Christmas

Jane starting to decorate the tree.

The tree is finished and some of the presents have appeared.

Decorating Christmas cookies.

The girls opened these suitcases early, since they were headed off to Florida.

 We took advantage of the Makas' being here to play some Carcassonne.

Opening presents.

A teddybear picnic at Donella's on Dec 31.

Thanksgiving

Maggie and Ingrid made a fall wreath.

A 6" snow the day before Thanksgiving gave way to a clear driveway on turkey day.

Matthew and Lindsay joined Jane and I and Cecilia and Ingrid and Maggie.  Also, all of the DeRoches were here (Lee and Jim, Megan and John and Ryu, Patrick and Hayley and Winnie). Didn't get a picture of the feast, but here are the cousins and second cousins.

Jane and Winnie.

All of the DeRoches.

Contractor is Finished

The porch area was finished some time ago, and it is nice to be using it again.  The exterior of the new sun room is finished, except for us adding gutter guard on the new gutters.

The workmen finished buttering the wallboard and installing the trim (including the archway), and we painted it.  The electrician installed the ceiling light and outlets.  We installed the Venetian blinds, and Jane made the Roman shades. Next, we will install the solid oak flooring and baseboard.

Busy remodel day

Lots of workmen were here all day, so a lot of progress was made.  They removed the door that used to be an exterior door, so that the new area becomes part of the guest room.

All the wallboard was installed, taped, and the first coat of mud applied.

The screening on the porch was finished today.  This was really a big job.  You can see that, except for the closest panel, I have put the child rails back up.  I can now finish that job.

The roofers finally came today, and finished their work.  Next Monday, the siding guys are supposed to come.  Their job will include wrapping the exposed wood, soffit and facia, gutters, etc.

More Remodel

Progress seems to have slowed.  Still no roof shingles or siding, so the outside of the new addition looks the same.

Work has progressed on the porch, with new screening 70% completed, and some repairs finished.

The addition has now been inspected and insulated.

In the ceiling, you can see that the electrical, and ductwork for heat and air has been done.

House Remodel

We decided to add a small sun room area to the upstairs guest bedroom.  Our contractor, Dave, will also be doing several other improvements and repairs.

The first three pictures are the before pictures of the upstairs deck from three points of view.

And here is a picture of a porch column that had rotted.

And the new column.  Here the screen has been removed.  All the exterior wood surfaces (most are on the porch) are being repainted and the porch screens are being replaced.

Here the new sun room has been roughed in.

The subfloor and windows are in.

Some of the next things are:

• roofing
• vinyl siding
• electrical
• HVAC
• wallboard
• removal of old exterior door.

We have decided that we will lay the oak floor, not only in the new part, but also in the two carpeted rooms on this floor.

More pictures as the work progresses...

Garden in August

John, our neighbor next door, had trees taken down & shared his chippings with us. I was able to put them on all the pathways in the garden & even recover the parking area.

The grass area looks good because I raked out lots of thatch & Richard cut it. I think the kids even noticed!

One of my two hydrangea blossoms; all the plants survived the long cold winter but did not have enough strength to flower.

The hosta garden is looking good now, the astilbe bloomed well too. This 'wet' garden gets lots of water from the roof runoff, you can see the hose snaking through the plants.

Garden in July

Sun garden.  Michael's garden to the left.

Herb garden.

Shade garden.

Hosta garden from the back porch.

Patio garden.

Front entry.

Running hare topiary, which you can't see too well.

Michael's garden with a new crepe myrtle.

First cala lily.

Anthony's astors.

Hostas in the patio garden.

Blue bottle bush.

The only hydrangea flower so far this year.

Annual mowing

I've just finished the annual ritual of using the DR brush mower to beat down the underbrush around the house.

Disney World trip

Our room at the Disney All Star Movie Resort - with mouse towel art in the foreground.

Our first dinner was at the Grand Floridian Resort.  Here is the lobby.

The next day we were at Animal Kingdom.

Then on to EPCOT.

In England.

Mulan, in China.

Italy.  My flat feet gave out and this rented scooter helped a lot.

Sleeping beauty.

Then we lost our camera.  But, amazingly, Disney lost and found returned it it us.  But, then, we forgot to take it with us on the last few days of Disney.

Richard made a trip to Tampa to see his brother and his family.