January 8, 2010 post below shows the Knitivity wise guys visiting Mary and Joseph and the baby; these photos show the shepherds visiting (the Knitivity  shepherd guys always remind me of Thomson and Thompson in the Tin Tin stories somehow); and this year's addition: an angel announcing the news!

kitchen

It has been a long time since I've been here! We were away on a long road trip this summer, and thought that might be the time to get the kitchen done. When we came back - the floors were done, the cupboards were installed, the walls were painted - but there was no counter, and no kitchen sink or plumbing. So we continued camping inside for a few weeks until the counters and sink arrived and got installed. 

These pictures aren't quite the end yet - there will be a tile backsplash. We have even chosen the tiles - but our tiler seems to be on holiday now! We are very happy with the new cabinets - they are very solid, and very space efficient. My favourite part is not having to crawl on hands and knees to find a pot or piece of Tupperware at the back of a lower cupboard - because all the lower cupboards are now fully opening drawers. Funny how these little things can be so exciting...

Mildew

Our brand new sod, just laid last fall, is apparently susceptible to mildew if it is shady, cool, and damp. Damp hasn't been an issue here, really, for the last 10 years. But one little corner of the yard is by a fence, under a tree, and next to the neighbour's lawn - which has an in ground irrigation system. So that little area developed this sad white powdery mildew, and from there it was spreading to adjacent less shady areas, because it HAS been cool and damp lately (to put it mildly). We fretted rather excessively over this, struggling to keep in perspective that it is JUST GRASS after all (and just a little fungus - spreading like crazy!).

Anyway, this past Saturday evening, I looked out the window and couldn't resist telling the family "Oh no! We have completely failed - that white stuff has spread over the entire lawn now!"

This picture is actually from May 5, but it looked just the same May 29. (Did I mention it has been a little cool and damp lately?)

Gate # 1

One of the remaining tasks is to build gates on either side of the house to enclose the back yard (keep dogs and excessive numbers of hares out, chickens in (potentially), etc. We recently worked on the one on the north side of the house, and got it all done except the latch (for now I call it a Holman Hunt gate).

Rejuvenation

This apple tree survived 2 years of heavy construction all around it, and being pruned within an inch of its life last year! (We got exactly 5 apples last year!). It looks much more promising for pies this fall!

No More Urethane!!

We finished the entertainment units (and some other cabinets) - we are done with the smell of urethane for the foreseeable future!  Yay!!! We are still waiting for glass doors to cover the components area above the TV, but otherwise, this is DONE!

The basement under the addition is slowly being sorted out - some things to their proper new storage places and some moving to recycle or trash, where they probably should have been years ago. There are a few decisions left - like what to do with the floor in the new basement area - leave it as paint splashed (but nicely heated!) concrete? Put down cork? Parquet? Something else? Even though that job isn't quite completed, there is enough done so that there is room for the ping pong table again, which has been great. We didn't know how much we missed it until it was back!

Happy Epiphany - MMX version

Cabinets

The last of the cabinets is now in the library/entertainment room. OK, so we still have to finish the wood of the upper cabinets on the left. And there are still some baseboards to go, but really, that is all!