I really should be painting but...

A week ago I had an idea I'd do a simple little renovation in the bathroom, some tile perhaps, and get rid of the tired old wallpaper border. Hah! I should have known better, in an old house no reno is ever simple or straighforward and you have to work your way thru a, b, and c before you can get at d which is all you really wanted to do in the first place. The floor felt a little spongy in places so after the toilet and sink came out I pulled up the cushionfloor to have a look.

Yuck! Water that escaped the shower curtain had rotted down through 3 layers of wood. Nasty moldy mess.

I was muttering some uncomplimentary things about the person who had put down the decomposing plywood under the cushionfloor with nails instead of screws, til I remembered that was me 11 years ago.

But the worst rot was in the next layer down, a 2 foot square of half inch plywood around the toilet. Thats what a decade of dripping from the (insulated) toilet tank's summer condensation will do.

There's a wonderful gadget that can fix that problem, we have it in our rental cottage and there's no tank sweating there. A special valve and a pipe connection that lets a tiny bit of hot water into the cold water pipe to the toilet tank, so the water arrives in the tank at room temperature. Voila! No sweat.

Finally the holes filled in, and a new layer of plywood all over, screwed down this time.

Next a switch to some painting, with a little ballet in the shower. Trying to coordinate some colors.

Making a start on the tile design. Hopefully tomorrow this will all start coming together...

Please ! No more snow!

Here is our 11th snowstorm of the season as seen this morning through the dining room window. Are we sick of snow yet? The clothesline that I reach up to is 8 inches from the surface of the snow! We are counting our blessings that we didnt have to be anywhere today. The snow is heavy and wet and it drifted deeply onto our various roofs, but not the almost flat one, (go figure!)

So now after shoveling off the roofs we can see even less out the windows.

No worry about sliding off the roof with so much cushiony white down below.

Every backhoe in the province must be working today, theres way too much for the usual half ton-with-a-plow.

I am SO looking forward to the rain and thawing temperatures forcast for Friday, meanwhile I hope the horses stay near the barn because the fences have disappeared.

Back from paradise

We've been away for a week of nature therapy, something to preserve our sanity during a stormy and very cold winter. By mid Febuary I am so starved for greenery and flowers I think I could walk south. It was our anniversary trip to Puerto Rico, staying in a quiet spot in the foothills of the rain forest mountains, but just a quick drive to the warm listerine-blue Carribean.

I loved just stepping out of the cottage door into lush vegetation with the freshest sweetest grapefruit, oranges, bananas, papayas, and gorgeous flowers everywhere.
(http://www.coquishideaway.com/)



In the evenings, sitting on the balcony we were serenaded by a chorus of tiny singing coquis frogs, chirping birds, a host of chirruping insects, but no biting ones, no mosquitos, hens muttering, goats calling, a rooster challenging....like the day is so full of life it doesnt want to shut down.

The rain forest mountains rose to magnificent heights just behind us, I can close my eyes and still see the rich rich greens of the tropical vegetation and soaring trees, some a thousand years old. Hibiscus grew wild through the forests as well as a much larger version of the impatiens we are familiar with.





The damp earthy scent of the forest and its hidden secrets to discover and explore drew us back day after day. We sought out the little known trails and found wild places like a natural garden of Eden, a new adventure every day.



You can feel like you're the only people on a peaceful earth in such a place.

for the rest of the week's photos :

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1850418&l=ad292&id=593930754