. Lorenzo and I came home, danced a jig around the kitchen, then launched into five hours of house and yard work. I tackled my daughter's bedroom which was a scene of a carnage - I thought I'd never get through it. Their rooms are now sparkling clean with fresh sheets and meticulously organized closets. I washed down the walls and doors and noticed that our house is actually showing signs of damage. We renovated 6 years ago, and I guess it's time for a re-paint. I can't even think about that right now. Anyway, the work I've done won't last but it gives me a temporary sense of calm. On Saturday night we met my cousin and his wife at the Fairmont Hotel for dinner - they were leaving for Italy the next day so we had a lovely dinner and a fun night.

On Sunday, Lorenzo left for Mayne Island. We decided that it wouldn't be a good idea for the rabbit and the dog to be around wet paint and insulation. So, I'm here all alone! It's a bit strange, actually. But I am getting so much done - mostly paperwork that requires a good stretch of quiet so that I can concentrate. Lorenzo called today sounding a bit out of breath. He had just finished all of the main floor insulation and was dripping in sweat, but he sounded so happy...

Prior to this, he finished framing in the closets. The deeper closet will house the washer and dryer, and the shallower closet will be for jackets & shoes. I asked him to make one closet deeper than the other to add some visual interest. I don't like the look of a giant closet - it's better to break it up a bit...

So, there you have it. He's working over there and I'm working over here. I've taken my dog on some long hikes and I'm eating a very low-carb diet which is easy to do when you have no one to cook for. I am determined to lose 20 pounds before I turn into a total flabalanche.

[warning: political rant ahead]

I'm reading a book called "This Crazy Time" by Tzeporah Berman. She is an environmental activist who organized the protest over the logging of Clayoquot Sound back in the early 90's. She now works for Greenpeace International and is someone I greatly admire. She lost her father at the age of fourteen and then her mother died two years later. She began her career as an activist when attempting to say Kaddish (the mourner's prayer) in her local synagogue. Traditionally, there has to be "minyan" of at least ten men for public praying to take place. Often there weren't enough men - Tzeporah and her sisters couldn't make up the difference as they were...female. I guess it was assumed that god doesn't listen to the praying of women. Or groups of less than ten. In any case, she started a campaign, went door to door, and eventually convinced the rabbi to change the rules.

Of all the virtues, this is what I admire most in a human being: intellectual curiosity. Is it something you're born with? Why does one person say, "This is how it's always been," and another person says, "Why has it always been?"  I saw Tzeporah Berman being interviewed recently and was astonished by her intelligence.

Prior to seeing this interview, I had read that 2011 was one of the hottest years since human beings began keeping statistics. Then I was reading about all the environmental set-backs that have occurred under Steven Harper. He has backed out of Kyoto, dismantled government bodies whose job it was to monitor the environmental practises of big industry, he's ended the funding to the Canadian Foundation of Climate and Atmospheric Science, eliminated the Adaptation research group within Environment Canada, he's closed the Polar Arctic and Environmental Laboratory, he calls environmentalists "radical", he's made Canada a major exporter of uranium which will kill people in the third world who have no laws to protect them, he's committed to nuclear expansion, and on and on it goes.

After I joined the Green Party, I became a recipient of daily bad news - from the Dogwood Initiative, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the Coalition to Stop Smart Meters, etc. Then I get the emails from average citizens who are deeply concerned about the Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion, the Enbridge Gateway Project, the polluting of local streams and lakes...It never ends, and I read until I feel a profound sense of despair. If I grow some marijuana, I could have my children taken away. But if I dump a million tonnes of pesticide into the ground, it's legal. Strange times we're living in.

So I'm feeling totally hopeless, and then I open Tzeporah's book. On the first page is a quote that has done more to change my way of thinking than anything I've read in ages:

Optimism is the only moral choice...You have to keep trying to find hope - it's immoral to do otherwise. If you give up hope and stop trying to fix what's wrong, you're handing to your children - and mine and everybody else's - a worse world than the one you found. And I can't live with that.  (Barbara Kingsolver)

So I will try to remain hopeful...that Harper chokes on a tater-tot and gets replaced by Elizabeth May. Wouldn't that be something....

Rule of thumb when renovating: Everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much as you planned. Lorenzo didn't get home until nearly 11pm last night. His poor brother had to drive all the way to Clearbrook and then get up early for work this morning. What a huge favour...so grateful for his expertise. Here he is working hard on the wiring...

Everything has been connected to a sub-panel. Turned out, a lot of the wiring was dangerously wrong. A baseboard heater, by code, has to have its own breaker. Our cottage had eight baseboard heaters on two 20-amp breakers. Apparently this isn't a good idea...

While Lou was connecting the wires and testing the lines, Lorenzo worked on boxing in the support posts...

Before he left for Mayne Island he spent a lot of time staring into space, trying to figure out how he was going to do this. I always know when he's in thinking mode - he lies on our bed, staring at the ceiling, drawing imaginary lines with his fingers. I generally shout out encouragements such as, "You can do it honey!" or "You'll figure it out!"  What do I know?

The boxes had to fit in all the wiring without overpowering the room. I think they look pretty good. Lorenzo made it so that each post has an outlet which will be very handy; if we choose to have an end table with a lamp on it in the centre of the room, we won't have to run extension cords.

The Ikea kitchen event is on right now until August 6, so this is it. We need to buy our kitchen and find a place to store it all. Our basement looks like a second-hand junk shop right now; I can't wait to load it all up and get it over to the cottage. We're going with a basic white kitchen with solid wood counter tops. I estimate that we can do the entire kitchen for under $2000...

I already bought the sink which we had delivered as it wasn't available in BC. Ikea offers a porcelain farm-house sink for $249...

It's very heavy, the glazing is thick, and it's been well-reviewed. Compare this to the cheapest apron-sink at Home Depot. This one is over $1400. I can't see much difference...

Lorenzo and I ventured to Ikea last weekend to confirm our kitchen design. We walked through the doors and Lorenzo groaned, "God I hate this place." The thing about Ikea is that you have to be prepared to be sucked into what I call "The Ikea Vortex." You find yourself in a subterranean bunker, part of a dazed herd.  An invisible stun-gun coerces everyone into a slow moving conga-line that weaves around the store in a never-ending loop. You can't seem to escape. Soon, your face adopts a stupefied bovine expression (moo). You desperately seek the exit only to find yourself surrounded by paper lampshades. And it isn't much better for the kids - just look at them trapped in that sensory deprivation tank buried in sponge balls. It's like a giant petrie dish of contagions.

But here's the real interesting thing about Ikea:  Suddenly, particle-board crap from China looks freakin awesome!  When Lorenzo saw the new Hemnes bathroom sink, he nearly burst a blood vessel. "This is what we should have done! But no! You have to buy something that has to be converted, fiddled with, sanded, drilled through to run pipes..." But look at it:

It's very cute and the price is great, but you can't escape the fact that it looks like a toy. Everything in Ikea has a toy-like appearance, if you really think about it.

Our vanity will look more like this, except with one sink...

The idea I had of buying a console table and then adding a vessel sink is obviously more work. For Lorenzo. But at the end of the day, you have to feel that you have something more than a bunch of stuff that was assembled with an allan key. Our bathroom is going to look very charming.

Anyway, Lorenzo fumed the entire time we were in Ikea, determined to start all over again and just buy something simple. Then we left the store. The Ikea haze evaporated - he snapped back to reality and decided that my idea was better. Hence, my belief that Ikea does something to your brain. Maybe it's all those hard-to-pronounce Swedish descriptors which probably exist only to confound and further hypnotize the customers:

"Hey, Hon!  Let's pair up a couple of compfy Ektorps with a Tofteryd table..hang a few Fjallsta frames, team it all up with a Borgsjo cabinet, a Bjorken mirror, add an extendable FRACK... ...how about one of those Jansjos to put beside our banjo, or some curtains with Hogtidlig finials...!" 

Nevertheless, you can pick up some really cool stuff! I bought these for our kitchen...they're part of the FINTORP line...

Isn't this summer weather great? The kids leave for camp next week and not a moment too soon. Today my sons got into a giant fight over flip-flops.
It's time to send them to work with their Dad, aka "Camp Guido." They can join the warehouse assembly-line and start earning their keep around here. Tomorrow, peace will reign! I've got it so good....

Finally...Lorenzo came up with a name for the cottage:
The Shit Pit. You can see how our enthusiasm for this project has dwindled...

I really have nothing to report. Lorenzo is going over to the cottage on Saturday morning with his brother to tie-in the electrical to the panel. This is a relief - we'll have light sockets now and won't have to trip over extension cords. Our three kids are off to camp soon and we'll be heading over to the shack to work...with Sachiko and Marcello. Should be fun.

Our hardwood flooring is in my cousin's warehouse right now and at some point soon we'll have to get it over. It takes 7 - 10 days for hardwood to acclimatize but I honestly don't know where we're going to put it all. You're supposed to lay it out, not leave it stacked, but there's no room!

*       *       *       *

One of my favourite ways of wasting time is going on the internet to look at art. Canada, particularly the west coast,  is home to so many great artists - it's incredible considering how small our population is. Right now I am very impressed with the work of Cindy Riach. Take a look...

Another artist is Josefa Fritz Barham...

As you can probably tell, I am drawn to art that depicts water or boats. I find these images stunning; if I were rich I would spend a fortune on art. Actually, if I were rich I would open my own gallery... I enjoy drawing but I've never tried painting. Maybe it will become a hobby when the cottage is finished.


There is an artist on Galiano Island named Kenna Fair. I love what she does; much of her art is actually carvings on wood and then painted over with acrylic. I purchased two small-sized prints of these paintings a few years ago (couldn't afford the big ones)...

Gorgeous! The Pacific West Coast is truly beautiful, despite our terrible weather. And regardless of what medium an artist uses, you can always recognize it as being from here. There is a clarity and starkness to it - our scenery is quite savage and often cold. But it's a wild beauty that you really appreciate if you've ever done any travelling. It's easy to take for granted - but when you find yourself in a European city where there's barely a tree in sight and the ocean is hundreds of miles away and you can't find any place to be alone because it's so crowded and dusty...you come home and feel such a sense of gratitude. I don't think I could live anywhere else.
If only the sun would shine a bit more often...

Fun long weekend! Lorenzo went to the cottage on Tuesday night. I've been thinking how fast time goes. In the spring he was convinced that the cottage would be done by early June. Ha! We've had the cottage for nearly a year. Who knew it would take this long...
Take a look at how much progress we've made... Doesn't this room look like an episode of Hoarders? We have such a long way to go...

He called yesterday afternoon sounding a bit irritable. He ducked out to the Spring Water to watch the soccer game. When Italy scored, he cheered.
Two old ladies at another table hissed, "Ssshhhh!" In a pub. There is a certain brand of old person who has the ability to suck the youth and joy right out of the room. I hope I'll never be like that.

Today, Lorenzo worked on electrical...he called several times asking where I wanted plug-ins, how many inches from a doorway to put a light fixture, etc. Most conversations were cut off because of bad cell phone reception. Lorenzo is pretty good at electrical but there were several things he wasn't sure about. Luckily, his brother is a very smart guy who also happens to be an electrician. Many calls were made asking for advice, so I'm sure it will all work out - unless the house explodes or bursts into flames...

He also gutted what was left of the kitchen...

I'd been putting off choosing light fixtures because I tend to research everything to death. And anything I really liked was too expensive, such as this farmhouse pendant. I love this, but it's over $200...

Then I found a website called Lighting Direct. They were offering 10-percent off all orders, and I found something I really think will look nice. And it was $64. so that was a bit softer on the budget...

Lighting is one of the most important parts of renovating or decorating. Nothing transforms a room the way light does. A badly lit space feels ininviting so it's really worth it to take your time choosing fixtures and figuring out where you want to have light. Incandescent lighting is warm - particularly if it's down-light. Corners should be lit as well; if you light the corners of a room it expands and feels very cozy. Overhead ceiling lights tend to cast shadows, so I've avoided them. Putting lights on dimmers is a good idea as well and it saves energy. Speaking of which - the new energy-saving light bulbs are a great idea but the light they give off is ghastly. I've bought them before but they're all in a cupboard in the basement. I know I should be using them but they're just so awful.

Here is another fixture that I might buy for the entrance ways...

I have bought almost everything for the cottage on Craigslist, and scoured thrift stores for anything I can find that we'll need. But I will not compromise on lighting - it's just too important. You can find good lighting that is affordable if you're willing to take your time or buy on-line. The selection is enormous.

*      *      *      *      *


Well, it's Friday night. I told my kids there would be no sleep-overs this weekend as I'm getting fed up with crazy late nights and kids goofing off until the wee hours. Regardless, my daughter begged me to let her friend stay and I said, "No. Absolutely not." Then I caved. At 10:30 pm, a boy showed up whom I haven't seen in a very long time. My son took me aside and pleaded to let him stay the night. I said, "No. Absolutely not." He said, "Mum, he has nowhere to go." Short pause. "Has he had supper?" 

The next thing I know, there's five kids in the kitchen at
11 pm making popcorn and drinking tea. They're in the basement right now watching an ear-splitting horror film. It's well past midnight and I'm wondering when it will get quiet around here. It's a good thing Lorenzo is on Mayne - he thinks I'm too easy-going when it comes to things like this. If someone needs a place to crash I can't say no. I think it's an Irish thing. You always wonder if it might turn into a good party.

Well...I guess I better find a sleeping bag and an extra pillow.

Ciao for now.

                           
                           (a hundred thousand welcomes)

This is a long blog...

I left for Mayne Island on Tuesday night, leaving behind a freshly-cleaned house and a huge roasting pan of Italian meatballs. I arrived at the cottage around 9:30pm. I looked around at what had been done but the lighting was poor and it was difficult to determine what I needed to do. I made a fire, drank a cup of tea, and read. The next morning I surveyed the work of our painter and understood why Lorenzo fired him. I can't describe how upsetting it was. The vertical wainscoting and window trim that had been meticulously installed was supposed to be cut-in with a narrow brush on all sides before painting. Our painter...let's call him "Dud"... made an absolute mess of it. He clearly has no idea how to use a paint brush. The corners were caked in blobs of paint. I could pick them off with my finger nail. The ceilings were only half done and badly at that,  and there were long drip marks everywhere. I imagined him loading up his brush and just flinging paint around the room. Like Jackson Pollock.

I stood there in a state of shock and then I just sat on the floor feeling numb. I have never seen such a sloppy, careless, paint job in my life. A child could have done better. A toddler. A ferret...

Lovely, isn't it? These pictures don't begin to describe what the rooms look like...

I called Lorenzo and was a wreck describing the mess that had been left for us. He tried to calm me down, but I was feeling rage beginning to simmer. I cannot stand injustice, and the idea that we paid this ding-bat, paid him to cause damage to our home made me want to rail at the universe. I walked around the bedrooms glaring at his blatant incompetence and reached for my cell phone. My text to Dud turned into an essay. I demanded half of our money back, told him he did an appalling job, and basically released my outrage in a 500 word diatribe. Then I pressed "send". My missive took an entire hour to reach its destination. Still not sure what Dud's reaction was, if any.

It's a good thing I had no cell-phone reception because I was seized by an urge to call my husband and demand to know what he was doing while this dunder-head was wrecking our house. I don't think it would have been a wise decision. I would have heard something like this:
"I WAS DRINKING A MAI-TAI!" (*click*)  The truth is, he was on a ladder running wire. Still, though....

That first day was the lowest moment in our cottage adventure. I sat on the sagging couch staring into the cold void of the wood stove feeling quite hopeless. And I had left one of my sons at home with a fever and that was playing on my mind as well. Spent an hour ruminating and plotting against Dud; scenarios involving eggs and other tools of revenge. The problem is, I hate to waste food, so the egg hurling idea was out...what else is there? Fire bombs? I decided I needed to get busy.

On his last trip, Lorenzo decided to fill in a bunch of spots in the bathroom (after I had painted it!) and the walls looked like they'd been sprayed with machine-gun fire. White blobs of filler all over the place. So I sanded it all out, slowly and carefully. Then I hauled the industrial vacuum up the stairs and tried to suck up all the dust. There was still a white film on the walls so I washed them down with warm water and vinegar. In a room that measures 6 by 11, this type of job entails bumping into walls, tripping over tools, emptying pots of water onto the lawn, your light goes out because the crappy extension cord gets jostled, etc. It's an exercise in complete frustration. That first day was the worst. We'd been happily thinking of names for our cottage, but at that point all I could come up with was "Another Hope Crushed" or "This Dump Is All We Could Afford."  Welcome to stinky hollow...

Anyway, I re-painted the entire bathroom, touched up the ceiling, and was very pleased when I was done. That took all day.

Every time I go to Mayne Island I lose at least one pound. Why? Because I am spared the Tyranny of Dinner. For five days, I lived on fruit, tea, and one sandwich for dinner. It's all I need, and it explains why, prior to meeting Lorenzo, I was 25 pounds thinner than I am now. I blame it all on marriage. However, I digress...

Slept poorly the first night, woke up the next day and tackled my daughter's bedroom which received the bulk of Dud's stupidity. If our painter were living in medieval times, he would have been the village idiot. The scope of his ineptitude was mind-boggling. I had to chisel out every single corner to clean his gummy brushwork and I could only do so much; if I kept at it, I started to gouge the wood. Lorenzo suggested that I use his palm sander. But did he leave a fresh piece of sandpaper in it for me? No! I had to take it to Home Hardware and get the owner to do it. Back to the lonely cottage...sanding, scraping, chiseling...  When you're alone for days on end, speaking to no one, your thoughts really get to roam free. At home contemplation is always interrupted, like a train that never leaves the station.

On Mayne Island I found my thoughts could weave and meander and it was very meditative. I thought a lot about my family and how awful it would be to live alone, to have no children. Away from the annoying habits of my three off-spring, I was able to see them through a more flattering filter. I felt tremendous love for them.

At one point I was listening to Joni Mitchell which made me think of my daughter, left alone in a house of testosterone. Just the thought of her makes my throat tighten; she is so precious to me. She is like the little engine that could. Born premature, isolated in an incubator for five terrifying days, struggling to swallow while her robust twin brother was the picture of health. How I marvel at what has become of my strong little fighter. She is an amazing artist, a lightening-fast award winning runner, smart, pretty, funny. She's kind and generous; she is capable and intuitive. She loves nature, animals, art, music. Everything seems effortless to her - what takes someone a month to understand takes her one day. And she writes songs and plays the guitar so beautifully. She's an old soul. So when Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" came on my stereo, I lost it. I'm alone in this dilapidated shack, rain pounding on the roof, standing on a wobbly chair painting the ceiling, and I've got tears pouring down my face. Pathetic, really. But I just love her so much - whoever ends up with her will be the luckiest man. I can't believe I created her...

She's a wonder to me...

And here is her little room, before and after...

The picture doesn't do the colour justice; it'a lovely butter colour...

*     *     *     *     *
So the days were somewhat weird for me. I was emotional, frustrated, moody...but there were moments of real joy. I staggered down to the kitchen to get a cup of tea and looked up to see a deer gazing at me through the window. We locked eyes for a long time, then she slowly ambled away, giving me a side-long glance in parting. So graceful and soft. Later on, she came back with a friend...

Lorenzo called at one point to let me know that Marcello the Bunny peed all over one of the beds. He did this the last time I left as well, so the events must be connected as he's completely trained. Lorenzo detailed what was involved: removing the duvet cover, washing the duvet, the sheets, the mattress pad, etc. Who would think that a little ball of fluff can generate 3 hours of laundry? We're going away at Christmas and my cousin Shannon has bravely agreed to take on my annoying pets for twelve days. I think Marcello might have to be stuffed in a cage...sniff...

The evenings were the same: sandwich, tea, fire going. I watched "Practical Magic" which is one of my favourite movies of all time. The house in the movie is my dream home - perched high on a bluff overlooking the sea, surrounded by flower and herb gardens. The kitchen is jaw dropping. I kept pausing the film to drool over the interior...best movie house I've ever seen.

This film is quite silly, but it stirs something in me that is hard to describe. It makes me want to live in an old Victorian house where I could spend my days puttering around the gardens in long skirts, weaving spells, making potions.. It's a film that makes me glad that I'm a woman. If you haven't seen this movie, you should. Lorenzo loves it too. He has a crush on Sandra Bullock...

The next day, I began priming the wood in the upper hallway and stairwell. Lorenzo suggested that I use his ladder. It's an old wooden contraption that weighs 300 pounds. I lugged it up the stairs, only to realize that it was too big to be of any use. Even though I was only able to prime two-thirds of the wood, the change is dramatic. No longer is the stairwell a dark and gloomy passageway. Now it is light-filled and seems to have expanded...

By Friday I started getting texts from Lorenzo.."are you ever coming home?"  "I'm lonely lonely lonely!"  I told him I was leaving on the Saturday morning ferry. He replied, "Yaay! Yaay! Yaaaaaaayyyyyy!"  I had a good laugh. The last night at the cottage I was so tired. I marvel at my husband - he has a tremendous amount of energy. I don't know how he does it.

So, I'm home. Lorenzo was so happy to see me - ran outside and gave me a big bear hug. The dog was freaking out, running in circles. The kids said how glad they were to see me and then took off with their friends. Even Marcello the bunny popped his head out to give me look... 

The house looked nice, the laundry was done, and there was a pot of tea waiting for me on the stove.    

Life is good.

Appreciate everyone you love while they are here, because all of this is temporary...