Thursday, December 7, 2017

Rural Winters are Lovely!

I had a lovely day Wednesday (except I forgot to put my garbage out and so the garbage truck drove right by). I planted my hardy Gardenias in pots on the deck (that’ll soon be enclosed in my sunroom) and some Azaleas in the yard. It was a sunny day yesterday and this today will be the same so I’ll get to do some more winter gardening.
Darrell is really ripping through the installation of the Pine planking on the walls and ceiling of the studio.  The chimney goes in next week and that means the studio could be finished before Christmas. I’d love that because I’ll get to move my art supplies in and set up the furnishings during the holidays. It’ll be so much fun now that it’s so nice and cozy and warm in there.
When Ron called about the chimney installation he said it would cost $3,600 so I said okay. What else could I do? I have no idea what’s involved or market pricing. But it did seem expensive to me so I told Darrell and he called Ron back. The price is now fifteen hundred bucks.  
Darrell (and Elaine) treat me like family. That’s what it feels like. As the saying goes, “They have my back.” He’s incredibly skilled and he works hard and relentlessly so I have the utmost respect for him. But he’s also palpably ethical and that makes me trust him. In fact, I trust him completely and you can’t beat trust and respect as the base for a great relationship.
Already the studio is much more comfortable. The insulation is doing a great job of keeping the heat in — heat that’s currently created by electricity. Clearly, the wood stove is only going to need to burn lightly; I won’t need a hot stove.
I feel kind of badly for Ethel and I’m paying a lot of attention to her. Fred has kind of abandoned her in favour of hanging out with Sheba. Fred and Sheba are virtually inseparable. They play together through the day and sleep together at night. It’s the cutest thing to see; I melt when I wake up in the morning and see them all curled up together.
Sheba is clearly growing. She can now jump up on the sofa to sleep. Fred, meanwhile, is losing his mobility because he’s getting fat — well large. He’s less than half Ethel’s age and almost twice her size.
I wrote to Jay (my speech is super bad right now) and told him how much I’d enjoy watering his trees. He’s got a zillion Hazelnut trees in the ground — babies; twigs basically. And he waters them by hand using a clever system but it’s long monotonous work — just the thing my mind loves. And it’s feeding trees!
                                                                      
Today Todd and Amy are coming to see Sheba, Fred and Ethel. I’m bombing into the village for supplies before they come and gardening after they go. Then, late in the afternoon, I love going to see the progress in the studio when Darrell leaves around 3:00 -3:30. Then, with a Diet Coke in hand, I climb into the hot tub to visualize how I want to configure the space. And I think to myself, if life is this good now, how great will it be in summer? I can hardly wait.


















Stellar Jays visit every day but as it gets cooler they
seem to have gone somewhere. They are so bold, blue
gorgeous and noisy. I love them.

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