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!

The Outside After Renovation

This first shot shows the Shutesbury house a couple of months ago. The others give you an idea of what the house looks like, as of today. We finished staining the new siding yesterday! The 7 windows in the original (front) part of the house are now all new and the old fake log siding has all been replaced with rough, cut ship lap boards.

Last Bash at Wendell Rd House

Yesterday we hosted our last big bash at the Wendell Rd house. We have been here 12 years!

We finished putting stain on the new siding of the house a couple of hours before the party. Around 35 people came. Many have lots of memories here....some stretching back the 12 years, some over the past few. There were also 3 newer friends here who had never seen the house. We gave tours of the recent work, had a BBQ and then a roaring camp fire in the fire pit until about 1AM. It was a great way to call it a wrap!

We are looking forward to hosting many more gatherings at the Lessey St. house...which will be easier for everyone to get to, except Williams and Franklins who live up here on top of the hill.

Tomorrow we close on the new house and begin cosmetic renovations in the afternnon. Our kids and some of our tried and true friends will help us yank old carpets, peel wallpaper and other such fun over the next couple of weeks. We are scheduled to move in June 3.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Hanging with emerging church folks, potting plants and other such busy-ness.

This last week brought some new stuff to my plate. I went with Ben, Jess and Sarah to Kairos, a gathering of emergent church types in western MD. Brian McLaren was there, sharing some thoughts, hanging out and chatting with us and the other 50 or so people gathered. It was encouraging to have such a low key and personal time with Brian. He shared some interesting insights and spurred on conversations about spiritual formation, the attonement and other things. I did not say "answers" mind you...but... food for thought, encouragement to explore & lots to more think about. I met some inspiring people as well.

The retrurn to Amherst found me scurrying to catch up on counseling work and teaching stuff. I also stained another side of the house. Then this weekend I divided up some of the plants in my garden, potting up around 100 plants to move to the new house.

Still no offers on the Shutesbury house tho..trying not to panic...

Well..that's it for tonight.

Long Overdue Update

I have not blogged in so long. Guess I have been really busy with work on the house, planning for the Lessey St house, teaching and counseling. Then 3 weeks ago I added gardening back into the mix as I began to clean up the yard in Shutesbury. So, blogging has gone by the wayside for a bit.

No new photos today but here's a few "snapshots":

House stuff:

The Shutesbury house is on the market. It has been shown 4 times plus a big realtors tour came thru. No offers yet.
:-( Hopefully soon.

The financing and other legal details on the Lessey St house are all set and we are moving towards a May 1 closing. I have begun planning out the projects to do there in May. Hopefully all the financial stuff will permit us to do what we need / want to before we move in.

I have booked a U-Haul for the first weekend in June to move the bulk of our stuff down to Amherst.

On other aspects of life's fronts:

Today I helped chaperone the eighth graders from Jess's class (about 100 kids all together I guess) on a field trip at UMass. It was a beautful day and a fun trip. Jess had done a great job planning it all. They were divided into small groups and rotated
around visiting labs (including Baird's Electronica lab) & art galleries, the greenhouses & student businesses, had a treasure hunt & ate lunch. After I had to leave they all went ice skating at the Mullins Ctr. I think they had a great time.

Jess passed her high school biology teacher's exam so now she is certified to teach both grades 5-8 general science and high school life sciences/biology (technically grades 5-12). She is interviewing for Summer jobs and will begin interviewing for Fall teaching jobs later this month. She wil complete her masters in June.

Ben is wrapping up his first year of a 2 years masters in education and working a bunch of part time jobs on campus (info technology stuff) and off campus (carpentry mostly).

Jess & Ben recently got 2 indoor rabbits, Peter & Mopsy. They are really cute and soft.

Aaron is wrapping up his first year at Umass. He's pretty into his sutainable living course and his bioterrorism course. He's taking a communciation course and Portuguese as well and has had a good semseter so far. He also works on campus at People's Market, an organic foods type student business, where Jess and Ben both worked when they were undergrads.

My mom's "companion" Conrad is still in the nursing home but after many months of tremendous spinal pain and immobility, he is now able to walk with a walker. Today my Mom took him out for a ride in her car. I think this is the first time he's been out in 11 months (except for a couple trips to the hospital). Amazing! He turns 92 on Saturday! We are having a little party for him.

On Sunday afternoon Jess and Ben and I will join our pastor, Sarah for a trip to a retreat in MD with author and pastor Brian McLaren with a focus on discussing issues rleated to the "emerging church." Should be an interesting and fun trip. I am really looking forward to it.

My neice, Karen, had a baby boy, Jackson, last week. Yeah!!

Well, that is it for me for tonight. Hope that gives you blog readers a little glimpse of our lives these days.

Eeek! We're on Display!

The Shutesbury house has begun to be shown. There is not much weirder than having your house on display on short notice. First showing was at 8AM this morning. It is stressful to live in a house without it looking lived in..or at least..not toooo lived in, if you know what I mean. I have to say tho, it is easier than the time in Ipswich when Jess was 21 months old and Aaron 2 months old..... or Florence when they were 1 and 2years old.... or the time in NoHo when they were 8 and 9. Keeping a house ready to show is a bit easier with just two adults.





We had the inspection at 38 Lessey on Monday. Here is a pic of the front door. Nothing really earth shattering showed up in the inspection. The insulation is past its prime. There are a couple of drips in plumbing, some things are a bit tired after 50+ years. Typical house stuff. The only shocker was the HUGE hornets' nest tucked in the eaves of the attic. As you may be able to tell in the pic, it is pretty jumbo. Yikes!! Yes, the current owners will have it exterminated, asap. I don't think the elderly owners had any idea! They'll also give us a bit of a price break to take care of the other odds and ends.

Meanwhile the siding project on the Shutesbury house is essentially done. Yeah! The building inspection on the siding and windows was today. We still have a few interior details to do as well as more cleaning out of basement, etc but it looks pretty good if you ask me.

Well, off to bed.... a bank meeting and a tax meeting tomorrow. Meeting with lawyer for the purchase of Lessey on Friday....it is one huge whirlwind!

It is Official

Yes, it is official. Our house in Shutesbury is now on the market. We listed it on Saturday, with Jones Town and Country's Jaqui Zuzgo. We are praying for a speedy sale since we already have a P & S agreement on a house in Amherst at 38 Lessey Street. We head into town this afternoon for the home inspection on that place. Meanwhile, Glen and Will are scheduled to complete work on the Shutesbury siding project today and & tomorrow. This weekend Baird packed some of his "stuff" into boxes to take to storage and I raked off the back gardens. Ben and I also burned lots of junk out in the firepit. Well, still lots to do! ttfn

Home Encouragement

Getting 2 rooms fairly well resettled this weekend has been an encouragement. Now, if you look toooo closely you will see the yet to be done detials: window grills missing, doors missing, trim missing, lumber in the background, etc BUT if you overlook the hundreds of little detials yet to be completed, you will be afforded a glimpse of what the place is shaping up to be. This is the living room and the new bedroom with the opening to the sitting room (old bedroom). April should bring some nice weather and with it an open house. Soon to come, pics of some of the new art work.

A Surely Perch

Surely has discovered the new wide window sills :-)
Things are beginning to look "normal" again. At least in a couple of rooms.

Advancing Daily

We are advancing daily now on the house projects. Yippe! The new bedroom space is all painted and the carpet will be installed tomorrow, Friday. This week we opened up the wall between the old bedroom and the new room. The old room will become a sitting area and the new space will be the bedroom. Here you can see the wall being taken down. I cut away the yellow wall and took out all the old insulation. YUCK! Then Baird and I cut through to the other side and framed out the opening. I then installed trim and finished painting yesterday and today. I am really looking forward to getting the furniture situated and to eliminating the major clutter of books, chairs, shelves, tables and what not that have been moved about for the past 2 months.

One More Saturday Report

One more Saturday in Shute-ho. This AM I read an on-line guide to installing tile and with more than a bit of fear and trembling, I jumped into the project using tile I had bought a few days ago. Will had put cement board all around the tub for me yesterday. So, it was ready to go. And here it is at 3:30 PM. Tada! The pictures are without grout. That must wait 24 hours. After that comes the trim.... so.... bear all that in mind. The other pic is of the closet I "built" this week. Actually I requisitioned half of an old closet that Ben and Brett removed from the living room corner last Saturday. I re-sized it and re-located it just outside the bathroom. It will house the vacuum, broom and supplies.