Inside and Out

May 13

The weather here has been unbelievable…a low of 30 two days ago and 100 today. Amazing. We still manage to get some work done. The second stone arch is up and two walls are almost faced with stone. The large rocks in the foreground are for landscaping the terraces in front of the house that we’ll get to when Sam’s brother stops by for a visit. The large maple tree in the front of the house will soon aid us with its shade! Sam has also begun to nail up the cut shingle work on the second floor which really sets off the decorative window trim.

We have also begun to pour the concrete floor over the radiant heating system on the first floor inside. Eventually the floor will be paved with a polished stone facing. The central staircase post is in place as is the newel post that will be at the bottom of the steps. The large oak doors will also get their stained and etched glass windows…hopefully before snow flies again. LOTS to do in the months to come.  Jim

On the street a man runs. He runs, runs, runs. I do not see what he runs from. Is it disease, famine, bombs? What does he run from?  He runs from the hole, the hole that is found in his soul. He continues to run, continues to run on by. And I build to mask the ugly house behind and the ugly house behind and beyond. The houses built for owners who have no time, care, concern, thought for what they create. Just a wall, and a roof; a box to protect the chair in which they sit and watch the world slip on by on the screen on which others create fantasy, spectacle, and dream. The dream which they do not live but mask with their ugly house as a screen, and when it fails they run, they continue to run on by.  Sam

Time itself

May 1

We have been laying stone for the last four days thanks to the change in the weather. The front façade is almost complete and we are inching up on the window arches on the two adjacent sides.

After lunch yesterday a new arrival presented itself. Sam noticed an antique octagon faced oak school clock from the turn of the century hanging on a plasterboard wall in the dining room. Someone evidently stopped and hung it there. It will look fantastic with the oak woodwork in the downstairs which is coming from a demolition 40 years ago of an old Victorian house. We need to figure out who the benefactor was! We have been very fortunate in this project to have so many people contribute excess materials. To date we have received a walnut parlor set, a walnut buffet, two mahogany side chairs and a center table and the clock in the furniture department. Then there were the building supplies…baseboard heat units for the whole second floor, a gas fired boiler, a water heater, and all of the roof boards and attic flooring, the hardwood flooring for several of the formal rooms, much of the rough sawn oak to be milled into woodwork for the first floor, metal railings and a spiral staircase to the cupola, and miscellaneous stuff too numerous to mention! Every day seems to be Christmas!  Jim.

There was not a single May Day basket at the front door this morning. Jim keeps warning me to carry a big stick to beat the girls off with. I thought that the stonework going up would surely attract them but apparently not; probably thankfully so. There is, however, snow falling today. I am doing my best at deciphering the meaning of the mysterious clock. Maybe it is a sign that we are taking too long on finishing this project. Or we should be more aware of our own time on this earth. Whatever the case I have dusted for fingerprints, gathered a few loose hairs for DNA analysis, and will be assessing the originality of the clock itself. No stone will remain unlaid! As with all great crime fighters I will never rest until the case is solved.  P.I. Sam