❡Sun rise bring in d'morning every every every every day❡

Since my posting on January 26th, I have only really had about a week working on the cabin. My trip to the UK had to be brought forward and I was away for nearly three weeks. As I hinted last week, it had its brighter moments as well as the sad ones. I saw all my family, who had gathered to say goodbye to my brother Clive and had some quality time with each of my offspring. I can't really call them children any more as they are all adults and are getting on with their own lives. Needless to say, I am very proud of them all and very happy to have had some time with them.

Living in Canada, there are a few things I miss about England. Good, reasonably priced cheese and wine come pretty close to the top of the list as does a good English breakfast.

The Full Monty. Well actually not quite because it doesn't have any black pudding but, I did manage to find somewhere they did include that essential ingredient and I have to confess I had more than one. Can't get a breakfast as good as this here. For a start, they don't know what back bacon is. They don't know what they are missing.

I also got to take my daughter to my favourite London restaurant in Drury Lane, which was quite civilised ……

….. until the cabaret started …..

….. and then the fun really started.

Anyway, enough of all that slacking. I am now back in the wilderness of British Columbia and nose to the grind stone.

I finished panelling the main bathroom before I left for the UK and while I was away the valves and pipes, that they forgot to tell me I needed when I bought the faucets, arrived at Home Depot in Cranbrook. One of the first things I did when I got back therefore was to go in and pick them up and then finish installing the bath. It is now all plumbed in and I have covered it in order to protect it from dripping plaster, while I get on with mudding the ceiling - see below.

Having finished panelling the bathroom I found I had enough wood left to panel the dormers in the North Wing.

This meant that I could finish all the electrical outlets and install all the baseboard heaters as well.

There are still a couple of small places, some of which you can see here that need finishing and I think I have just enough wood left to do them.

I will still need to buy some more wood, however, because I will need some to make the doors for the North Wing and the kitchen cabinetry.

There is probably three or four days work to do to finish the woodwork in the North Wing and …..

….. the next thing to do up here will then be the decorating but, that will have to wait until the floor is laid downstairs at least, and probably until after I have finished the main bathroom as well.

I have made a start on making the top for the Island. When I first conceived the island I planned on a stone (granite) top but, have since changed my mind. Almost everyone else here has a granite top on their island. In an effort to be different and also to keep the rustic and country feel to the kitchen, I have decided on a heavy duty wood top. I am having to laminate the 2" planks together and each one takes two days for the glue to dry. So, it's going to take me the best part of three weeks to make it.

In the meantime, I hope to lay the flooring on the main cabin ground floor. I am also hoping to have some help with this. You may recall that I have a friend, Ron, who has kindly offered to come and lend a hand. I hope he will be available next week and if so, he will be the first guest in the second bedroom.

In preparation for laying the larch floor boards, I have been squaring off the ends and bringing some of them in from the garage to acclimatise to the cabin temperature and laying them down ready for use.

I have also put some in the dining/study area and you will notice that all the other wood, except the shelving wood for the bookshelves and the wood for the dining room table, has now gone from this area.

As concurrent activity I have also been mudding the ceiling in the  main bathroom. As some of the larger gaps have to be built up gradually, this is probably going to take three, four or possibly five applications.

So far it is going quite well ……

….. and I am pleased with my efforts after two applications.

The return journey from the UK had its moments. I got to Gatwick in plenty of time for my flight only to find that my booking had been cancelled because, in the event, I had booked a second (earlier) outbound flight and, when I didn't show for the original one, the computer automatically cancelled my return flight. I had anticipated this and informed the booking company and the airline before I left that I had changed my outbound flight and would still be requiring my original return flight. So you can imagine my irritation at the check in. However, it wasn't unexpected and I stood my ground when they tried to force me to buy another ticket to get back to Canada. In the end it came down to who was going to blink first and I really only had to raise my voice slightly to make them aware that I wasn't going to capitulate.

I stayed a night in Calgary with my friend Jeanette, who has looked after me so well whenever I have gone there. I didn't stay longer because I was anxious to get back to cabin. It was the first time that I have left it for an extended period of time since installing all the plumbing and electricity and it was a mild relief to see it still standing and in good shape when I crested the brow of the hill to come down the drive. Everything had worked and was working exactly as it should and the place was nice and warm when I opened the front door. 

It was great to visit the UK and in particular to see my family. But I have been saving my most sincere and grateful thanks to the end. They go to Jane Clark and her daughter Belle for having me to stay with them in London and for allowing me stay in their home while they were away. I wish only that I had had more time with Jane. She is truly an amazing, interesting and stimulating person.

So now I am home again, in the wilderness with the wild animals, the magnificent scenery and settling into a routine for continuing the work on the cabin. Wolves have been very evident, deer are still my constant companions and I have even seen an osprey, which is very rare for this time of year. The cougar has been seen on the road and his tracks show that he has also been down to visit me. Some of my neighbours have been down for the weekend and on both evenings we dined together and shared stories of our adventures over the last three weeks. Rod and Candy had been down to their house in Palm Springs and Don Burton had been to Italy with a client to buy stone - Phyllis keeping the home fire burning while he was away. As I write, they are all on their way back to Calgary and I am planning next week's work.

Sun rise bring in d'morning every every every every day - remember that song by Ralph Harris.

Because I could not stop for death

Apologies to those who were expecting a posting either last weekend or the weekend before. Unfortunately, I was overtaken by events. As I mentioned in my previous posting, I had planned a visit to the UK 'for family reasons'. In fact, to say goodbye to my brother Clive who was coming to the end of a courageous two year battle with terminal cancer. Towards the end things happened rather quicker than we all expected and on 28th January I received a call from England as a result of which I had to literally drop everything and rush back. Thankfully, I and my brothers and sisters arrived just in time to have a couple of days with Clive before he drifted quietly into a coma and passed away on 8th February.

Clive was never one to be morbid or have regrets about silly or inevitable things. At the end he showed great character and retained his sense of humour to the bitter end.

It was however a great comfort to him to have all his family and a few of his many friends around him in his last hours.

And this is the Clive we will all remember. Gone now to another place of eternal life and I am reminded of the words of Emily Dickinson:

Because I could not stop for death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves.
And Immortality.

Forgive me for this short and rather personal posting but it is all I really have the stomach for this week. I arrived back at the cabin today after an eventful journey back. The trip to the UK had many brighter moments but I think it is better to keep them for the next posting, which I will try to do next weekend.