This weekend we stayed home for once - with the renovations in full swing, we’ve been going to the lake house most weekends.

Sunday we went to a wine blending event. We were given young Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc wines, and challenged to try different proportions to create a tasty blend. We’ve been to a few of these. One winery does it as a ( Read more... )

Tamora Pierce’s first book, Alanna, was published in 1983 - the year before I started college at Pierce’s own alma mater. This explains why I never read her books at the proper age, why they’re not part of my formative canon as they are for so many younger fantasy readers, and why I’m just getting around to them now.

I wonder whether they will fill ( Read more... )

For some reason my computer doesn’t want to access this site right now. Phone typing is slow. Oh well.

Ted heads off to the Netherlands today so I’m on my own for the weekend. I’m dithering over whether to go to the lake house or stay home and attend Portland Pride on Sunday. Either way I’d be doing something - either the long solo drive or ( Read more... )

It is boggling my mind to realize I was blogging and uploading poems online nearly 20 years ago now. I’ve just figured out how to log into my old old Moveable Type blog (unfortunately it was long ago hacked and I can’t figure out how to get rid of the ad page that shows up on its main page, but the individual entries show up OK).

It’s also mind- ( Read more... )

Do you know the story about the man who wandered around a cathedral being built, asking each person what they were doing? The stone masons told him about cutting rocks to fit togehter so perfectly that they formed arches and flying buttresses; the scultors told about modeling allegories and saints; glassworkers spoke of telling stories in beautiful ( Read more... )

This early in, it’s all about demolishing and excavating - building up might be some time away.


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Here’s how much brush we’ve cleared:

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These show the temporary “kitchen” we’ve set up downstairs as well as where the upstairs one used to be, and the removed section of deck.


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Last night we signed the contract and scanned and sent it to the general contractor (GC). However, we gave the key to the contractor once we had a verbal agreement with him, since it’s hard to know how often we’ll be able to get down here - we were here at the lake last week, as I wrote, and came back this weekend to finish clearing downed branches ( Read more... )

Very nearly ready to go! I got a call yesterday that the permit is complete, and and email that the contractor updated the contract per our comments and it’s ready for us to sign. We either need top print, sign, scan and email back, or else sign it in person when we’re there this weekend. Apparently it’s a week until the excavator can get there, ( Read more... )