Summer in 'the Soo'



After being lazy and mucking about in St Lucia and Spain it was time to get some chores done at home -like the usual spring cleaning and, of course, cleanup in the yard after winter - somewhat unexciting and rather time consuming, but not so much that I wasn't able to squeeze in the occasional coffee. Since the weather was rather so-so, it seemed a good opportunity to get some bigger chores started... or maybe finished? First, was the wall I built several years back but could never decide on the right finish.... So I compromised and bought some styrofoam 'stones'.


...it is hard to tell what is 'real' and what is styrofoam...

 They come in sheets which makes them really easy to install - they just don't look so great because of the uniform strange green colour for both stone and mortar... so they needed a custom paint job - to look a little more like the real thing... ...and of course an 'end' stone wasn't available to buy, so I ended up making a bunch of my own stones to finish off the ends of the wall. In the end, the look and finish was exactly what I wanted, but perhaps was a tad more labour than I originally envisioned!



sometimes stitching photos doesn't work so well
- but you get the idea...




The floor is now dark (Ebony Rosewood),
the backsplash glass and mosaic tile
and the counter is 18"x36" porceline tiles.



Summer still seemed to be having a hard time getting motivated so I decided to tackle the kitchen next. This became a perfect example of how one change forces another until you find yourself looking at a complete reno! It all started with needing a new floor because the finish on the old one had worn away and thus I could never get it to look clean. --But if I was going to replace the floor, then it seemed to me that that would be a good time to put in an island, if such was desired (and it was) -- And since I was changing the colour of the floor, the counter no longer worked (and of course it would need to be changed because it ought to match the new island's counter) -- And if you re-do the counter, you're going to have to re-do the back-splash -- And heck, if you're going to do all that then you may as well sort out the lighting and get the switches placed more sensibly - you know, instead of having to go to the back door to turn on the kitchen sink light...

Eventually I did finally get the kitchen reno finished (thanks to my advisers who helped me make decisions when I got stuck). The new island looks great - in my opinion, it gives just enough of an updated look, but I really don't know what I'm going to put in all the new drawers!

 Then it was off to visit the girls in Ontario!

When summer is called here in Eastern Canada they certainly follow through! Lots of HOT sunny days, a little bit of rain and cloud and then more hot and sunny. Spent a fair bit of time in the Soo with Mia and doing a lot of chores around the house there - the list of to-dos on this house seems to be endless!



....not sure why people plant cedars in front of
windows, but I think they look a lot better here!

 

This years list included a lot of landscaping, tree moving and re-grading of the yard to try to direct the water away from the house (it rains marsupials here on occasion) also needed to get the solar heating for the pool working and of course there was that little hole that had to be dug under the back deck to enable a foundation repair!



ahhhh, this was fun! ...the nice thing about
digging under a deck is that it is always
shady - still 30 degrees, but shady!

  One thing we did find out with all the digging that we did was that there are a LOT of rocks in this ground - so Mia now has a very nice rock pit/garden! Inside the house, there was the last bedroom that had to be redone (walls and floor ripped out and rebuilt) and another bathroom reno and finally the theater/guest room built.


the sheds got a much needed face-lift and
of course, Mia's new garden!



a new rock garden - what you don't see is
that there are 2 cubic meters of rocks in it!




Mia's new garden with 2 weeks of growth...



You can't have all work and no play, so Mia and I took the short 8 hour drive down to London to spend a few days with Pepper (aka Cricket). We unfortunately weren't able to do a couple of things we we wanted to like going to Niagara to pound grapes and learn how to kite surf, but there will be time for that.... Mia did get a first out of the trip - first time to be pulled over by the OPP! (sorry, no picture - thought about it too late!) ...no fault of hers - a wire broke and thus there were no brake lights. The nice police officer lady did advise her however that the registration was expired, and with no brake lights the car would have to be towed.... initially.... Perhaps the nice police officer lady took pity on poor Mia and soon came back and asked Mia if she knew her arm signals - ie how do you signal a stop? Thank goodness Mia was paying attention at bicycle school! With permission, we promptly drove home and diagnosed the brake problem, fixed the broken wire and phoned up Adam and gave him shit for forgetting to put registration on the car. We then quietly drove the short way back to the Soo and have since parked the car in the driveway until Adam can get the registration sorted out. London was fun though otherwise... Had a nice visit with Pepper, met her new beau, had a nice day trip to he beach and another day on a boat tour of the Huron river courtesy of a friend of a friend.


I think the person sitting in the lookout chair
ought to be looking out - or at least forward!




...a private beach

 We were even there for Sunfest! ....and yes, it was sunny...and hot...and then it rained for a bit and got tired of that and went back to being sunny and hot.

So now we are back in the Soo and although it appears it may have rained here sometime in the past, it is currently....care to take a guess?....Yup! Sunny and hot!


Mia even got a quick course in autobody repair...



Ok, got to go. Still have the last two items left to finish on my list and of course, must test out the solar heated pool! :) Had to buy a new thermometer for the pool - the last one didn't survive freezing over winter... anyway the new one says to pool is a tepid 30 degrees.