Happy Holidays

The architect - Michael Werleman

Seeing the house with its windows, some (though not all) the doors and many of the rooms framed-in is very exciting and very emotional. It makes the house feel much more real. 'Real' is amazing because it promises a future that is tangible - wonderful moments to come and memories to be made. 'Real' is also difficult because it makes one face up to the change and the newness of everything, to the fact that so much is different and there is much that just isn't there any more. But in the balance, as you can see from the pictures, the excitement of the future takes the day.

It was wonderful to visit the house with our architect, Michael Werleman, who had the opportunity to meet Francois Duval for the first time. Jean-Marc showed us all the progress they had achieved, and we discussed several changes that could/should be made to the plans. Some key decisions were made - including moving the location of the stairs that go up to the second floor, shifting a couple of doors a few feet one way or another, and adding a vestibule.

It looks like it is a go with the hybrid electric-wood furnace that can be adapted to include geothermal heat (or some alternative energy source) when we are have figured out the best and most affordable way to do that.

On the general news front: there's a ton of snow (as you can see) and the lake is now ice and snow covered...though the snow came a bit too soon on the newly frozen lake for the ice to be very strong.

The girls and I are off to Paris for Christmas with Cecile and Emma - leaving on December 21 and returning on New Year's Day. Dave is staying here and will be living at the playhouse and celebrating with the McEntyres.

Our family is wishing you a wonderful Christmas and holiday, and hope you have a happy and healthy New Year filled with joy and peace.

View from the playhouse

Driveway view


Our contractor and architect with their house in the making

"Do we move the stairs to the second floor...?"

Francois and Jean-Marc Duval with Michael Werleman

Bay window to screened-in porch

Living room door to open porch

Upstairs sitting space with bathroom beyond

Snow

It is very snowy, at Lac des Iles, as you can see.

With the ground floor roofs on and shingled, the cottage feels wider and more like home. Kudos to Michael Werleman for working so hard to keep the roof lines similar to the old cottage.

Installing the insulation is well underway. Finishing that and closing in the roof is the priority this week. The windows and doors have arrived and will be put in as soon as the Duvals have finished with the insulation and the roof.

View from the lake

View from the road

Our future screened-in porch

Equipe Duval

I arrived at the Lake to find a mere dusting of snow but below zero temperatures, and a hive of activity at the house. Toute la famille Duval (including Jean) and their team were in action and the verandas and the downstairs bedroom were being prepared for roofing. Jean-Marc hopes to have the ground floor roofs up and shingled within the week. They've also started installing the insulation so that all will be ready when the windows and doors arrive early December.

Jean, Jean-Marc & Gilles Duval

Benoit Duval

Francois Duval

A Roof & Verandas

First things first: The wonderful news is that Sue brought Ric home from Ste-Agathe on Nov. 1st and he is recovering very well from his heart attack. Needless to say, we are all thrilled for Ric and for Sue that he's back and doing so well! So too is Mark Gagnon, Jenny Lindsay's husband, who, many of you will have heard, suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this week but is most wonderfully and miraculously on the mend. That family has certainly had far more than its fair share of excitement in the last couple of weeks and they are all much in our thoughts and hearts.

As for the house - its rising from the ashes, which is as exciting as it is scary and emotional. It was certainly very special to arrive on a beautifully sunny All Saints' Day and find the second floor framed, a plywood roof covering the main structure and great piles of shingles waiting to be installed. As you can see from the pictures, a team of three men managed to complete that job on the morning of Sunday, November 2nd, and did so in about three hours.

The current pictures show that the next step is to complete the building of the balconies and erecting the rest of the roof. Jean-Marc says that in another couple of weeks we'll be able to see a fairly complete outline of the house that will welcome us and all of you come next summer.

Thanks to everyone for their input on windows and doors - it's been quite a journey. In the end, we have ordered Bonneville double-hung wood windows - eastern white pine inside and white aluminum clad on the outside. The French doors will also be white pine inside and aluminum clad outside. Fiberglass windows were hugely tempting for a lot of good 'green' reasons, but are still too expensive, and in the end, not as good insulators as the wood ones. We are learning that there is an enormous amount of give-and-take in this world of trying to minimize one's footprint.

The next big decision is around the heating system or systems. We're still hoping to figure out some way to involve geothermal heating out of the Lake, but it's not as easy in Quebec as in Ontario. A fall-back possibility is to have a hybrid electric/wood furnace that could be modified to include geothermal heat in the future. Suggestions and advice are always welcome.

Porches are on their way...

Jean-Marc our our new verandas

November 2nd

The next day, the shingling has begun!

View from the lake with shingles on the roof

Tassy & David - our first guests

November 1st

Edmond discovers that the new cottage has a roof!

Sue & Nancy admiring the new roof

View from the dining room into the living room & kitchen

Aunt BJo

Our beloved Aunt BJo died peacefully on Sunday morning, October 19th. She was such an inspiration to all of us at Lac des Iles.

Her marvelous and lively spirit will continue to support all of us who were privileged to love
and be touched by her.

A House is Born

The ground floor is up!

L'équipe hard at work on the first floor

Driveway view

Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving at the new house

Admiring our new basement

The James Wright memorial basement

It's all Good News on Chemin Chartier!

Peter & Cath are engaged!!!

The framing begins...

Final stages of the foundations

Foundations

Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Michael Werleman (our architect) and Jean-Marc Duval (our contractor, pictured above), and all of the input from a huge number of family and friends, the construction of the cottage is underway!

The footings were poured on September 10th, and then on September 17th at least four Lafarge trucks took turns dumping loads of cement into the foundation molds.

The forecast is excellent for the foreseeable future, so the cement should cure beautifully, and then the Duvals can get to the work of putting up the walls.

The foundations being prepared

A few members of the 1010 fan club - (Pat, Barbara and Jackie)

The first load of cement is poured

Dadaddy's spirit rests easy...quality cement!

!!!

It is less than a year since the accident, and mum has tackled the greatest of all physical hurdles: She waterskied! And looked better than ever.

This is truly a defining moment for our family. In the weeks following the accident, we were not sure how far she could possibly recover from such serious injuries. And following that, as the prognoses from doctors and physiotherapists were better and better, there was still a lagging fear among all of us that she might never have the strength to be as active as she had in the past – and worst of all, that she may never waterski again.

Mum’s beautiful ski last Saturday is a testament of how far she has come, and the many obstacles she has risen above.

Community

An excerpt from Kathleen’s Sunday Services Talk on Sunday, August 10^th 2008

“Lac des Iles: Community & Empathy”

A very good friend of mine, in the midst of my grief said to me: “I know you feel you’ve lost a lot, but I can’t wait until you finally realize all of the love coming your way too.” Luckily, I got there, and have been able to see the fortune that has fallen on us. One of those fortunes is being a part of this amazing community – a community that I believe defines how amazing human connections can be.

This year has also shown me that at the root of most humans lies a well of love. When something tragic occurs, we are shaken to our cores – as it did to all of us when our cottage exploded, when we lost our beautiful Mimi and my extraordinary father. It is at that core that humans function in their truest and most honest selves. We stop analyzing outcomes, worrying about past conflict or issues, and we just “do”. We “do” or “act” with our hearts. It is at that core, that I witnessed, or heard of some of the bravest, most beautiful and generous acts that I could have ever imagined. Our cottage property, our lake, our home and our hearts were filled with this beauty. Our cumulative value in community, and our foundation of love for each other, drove each person to care in their own unique and exceptional way. These amazing acts started on September 1^st, and continue to this day.

Construction Begins

As of August 21st, 2008, construction has officially begun on the new cottage.
Step 1: The Big Dig