ECHOES OF THE PAST

Driveway view-March 22

Lake view-March 22

The pictures say it all: the outside of the cottage (with the black trim and the roofing detail on) is emitting stronger-than-ever echoes of the old house. The white clapboard has arrived and will be added over the next week or two and then it will likely resonate even more.

Roof detail

Framing on the kitchen-porch door

MORE WONDERFUL VISITORS

It was huge fun for Nancy, David, Tassy and Jean-Marc (Edmond too) to share all the progress with Sue and Bill, who were up from Bermuda for a week and also with Asha Jalan (Nancy’s goddaughter) this last weekend. Asha had come from Ottawa where she’s working with IRDA, while Melanie and Andrew were with Asha’s parents, Ram and Sudha, and her brother Rishi on a weekend road-trip in Ooty, India!


THE INSIDE PROGRESS INCLUDES OUR FIRST OCCUPANT

The first tenant can't wait for Tara Sackett to arrive!

Équipe Duval has been extremely busy at Lac des Iles over the past couple of weeks –inside as well as outside the cottage. There has been an enormous amount of activity indoors too – plastering, adding the wall slats, sanding and generally preparing for and then doing an enormous amount of painting. As you can see from the pictures below, that was pretty much finished this week. Next will come the door and window moldings and baseboards. And also this week, the mason is beginning to work on the fireplace.

The furnace is pretty much installed and ready to go. It’s taken more space than we’d originally thought it would – and is not quite as neatly tucked away as we’d hoped. This means that getting the wood into the house for the wood-burning part of the furnace will be a bit more complicated than planned. No serious worries, though. Jean-Marc is finding ways for us to get around it: he never has problems – merely new challenges! (And talking of new and/or unexpected challenges, we are all delighted to hear that Jean-Marc's surgery last Sunday went without a hitch and we are wishing him a quick recovery.)

Nancy and Asha have subsequently spent hours at Reno, Home Depot and the like, checking out all manner of plumbing supplies. Who knew that there were so many pros and cons around toilets, faucets, basins, showers and baths and that one could end up caring so much? Meanwhile, I'm including a picture of the wonderful salvaged bathtub on claws that has been bought, restored and delivered.

Ground floor details - giving an idea of the wall colour

François preparing the stairwell to the second floor

Jean-Marc's detailed drawing of the molding for the window frames

Edmond inspecting the refurbished salvaged bathtub

MORE PROGRESS

A road that will hopefully disappear almost as fast as it was created!

Last week, a 600-pound hybrid electric-wood furnace was delivered – a remarkable feat that involved plowing a special road down the McEntyre side of the house so that it could be delivered to the basement door. We will certainly need some creative landscaping come the spring. There weren't complaints to be heard, though, as the furnace actually made it into the house and is ready to be put into place and hooked up.

Meanwhile, the the inside walls are almost all ready to be painted. We’ve decided on the lighting for the kitchen, and we’re working on detailed kitchen cupboard and counter plans. With Chantale’s help, decisions are being made fast and furiously about what furniture from Montreal will go where and what else we need to find. The fireplace mason is to begin work this week. And, we have chosen a rough spruce white clapboard and black framing for the exterior of the house – it will have very much the same look that it had – and work on that is to start this week too!

All very exciting and totally overwhelming.

The wood loading end of the electric/wood furnace

Jean-Marc and Dave working on the electrical plans for the kitchen

Jean-Marc with his copy of our very efficient front-door key

VIOLET'S ARRIVAL AND NANCY'S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

On February 27th, Patrick and Daniela blessed our family with another girl, Victoria May, a little sister for Adrian and Juliet, and a playmate for Lac des Iles’ other very recent newborns – Nicolas Rutledge (Jamie and Rossana Rutledge) and Jacob Wright (Caroline Black and Anthony Wright).

KATHLEEN GETS TO VISIT!

David and Tassy graciously waited until March 1st to race off to Toronto to meet Violet because they were hosting a birthday celebration for Nancy on Feb 28th. Kathleen came for the party and the chance to visit the new house for the first time since Thanksgiving. They invited a wonderful group of friends to come for dinner and most (we were missing the Tees) joined us for a tour of the house the next day.

sKate (aka Sue) on the newly built basement stairs

Graeme checking the view from the screened-in/dining porch

Gathering in the living room - with the kitchen beyond