photos

seems my photo hosting website is going out of business which is quite a shame :( i'm working on finding a new service.

kc & the lunchbox band?

ok, i am admittedly a little late in getting this little news tidbit (well, really late since they have apparently been around for years), but WTF???? one thinks it must not only make one's lunch be of poor taste, but taste pretty poor as well!

kc & the lunchbox band

before pix

the front, from roughly the same angle as the sidebar photo


a good shot of the hedge

the back alley (that's my "cell" just to the right of the chimney)

the rear entrance

interior shot - yes, that is a car (a triumph spitfire)

stairs up to the choir balcony

oooooh, scaaaaary choir balcony

the patricia theatre - opened in 1913, it is canada's longest continuously operating movie theatre

we had a beautiful rainbow yesterday

going with the flo

well kiss my grits and order me about! seems i'm servin' it wrong all over town. or, at least i am at manzanita, a new restaurant that has opened up at the old courthouse inn here in powell river. i have successfully managed to bamboozle owners al & amy sharp into hiring me to wait tables at their fancy-shmancy establishment, located conveniently just down the street from the church so i really have to make an effort to show up late for work.

aside from gainful (?) employment, my mom has been in town and we've been doing some yard work. i've been ripping out grass from choking out the hedge, and mom has used her advanced weed-eating skills to tame the front yard of the church.

the bees!!

how could i forget!! bees made a huge hive inside one of the walls of the old parish hall. my brother had already killed them, but the carnage had yet to be removed from inside the walls. eeeeuuuwww! fortunately, i made marty do most of the disgusting removal work, but i was still forced to hold open the garbage bag to receive the rotting fruits of his labours. eeeuuuuwwww!




and today, i added garden gate building to my impressive credentials. this is not to be confused with golden gate building, which is something all together different and infinitely more time consuming ...

all this, and cast iron too!

sunday evening at last! this last week has been really busy. my brother martin, who was supposed to be working out of town until june 22, came home last monday. i was a bit nervous since i hadn't really had a chance to finish up my initial projects (ie ripping out carpet, repainting, re-deploying greasy dust-catching ephemera, etc); however, he was surprisingly calm and - dare i say - even pleasantly impressed? he even showed me how to repair the windows, something which i'm not sure i should thank him for ...

on wednesday, his friends matt and marlise showed up for a few days as well so it was a full house; however despite the enjoyment that was had by all, a lot of work was also accomplished, thanks in no small part to matt & marlise's help.

this week:

* one window 99% complete
* one window 50% complete
* one 'wall' removed (more like a temporary 'fence' with windows and constructed from a wall pulled out of another building)
* one small plot of land freed from the tyrrany of grass & weeds
* one lilac tree pruned, and various other gardening/weeding done

NOTE: further progress would have been made on the windows if it weren't for the state of the putty with which i am forced to work. my brother bought about 8 years ago so it has almost entirely separated and thus requires intense and arduous kneading to bring it back to a usable state.

i foolishly did not take any before photos so my next order of business is to take a few photos around the property. i must also make a concerted effort to remember to take a few 'before' photos when tackling any new project.

saturday is garage sale day so yesterday was no exception. the competition is fast and furious in powell river, let me tell you! fortunately, the church is basically at one end of town so it's fairly easy to plan your route to be able to hit all the sales in geographical order and, since the town is so small, you can hit every sale in no time. marty and i started out at 8am and were done by 10am. of course, after about 9:30am, the pickin's are mighty slim so you tend to spend less and less time at each sale as you go along. among other things, i managed to pick up a 10" cast iron skillet for $1. it has now been cleaned out, re-seasoned and is ready to fry up some grilled cheese sandwiches. yum!

one window (almost) down

endless panes yet to go as i have started tackling my first church window. it's not one of the big ones but at 18 panes, it's still a pain. (ow!) it's slow going but as i become proficient with the blow torch - yes, blow torch - i hope that future efforts will go somewhat more quickly. after a day and a half of steady work, i have a frame that is fully stripped of paint and putty and even has one coat of paint. i should have a fully painted frame ready for glass by thursday. that's four days for one window, and it's not even one of the big ones! fortunately (?) i am only concentrating on the 6 kitchen windows for now.

in other news, finnigan is now officially an indoor/outdoor cat, although he definitely doesn't seem to stray too far from the kitchen door. and garbage cans.

the first week

finnigan & i arrived monday evening, a little later than expected owing to a ferry delay at earl's cove but otherwise unscathed. actually, the ferry delay turned out to be a blessing because while i was waiting for it to arrive, i had stupidly left the car lights on and with only 10 minutes left before the scheduled arrival, noticed that the battery was completely dead. a kindly fellow traveler gave me a jumpstart and the extra time afforded by the late ferry was put to good use recharging my battery. i'm quite sure i was one of precious few ferry travelers that day who was actually glad of a delay!

finn was pretty freaked out and had very successfully hidden himself away before i could even blink. i was just unloading my gear when a couple of friends, wolfgang & jill, happened to drive by and stopped for a brief chat. they told me to drop by their place anytime, an offer which, after a swift and depressing survey of the kitchen area, i pounced upon that very evening. the kitchen would definitely take more than a couple of hours of herculean cleaning effort before it would be fit for human consumption! and the rest of the "living" quarters were of similar ilk as well ...

*note: both photos are after initial cleaning efforts. yikes!!

while i was prowling around deciding which room to use as my base of operations, there was no sign of finnigan. hoping that he hadn't snuck outside somewhere, i headed off to wolf & jill's farm in wildwood for a couple of beers and some tasty grub beside the fire at the pond - the first fire of the summer! it took some doing but at last (with the help of liberal doses of paraffin) we had a roaring fire and sat happily around it until it grew dark.

when i returned, the big grey was still nowhere to be seen; however, there was "evidence" that he was inside. the exact location within the church was still unknown, but at least he wasn't outside. my brother's cat, shmowgy (sp?? - see photo), turned out to be instrumental in discovering him. while i was in the kitchen, he went upstairs to the living room and within seconds, i was overjoyed to hear much hissing. mr. f!! he was still a bit freaked out but happy to see me and was at last ready to settle in at the church.

first thing tuesday, i bought much cleaning supplies and tackled the fridge and also my bedroom. today, saturday, i have the following:

* a clean fridge
* a freshly painted bedroom
* kitchen counters that are foodsafe
* a working stove (a restaurant style double-oven gas stove no less- yay me!!)

still many more miles to go, but this is definitely a good start! as it is sunday tomorrow, however, i will be taking a day of rest and heading over to wolf & jill's for a bbq. did i mention wolf is a chef? :)