Let's Inventory the Damages

Shall we start with the kitchen porch?  The old porch was rickety; the new one is larger, has a garbage bin and the steps relocated so you can get to the kitchen more easily.  And a new moose-proof door for the basement.  Sweet! 

Barn.  We have a new floor for the barn.  "And what was wrong with the old one?", you might ask.  Needed to go so Deric could replace all the beams and joists below.  Everything tied to the stone foundation rather than supported by old tree trunks.  But Karen and Sara really miss the stable.  Deric threw that away too.  But we got the hay and grain feeders and stable doors back.

Here's a photo of the winter work.  Derric waited until the lake froze.  It was only six feet from the rafters so a small ladder was all he needed to reach up to the work area.  When the lakes down during the summer, its 15 up.


Lido deck.  New supports, roof and rails.  Much safer now.


Kitchen.  Installed "new" flooring pulled from old barns in the parlor and kitchen.  All new cabinets.  Note the metal twig cabinet/door pulls.  Soapstone counter from Maine.  I had to twist Sara's arm to install that high-tech faucet.  Karen built that counter-height kitchen table from a beam removed from the boat house.  How do you like the larger opening to the diningroom and views to the lake?  Nice, right?
Shower room.  Tile shower with glass enclosure, new toilet and sink all installed.  Not sure what to do with the rest.  Leave rustic?

A Homecoming - there's changes afoot!

Is there anything as pleasing as a homecoming?  Like meeting up with an old friend after a long absence; you pick up where you left off, as if no time at all had passed, when suddenly one says exactly what the other is thinking, "It's like you never left!"

Well this Stone Camp homecoming is like that except things have changed.  Deric has been hard at work, when he's not hauling to the dump all the stuff that gives the camp character, on a new kitchen and upstairs shower room.  The camp is a mess and our number one job is to reorganize it and get it ready for the family later this year.

May 2012 - We be tooting off to Burlington

We can not believe that it's already May.  Karen, Jack and I are off to Stone Camp for two weeks.  We're leaving early to attend Henry's graduation from the University of Vermont in Burlington.  Seems just like last week that he was off to school, all quietly excited and anxious with Sara's long face at the prospect of being an empty-nester.  Some photos and dialog of the graduation, the highs, the lows.  Burlington is such a nice town.  Quintesential New England. 

Our drive across Vermont to Maine took 6 hours.  Two mountain ranges, twelve rivers and some of the most beautiful bucolic countryside you'll ever see.