TWO WEEKS LATER

I am sure everyone thinks the same as I do

It's Monday then it's Friday

Time is going ever so quickly

We are now into the month of November

Lots of November birthdays

My cousin Karen

Sue

Jack
Great nephew Matteo
Joe's sister Mary

Mugan

Joe

Kirk

Mike O

Jane Nikki and I went for a hike one day to Naramata Creek

Both taking pictures

Nikki and Jane

They stayed at Graham and Lyndsay's for a few weeks

Worked hard in the vineyard harvesting grapes and helped Graham pull in the nets

They were also a big help to me with the grand children

So many beautiful surroundings

The Scottish thistle

The moon coming over the mountain

It really was magnificent

However

My camera did not do it justice

This is our teapot from our first set of dishes

Way back in 1964

Jennifer had it at the shack when she lived there

It just stayed there!

We moved the cats down to the shack

Cooking facilities at the shack

First meal

Ham  potatoes  green beans and salad

Each morning I sit in my rocking chair

Joe sits in his reading chair

We have our coffee

and

Listen to CBC

This is the view!!

Garen came down to the shack one evening after dark

His Dad set him up with the head lamp!!

One in one out

One afternoon I took my camera to the apple orchard

Playing!!

You see me and I see you!!!!!!!

I can't help but giggle when I look at this photo

The night before Halloween

Lyndsay's pumpkin  Ethan's basketball player  Garen's Happy Face

TIGHTROPE PINOT NOIR

Just bottled

A toast to Lyndsay

All the fruit has been delivered to Ruby Blues

She can now relax a bit!!!!!!!!!

Putting in time until we head out to Naramata for trick and treating

Oh Oh Oh

What a look

The boys are ready

THEN........................

and

NOW

THEN.............

and

NOW

Our four little munchkins

Way back when

Garen  Beau  Zoe  Ethan

Flannel sheets

Down blanket

Down duvet

PERFECT

THEN.......

and

NOW

What more could Joe ask for???

a good book

his dog

and

his cats

We have settled into the shack 

and

Are loving the life of a happy retired couple

The charming old cherry tree

HOME SWEET HOME

The view from the kitchen window

Garen comes to visit each day

He said...

Granny

Take my picture from up side down

Hockey Saturday

This hawk was waiting for us when we came up the drive

Hockey Sunday

Ethan had 4 goals at the Sunday game

He was given the hard hat

Player of the game!!

Way to go Ethan

We sure had our fill of hockey over the weekend

As well as being at the rink for Ethan's games we watched Beau play two games

The games are telecast on the computer

Saturday's game was in Hartford Connecticut

1-0 win

Sunday's game was in Applecore New York

2-1 in OT for New York

this is the eastern hockey league

SNEAK PEAK OF THE SHACK.......MAIN FLOOR and some pet pictures

The shack was occupied this past weekend by our daughter Jennifer 
and 
 cats 
Iris and Stella 
and 
dogs 
Alice and Josephine

Hunter and Rosco soaking up the warm fall sun

Rosco's master Les is up in the mountain area hunting

He comes down periodically for a shower and food run

Nikki (Rosco) and her friend Jane are here for the grape harvest

and

The pulling in of the nets!!

HARD WORK

We had a full house over the weekend

Ten holding hands at the dinner table

for Thanksgiving dinner

Counting the pets in the shack and in the house

 6 cats

and

5 dogs

OH HAPPY DAY!!

The cats trying out Joe's chair

It is picture hanging time with Jen here!

Note the photo over the small table

It is of my brother Gary and I at our cottage which we called

The Shack

We are playing in the waters of the St. Clair River and in the background you can see Stag Island

It looks like I didn't want to get my feet wet but was probably looking for a pretty rock

The cats spotted a bird up near the bird house

Curiosity came right into play

or

They were on a mission to get the bird!

Iris is a beauty

She is a rescue cat arriving at Whistler Wags when she was only 2 weeks old

Although her siblings were all different colours Iris has the traits of a Flame Point Siamese with blue blue eyes

Stella comes from Squamish and is also a rescue cat

We had discussions about where to place the kitchen table

Stephanie and Joe did not like it in the middle of the room

I thought it would be a good place as there is very little counter space and could visualize myself working at the counter and turning around to work at the table

As you can see we found another place for the table

Fits in well I would say!

Joe was going to build a 'shelf'' under the bed for books

but

We left the bin of books either at the cottage or at the storage unit

I found two of Jennifer's trunks that she had left behind

They will be put to good use 

There's a good view of the table!

It actually came from Sarnia some years ago

Rod's Mom Elaine had found it in the basement of a home that she and Tom had purchased

Elaine did  not have a use for it so Jennifer 'grabbed' it!

Who would have thought that Joe and Dianne would be sitting at the table!!!!!!!!

Oh boy

Lots and lots of shelves

Lots of baskets

We have 'blackboard' paint for the front of the fridge

It is on my 'to do' list

Brought out photos of Joe's Mom and my Mom

Do you like our little 'sitting' room?????

Tight quarters but it will be fine

As you can see I have a bit of painting to do in the bathroom yet

Also on the list

Some treasures on the shelf above the door and window

One box in particular............

Written on the front of the box is

Meanie Fisher

Her 'real' name was Amelia

She was the Aunt of my Father

Mother of my cousin Margaret of whom many of my family and friends knew and loved

Stephanie was married with Aunt Meanie's  gold wedding band

The view from our window

This week Joe is concentrating on the basement

Today he was securing the 'new' wall and was going to start working on framing in the windows

Tonight he said he finished the windows!

Good job Joe

SHACK RENO 2013 # 2

Progress is being made on the shack

The hole is cut to make room for the stairs that will take us down to our 'future' bedroom

The support beams are going in

Joe used old cedar posts from the vineyard

Will clean up this area

Looking outside from the basement door

 Joe putting in the 'landing' step

What a time I had with the ladder

It is sooooo long

My upper body strength is for the birds

Had to call Joe for help!

The old vines are coming off

Some were super stubborn

The stairs are in

Garen checking out Papa's fine work

A few years ago Joe had built a double bed for the shack 

He made it into a single bed which is going to be our sofa

It was tooooo high

Cut 5 inches off

Still a little high

However

We were limited to height due to the stairs

Will have to remember to duck our heads each time we go downstairs

KNOWING US

WE WILL FORGET

But

Will only do it a few times then we'll remember!!!!!

My next job

Painting the side of the shack

Lyndsay had painted it last year but of course the vines were still living at that time

All done

Grabbed another window from the old farm house

Due to the electrics in the kitchen area Joe had to put it in sideways

Thanks to Graham's friend Ted Joe had some help 

Stuff everywhere

The new window 'sort of' fits under the sink

Not to worry......

Between Joe, Jennifer, Stephanie and I

We'll figure something out!!!!!!

This is my find from the second hand store

As soon as I spotted it

My mind went into overdrive

The walls are all freshly painted

We are just about ready to put it all together

Still have the bathroom to paint

and

Of course the basement

Have a new pane of glass in the front door

I found this chair in the second hand store

Perfect for Joe for his late night reads

Found this chair for Di
Actually it was about three weeks ago when I saw the chair
Wasn't sure if we had room so did not buy it 
When I was talking to Jennifer the other day telling her about the chair and how I didn't think we could squeeze it in she suggested we move the kitchen table across from the sink 

PERFECT

Now there's room for the rocker
 Monday morning I went back to the store
CLOSED
OH SHUCKS
Tuesday morning 10 a.m.
I was at the door
There 'she' was sitting right where I last saw her
I was soooooo excited
and
To top it off the store had 30% off all items
My lucky day!

This is what it looked like this morning

Just wait folks!!

Joe has started building a wall to hide the sewer pipes

************

The weather this week has been crazy

It has pretty well rained at some point in time almost every day 

When I came upstairs the other morning my eyes came upon this............

AH

LIFE IS GOOD