Our summer adventuring in the North is rapidly coming to a close. Since heading back to Mississippi, Alexe is done with having her family somewhere else, and we're all going through some severe Alexe-sickness. (That's a play on home-sickness. Yes, an odd formation even in its original form, but I'm using it here for the connotation of stomach-upset caused by missing of something.)
And yet, after vacationing for two weeks in Maine, I have so much pent up energy to DO things here, that it's all turning into a whirlwind.
In this last week or so, we're cramming the time.
The stove is finally re-blacked. (Though not in this picture.) The view of the mountains is growing as I take more trees down below the cabin. Caspian and Annaliese have new super hero glasses. (They've watched a borrowed copy of Kim Possible a few times this summer, animated teen super-hero flick, and the other morning they were hurling themselves around on the carpet, rolling, jumping up, and doing it again. It was their Kim Possible game.)
The pond is warmer, by a degree or two.
Sudden inspiration for color, and a handy gallon of gum ball red exterior enamel, turned our picnic table into a bright, beautiful, candy-land eating station.
Afternoon naps on the porch.
We took a quick trip into town for fruit and bar and chain oil. Caspian insisted he could carry the gallon of oil from the back corner of the hardware store up to the register, and did.
We hit the grocery store and picked up cherries, apples, peaches, plums, and bananas, and headed back to the cabin for an evening of me cutting trees below the cabin, and the kids sitting on the porch watching and eating their weight in cherries.
Being covetous of our short remaining time here, and not wanting to lose any mornings of waking up in the peaceful woods on my porch, the next morning we were up early, for a final trek to a.Caitlin and u.Jim's house for a goodbye visit, and a project Caitlin pitched in the "but if you don't do it I won't think of you whenever I use it..." non-pushy kind of way she has.
We were at their door at 9:06, in time to give u.Jim a hug as he headed out for work.
a.Caitlin and grandmaman were still asleep, after staying up far too late the night before.
While they put on happy faces to great the kids who gleefully woke them up, I got started on the project, a greenhouse.
Caspian helping me unpack:
The thing came in three boxes, all very well packed, with a billion different little pieces, fasteners, brackets, panels, etc. To their credit, the manufacturer did not misplace any of the billion parts. However, it had so many little pieces that it took almost 9 full hours to complete just the assembly, not including the location prep.
While I was out in the back yard assembling, with a.Caitlin periodically holding something up in between getting thirsty or needing a potty break, grandmaman and a.Natalie entertained the young-uns. I didn't catch much of the goings-on throughout the day, I was assembling, but the noises coming out of the house sounded like everyone was having fun.
Slooooowly coming together. The goal here was an 8x12 foot greenhouse.
Caspian took a break.
And it's a good thing he did, because u.William stopped by later, and Caspian was ready to go.
Caspian put a.Natalie in time out. Natalie managed to negotiate ball-throwing privileges to keep Caesar, (the poodle behind Caspian) happy.
Slooowly:
I started some time around 9:30. Finished, with a burst of help installing all the side panels, some time after 6. There was a short lunch break, but for the most part this was a non-stop, full day project.
And now Caitlin will think of me every time she goes inside it.
After a delicious dinner of buffalo-chicken-pizza, (really good) u.Jim brought home for us, we took a quick trip up to see u.William's cabin in his sugar-maple woods. From the porch on the other side Mount Mansfield feels like you could reach out and touch it.
An evening of gabbing in Caitlin's living room, a solid night's sleep, (I was tired, the sun had been beating down all day,) in the morning we all exchanged hugs and goodbyes, packed up, and headed out. Annaliese and Caspian went home with grandmaman for their last sleep over of the summer, and I headed back to the cabin, all by myself, for a solo two nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment