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It's been a long time coming but, hopefully worth the wait! First I think, O there is not much new news to share and then I start thinking about it and actually there is lots. As noted on the home page, I am most excited about the production of my new book, a colouring book of images from my life on the wild BC coast..and in re the knees, they are doing fine although there were some tough moments after we came home from doing a promotional tour for Tide Rips and Back Eddies...unable to walk very much I spent my time drawing, which activity, as you may know, is one of my very favorites...
...and while I was deep in the drawings my Hercules was busy building (and repairing) the homestead. Billy built us a new dock and Al laid the decking and then yarded a nice long fir pole up onto the deck in preparation for it to replace the saggy cedar we had under one side of the shore ramp. I thought this would be a seriously complex task but I should have known better. Billy came over one day and threw some planks, a come-along and a peavey on the dock and asked Al if he was ready to get the log under. There is only one answer to this question. The operation hardly took any time at all with the two of them working away dragging the log up into the space created by Al's removal of the old decking. Log goes up the middle, then gets rolled to the side and the old cedar log gets rolled out. Simple. New decking gets nailed down and (so far) one side of the railing and there it is, positively luxurious. Next job, repairing the boiler which had sprung some leaks in the wall of the water jacket. Al rigged up some cables and pulleys and laid it on it's back, worked the fantastically heavy welder/generator into position, then climbed u a ladder and welded new metal plates over the weak, thin and actively rotten spots on the front face of the boiler. Got her standing up and all fired up so we only went a week without heat. Luckily November was not too cold.
Work on the dock include building a frame to support our new solar panels and you can see them in the picture at the top. With so much May sunshine, the panels are charging like crazy and we no longer have to run the generator while we use the electric potter's wheel to throw.
And the most recent project, of all these wonderful projects the one which has been the biggest source of frustration, requiring an endless supply of patience.....is the new good set of stairs to the guest bedrooms on the top floor. The problem has been one of 'changing horses in mid-stream'. We had to scrap our plan for a circular stairwell and the top set has been low on the to-do list. We met a new friend last summer, Pete Piercey, and he is a renovations carpenter...he took a look at the stairs and said he could take them on, fitting them in to the space where it has been altered from the original floor plan. I love the stairs! Al will build railings etc....I guess after he fires the kiln....O and there are a couple windows to go in, too.
In between all these activities, just for a break, he (me, too)has been making pottery, mostly for Nimmo Bay Resort, and we are now in glazing mode, hoping to fire next week, in this gloriously magical weather.
The garden is extraordinarily lovely, I won a thousand dollar gift certificate last year from Brian Minter garden center and have been slowly spending it. Every purchase seems to require about ten person hours (mine) of garden reno, digging and weeding and transplanting etc. We had some great helpers in the garden, too, Vanessa and Frances both worked hard and generously on the woodpile and garden.
Look for a display of my paintings at Pierre's at Echo Bay this summer and drop by for a studio tour. I am building a mail list the 'proper' way so sign up for my mail list, go to the Contact page here on the website and submit your e-mail address. Looking forward to seeing all our old friends and acquaintances this summer and new one's, too.
Ciao for now, Yvonne
...and while I was deep in the drawings my Hercules was busy building (and repairing) the homestead. Billy built us a new dock and Al laid the decking and then yarded a nice long fir pole up onto the deck in preparation for it to replace the saggy cedar we had under one side of the shore ramp. I thought this would be a seriously complex task but I should have known better. Billy came over one day and threw some planks, a come-along and a peavey on the dock and asked Al if he was ready to get the log under. There is only one answer to this question. The operation hardly took any time at all with the two of them working away dragging the log up into the space created by Al's removal of the old decking. Log goes up the middle, then gets rolled to the side and the old cedar log gets rolled out. Simple. New decking gets nailed down and (so far) one side of the railing and there it is, positively luxurious. Next job, repairing the boiler which had sprung some leaks in the wall of the water jacket. Al rigged up some cables and pulleys and laid it on it's back, worked the fantastically heavy welder/generator into position, then climbed u a ladder and welded new metal plates over the weak, thin and actively rotten spots on the front face of the boiler. Got her standing up and all fired up so we only went a week without heat. Luckily November was not too cold.
Work on the dock include building a frame to support our new solar panels and you can see them in the picture at the top. With so much May sunshine, the panels are charging like crazy and we no longer have to run the generator while we use the electric potter's wheel to throw.
And the most recent project, of all these wonderful projects the one which has been the biggest source of frustration, requiring an endless supply of patience.....is the new good set of stairs to the guest bedrooms on the top floor. The problem has been one of 'changing horses in mid-stream'. We had to scrap our plan for a circular stairwell and the top set has been low on the to-do list. We met a new friend last summer, Pete Piercey, and he is a renovations carpenter...he took a look at the stairs and said he could take them on, fitting them in to the space where it has been altered from the original floor plan. I love the stairs! Al will build railings etc....I guess after he fires the kiln....O and there are a couple windows to go in, too.
In between all these activities, just for a break, he (me, too)has been making pottery, mostly for Nimmo Bay Resort, and we are now in glazing mode, hoping to fire next week, in this gloriously magical weather.
The garden is extraordinarily lovely, I won a thousand dollar gift certificate last year from Brian Minter garden center and have been slowly spending it. Every purchase seems to require about ten person hours (mine) of garden reno, digging and weeding and transplanting etc. We had some great helpers in the garden, too, Vanessa and Frances both worked hard and generously on the woodpile and garden.
Look for a display of my paintings at Pierre's at Echo Bay this summer and drop by for a studio tour. I am building a mail list the 'proper' way so sign up for my mail list, go to the Contact page here on the website and submit your e-mail address. Looking forward to seeing all our old friends and acquaintances this summer and new one's, too.
Ciao for now, Yvonne
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