In the Bleak Midwinter

Perhaps my favorite Christmas Carol -- enjoy!

A Tour of the Renovated House

Those of you on dial-up probably should not attempt to click on the video below, but if you have a high-speed connection and are into really bad video productions, then you might enjoy the tour of the recently remodeled house -- many thanks to the peerless team of Joe and Alouette A. for their beautiful handiwork, tireless efforts, and patient endurance.

Almost Done

Quite a transformation has taken place in the last couple of weeks. The house is nearing completion, and even has a family now!
The doors aren't on the cabinets yet, but almost everything else in the kitchen is done.

Kitchen Update

A few pictures taken yesterday, Sunday, August 17:
The biggest achievement, and a real challenge, was installing the long piece of countertop that is along the window end of the kitchen. It really is difficult to describe the difficulties involved, but all I can say is ... you had to be there.
These pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the countertop. The kitchen (and indeed the house) is still quite a mess, but it will look grand when everything is spiffed up.

Here's the kitchen:


Here is a little closet in the hall, across from the coat closet, that will hold an upright freezer:

Here is the dining room, not ready to invite the President and First Lady to dinner quite yet:

A close-up of the new sink. The specs are sawdust (formica-dust?) not a pattern. There are specs in the pattern, but they are small and I don't think you can really see them in this picture:

The Peninsula begins to take shape. It will be rounded off soon and will lose its angular look:

That's all for now. More soon, I hope.

The New Kitchen (In Progress)

Our kitchen is being remodeled by the World Famous Team of Joe and Alouette Anderson! They've even let Brenda and the kids stay at their house while the work is in progress. Much of the work was completed during our recent 3-week road trip across the USA. (If you want to more about that adventure, go to Meredith's Blog).
Anyway -- here are some pictures of the Kitchen:

This picture was taken on June 28:



This picture was taken this morning, July 30:

This picture was also taken today, from another angle. You can see the new window and the color of the new paint:

The stove and fridge are temporarily in the living room:

Everything else that used to be in the living and dining rooms is the boys' room:

Well not everything... some stuff is being stored in other rooms. Also, there is a big surprise that I'm not going to show you a picture of... yet.