Rock-pedition

Back in May, for Mother's Day, Aaron, Jess & Ben gave me the gift of retrieving some larger rocks from our home in Shutesbury to use at our new home. Jess organized the carrying out of the feat before leaving town for her teacher education trip this week and last evening Aaron, Ben and Glen loaded up some of the larger rocks that I had set aside up in Shutesbury. Early this AM Ben and Glen delivered them here. They are for landscaping at our new house, Sweetside, (Lessey St). Most of them will be used in the water feature I am building. It will be located on the south side hill facing Sweetser Park and is a 35' winding stream with a little pond (4X6' wide, & 2' deep) at the base. The gardens surrounding the stream area have been planted since early May and I dug out the stream bed and pond over Memorial Day weekend. Not sure about the next stage...but getting the rocks here is major progress. THANKS!!

She's Come and Gone

Janet arrived here in Amherst late Friday evening and stayed until today, Sunday around noon. She became the first overnight guest in Baird's Studio at Lessey St. (not including our friends who pet / house sat when we went to Chattanooga, of course).

It was a most enjoyable visit for us.

We had a full day Saturday. A quick run down:
Breakfast at Rao's (they have vegan baked goods!), a walk around town and thru Farmer's market, a stop at Hasting's (Baird got Janet her first Micron pen) and a stop at Antonio's (hi to Aaron at work), then we zipped over the NoHo with Jess for lunch at Paul and Elizabeth's, a bit of Tax Free Day shopping, a mini tour of Green Street (couldn't make out which shop Janet's friend used to run), a drive thru Smith College, and back to Amherst. We stopped at Atkins for old time's sake (no cider this time of year tho) and walked around Hampshire College (Janet's old stomping grounds..she taught there 1972-80 as Janet Tallperson). We even found her old apartment ( a mod in a donut) and her peaceful woods. We took a quick buzz by Aaron's current digs (he was still at work) for a drive by show and tell of his house and skate ramp and then back home to rest a bit. The evening included a cookout with all the family. Quickly, before dark, we took a drive to the Renaissance Center and walked to J & B's wedding tree (6/20/04). We came back home to desert and time to chill together before bed. A late night trip to Antonio's got scraped as we were tired and not hungry. Next time.

Sunday AM we took Janet up to see our Shutesbury House (still on the market unfortunately) and then drove up Sugarloaf for the fab view as we escorted her to the Rt 91 North access in Deerfield. She was headed for Williamstown last we saw, then to Goddard on Monday, Portsmouth on Thursday, and back to Dale and their home in Seattle on Saturday.

Merci Bouquet

Here is our little Merci. We still have not said she's staying... but... she's working her way into the family, me thinks. She sure is cute! Just yesterday she and Surely had their first play time. Merci has stopped hissing at the other cats, for the most part. This is a stylized picture by Baird.

Trudging Along

That pretty much describes how this week has gone. One thing after another has gone awry. I really hate weeks like this. Feels like a little man with a pitchfork is following me around (or heading me off at the pass, as the case may be). Basically, it really stinks.

Anywho.... as for our updates:
1. No home for the little kitty, Merci, yet. Three "for sures" have all fallen through. No rush I guess....
2. Baird's van failed inspection. Yahoo.
3. Since the 3 hour power outage the other night, our freezer is not functioning correctly. It is about as cold as the fridge... .but no colder. This is the decent, large fridge unit that came with the house which we were planning to sell once we install our newer, thinner, Kitchen Aid. Jeeeez Louise....well....I shake my head....and...toss out the food I just bought. Whatever!
4. Speaking of the power outage....later that night a fire erupted in the street. It was discovered that the arching power line had damaged an undergorund gas line causing 2 leaks and thus the fire at one leak site. Two houses, less than 2 blocks from us, were evacuated. No one was hurt...but... the gas co. and fire dept were there until 2AM. Sweet dreams dear.........
5. The plumber finally got me the figures on the work we still need done. He wants $2300 to hook up our gas stove and re-locate the washer and drier. Yeah, right!! I laugh somewhat hyterically as I bang my head against the wall. This is a small house-- we are talking extending the gas and water lines a few feet, not some great distances. I am looking for some more realistic options and popping some more Tylenol. Darn, my head aches for some reason.
6. Aaron's been coming and working on the basement area...opening up the room with the bay window and sealing the cement floor, etc. It's beginning to look better each day. This is one unmitigated positive thing on my list. Yipee!
7. The Shutebury house will be shown Monday afternoon again. Baird and I have been exploring options of how to better market it and what to do if it doesn't sell very, very soon. No great revelation has come through all our explorations so far but, as we keep turing over stones we try to stay hopeful that something will become clear to us. I told a friend today that we just need to win a small lottery, but since we don't buy tickets this will take a real miracle.
8. Today the weather finally broke and it was "only" in the mid 80's with lower humidity this afternon. Now that is really good news.
9. I applied for a school based job this week that I think I would really find challenging and rewarding. Something I could become personally invested in. I have not heard anything back yet. Maybe I won't. In some ways I am an unlikely candidate... not a racial minority, not bi-lingual, etc but it fits with my life purposes. Well, at any rate, somehow finding out about it and applying gave me some renewed energy in this tough week. That alone is worth something.

Stay tuned.... it can only get better.... right???

Follow-up

A post script to the Panera post below....makes more sense if read in sequence...

Ok... 9 PM came and Panera was closing. A quick call to one of our neighborhood pizza places let us know the power was back on. We jetted home, turned on the AC and..... you guessed it.....nothing.... the system did not get cold. Oh bletch. One more thing to deal with.... add it to the list that has been accumulating this week. Looks like it will be another hot, restless night. If it wasn't so late I think I would pack my bags and rent myself a room at the Holiday Inn down the road....the one with a pool.

From My Seat in Panera

It is now 8 PM, Wednesday, August 2, 2006. Baird and I are at Panera, eating and exercising our fingers. At home, the power is out. Not sure why. The big lightening storm had already passed....and then...suddenly....there was no power. That is really bad news right now. It is over 100 degrees. Yesterday was also over 100 degrees. The day before was not much better. In fact, it has been pretty darn hot for as long as I can recall. Ok, admittedly my memory is rather short. It was cold here once, probably not all that long ago, but truthfully, I am just too hot to recall when that was. They say the "real feel" temp yeterday and today was 111. No, that is not a typo. One-hundred and eleven degrees farenheit is what they said. It felt at least it to me. Now, please recall I am writing from rural western Massachusetts, New England, the North East of the United States of Amercia ---- not from Texas or Mississippi or anywhere remotely close to the Equator. Our part of the world is not prepared for this. So far we have only been utilizing small fans to make our home bearable. Today we decided enough was enough -- time to get the central air in our new house up and running. We spent most of the day dripping sweat, cleaning out the clogged air vents so we could fire up the system. Then, just as Baird was ready to flip the switch the power in our part of town went out. We waited around almost an hour. Still no power. Some of the restaurants near us were also out. Chefs and pizza makers could be seen pacing in the streets. The entire Lord Jeffrey Inn was in a black out -- ugh! imagine the heat in those rooms. Enough! We fled to Hadley, to the strip mall and here we sit, full bellies, drinking our iced tea, tapping on our keyboards, enjoying Panera.... not knowing when it will be "safe" to return home. Only the kitties know for sure and we have not yet equipped them with cell phones.

Merci

Yup... it is true.. we are just over half way thru the year and I have completed my humanitarian act for 2006.

Yesterday I flew home from Chattanooga and with me I carried a small animal crate with a little cat in it. For 16 hours this adorable and very friendly kitten accompanied me. She tolerated it all very well.

She had been a stray living under the deck at the Schmidt's rental house in Chattanooga. They had been instructed by the landlady to not befriend her. I felt so sorry for her.... she was so effectionate and almost an exact replica of my 2 year old Maine Coon, Surely. So, I bought a small animal crate, and made a reservation for her to accompany me on my Airtran flight. I named her Merci as that is what she needed and also... my other Coon, Surely is named from the verse "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life...." So, now there is Merci joining Surely.

She is here safely. Sleeping a lot today. She found the food bowls and the litter box and is getting used to our dog and other cats. My goal is to find her a home here, tho I admit that will be hard for me. She is so darn cute! But, alas, we already have 3 cats and a dog.

Chattanooga Soules Reunion: Friday

alt="" />

Another day has flown by.... almost. There is about 90 minutes left.

I hear the day began early with a few folks waiting up to welcome Hudson and Adie...who arrived at 4AM!
For the rest of us it began around 9AM with breakfast down in the Staybridge lobby. About half the crowd then went off to play frisbee golf. Mamaw, Shelley & Linda went to a civil war battle field & museum. Several of us stayed behind at the hotel to relax, chat, read, and make BeDe cards. Around 3PM some of us set off for food.... most ended up at a Thai restaurant.

Ben, Jess and I ate a little before them, at Hair of the Dog Pub and joined the Thai group for Thai iced tea. After filling our bellies, a bunch of us went to the aquariums. Jess & I went just to the huge new salt water aquarium but some people did the fresh water one as well.

The evening thus far has involved over an hour of reconvening the large group and finding a restaurant to accommodate us on a busy Friday evening. Eventuially we ended up at the Blue Plate, a great place along the river (next ot the aquariums). It was fabulous!

Now we are back at the hotel (10:30 PM), about to have some sort of multimedia night including a BeDe card slide show.

Arrived! Our Day 1 of Soules Reunion '06

We made it to Chattanooga! But..that is jumping ahead. Allow me to back up a bit.

Yesterday (Thursday) was our travel day. The day began at 2AM with a tiring late night drive to Logan via the Pike and 1-93 detour. Thankfully there was little traffic at that hour so we arrived easily at Logan by 4:14 AM. I was so exhausted that once we boarded I buckled into my seat, hooked myself up to my Nano and feel asleep before we hit the tarmac. I slept right through the takeouf.That was a first! I woke up to sip the diet Coke the attendant delivered, falling right back to sleep again. I woke up shortly before landing. I do recall a bit of turbulance at one point but other that that, the 2.5 hours were lost to much needed sleep. We arrived in Atlanta a bit ahead of schedule (8:45AM)

We found our bags, grabbed the shuttle and went to find our rental car. At Enterprise car rental the guy wanted to upgrade us to an SUV for $5 a day but I declined. When he took us out to the lot he gave us a new Xterra anyway. Hot buggy! Jet black with a jazzzed up roof rack. I started out as the driver but after about 45 mintues I had to wake up Ben to drive because I seriously felt like I was just going to fall dead aseep. It had been 26 hours since my last night's rest.

We arrived after noon time & were greeted by the Soules gang at the fornt door of Staybridge. They got our bags into our room and we headed out to lunch and to the Hunter art Museum in town. Lots of walking in the heat but it was fun to just jump right into things. Most of the family had arrive the day before. Hudson and Adie were to arrive later.



After a 1 hour nap, we had some supper at City Cafe up the street, followed by pool and hot tub time and a couple of hours of family time including Terrill's video of the 1986 Soules Reunion week in Lenoxdale, MA. What a "blast from the Past." Jess was under 2 years old, Aaron was 2 months old. Camila and Rebekah were not yet born. Grandpa (Frank) Soules was there, wheelchair bound after brain surgery. Gigi (Edith Barnes, Frank's then 90 year old mother) and Uncle Paul (Franks' brother) came at one point. My parents were even in the video as they had come to visit us. My Dad had recently had his right arm and shoulder amputated. He and Frank both died (cancer) that Fall, 3 weeks apart.

Lots has changed. Some great things, many additions to the family and some losses. Two decades of growth and transitions. All in all, the family seems to be healthy, happy and even flourishing.

The day ended for most of us just after mid-night.



.

Off to Tennessee

Jet & Beno and I are off to TN in a few hours. First we have to find our way to Logan, via a detour, as the main tunnels leading to it are closed due to falling roof panels that weigh 3 tons each! Yup. No joke, one fell last week and killed a woman on her way to the ariport. So...we need to seek an alternate route. Initially I was bummed that we had to drive there in the middle of the night but now I am glad b/c there will (hopefull) be little traffic. I will be glad to be sitting at the gate by 4:30 AM and even more releived when we arrive in Atlanta around 9AM...and then I will really relax when we complete our drive to Chattanooga which should be by lunch time.

Baird is already there (flew last Friday) and Aaron flew yesterday, Tuesday. Our suite at Staybridge awaits.

Col and Ian will house, garden and pet sit.

Yipee....

Settling Into Sweetside

Welcome to Sweetside as the new place is now to be known.... so named as it sits on the north side of Sweetser Park.

First I want to say a HUGE muchas gracias to all the people who helped us move down here! Pic 1 is most of the crew who helped up that misty night and Pic 2 shows a few of the gang who helped us unload that rainy AM. It all happened so quickly! Not that we don't still have plenty of stuff to clean out up in Shute-Ho but the bulk of everything found its way to Amherst in an extemely efficient fashion. Ever since then, we have been doing lots of work on the new house, with the help of Aaron, Ben, Jess, Brett, Glen and others.




Second, I want to say...keep praying fiercesome powerful prayers that the Shutesbury house sells soon. There has been quite a bit of interest but buyers are taking their sweet time in this calmer market.

Next...well...let me see...

I had a very nice BD on June 8.... nope not 50 yet!!

Jess graduated from her master's program in May and finished up her clinical teaching year this month. Last Friday evening we celebrated the grand finale here at the new house with a bunch of family and friends. We did our best to neaten up and clean the house but it is not yet finished so... it had it's limits. The yard looks pretty good these days but it rained, hence her party was held inside. Here truly exciting news was that just that day she was hired to teach 8th grade science in West Springfield, beginning in September. For the summer she will work for an outdoor adventure camp here in Amherst.



The next day, June 24, Baird and I went to NoHo for the afternoon with Brooks & Mindy and returned home to find about 50 people at our house for an awesome BBQ to celebrate our 25th Anniversary (which was June 20). WOW!!!! Jess, Ben and Aaron had put together this incredible event! Many local friends were here as well as two couples from our Ipswich Days and my friend since age 6, Nancy, came from the Buffalo area as well. My Mom even made it here from the Berkshires, thanks to my sister Linda and her fiance Jim for picking her up and taking her back home (see Pics 4&5).



One big part of the anniversary surprise was that Ben and friends, Josh and Brett, built us a 10 X 12 stage -- the "Sweetside Main Stage" during events and our picnic platform on non-event days. Brooks christened the stage for us that night! I will get some pics of the stage/platform up here soon!

Well, that's it for this update. I have much more to say after all this time but I will leave it for another day.

Too Much Happening!

Phew!

Too long since I was last on line. I just went thru 192 new emails...have been without internet access for a week. Rao's is a nice place to connect tho..and only a 3 minute walk from the new abode. I have just been too busy to do it until tonight.

Yup...it is true.... thx to about 15 VERY helpful friends we got the bulk of our things moved from Shutesbury to Amherst last weekend without any major hassles (well...except the ridiculous suddenly missing truck scenario at U-Haul). Anywhooo... THX GUYS, your help was indispensible and indescribably awesome!

Status report on 38 Lessey: Hmmm...well...not much is unpacked at this point as virtually every room in the new house has something waiting to be completed. The kitchen is the most incomplete room..no counters yet, no sink, no stove, no microwave...yada, yada, yada. Hopefully it will be largely complete by next weekend.

The pets have made the transition quite well...even our hermit cat Seal seems OK. They do seem to like seeing more of us...and of the rest of the family too. Chloe likes the back yard and her new run. The multitude of squirrels is a fascination for all of them.

Unfortunately there is nothing new on the Shutesbury house sale...still a point for much prayer (and some loss of sleep as well).

Well, that's the brief update. Pics have to wait until next time. I have to locate my camera download cables first!

Memorial Day Progress

This weekend saw some more progress on things at 38 Lessey Street. Baird & I got the second and third coats of Poly on the living room, dining room and hallway floors. Baird mowed the lawn and took care of some more wiring issues. I planted lots more plants and got the stream/waterfall/pond area mostly dug out. It was a hot job as it was in the high 80's.

This week we will make a big push on the kitchen and see how far we can get... and we'll get the bedroom and my study area finished up.

The big move is Friday & Saturday!

Lessey Street here we come!

Oh...and we have another showing of the Shutesbury house tomorrow, Tuesday, afternoon.

Closing In on Moving Day

Moving Day is one week away now! We are closing in on the final renovations. French atrium doors are installed (still to be trimmed out). The major interior painting is basically done. Brett put the new "lvl" beam in the attic so that we could open up about 5' of wall between the living room and kitchen (it will be a counter/penninsula with no wall above). The kitchen is the only big thing still in process & Glen is beginning to install the counter underlayment. The slate tiles are to be installed this coming week. The floor sanding is done and Glen and I put the first coat of Poly on today. I will do 2 more coats over the weekend. What a difference cleaned up shiny floors make! I have also put in about 150 plants (almost all culled from the Shutesbury gardens)

Lessy St: Week 3 Progress - part 1

Here are some photos from the past week. The interior is mostly all painted now. The kitchen is still very much in process. The floors are being sanded as I type. I have begun planting outside (after 3 weeks of rain). So, take a gander; let me know what ya think! It will look much better with furniture and art but you will get a sense of the changes.


Beginning to plant in back yard. You can also see just the bottom branches of the huge trees out back that separate our yard from the elderly & disabled housing.

Master Bedroom - bird's egg blue wih linen white trim.

Chimney & fireplace getting painted out -linen white to match trim.

Lessey St: Week 3 Progress

Dining room corner - soft pumpkin, mexicana and linen white trim.
Bairds' studio room - stem green walls, linen white trim including 2 walls of bookcases, with retro fabric accents. Stay tuned!
New atrium doors on breezeway: one set out front & one set in rear of house.

Mum's Day '06

Today was Mum's Day '06..... my # 23 mother's day...whoa!

Our pastor Sarah and hubby Andrew announced today that this is her mum's day #1..... yup... baby due in Jan '07. Cool. Never had a pregnant pastor before, lol!

I had a most enjoyable day. Lunch with the fam. at the Jet and Beno's. Jess made yummy home made chicken / rice soup, served with Black Sheep's sour dough bread, wine and Aaron's special peanutbutter/choc chip brownies with ice cream and whipped cream. Yum! Got fun BeDe cards from the offspring & son-in-law saying they will deliver Shute-ho rocks to Lessey St. Yeah!! Can't get those Shute-ho rocks easily once we've vacated the hill top house. Also Jet took me to the store to pick out 4 adirondak chairs, from her and Ben and Aaron, for my new yard. We chose the red ones!

Later Baird and Aaron and I went to NoHo to see Free Spirits ...a locally produced documentary film about the large and renown commune that was in Franklin County for 20 years (late 70's to late 90's). Very interesting and well done.

Tomorrow....back to painting and such at Lessey Street. I think Brett & Glen are both planning to be there as well. Should be a good, albeit another wet, day. This rain is crap...7 days so far I think...flood warnings around too. And, I saw "chance of rain" is in the forecast each day for yet another week!! Quite depressing actually.

Oh... I posted the Shutesbury house on Craig's List and other spots this weekend. Baird got a web page with pics started too.
Check it out at:
http://nyc33.com/beautifulshutesbury/

Hope that helps.

Week 2 at Lessey

I have not taken new house pics in a few days b/c it has been so rainy and crappy...but I will catch up soon.

Here's some pics of today's ending adventure: after 9 hours of painting I went to my car and found I had a flat tire. BUT, thx to AAA and a nice tow truck driver named Matt, it was changed, repaired and re-installed in about and hour, while Baird and I ate at the Thai restaurant up the street from our house.

This week several of the rooms got some painting at least started. The 2 new closets are all framed and partly sheetrocked. The larger bathroom now has a plywood floor (one day to be tiled), the breezeway has 2 sets of french doors (one is operational so far) and the kitchen rehab has begun. Ben and Brett and Glen spent a lot of time working there this week, along with me of course. Baird spent quite a bit of time trouble shooting some wiring issues. Aaron was able to come today to mud sheetrock and my friend Polly came today and washed tons of woodwork for me so I can now paint it.

More pics to come soon!

Lessey St Days 3-8

So much had been going on at the new house that I have not even had time to download pics and blog about it all.
All the carpet is out, all the wall paper is off and the tile floors in the kitchen and smaller bathroom are exposed. The larger bathroom has been gutted down to the plaster walls and its overhaul is about to begin. The doors on either end of the breezeway are out and the new French doors will go in this week. The kitchen renovation: opening of walls, moving doorways & cabinets a bit & installing new slate counters, has hit a bit of a slow down b/c the load bearing walls are not quite as we expected. This means we need to come up with revised plans for the building inspector. Not something I am looking forward to doing.

Aaron, Ben and Brett went to the Boston area to pick up a claw foot tub, huge Kitchen Aid refrigerator and a couch. The trip went basically OK but the fridge is incredibly heavy and huge (as well as top heavy). The trip took longer than expected (they arrived back in Amherst after 1AM and I got them back to their respective homes after 2AM). The evening included a few other hassles that shall remain unspecified here but...... anyway....... thankfully they made it back safely and the "treasures" are now in the garage.

I have painted some of the dining room, all of Baird's studio walls and two of the living room walls. It is really exciting seeing the color go on and the space transform. The old wallpaper & bland white paint is rapidly disappearing.

We are most thankful for all the help from our kids: Aaron, Jess and Ben, as well as our friends Sarah, Cheryl, Julian, Brett, Josh, Carrie, Glen and Chris.

There is still quite a long way to go but a lot has happened in one week!

Days 1 & 2 at Lessey St.

We closed on the Lessey St house yesterday, May 1!! Soon after that we dragged our tools into the house and began the work. The biggest thing we did was tear out the old carpets. That was gross but it was great to get our hands on the place.

May 1, Day 1: several people stopped by for a quick house tour or visit: Mindy. Lee, Chris, Josh, Glen, Brett, Ben, Jess and Aaron.
Jess stayed a little while and helped me get a big book case out of the bedroom.

May 2, Day 2: I jumped into the work at about 1PM and was joined by Chris and Ben. Then Aaron and Julian showed up followed by Cheryl and Sarah and Baird. We made a lot more messes today..began some bathroom demo, got about 1/3 of the wallpaper off, took down all the window treatments, discovered old mosaic tiles under the kitchen linoleum and cleaned most of it off and a bunch of other smaller things.

Back at it in the AM. Chris is meeting me there. Ben , Aaron & Brett are taking a UHaul to Boston tomorrow eve to pick up the fridge, claw foot tub and a couch. Who knows what else will transpire???

What a week this is going to be!

Oh yeah...and there was another showing of the Shutesbury house today and an open house is scheduled for Sunday!