At the end of my last blog posting we were just preparing for the arrival of our friends from Germany (Jan and Marina) and I had intended to complete a posting about their visit before 2023 came to an end, but somehow that just didn't happen. And so here I am in March of 2024, finally getting around to it. So, as my dear cousin Carol always says when she sends me an email "Grab a cup of tea and settle in, as this is going to be a long read!"
The morning of their arrival, we did one more quick vacuum around the cabin, made the bed, and did a final check to make sure they would be as comfortable as possible on their first night there. A flight delay at their end gave us one more hour to prepare before we had to leave for the airport in Ottawa. We felt like little kids; we were so excited about finally meeting our e-mail friends in person!
I should explain that Rob had met Jan through an online guitar course that they both were taking, and they had been emailing back and forth after discovering they had many things in common (apart from their love of guitar!). After offering Jan and his partner Marina the use of the cabin should they ever find themselves in Canada, plans had evolved for them to actually visit! We had done more than a few FaceTime calls over the months, but we were really looking forward to spending "real" time with them. Rob had also put out an invite to any other guitar course members in the area to come visit for an afternoon group "jam" later in the week and David, a member from the Toronto area had agreed to come. The members of the guitar course are spread out all over the world, so we were happy to find that someone lived close enough to drive here.
Our social lives were about to blossom. We had moved into this house just prior to the arrival of Covid, and really hadn't done much in the way of "entertaining" since then. I have to admit that I was feeling a bit of trepidation as to whether I could pull it all off! It had been quite a while since I had cooked for more than two persons, let alone spend extended periods of time with other people.
The next ten days went by far too quickly, as we tried to find a balance between visiting, sightseeing, sharing some meals, and giving Jan and Marina some time to themselves to explore the area, and be alone in the cabin. We seemed to fall into a comfortable routine in no time, and we enjoyed fabulous conversations, much laughter, and the wonderful sounds of music. We knew intuitively we would all get along, but I was completely unprepared for the amount of love I would immediately have for these two amazing human beings that had so magically come into our lives.
We spent a couple of days showing them the local towns, shopping locations, farm stands, and as a high point, we traveled to an amazing lookout view of the Ottawa Valley up near Wilno. 😀 Unfortunately, Rob and I had last visited the lookout some 20 plus years ago and there were apparently some changes since then. We got out of the car and gazed in wonder - at all of the trees that had grown up and now completely blocked the view. Our friends took our failure as tour guides in good stride, but this will no doubt become a future baseline for how to show our visitors a good time!
The day of the guitar jam arrived along with heavy, steady rainfall. While the guitar course members jammed happily away downstairs, Marina and I set up in my studio where she could paint, and I worked on some fabric projects. It was amazing to look over the studio railing and see guitar players in the living room! And they sounded wonderful.
For the first time, it felt like our house was just swelling with music, art and creativity, and my heart was bursting.
We had also invited our friend Mike, an avid musician to join us, but he was delayed somewhat. Once he and his wife Eva arrived I got busy preparing a meal for us all, and tried hard to overcome my usual reluctance to film people, and to photograph and video a bit of the occasion.
Of course, the afternoon and evening went by far too quickly. It was lovely to meet David from Toronto, to hear some guitar, singing and harmonica playing, and to share some conversation, food, and drinks. Plans are underway to do it again!
Luckily too, we still had a few more days after to enjoy more art, music, and the company of our friends.
I had been a bit worried about the weather, as October can be a fickle month, but we lucked out with some sunshine and warm temperatures for at least part of their trip. We had warned that there was always the possibility of snow, and I think they may have been disappointed that it didn't happen! We managed a few good walks in the area and there was even still a bit of pretty fall leaf colours to admire here and there.
Marina is an excellent cook, and the weather warmed up enough that we were able to enjoy a delicious meal outdoors on the porch of the cabin together, which was amazing for the time of year.
I was sure that I had taken a photo of the heavenly apple dessert she made (twice!) for us, but apparently we simply devoured it all, with nary a photo.
The weather also cooperated enough that we could sit out above the river for an entire afternoon.
Later, Marina and I had another chance to do some art together, while Rob and Jan did some recording.
(Making my heart burst again!)
It was, of course, far too short a visit. In no time it seemed, we were heading back to the airport for an emotional farewell.
Rob and I felt completely lost when we arrived back home. But thanks to continued video calls and emails with Jan and Marina since their visit, our friendship continues to grow, and plans for their return are already in place.
Of course, just a couple of days after their departure, we had our first snowfall. That was a good reminder to us that we had some things to do in preparation for winter. Normally we would begin closing the cabin down in November, but Rob's brother Ryan and his partner Rose were hoping to come visit for a week, so we left it up and running for a little longer. Our friend Joe came up for a quick visit for a couple of nights, and stayed here in the house with us. After such a long time of not having company, we were getting pretty good at it I think!
Rob was soon busy helping a neighbour pull some large stones out of their field before winter, and another neighbour asked for some help to move some gravel. I got busy putting my garden away. Then, we began moving our firewood closer to the house in preparation for winter. Diesel cans needed to be filled for use for the tractor, and extra cans of gas needed to be ready for our generator so we could boost power to our batteries when needed. The generator and tractor both needed pre-winter servicing so we did that. Snow tires on the car were installed, and we felt like we were almost ready. Unfortunately just when we were moving more firewood down, using our old truck, the brakes on it failed. We primarily use it here on the property for moving wood, so it wasn't a big deal, but it did mean having to make more trips using the tractor instead for the rest of the loads. We decided to try to see if we can fix the truck brakes later this spring, when it's warmer.
Rob's brother Ryan was then able to come up for about a week for a really nice visit and a much needed break for he and Rose. It was great to spend some time with them both but as soon as they left, it was time to close the cabin while it was still warm enough inside to be comfortable to work. We cleaned, tucked bedding and kitchen wares away and brought home anything that we didn't want to freeze over the winter. We discovered that the washing machine was acting up again, and opted to just leave the the repair until spring (lots of fixes to do this spring I think!) We drained all the pipes in the cabin, put tarps up around the porch, and declared the cabin ready for winter.
As we had already burned through some of our winter firewood, we ended up moving more down (and would move more again before Christmas!). I of course always worry we won't have enough, and Rob assures me we will !
In the first week of December we had our first good snowfall. The first one is always the hardest, as we try to get into the groove of clearing, plowing, making sure the solar panels are clear, and getting the snow off of the shelter and away from the doors at the cabin. Knowing a storm was coming we had already made sure we had extra gas and diesel, and that our weekly groceries were done. The roads are never great here after a snowfall, so we are always happy if we don't have to go anywhere until they are cleared.
Once winter arrives, it doesn't seem to matter whether I take a photo in colour or black and white; it almost always looks the same. Our world becomes shades of grey but it sure looks beautiful when the snow clings to the trees. I never tire of the views.
For entertainment, Rob and I follow a local on-line auction that runs every few weeks and to our surprise, in December there was a small parlour guitar listed (a "baby" Martin). Guitars are like a shining beacon to Rob. This one had a broken headstock which had been very poorly repaired (which devalued it considerably) but Rob was interested in it and placed a bid - and managed to win it! It worked out that it was a 1940 model that came with the original case, so Rob was pretty pleased to have it and plans to eventually fix the previous repair so that it is not as noticeable. It's a wonderful little guitar and an early Christmas present for sure!!
With Christmas fast approaching, I got to work on making some Christmas cards, and used some of the paints that Marina had bought and left behind. She is a talented artist and when she painted in my studio, it looked like it might be a lot of fun to try to learn more about it. I have only ever painted on fabrics, and watching her made me think that I might like to try painting on canvas sometime.
I always make Biscochitos as it is one of our usual Christmas traditions and I am always surprised by how many cookies the recipe makes, so I end up freezing quite a few for later on. Some find their way as Christmas gifts to friends and neighbours as well.
And I also made mincemeat tarts, but I always forget to take a picture before I pop them into the freezer!
We found a perfect tree growing under the power lines that we knew would have to be removed within a year or two, so cut it down and brought it home as our Christmas tree. I love when there is enough room in between the branches that I can see all of our ornaments hanging and the lights show up better too I think. And they reflect beautifully in the windows!
Each year amongst our ornaments there is a photo of three of our previous cats; Zin, Sam and Bates. For this Christmas I decided to make sure we had pictures of ALL of our cats and dogs from over the years hanging in the tree. It was our first Christmas without little Axle, and I missed his presence enormously. So here we go:
Jet:
Zuni:
Axle, Leon, Sita and GB:
Little Tess (the only photo I could find) and Josh:
And of course our original threesome - Zin, Sam and Bates (this photo was taken in a tree from a much earlier Christmas when we lived in the dome!)
It was a bit of a rush job to find old photos and get copies made, and quickly mounted on card stock, but it was lovely to finally do it!
Two days before Christmas, Rob finished up a cabinet that he had agreed to build for our neighbours and with no working truck, he had to deliver it using the forks of his tractor. Luckily it survived the long journey to next door.
The wooden knob that opens the lower door has it's own story. Rob has had it for years; in fact he had it before I met him, and it has been in a box with some other hardware all this time. It didn't look like much, but he cleaned it up and it revealed itself to be a beautiful wood knob, probably made from walnut. He only had one, so it seemed like this was the perfect use for it, and I must say it looked like it was just made for this door.
Christmas Day was mild, with temperatures around 2 degrees, and super foggy. We began to think we were going to lose the rest of our snow before New Year's with the unusually warm temperatures.
I didn't take many photos this year, but did remember to capture a quick pic of our Christmas Day ribs ! As it turned out there were a lot of leftovers of course. But I always figure that if I am going to take the time to slow cook ribs, I should cook lots.
Somehow I forgot to take any photos of the rest of our fine meal though.
I had been frustrated for months with camera lens focusing issues, and despite taking time to clean my camera and lens thoroughly, and reading up on possible setting causes, it seemed clear that something inside the lens was loose. So Rob watched some videos, and then just before New Year's he bravely took my lens apart! I hovered around anxiously, but as I had figured out that a new lens (or camera for that matter) was out of the question I had to agree that it was worth a try and so I anxiously awaited the (hoped for) re-assembly.
And voila, he got it apart, tightened the appropriate screws, put it all back together - and it worked! Thank you Rob. (And thank you to whoever did a detailed YouTube video as well!) A belated Merry Christmas gift to me !
We always enjoy our Christmas and New Year season with some nice meals, an excellent home made beer by the woodstove, and the occasional glass of wine. Brewers Note: Rob made one of his best stouts ever using coffee ( ! ), and we need to remember to make it well before Christmas again next year!
With the season over, we quietly moved into 2024. We reluctantly took down our pretty Christmas tree, tucked away our Christmas ornaments, and retreated to our studios for some creative time. Rob was working on playing guitar, and cleaning up his workshop, while I pondered some new Altered Artwear, and prepared to start working on an old denim jacket, and fixing up some jeans.
We had a bit of snow cover, and the temperatures, while still much milder than normal, were getting colder. The river was still pretty wide open but we expected it to freeze and narrow gradually. One night I ran down and was able to capture a pretty spectacular sunset.
In January we can normally expect temperatures of minus 35 degrees C or colder. But this year, during the entire winter we maybe had only a couple of nights that dropped to minus 20 and most of the nights were far warmer. We never moved into wearing our warmest winter gear on our walks, and often were drawn outdoors for extra daytime walks just because of the milder weather. In early January, when we usually are experiencing snow storms and freezing temperatures, this was our view on one of our morning walks.
I feel like the odd weather scrambled our brains a bit, as we just couldn't settle into the usual winter "groove".
Which may explain how it was that one day I found myself at the amazing Art Factory Art Store in Renfrew, buying not brushes or paint for my fabric projects as planned, but a stack of canvases to paint! And off I went on a new adventure.
I had a lot to learn about techniques, mixing colours, prepping surfaces etc. While my paints dried, I watched videos on abstract painting, consulted with Marina, and worked on my denim jacket. I found painting on canvas to be a lot easier than fabric, as I could much more easily paint over my "mistakes". The pic below is of the second canvas I painted, and although I liked parts of it, I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.
So I changed it to this. It is however still sitting in my studio as I ponder further changes! (Or maybe just a complete re-do).
Painting does seem to be a tad addictive, and I couldn't resist the fabulous sale prices on canvases at the Art Store and bought a couple more in varying sizes to try. I tried using some thick gesso for texture, and painted with a variety of paints, and even tried adding some coffee grounds to one of my pieces.
This rather bright pink one has lace embedded in the paint, textured gesso, and a cut up photo of my wedding dress hanging on a clothesline.
The longer rectangular format was a bit of a challenge for me, but sometimes I find that if I just sit and think about it for a while I can usually picture what I want. As well, I get some inspiration in my dreams too. I would say however, that this actual painting changed more than a few times before it arrived where it did.
Slowly my denim jacket was coming along nicely. And my denim jeans got some patches too. I enjoyed working with fabric again as it's been a while, and I am looking forward to doing more.
I also decided to try to improve my German over the winter months. I took German classes for two years in university, but that was so many years ago, that I had mostly forgotten all of it. (I also took Spanish later on, and find myself confusing all the words, and fill in a little French from time to time to really mess things up!) So I am slowly reacquainting myself with the language. They say it is good for your brain, but time will tell. Fortunately Marina emails me in German so I can only hope to improve before their next visit.
Meanwhile Rob had also gone off in a new direction as he was thinking of trying his hand at building cigar box guitars and learning to make pickups for them. (We thank our friends Jan and Marina as they clearly influenced both of our new found interests!) Rob was busy finding parts and gizmos and figuring out how to wind pickups when a nifty little machine came up on our local online auction. He had no idea what it was, but he had a feeling that some parts might be useful (Right!). So he bid on it. And won it. And brought it home. And I of course just rolled my eyes. That is, until he saw a name on one of the knobs and googled it in the hope that it might reveal what the machine had been used for in the past - and discovered that he had just bought - are you ready for it ? - a 1950's coil winding machine. I kid you not. Of course he was a little reluctant to plug it in but when he did - nothing worked.
But it was just missing a few electrical components which he purchased through a used parts company, and after also straightening the motor shaft, it is now running perfectly. And if more parts are needed? Well, we finally got around to disassembling our former Chilly Chiles massive BizHub printer, that has been sitting in various locations for the past 13 years.
We had tried more than a few times to get it running, but it wouldn't even power up any more and we learned a few years ago that it was no longer supported by Konica Minolta so we couldn't even donate it to a good cause. Enter Rob! After disassembly, he scooped any parts that might prove useful and the rest now fits into our car and can be taken to an e-waste depot. It was a great printer and worked hard for us for many, many years; producing product labels, signage and promotional items, so it's sad to see it rendered useless. And while parts of it will be distributed to metal and e-waste facilities, some parts will end up in landfill which seems completely wrong. I suppose on the plus side, Rob's "new" winding machine was saved the same fate, so I should feel better about that.
And so for the last couple of months we have been busy working on projects here and there, and wondering when winter would really arrive (except for a couple of snowfalls, it didn't) and where the days go as they seem to be just flying by.
As the daylight hours slowly get longer, our solar power improves. January was unusually dark and cloudy, and we were extra careful with our daily power consumption, and kept a close watch on our system. It's nice to see that we are now generating our own power even as late as 6 p.m. In no time, we will forget about the dark winter days and probably not even think about turning on a vacuum or a piece of equipment in the workshop. Well, at least until next fall! Rob is already back in his shop, working on the drawers for our pantry area in the kitchen. He started that project last May when I was in Vancouver, and is now happy to be able to get back at it.
While tidying up the workshop, he also decided to free up some space by moving a work table out and into his studio in the house. It's an old table from our Chilly Chiles warehouse and it needed some sprucing up. After messing around with a few ideas, like using airbrushes, dyes etc., and possibly creating a complex starburst effect, he simplified his efforts somewhat and came up with this:
I think it looks beautiful. And I was really pleased when he added colour to the plain metal legs too!
On our walks this March we began to scan the woods, looking for recently downed trees to pull out for this year's firewood. We know it's important to leave some trees down for all the ecological benefits they provide. But we seem to have no shortage of those as well. Last year we were late getting to this task, so we hope this year we can begin in April, but it is always weather dependent. It would be nice to be able to do it before black fly and mosquito season. Unfortunately we have heard that due to our mild winter, the ticks are already out in full force, so we will have to be mindful of that.
This will be the first year in a long time that we aren't facing the task of putting siding up, and that is a relief for us both. We are turning our attention instead to the possibility of getting some fill and gravel trucked in, as we never finished getting the area in front of the house up to grade. We aren't looking to do much other than to just tidy up the area and make it more functional. It needs to remain easy to plow using a tractor in the winter, and we need some kind of separation between our septic field and the driveway. With all the beauty of the forest and native plants that surround us, I don't feel there is much else that needs to be added in this area other than that. We will likely also rebuild my small raised bed herb and vegetable garden, and are considering where we can put a more permanent firewood shed. (We currently erect one each fall out of scaffolding and that may be the option of choice for a few more years yet! )
I love winter, and I missed it this year. But I did still have some magic moments of winter ice and snow down by the river. It is my favorite place to be no matter the season. And I find that when the world seems to be a dark and worrisome place, it is a good place for solace and positive energy.
This week's auction "find" was not nearly as good a score as the winding machine and the baby guitar. Rob insists that it was my urging that prompted him to bid on a Ralph Richards Ragtime album, but I will argue that I was merely pointing out to him that there was just seconds before the bidding closed and he was the one that hit the button. That said, this fine album (costing $1 plus tax) needed to be evaluated. How bad could it be? In order to ascertain this, he had to fire up our turntable and amp and he soon discovered that a belt in the turntable had disintegrated due to age so is now searching for a replacement belt at a reasonable cost. In the meantime a SteriStrip bandaid is holding everything together. Then it appeared that the amp had also failed, but he discovered a missing pair of jumpers on the back (we won't mention how these came to be removed) so it is also now working again. The album (which started this whole thing) was played (briefly) and will soon take up residence at the local dump. Sigh. More landfill. (And yes, I did look at some DIY projects for using old records!)
I guess Rob was in electronic-doodad-fix-it mode as he then took apart my 50+ year old sewing machine to install new gears that he had ordered, and he got it working again too.
On a roll, he then decided to try his hand at fixing leaky washer valves at the log house, and they are currently being cleaned and awaiting final repair. We do try to live by our ideals of fixing everything we can! If only we had been successful with the printer, but I will say that it's removal has freed up some valuable real estate in the mudroom.
Now as the Spring Equinox has arrived, we are beginning to hear the return of the red wing blackbirds, robins, geese, and other birds. I feel a bit like a hibernating bear, waking up from a lovely long period of spending time in the house, whether in my studio, or curled up by the woodstove, and emerging hungry for the new projects that spring always brings.
Today we are getting some snow squalls, so I am happy to linger a little longer in my studio, with one more blank canvas enticing me. We will be spending lots of our time working outdoors soon enough.
