It has begun! Not construction, exactly, but the necessary DEstruction to make way for construction. Work has begun on taking apart the shed at the north side of the yard (it's eventual new home will be on the south side) and dismantling the deck. Once the shed and deck are out of the way and the concrete pad under the shed has been broken up, they will be ready to dig the hole - likely next week!

I have tried to post some photos taken before anything happened in May, and a couple taken 2 days ago, to show the shape of the back of the house before the addition.

They came out in the reverse order to what I intended - so the bottom 2 photos are form early May, just after the last snow melted. Notice the young elm at the left, and the pine at about the midpoint of the deck in the view from the tree house. The next view up looks down on the brick patio from the balcony of the master bedroom.

By the third photo up from the bottom (taken June 10), you can see the elm in its new position at the right edge of the picture, and the pine tree gone (sad, but there will be a wheelchair ramp there eventually). The photo second to the top shows the brick patio area, most of which will be addition when it's all done! All those stones and bricks had to be moved out of the way. This was done by a fellow staying with us this summer while he waited for a "real" job to come through (he has got a job now). I was impressed by the artistic and creative flair he showed as he finished this task - he built a Prince-ly castle (top photo)!

I'm still trying to find time to learn the necessary video editing software so I can post The Moving Of The Elm Tree epic...