Painting

Fred came by to lend me some stuff so I could sand the walls before putting on the paint. He said I did a good job of painting on the primer, made me feel good although I can see myself how I've improved after three days of painting. So far I've put one coat of paint in the main floor bathroom, the hallway, kitchen, living room, pantry, entry and laundry room. Here are the results.

I still have to paint the upstairs bathroom, put yellow paint on the upstairs bedroom gable end and red paint on one of the walls in the downstairs bedroom. I wonder if I will finish by the end of the weekend

The windows on the outside have been framed in with green wood. I think it looks very nice. The north gable end is where the main door is. That door upstairs is off the main bedroom The balcony will be a nice shady place on a hot afternoon. We are still waiting for some windows then the whole house will be sealed in. Jobs to be done before moving day are: putting in the hardwood floor, tiles in the entry way and bathroom, make the railings for the staircase, put in the toilet, shower and vanity, make part of the kitchen cabinets. It is a BIG order.

Summers End

I've been painting primer on all the walls. First I had to wipe down every inch of every wall with a cloth. I got gyproc dust in my hair, on my arms and down my throat, making me cough. Fred, the guy who did the mudding, came by to give me pointers on how to paint and boy have been doing it WRONG. He said to load your brush up with paint. Spread it in a line down the edge of a wall using the beveled edge to get it into the corners. Don't be afraid to use broard sweeping strokes. Now, thanks to Fred's coaching I have become a tiny bit more confident in my abilities.

There were the usual friends dropping by to check on our progress, although they are careful not to stay too long, thus preventing us from working. Everyone is cognizant of the fact that we have to go back to work in September. Sigh.

Man Booker Prize 2006

I haven't read anything on this years Man Booker Prize list But I have read Crow Lake, Mary Lawson's esteemed first novel about a family of orphaned children. It was a wonderful bittersweet story and I highly reccomend it.

Her second novel, "The Other Side of the Bridge," has been nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. She is the only Canadian among the authors on the long list for the 2006 Man Booker Prize.

I read a review in Vogue about The Emperor’s Children, it's on my Amazon wish list. I'm going to have lots of reading to pick from when I have finished building and have more time.

THE LONGLIST

Peter Carey for Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber). He has written nine novels, including the Man Booker Prize-winning Oscar and Lucinda and The True History of the Kelly Gang

Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton). The Indian-born author wrote Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard

Robert Edric for Gathering the Water (Doubleday). He was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002 for Peacetime

Nadine Gordimer for Get a Life (Bloomsbury). The South African received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991

Kate Grenville for The Secret River (Canongate). She won the Orange Prize for The Idea of Perfection

M. J. Hyland for Carry Me Down (Canongate). The Londoner lives and works in Melbourne

Howard Jacobson for Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape). The novelist and broadcaster lectured at the University of Sydney for three years before returning to England where he taught English at Selwyn College

James Lasdun for Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape). The Londoner lives in New York and has published collections of poetry and short stories

Mary Lawson for The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus). She was born and brought up in a farming community in Ontario and now lives in England with her husband

Jon McGregor for So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury). The Bermudan-born author who lives in Nottingham was the only first-time novelist on the 2002 Man Booker longlist

Hisham Matar for In the Country of Men (Viking). He was born in New York and spent his childhood in Libya and Egypt. He has lived in London since 1986

Claire Messud for The Emperor’s Children (Picador). Her first novel, When the World was Steady, was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award

David Mitchell for Black Swan Green (Sceptre). He spent several years teaching in Japan and now lives in Ireland with his wife and two children

Naeem Murr for The Perfect Man (William Heinemann). His acclaimed first novel The Boy was published in 1998.

Andrew O’Hagan for Be Near Me (Faber & Faber). He was nominated in 2003 by Granta magazine as one of 20 Best of Young British Novelists

James Robertson for The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton). His first novel, The Fanatic, was published in 2000.

Edward St Aubyn for Mother’s Milk (Picador). His previous novels include A Clue to the Exit

Barry Unsworth for The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton). His Sacred Hunger won the Booker in 1992

Sarah Waters for The Night Watch (Virago). Her first novel, Tipping the Velvet, won the 1999 Betty Trask Award

More Homelike

We are taking a day off. Unimaginable. It is our first day off since the beginning of June.What am I going to do with the time? Actually I have a list as long as my arm and we probably will still drive out to the house to dump off building supplies for the next stage. Below are some photos of the ceiling. Yesterday the dry waller had cleaned up after himself, swept all his mess into neat little piles, most workmen don't clean up after themselves it's the contractors job. For the first time I could imagine living there, apart from the scaffolding which still takes up most of the room it was easy to think of my stuff arranged inside.

Painting

Everyday now for the past week I've had to wash paint, stain or log sealer out of my hair and I'm still not finished. I'm on my fifth pass around the house. Now I'm putting sealer on the end of the logs. Yes it is a different product. I'm hoping to be finished tomorrow then I can move on to a different task like painting the exterior trim or painting the interior trim or painting the walls. I wish there was something else I could do instead of painting.

The next job is laying tile. I suppose I will be just as sick of that job in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted

Presents

The last few days have been lovely, apart from getting the first two coats of stain on the logs and finishing the gable end We have had a series of visiters bearing gifts.

The first visitor was my son Callum. On Saturday afternoon I arrived home covered in stain and sweat to see him sitting in front of the computer. He gave me a belated birthday present, a Body Shop gift certificate and took me out to dinner. What a great guy he is growing up to be. I must have done something right.

On Sunday while I was hanging off the stepladder, slapping stain onto the logs in the boiling hot sun we had three visitors. First Owen arrived with coffee and lots of nice things to say about all our hard work. Later, around four thirty when we were thinking of going home, Brenda and Catherine arrived with their afghan hound and a case of cold beer. What a great ending to the weekend, sitting in the shade sharing the beer with them and catching up on things.

But wait that's not all, this morning Del and Veronica arrived with firewood and a dinner invitation. It is great to have such wonderful friends.

Begone Anonymous

Due to some jerk who revers to themself as Anonymous I've been forced to turn on comment moderation. This means when you leave a comment it will not appear on my blog immediantly, instead the comment will be mailed to me so I can aprove it. I don't like doing this but I need to stop this Anonymous asshole somehow.

Another Podcast

Nora Young, former DNTO host and Cathi Bond also from DNTO have a whole new podcast The Sniffer I've just listenned to the newest episode about fat genes and the latest fashion mannish trends. It's short, fun and enjoyable, just the right listenning length for the drive to work , out to my nw house I'm building. So go download it now you won't be dissapointed.

Dear Mountain Equipment Coop

Today when I went to your site I was pleased to see the new fall gear had arrived. Clicking on the “Gear Up For Fall” section I at first though there was a mistake, $475 for the, Chute to Thrill Jacket? then I noticed it said Patagonia. What? a quick look though you fall clothing lineup had me thinking I had unwittingly entered an overpriced, label conscious, consumer hell. This is not the MEC I’m used to. I’ve been a MEC member for twenty five years and I buy all my outdoor gear at MEC. I’m proud to wear the MEC label. I loved your highly functional, reasonably priced quality gear. Frankly I’m appalled and disgusted by what you have done. You can be sure I will not buy anything sporting the new over priced Patagonia label. And, it seems that by including Patagonia in your new lineup it has given you license to jack up the prices of your other clothing. I feel let down and disappointed.

Sincerely Melanie Watts

August Fourteenth

Today started out like any other. We went to Home Hardware bought two sheets of gyprock, several 2x6's, screws and a utility knife. A phone call from my son Callum made me wonder who had been talking too him. We drove to the building site and hammered and screwed and wheel barrowed to many loads of dirt, I lost count all day. By 4:30 we were beat. We came home, had a nice cleansing shower and put on clean clothes. Instead of cooking dinner we went to my favourite restaurant. I chose the fish off the fresh sheet, ling cod. We also shared a dozen prawns cooked in a creamy garlic sauce and a very crunchy salad made with baby greens and a tangy citrusy dressing. Mmnn delicious. I chose an Italian Cabernet sauvignon to sip thoughout the meal. Charlotte, who is still seventeen, had several cokes.

We had a very good time. Charlotte drove us home, stopping at the grocery store to pick up candles. At home she arranged them on a chocolate cake she had baked specially for the occassion. I blew out all the candles so I hope my wish comes true. The cake was yummy.

Among my presents are two books, The Tent By Margaret Atwood and A Boy Of Good Breeding By Miriam Toews. Thank you everyone for such a memorable bitrthday.

It will be Nice to be Living There

I going to tell you a secret. Shhh don't tell anyone but I'm fed up of working on the house. You see every day is the same and not just Monday to Friday Saturday and Sunday as well. We never take a break. We get up at the crack of light, head over to Home Hardware, spend a ton of money and drive out to the house. We screw screws, bang nails and staple staples all day. And still I can't imagine living there yet. The enormity of what we have done and still have to do overwhelmes me. I want a holiday.

I want,( I can't belive I'm saying this), to fast forward to the end of September, when there will be a hardwood floor. The windows and doors will not have holes above them anymore. There will be kitchen counters, appliances and a bathroom with a tile shower, a toilet and a wash hand basin. There will be paint on the walls and the gyp rock will be hung in the basement. Best of all I will be living there.

Maybe illegally, Since we still might not have bannisters on the deck out back or on the stairs or the myriad of other things one must have completed before obtaining a occupancy certificate.

It will be nice to be living there.

knitting for a change

I haven't been doing much knitting. The scarve I started back in the begining of June is only one fifth done. It is a lace pattern created by Ann Budd. It is made in five layers grafted together in a frothy lace weight wool. So far I have knitted one of the layers and about half of the second layer. Below is a photo of the finished first layer and a closeup photo of the lovely lace.

I'm finding it tough going. There are 337 stitches per row. Each lace row is pure torture since I have to pay attention to every stitch. If my mind wanders for even a second I lose my place. Since each row is so long I have to knit it with the least amount of distraction. No easy task since I don't have much spare time lately and in what little there is, there is always someone trying to talk to me, usually something to do with the new house. I'm ready for something easier.

The latest issue of Interweave knits, seems like all my knitting projects come from them, has a nice easy mohair sweater. It takes three balls of mohair by Colinette. I ordered a shade called Kingfisher from the Wool Needlework shop in Salmon Arm BC. I 'm really looking forward to getting it and buying some new fatter needles which in itself will be a nice change from these skinny lace weight needles, means it will knit up faster. I know I'm going to love it.

Doors

We've been Gyp rocking since Saturday and putting up all our exterior doors. They are, from top left, backdoor, kitchen door/window opens onto deck, living room french doors opening out onto a deck and bedroom door also opens onto a deck.

This weekend we had many visitors dropping by, some stayed to help with gyp rocking others just wanted to visit and compliment us on our house. Everyone has something positive to say. I love all the compliments.

This evening I ran into a friend from the hiking club, I haven't gone hiking with them since June, at the library. I told her I felt like a drop out. She agreed because even though she is the President she hasn't done much hiking with them either this summer. It feels weird not to do any hiking. Maybe I can get back into it in September. I hope so.

Family Ties

As it turned out Callum rolled into PG in the early hours, phoned his sister who told him where the apartment was and let him in. Later that morning, after spending two hours in the shoe store, finding shoes he liked and which also fit and were not so exorbitant I would have to make yet another payment to my visa, we drove out to our new house.

We spent ages looking for the correct configuartion of trees around which to build a fort. He has fond memories of the many tree forts he built at our other place. From the age of six he probably rebuilt the same fort, a stones throw from the kitchen window, every year. As his carpentry skills improved his fear of being out of parental sight lessened he and his sister, who took on the role of assistant, made bigger more elaborate forts with roofs, windows and doors in far flung areas of our 165 acres.

It took less than twenty minutes for us to navigate the circumference of our new five acres. Crisscrossing between the property lines we eventually found the perfect spot, within sight of the living room window. Perhabs he still needs to know we are within shouting distance

The House

Below is a photo of most of our stuff stacked up in the basement of our new place.

last week I breathed insulation everyday. Despite wearing a mask and an overall, buttoned up tight, my face and neck got horribly, itchy and dry. But despite all that we finished insulating the roof and the upstairs walls late Friday and got our certificate of approval from the inspector. He came Wednesday to inspect the chimney. I asked him then if there was anything else we needed to do to make sure we got our certificate. He told me about using tuck tape to insulate all the holes the plumber and electrition had drilled in the outside trusses. The tape is bright red so there is no doubt about wether it is done.

Today Robert, Del and Richard gyp rocked the upstairs.

We still have all the downstairs walls to do.

Surprise

I woke up to find my son, Callum sleeping on the couch. Usually this is not such a weird circumstance except since the last tine I saw him, a month ago, we have moved to this godforsaken apartment. I told him to phone me before he arrived so I could give him directions so how did he know where we were? and how did he get in? .

The couch is only a love seat, his legs extend at least three feet over the edge.

Book Review: Cereus Blooms At Night

I've finished reading, Cereus Blooms At Night by Shani Mootoo. A while ago I promised Alexa I would read it and post a review, so here goes.

The story opens with Mrs Ramchandrin, a convicted murderer, safely ensconced in a nursing home under the care of Tyler, a male nurse. At the beginning he states emphatically, "- for all the scant attention paid my presence, I am the one who ended up knowing the truth, the whole truth, every significant and insignificant bit of it."

From that point on, the story unfolds from the ending with lots of overlapping back story, revealing just enough at every juicy turning point to keep us page turning. I enjoyed the book and recommend it highly.