SUCH FUN...Kayaking, Puffy Pink Insulation and Art Work Sales

First the chat, then the pictures! 

The last blog showed a picture of a very worried Brian in a canoe.  I persuaded him to try a double kayak with me and that proved a much more successful venture.  We got some steering tips from one of the leaders of the kayaking group with Bridgetown Recreation, enjoyed chatting with some of the other kayakers as we paddled along, and saw what is left of an Acadian dam/dike that made the area so fertile along the marshes, and was a part of the terrible expulsion of the Acadians (French settlers) by the English.  Click on the following link if you are interested in the history of that:

http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/finna/finna6a.html

We helped out at a big yard sale and barbeque at our church and had a good view of the Natal Day parade that went down the street in front of the church.


Weather here is FANTASTIC at the moment...so fantastic that during a bike ride up the hill and down the lane into the protected marsh areas (beautiful, lush fields of over 800 acres) I just had to dismount, trot down to the river, strip off to underwear and hop into the river...so wonderfully refreshing!  Even got Bri to take off shoes and socks and stick his feet in! (he isn't a water lover).  One of the many joys of living here in rural Nova Scotia is that the population is very low and when you go to out of the way places like this marsh area (accessible by foot or bike, no cars) you don't see anyone else at all.  We were awed to see ospery eagles on their nesting platform and watched them ride the thermal winds in huge arcs without a wingbeat.  The young left on the nest started complaining loudly after a while! 

The kitchen is coming along very nicely.  The pink insulation has been covered with a vapour barrier and Brian is teaching himself (with the help of youtube, books from the library, and advice from friends) how to put up the gyprock (I think you Brits refer to it as wallboard). 

The wood stove is in and looks just great.  It also works fantastically, kicking out a lot of heat...we tried it late one night when it was a bit cooler. 

Brian has also spent time sorting out the very sad electrics in the house.  He spent hours in a dirty, un-used little attic above the summer drilling holes, running new cable and ripping out old.  You can see how grubby he got!

Today was the first day of Paint the Town in nearby Annapolis Royal. I am on the Board of Directors for the Annapolis Region Arts Council that organizes this weekend of 75 artists working outside, with their work being auctioned off.   My cousin Ellen and I set up in the lovely Historic Gardens, and had a super day of creating.  We both were pleased with our sales at the silent auction and enjoyed the dinner with Brian and Aunt Thelma (Ellen's Mum) joining us.  Ellen and I meet for breakfast tomorrow and do another day.  I am going to rummage in the attic for some larger canvases to take. 

http://www.arcac.ca/arcac/paint.php

This is just such a wonderful thing for me to be working again, as there wasn't an artistic group/community in Colchester and I didn't have the space to work.  I have a studio and storage space in our lovely huge basement here, and am starting to offer art lessons and workshops again...website link for that is http://www.valleyhousestudio.weebly.com/

Well, our social life is booming...no less than three invitations to dinner at lovely people's homes last week, we had new Florida friends Doug and Karen (we are hoping to visit them this winter) over for dinner this week, and next week is Brian's birthday bash, I keep inviting people...must stop! 

That's it for now!

Kayaking on the beautiful Annapolis River

Our church, St. Luke's in Annapolis Royal

The parade...with Brian's favourite blue loco!

A very grubby electrician

Insulation being added in the kitchen

Some of the beams aren't very straight!

Our favourite spot for lunch on the front lawn

the wood stove, we will be warm this winter

The woodstove  pipe is internal, but the chimney comes through the roof




 

A very overheated biker runs to the river's edge

Ahhhh....lovely refreshing swim

The osprey's nesting platform

Our little female hummingbird that nests in the Astrican apple tree (males have a red bib)

Gyprock going up in the kitchen....HOORAY!

Day's end over the Annapolis Basin

A pensive Jasper

A few minutes relaxation after a fantastic first day at Paint the Town in Annapolis...more about that in next blog

Oh, Those Crazy, Hazy, (but not) Lazy Days of Summer!

(gentle reader,  I am now going to put the photos at the end of every blog.  This  means you are forced to read my carefully crafted script to know what the photos are about, and it is easier technically)

We are anything but lazy, unemployed maybe, but not lazy!  The windows are in the kitchen and livingroom now and look fabulous.  We cut down a very old apple tree that had split in a few places to improve the view from the window. 


Best of all, Brian has finished the clapboard on the lower part of the house that we hoped to finish this summer. 


We have made a template for the wood-stove hearth and have cut the concrete board.  The old chimney bricks have been cemented onto the concrete board and the rest of the footprint of the old hearth filled in with bricks. Brian has made an attractive wood frame and is, at this very moment, getting ready to pour sand in the cracks and then add the tinted (terra cotta) grout.   The wood stove will be installed next week. 


In the stud wall to fill-in where the old chimney was in the kitchen, Brian has put a half of one of the old windows, with the wonderfully wonky glass from the hand-blown glass.  In the 1700's the hand-blown glass for these windows was shipped in from Boston, in barrels filled with sawdust to protect the individual squares of glass.  The frames were made here to fit the glass squares.  This will allow light to enter the living room from the kitchen. 


The barn was cleaned out with the enthusiastic help of dear cousin Marcia (a.k.a. Mike), so there is now room to bring in the wood for the winter fires in the wood stove.


My art camp was a great success, and I have created a blog for my art news and schedules (and the odd personal rant as Brian says this blog is meant to be about the Valley House, not about me...honestly, how rude!), so please add www.thevalleyhousestudio.blogspot.com to your reading list. 

The weather is amazing, a bald eagle is roosting on a tree by the river and king birds are in the apple tree below the back door.  My birthday was celebrated with a wonderful barbeque with new friends, neighbours and family, and one of my presents was that Brian agreed to go in the canoe.  He isn't much of a water baby, but with Steph's expert hand at the helm (her summers of paddling at Banook Lake really paid off) he survived, but as you can see by the photos, didn't like it.  He did, however, like the double kayak ride this past week on the river, and says he is ready for a single kayak next time.  We are planning to go on a group kayak/canoe excursion to go loon spotting at Keji park in August.  Keji is short for...well, I can't spell it, so here's the link...it's a fantastic huge protected park in the middle of Nova Scotia.  
Keji National Park



The loon is the bird depicted on our "loonie", or one dollar coin.  It rides low in the water, and the babies ride piggyback!  Their undulating, haunting cry is a "trademark" of Canada.



We went for a picnic lunch at Kedji

The next few photos show the windows going in.

Paul and son did a fantastic job, as usual!

The last piece of clapboarding being measured before cutting.

HOORAY!  A job finished and very well done!

Brick hearth made out of the old fireplace bricks.

Here is the stud wall with the old window at the top, as seen from living room.

Clearing out the barn!

Some of the barn "treasures"!

Stephanie and I made these cupcakes for the birthday party, her coffee icing and Skor bar candy toppings were a hit!

In hysterics as we finally got Steph's head through the "horse collar" lifevest!

Steph made me wear the horsecollar, but it didn't dampen my enjoyment.

Steph and Brian coming into shore...he doesn't look too happy!

Marmalade on the wood pile

A lovely sunset at Hampton Beach, on the Bay of Fundy

SUMMER ART LESSONS!

While Brian is crashing clapboard around, I have been planning to run Summer Art Lessons.  Since my kid's art studio here at the house is currently our kitchen, I have rented the upstairs studio at ARTsPLACE in Annapolis Royal. 

The Summer lessons will run the week of July 25-29 with 5-8 year olds, and then the first week of August with 9-12 year olds.  If you are a local reader of this blog and are interested, please contact me at valleyhousestudio@gmail.com

There has been a good response, and I am really looking forward to getting back to teaching art.  I am also going to be offering Arty Parties (birthday parties with an art theme) and Face Painting. 

I am also participating in PAINT THE TOWN in August so it's a very "arty" summer!
Paint the Town, Annapolis Royal link

IT HEATS YOU UP FOUR TIMES!

No, not menopause....the wood!  The little story goes that it heats you up as you stack it for drying, heats you up a second time as you put it under cover for the winter, heats you a third time when you burn the wood, and the final time as you scrape out and dispose of the ashes! 

The three cords we ordered arrived while I was in Ottawa.  Three cords is quite a bit of wood....



The wood arrives, cut into 12 inch lengths to load into our new Napoleon stove, which will be installed later this summer.




You can see our scrap metal pile on the left (will be getting that hauled away soon), and Brian's faithful "assistant", the young Marmalade in the foreground.  If she had retractable thumbs, she would be able to help hand him tools, etc.!




Quite beautiful, in a mosaic sort of way.



LIVE FROM OTTAWA!

Long time, no blog!  I promise to update the "construction" blog with Brian's input once I return to Nova Scotia, as the new windows in the living and dining room look fantastic and give a real feeling of progress.

I lived in Ottawa for a decade, between 1981-91, and am lucky enough to have a dear friend that lives in Ottawa from those days.   Carrie and I are well known for our ability to (this will be a surprise!) TALK...our topics range from husbands, books, ideas for teaching, hobbies and children.  Our eldest children were together a lot as kids, and we are thrilled that they are now friends again. Carrie and  I went out for lunch at the Two Monkey's

twomonkeyscoffeeandteahouse.com

and then to Value Village and Dollorama to search for supplies for my upcoming Summer Art Workshops being held later this summer in Annapolis Royal (see details below!).  There was a tremendous rain storm with accompanying thunder and lightning.  "The Boy" and Emily kindly picked me up from Carrie's to take me to their lovely condo in West Wellington.  I met Marley and MammaSita, their two cats and we enjoyed a delicious meal of veggie tacos and "the boy's" salad.  We watched a very funny British show called "The Idiot Abroad" before the weary traveller went to bed. 

The Boy's Salad:

Baby spinach, lettuce, mini-cucumbers, tomotoes chopped and cherry tomatoes, acacado, sliced red pepper.

Dressing:  2 cloves of garlic - crushed, the juice from a whole lemon, 1 TBSP of white wine vinegar and 1 TBSP of bsalmic vinegar, enough olive oil to coat the leaves,  shake of salt, and chopped fresh mint leaves.  Mix all up and toss onto the vegetables...FANTASTIC!

 The next day included a visit to the local library (am speed reading a great book on collage techniques), and my first ever pedicure.  I don't know what I enjoyed the most, having my feet in a warm whirlpool foot bath or the chair with the back massage action.  The result of a half hour pummeling on the strongest power of my upper back means that I don't have any neck pain at all, and I have teal blue toenails as well!  A great lunch at Sushi Umi...I discovered that I love yam when it is presented tempura style, the shrimp were wonderful as well.  We enjoyed a visit with "the boy's" family, and then went to an interesting play at the Ottawa Fringe Fesitval.  I enjoyed howling at the moon! 

http://www.fullyfringed.ca/?p=569

In front of "Maman" by Bourgeois at the Gallery

Sunday started with Marley trying to make a nest in my suitcase, which was a bit noisy with all the shopping bags in there...followed by a yummy fruit yogurt parfait, and a visit to the National Gallery.

Emily looking glamourous at the Gallery!

This delightful "Dancing Bear" statue was in the Jeanne D'Arc courtyard

We finished the day with a Wii Rock Band session (I am truly a drummer at heart!) and then I beat Emily at bowling and we knocked each other out at boxing!  Back to NS tomorrow...loved the visit, but miss my river views and lack of humidity! 

De-Construction and apple blossoms!

The essential cable has been found, so this will be a pictorial blog more than a text blog (thank heaven's for that, I sense you thinking, that woman doesn't 'alf go on!)  The weather is warmer, sunnier and less rainy, so that is a great improvement!


Marmalade exploring one of the ancient apple trees

 

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Wooden pegs hold these beams together in the kitchen

Marcia and Brian, the wrecking crew!



There will be walls and windows here in the kitchen, hopefully before snow flies!

 


The lathe and plaster ceiling has been ripped down and is now on the floor of the living room.  The large plywood rectangle shows the location of the large front window,  the only one we lost during the house lift.  A replacement has been ordered.

 

View through the room we're using as a kitchen...the bottles were found during the digging up of the basement.  The apple trees have lots of bees and hummingbirds visiting them.



Trapped in the corner of the kitchen, surrounded by boxes!!!

STILL NO PICTURES....now need to unearth the essential, missing cable!

Hats off to Green's Removals on the UK side, and Thompson's here on the Canadian side - wonderfully pleasant and efficient movers!  It took just under a month for our stuff to arrive, and we are glad of the long room (about 30 feet long) to put boxes in that won't be unpacked until the house is done.

Brian has been hard at work taking down the walls and ceilings of both the kitchen and the living room.  We are choosing windows for those rooms now, and hope to have a huge picture window in the kitchen, as the view from the river is wonderful.  Many thanks to Marcia, our dear cousin who loves deconstruction and was the other member of the work crew.  English relatives assumed Brian's helper was male, and due to the crackly Skype line, thought the name was Mike.  So, that is now Marcia's nickname!

The beams in the ceiling of the kitchen are wonderful, 9 inches square and 25 feet long, going the length of the house.  The adze marks are visible, and we hope to keep them exposed when the ceiling is redone.  The boards on the walls are huge, the widest one measures 23 inches. 

Next step is replacing rotten wall shingles outside with clapboard, and there are a few boards that need replacing as well.  Then the new windows will go in.

We need to think about heating systems...a wood burner is a must, but do we go for oil/electric???  We are researching it, but any suggestions comments would be appreciated!

Went for a lovely walk up the logging road into the forest yesterday, and the big puddles are full of little tadpoles, with racoon and deer footprints at the muddy margins.  The mountain is starting to have a green haze as the leaves bud.  The Canadian geese are returning to the river as the warmer weather approaches, and we have seen turkey vultures cruising above the fields looking for prey.