Bob was in town for a few days so we met up and went to 'our' coffee place, which we discovered a couple of years ago the week it opened and fell for hard. I don't drink coffee as such - I can only handle it decaf and heavily displaced with milk - but it's delicious at Dineen's. Maybe a little too delicious. When I took a small sip of this one I realized straight off it wasn't decaf, so the barista kindly made me another that was. AND produced another gorgeous latte top.
I have this thing that I do with lattes, since I got a smartphone... I photograph the art on top and keep all the pictures in their own collection so when I'm sad or stressed I can look at them all. There is something seriously calming about patterns in foamy milk.
On another warmer day we walked over to the Distillery District and stopped at another cafe I like, and sat outside it for a while to chat over birdsong and chirping.
I guess some people give the birds crumbs from their croissants and brioche? Bob did, anyway, which secured this cutie in place for more pictures.
That is one well-fed bird.
When I wasn't hanging out with Bob talking over house things, or calling and e-mailing Bob with house things, or forwarding him pictures of same, I was at the house with Ray having site meetings with various trades. I know most people's renovations would be complete this far into a start time but then, most people hire a contractor who brings in a big crew and turns over a house in six months so they can get on to the next one. We hired Ray, who has only Al to help him, plus the odd specialist for things like roofing or wiring or HVAC. So between that and some problems last fall with an overzealous consultant, we are technically still here, at framing:
After a turning-point meeting with our awesome new HVAC people I went down into the basement (aka dirt pit) to admire the trench for the drain and when I looked up from the bottom of our temporary staircase I thought this was such an amazing view I took a picture of it too. I'll never get this angle again once the walls go up.
Apart from the fact that Ray and Al are such lovely people and great to work with, the slower approach we're taking allows us to capitalize on opportunities that arise as we go along, and to make a much better house than we thought we'd have when we applied for our building permit. The plumbing is just about done and includes a rough-in for the second sink I don't yet have to decide on for our breakfast counter, and the wiring is about to go in and will include sconce lighting over the daybed in my office, and since I took my from-the-basement picture Ray has reinforced the attic floor joists and set up the subfloor. Why? Because we're going to have pull-down stairs for the attic, and when he took a good critical look at the rather large open space we'll have he called me to ask exactly how much I want to store up there. Apparently it's a lot because he decided to give me a stronger floor than is strictly necessary.
(and there you have it: would somebody on a bigger contractor's crew think, let alone care, to make that effort?)
But all that is beside the point, which is this: last week we blasted through a ton of challenging house stuff and I got to spend time with Bob and I also worked a little more on that knitting project I mentioned last week that isn't a sock. Yay!
Can you guess what it is?
Hope you had a great weekend and got in some knitting too!
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