Well, the new year has begun, and so has the list of things we need for the cabin.
We have been looking at retaining wall blocks or rock to build our retaining wall around the Jacuzzi area, and a little further down the property at the lower road where the motor-home now sits. We looked at different kinds of rock, but it always looked like we would need 1000's of pieces... and, to get that installed would be a horrendous job.
Jim found these cast retaining wall blocks, and they're a little bigger than the 8'' Home Depot blocks we had originally looked at... They are 4 feet by 18 inches high and weigh, 1,500 lbs. each, but I think they will work really well! We purchased about 100 of them, and we'll need a heavy duty trailer to get them to the cabin, but I think this is such a better alternative. When Jim retires, he will have to place them with the backhoe, but, I am excited for this part of the building process. As much as I love Galt's Gulch, it's going to be just a memory after these are installed around the Jacuzzi area.
In our travels last week, I came across these Adirondack style chairs.. they are quite a bit bigger than the regular Adirondack chairs you see out there, but these will fit my butt perfectly. We purchased three of them to sit around down by the Jacuzzi.. or maybe the fire pit.. Don't quite know right now - still deciding... I just know that I really liked them...
We're going to have to make some repairs and then strip them down and repaint them, but I think that is going to be a project for me this summer! I hope I'm up to the challenge...
And, this weekend, I'll be starting the glass interpretation of this mosaic that my dad made when I was just a kid.. It was in our house in Brampton forever.. We couldn't save the original, but, hopefully, I'll be able to recreate it, and do my dad work justice.
The first picture is the mosaic my dad made....
And, (below) this is the pattern for the glass panel. The colour difference in the pattern as opposed to the original is to show me where breaks are to be...For example, the green kimono has layering marks in the sleeve (you can see them faintly in white), and the different colours in the pattern tells me where those break are supposed to be. The leading will highlight the sleeves, but, when you are cutting glass, you need a little something to make it stand out.
I went to the glass shop this morning, and purchased the blue for the sky, the green for the kimono on the right, the red for the waistband on the right, and the orange for the 2nd kimono... I am wanting to have this be a freestanding piece in an wooded area at the cabin... a place of quiet and meditation... I'm a little excited, as well as a little nervous, to start this piece... I hope my dad stays at my elbow as I work in the quiet hours of the morning... (When I work on glass, it's usually between midnight and 4 in the morning... it's quiet, and alone time... and, I get my groove on... with Alexa blaring in the background....) One interesting fact, I was looking at glass, trying to pick out textures and colours, and I had it in my head that the green kimono was actually.... red... the sash is red, but the kimono is green... for all the years I looked at that mosaic, and somehow, in my head, the kimono was red..... I told Jim that I thought the kimono was red, and he, straight away, said... um..it's green... He knew, I didn't....don't know why... anyways...
The 2020 adventure begins!
Jim & Cheri
