I wrote this post about 3 weeks ago...

Well.

We have moved in. To our house. When we first moved 6 1/2 months ago, it was home. Then it became "the house." Later, we referred to it as "Dumoulin." Now, it is "our house" and in only 2 or 3 or maybe 4 or 5 weeks, we will once again call it "home".Our bedroom is mostly finished. We use 2 washrooms, one for the shower/bath and toilet and the powder room which has a working sink. The 100 year old floors have been refinished and are looking beautiful as is the newly installed cork that seems to fit in so well with the old/new look of this house.

The basement apartment is our current living/kitchen space which we share with Rob, Michele, Joey and Micah and the two dogs, of course. Almost every evening we sit together for a meal and talk about our day and any house related stuff that needs a decision.Before we began this restoration project, I insisted that I would not move in until EVERYTHING was finished.

Ha.

In retrospect, things have gone well. Most of the workers have been wonderful. I particularly like Greg, the floor finisher who prefers repairing and refinishing old wood floors to new ones. He gets it. There are many people who do not understand why we wouldn't just build something brand new, with level floors and straight walls. It's hard to explain the beauty and uniqueness of an old house. Fir floors that have a look about them that can no longer be duplicated. Tin ceilings that must have taken 100 hours to restore if you include removal, sanding and cleaning, reinstallation, caulking and finally painting. They are gorgeous. A stairway that we were able to save that is unlike any stairway anywhere.

Six or 8 months of renovations, considering I'll be here for at least 30 years doesn't sound too bad. We have certainly had our moments, times when we wondered what we were doing and if we'd ever be finished but now, the end is in sight so it's easy to be philosophical about it all.Will I ever do this again? Not on your life. I am going to live here until someone has to carry me out. This will be home, the place my grandkids will know as grandma's house.

No Apologies

I have not been terribly prolific with my posts this past year or so but I will not apologize. The worries of selling our big old house and then jumping into a renovation that has consumed my life and the lives of a good number of people around me has kept me from doing much outside of our home. This blog was begun for me to have some fun and to document my life and posts will come only when I feel that I want to write something.


Today we are not only moved in, we are actually living in our house. The kitchen is finished and everything except the dishwasher is working. I've been handwashing dishes for the last 6 months so a few more days will be just fine. The dust is still settling but there is less and less every day. And tomorrow, I call the company who has been storing our piano and that will be delivered by the end of the week. Oh joy! I have missed my piano!

While in Quebec Wes and I bought our second piece of original art ever. The new piece, created by a Quebec artist will be placed over the sofa in our new living room. It should be coming sometime this week.

There are lots of little things to be done before this place is finished but I am happy and content now to finally have my own place once again.

Quebec

I have fallen in love with this city. People who have been here before have told us that it is much like Europe and they are right. It reminds us so much of our trip to Italy. People seem to walk a lot more here than they do in Winnipeg (and believe me, it has been cold, so that is no excuse!) so there are usually plenty of people walking on the street, day and night. The shop keepers are friendly and do their best to speak English to us when they learn that we cannot speak French very well. Every restaurant we have visited has been outstanding. We cannot say yet which one we liked best. The service is excellent and the food, divine.

We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast in the old part of town where the streets are narrow and in the evenings we hear the clop clop of horses hooves. If I close my eyes, I can almost imagine what it was like around the turn of the century. The heat has not yet been turned on in the house so it feels pretty chilly but it is heated by hot water and we understand that kind of heat. If it were to be turned on now, the rooms would be uncomfortably hot. Hot water heat is the best in the winter but it is hard to regulate in the spring and fall.

Today, we spent the day driving around Ile d'Orleans, an absolutely charming island only 15 km from Old Quebec city. We stopped at a small village bakery and had a delicious croissant and a pastry simply called "pomme" which means apple in French. Chocolate from the chocolaterie, wine tastings at several vineyards and a number of apple cider tastings; a few pieces of cheese, a stop at a lovely old church and sightseeing, art galleries and apple orchards. I think the best surprise of the day was our visit to a maple sugar shack. There was nobody around when we first drove in and we were ready to leave when a woman came and asked us if we were here for maple syrup. She told us to wait a minute while she got her coat and then she proceeded to give us a tour of her maple sugar enterprise. That woman had maple sap running through her veins. She was passionate about maple syrup and we learned a lot about the work that she did. I think you have to be passionate about maple syrup to own a sugar bush and make maple sugar.

The view of the St. Lawrence river and the mainland beyond is beautiful even though most of the leaves have fallen off the trees. Apparently, we missed that by only 2 days.

The people are friendly and when I enter a shop I always say greet people by saying "Bonjour." Then they start speaking to me in what seems like rapid fire French and I have to hold up my hands and tell them I cannot speak French. I guess my "bonjour" sounds pretty authentic.

This evening we are having dinner at a restaurant called "Aux Anciens Canadiens" which is in the oldest building in Quebec City. I am consuming far more calories than I am accustomed. Good thing it's cold and we're walking a lot because I think the intake and output of calories is close to equal.

I have at least 15 posts that are partially written but have not yet been posted. This one I intend to post because I'm sick of my last post, which was a rant. An acceptable rant in my opinion but it's time for something more positive.

Yesterday we moved most of our furniture out of the SeaCan and garage and into our house! As I was sitting on the couch, I marvelled that this day has actually come to pass. We are mere weeks away from being completely moved in. It is a wonderful feeling. And the house looks BEAUTIFUL. Just gorgeous. I am so thrilled that I love the paint colours more than I did at first and that the tin ceilings look beautiful and the floors are gorgeous.

Pictures will follow. And we are going to have one doozie of an open house. I'll let you know when because everyone is invited.

What gets me REALLY MAD is those idiots who will not take their place in a line of cars when one of the lanes is closed. They go flying by all of us who have been waiting patiently in the right lane because it is obvious that the left lane is closed. Then they try to push their way in front of us.

Who do they think they are? Are they so important that they need to get to their destination sooner than we do? Do they think that we WANT to stay in the line? Grrrrrr. I'm still mad.

Randomness

Today is the first day in a long time that I have had the time or energy to sit at the computer to read up on the few blogs I follow. I realized that it has been over a month since my last post. So here is an update on my life for those of you who might be interested.

The house continues to look like a construction zone. A construction zone with a GREAT lunch room. I actually made chocolate chip cookies there one day for coffee break.

The mud at the house is just awful. There is no other word to describe the thick, sticky gumbo that gets tracked everywhere. I wish it would stop raining.

Spent a week in Ontario with my mom while my dad was working on our house. I haven't driven on the QEW or any of the 400 highways for years but it only took me a few moments to start driving like an Ontarian. 120 km per hour and people were still passing me.

I went on a canoe trip with 13 other women. It was great. We had 2 gorgeous summer days in Northern Ontario where the water is so clear that you can see to the bottom of the lake.

Michele has been taking care of Dixie for most of the last 6 weeks. I think Dixie likes her better than me.

We moved to another apartment in the same building at Ft. Garry place last week. It is a lovely apartment with a balcony on the 12th floor. I am enjoying apartment living very much although I'm sure that one day I will long for a real house. For now, this haven is suiting me just fine. It's just a little hard to have people over for a visit.

My granddaughter is adorable. I saw her today for the first time in 2 weeks.

I watched "Julie and Julia" last night and enjoyed it thoroughly. I read the book earlier this summer and still enjoyed the movie. You must watch it if you get the chance.

Tomorrow, I paint. Things are definitely progressing at the house.

New Digs

I suspected it would come to this. We have renovated before and have survived and I was sure I'd survive this one too. But this one is different. EVERYTHING is being restored. Every wall, every bathroom, every floor, every ceiling. And so it was that we decided we had to move out. Eric and Tim have found temporary places to live and Wes and I are now on the 18th floor of Ft. Garry Place, downtown Winnipeg. Kristen is still in the house with the dogs but I suspect she won't last long.

I can see the Golden Boy from my living room window and the rear of the Fort Garry Hotel from the bedroom window. If I stick my head out the window, I can almost see our house. This is a wonderful, peaceful, respite from all the construction and I am so grateful for it.

Indoor parking (great on a rainy day), washer and dryer, kitchen, internet, quiet, dust free and housekeeping on Mondays to boot. I am looking forward to the completion of the renovations and enjoying our new space but for now, this is a great place to be.

Sigh.

Another fantastic Folk Festival weekend.

Construction workers leave all kinds of things around the place after they leave.

Power tools
HammersPictures of the bossAnd...their pants? I believe these pants belong to the drywall taping guy. I'm not sure what he was wearing when he left.

Restorations

I've decided to change my attitude about the renovations. I'm calling this a restoration project, rather than a renovation project. Restoration has a more positive ring to it, don't you think? And, we are finished with the tearing down and everything is looking better every day.

When you are living with a huge project such as we are, you have many interesting people coming around every day. That is one part of the construction that I will miss.

Back Lane

After not having one for about 22 years, we have a back lane behind our house. When I first moved to Winnipeg thirty years ago, I didn't even know what a back lane was.
There was nothing like that in the town where I grew up. For those of you who don't know, a back lane is a lane that runs behind houses, eliminating the need for front driveways and giving homeowners a place to put their garbage cans and other junk that have no place to be stored. I have not seen a back lane that doesn't look shabby and messy. Most back lanes are rutted and in disrepair. I have never really understood the need for a lane especially because it takes up space that could otherwise have been used as backyard. IMHO.

I have discovered a great use for back lanes, now that I have one. Because we are sharing a house and yard with Michele and her family, we find that we have some surplus stuff to deal with. Michele had a patio set which was great until the fabric started tearing and the glass in the table exploded one day. It was a great set and with a little work, (well actually a lot of work) could become quite usable again. Neither one of us has the gifts or talent to pull off one of those "we found this set and for only 40 dollars were able to make it look as good as new" makeovers. And we really didn't need the set because between the 2 households, we have plenty of lawn furniture.

So we put it out in the back lane and voila! It disappeared within hours.

Now, what else can I put out there?

We buried an old friend yesterday. He was 51 years old, a husband, father, grandfather and friend. He was much too young to die and had many years of living to come as far as I was concerned. But somehow, cancer invaded his brain and continued it's deadly growth for 9 months until his body finally succumbed to it.

When we found out in September about the tumour, we began praying. Hundreds of us, praying hard. We reminded God that he had the power to heal with just a word. We prayed for a miracle. What a testimony that would be! We'd tell the world that the tumour had miraculously disappeared and we'd give God all the glory. God is good, we'd say.

But that was not to be. As I watched Gerald lying on the hospital bed, the life slowly seeping out of him, I wondered about the healing. I thought back to the times in the previous 9 months when he rallied and we ached to believe that would be the beginning of restoration to health. I watched him as his laboured breathing became slower and the times between breaths became longer. I saw his body, once tall, strong and athletic, reduced to skin and bones except for the puffiness that came from medications.

Where God, is the healing for which we so fervently prayed? Where are you in all of this? What do you mean when you say that my prayers will be answered if only I ask?

And then it occurred to me that the healing was indeed beginning. God knew that Gerald's time on earth was coming to an end and God knew that he would no longer need his mortal body in heaven. Flesh, bones, organs and bodily systems would only weigh him down like a ball and chain, impeding his ability to enjoy eternity. As I watched his body wasting away, I began to see his spirit, his God-essence become larger than his formerly imposing body, created for his time on earth. The healing of his spirit accelerated as his earthly body deteriorated.

We were created to live with God for eternity. Our time here on earth is short and none of us will experience complete healing from pain and sorrow until all that holds us to this earth is removed and we meet God, unfettered by our human bodies.

Today, the tears come frequently and the sadness easily overwhelms me. He will be missed and I know I will still wonder why it happened this way and why Gerald had to die so young. But I am grateful for answered prayer. Today, Gerald is healed. He is happy and free of pain, free from his feeble, weak body. Our prayers have been answered.

Gerald Folkerts

Rest in peace Gerald.

Looking on the bright side

There is a definite advantage to having a dryer catch fire. It has moved the installation of the solar powered dryer to the top of the priority list.

Perfect Day

So far, today has been a perfect day. We biked to church, were invited to some dear friends for lunch and took a walk to our favourite Gelati place which just happens to be a block away from our friends' home.

A bike ride home and now, a glass of wine on the deck, looking at the new patio doors that were so expertly installed on Friday.

These moments of peace are a treasure during this time in our lives.

Renovations

Welcome to our home!Renovations.

That's all I can think about. I've posted 10 Renovation photo albums on Facebook so if you're interested in all the dusty details, check that out. If you are not yet my friend, please ask and I will probably be happy to be your friend.

Most of the time I think I'm crazy for doing this (renovations that is, not facebook although I think facebook can be crazy too). I have moved from a gorgeous 3500 square foot mansion to a less than 800 square foot basement apartment. This is only temporary but sometimes, it's hard to stay positive and think about what is to come.

However, what is to come is a beautifully laid out space, with gorgeous cabinets, some lovely architectural details and we hope, the outstanding tin ceilings that are part of the charm of this old house. Because our home will be shared with my sister and her family, the building permit gods have decided that we need sound and fire barriers. While I understand the theory behind all of that, it adds more work and the possibility of having to remove the beautiful tin ceilings. Removal of the ceilings can be a challenge-some say it's impossible so we are looking for alternatives. Can't we just ask our housemates to promise to be a little quiet? And can't we all promise not to play with fire?

I am happy that the worst of the dust is finished. Now, it is mostly new construction that will be happening and I'd rather breath in that kind of dust than 100 year old plaster dust.

And, just between you and me, I do enjoy having the workers around. They are fun and add some spice to my life.

Renovations

I've been so preoccupied with the renovations, that I haven't had much to post about. My dad and mom are here now, so that dad can help out with some of the work. He is an electrician by trade and having him here brings back memories of the constant renovations that I grew up with. I enjoyed it much more when I was 12.

There are blood, sweat and tears going into this reno.

If you look closely, you will see a blood spot in the middle of the door.

In the Netherlands, the land of my ancestors, there is a wonderful tradition where you eat a gebakje (decadent small cake) on behalf of a person who is having a birthday. Usually, you eat the gebakje with the birthday person but if the person is not around, then you must eat one in his or her honour.

Happy birthday Micah!

Thanks for having a birthday.

Renovations

I've posted lots of renovation pictures on my facebook page but this one I had to post on my blog. Wes believes that demolishing the walls in what was once the coal room in this house is the dirtiest job he's ever done.

Asbestos removal was also part of our day's activities.Whew. Sometimes, I wonder if we're just plain crazy to be renovating a 100+ year old house.

Paska

Happy Easter!

I hope this tastes as good as it looks!