There's been a good deal of progress over the last couple days. Yesterday, Tyvekistan made its appearance. This is a view of the forge area.


And the front of the building. The ice & water shield is on the roof.


Here's the side of the building. The roof is sheathed with plywood the whole way around.


I had a good bead day at the torch yesterday, too!


Now today, the rest of the ice & water shield is up as well as the paper on the forge roof:


And Tyvekistan is on the front and side completely:


I had another good day at the torch today, but they're still in the kiln. The weather has turned after a cold front came through and now the air is crisp, cool and dry. Just like it was in Oakland. I could drink it. We opened a bunch of windows in the house and got all the stale air-conditioned air out and let the good air in. It was so nice to feel the cool breeze. It was just glorious. I can't wait to sleep with the fan on and the windows open.

Not that I'm superstitious or anything, but we put up a pine bough on the top of the forge roof, to "top off" the building. I love traditions like that. I couldn't kill a whole tree to do this -- I don't even have a real Christmas tree -- so I used a branch. I have enough sap on my hands from taking so many trees down last fall, I don't need more.

Yesterday, Keith and Will worked on the roof. It's almost done on the north side.

The south side is completely done.

Here's the forge roof.


And here's the front of the cottage, all sheathed with OSB. (I think it stands for OutSide Boards).

Last night coming home we drove into the driveway and stopped to look at how pretty the cottage is sitting right next to the house. We were just struck with how nice it looks with the gable end next to the gable end of the garage. It's so sweet.


On the way home from Oakland, I read an awesome book that I really just loved. It's called The Shack by William P. Young. It's a Christian book, although many Christians don't like it because it has a non-scriptural portrayal of God. But I just enjoyed it for the story and the very comforting messages therein. It had me in tears at one point and not many books do that. I love inspirational books like that. I think I blogged about The Alchemist last year. That's another of my favorites.

First of all, I have to say that the last two days were extremely creative and productive days for me at the torch. I haven't felt this good about beadmaking for a long, long time. Last weekend at the Gathering I gave away the bracelet of beads that were stolen from me. I had been having a bunch of trouble getting over the funk that being stolen from put me in. And then with my Dad dying not too much after that, I don't think I was in my normal right mind creatively for almost two years! I feel like I'm "back" finally and I think going to the Gathering had something to do with it. Definitely getting rid of the bracelet helped. And looking forward to this awesome building being built helps, too.

The bead cottage is truly a wonder to behold. That just 2 people could build this beautiful building is really amazing. Everything fits together perfectly. The horizontal beams are truly horizontal, for example. I don't take that for granted, because I live in the house that I do.

Yesterday, the riblets were put up for the roof.


Here's a shot of the forge area. The two walls without walls will have telescoping doors, so that Robert can choose to have them open or closed.

This is what they worked on today - the roof and the overhang for the storage area. It looks just like a little sugar shack in Vermont. So cool.


And also they put up the ceiling thingies going across in the bead studio area. These prevent the roof from pushing the walls outward. That would be bad. So I'm going to have a cool tray type ceiling thing going.


Here is the glass hummingbird I got from Vittorio Costantini at the bead bazaar. It's incredibly life-like and stands on its own. That man is amazing.


Here's a haiku for today.

Please don't boo Timlin
He's doing the best he can.
How would you like it?

Here are some new pictures of the progress on the bead cottage. Keith repositioned my flag much to my delight.



And here is a picture of the whole building so far. It's starting to look like a real building!

Today was the bead show and sale at the Gathering. I bought some amazing beads from some amazing artists and I can't wait to show them here. I'll take some pictures when I get home. I am in my room on the computer listening to the Red Sox game. The banquet is tonight but it doesn't start until 8:00 so I have a few free hours to relax and visualize a baseball game. The bead cottage is coming along I see. I've been stocking up on supplies to furnish the new studio with. I just hope I can get the stuff home on the plane!

I am getting my first view of my living room with painted walls. The painters were there on Wednesday, the day I left for Oakland. Thanks for taking and posting the pictures, sweetie!

Although the room could use some straightening, sweetness. :D


Here's my first view of the progress on the bead cottage. It looks like a building! Hooray!




OK, so here I am in Oakland, California. The people here are extremely friendly, helpful & nice. It stuns this New Englander when people are not afraid to talk to you even if they don't know you. And the weather is fantastic. A touch on the cool side, which for August is fabulous. I wanted to drink the air it was so cool and crisp. If I weren't building a bead cottage I'd move here in a heartbeat. LOL.

Today construction started. This is the first wall going up.


And here is the progress so far. It looks like it's going to be pretty crappy weather the rest of the week so progress may be minimal, but it doesn't matter because I will be away and the less I have to miss the better.
I made some nice beads for trades today. I will have a good number with me in Oakland. So wish me bon voyage because my next post will be from the Gathering in Oakland.

I was giving Barney his eye medicine when I glanced out the living room window to see the sun's rays streaming through the trees. I ran upstairs to get the camera and then outside in my jammies to snap this picture. I love seeing the sun's rays coming through clouds or through trees. When I was deep in the throes of mourning for my father, they comforted me and made me think that there is something more to this life -- that somehow they were his message to me that he is OK and is watching over us.

Happy Birthday, Martha! I hope you have a wonderful day.

We've been stuck in a rut weather-wise since last Friday. Rain, rain and more rain. It's doing a number on my bead cottage because it is putting off other projects which in turn put off my project. So rather than the end of this week, it looks like building will start the middle of next week if I'm lucky and the weather cooperates. So say a prayer, keep your fingers crossed, light a candle, and do an anti-rain dance.

Arthur the electrician is here fixing my plugs in my garage studio, so now I will be able to make beads at last. It's been too long and I've been jonesing, especially now that things around here are nice and quiet for the time being. It's a perfect opportunity to create. I have nothing scheduled for tomorrow, so I think I have a date with my torch and kiln.

Another haiku

I took a nice nap
So that I could watch the game.
Is it 10:10 yet?

A haiku

West coast road trips suck.
What happened to the Bullpen?
Lester takes the mound.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

It has been a very relaxing weekend. Friday night I put the dogs in the kennel and drove to Northwood Lake to spend the weekend with my mother and sisters and niece. I've been relaxing, reading and watching baseball pretty much the whole time. The weather has been hot and muggy but the airconditioning takes care of that nicely. Today is the same, hot and muggy but also cloudy and raining. Go figure.

Today, one of my favorite people in the whole world turns three. Happy Birthday, Elizabeth! We celebrated her birthday with a party for the family last night. She got some great books and 2 princess dresses. Today she has been impressing everyone by going around saying "Dammit, my hat is missing." We are trying to ignore her foul language and to not encourage her by laughing, but it's hard not to! It's so funny when she does that. There's a good reason that I'm not a parent.

I can has lumber?

Today we got a delivery of a bunch of lumber for the bead cottage. It wasn't delivered by crane, but by moffett, a kind of piggy-back forklift. It was kind of fun. I'd like to drive around town in one of these things.

After the delivery came, I met my mom, sister and niece at the Backroom for dinner and then my sister, niece and I went to the NH FisherCats game. It was a beautiful evening. And it satisfied my jones for some baseball during this baseball-free week.

The view from our seats:


Sarah and Elizabeth sharing an ice cream:
A very excited fan:I left around 9:30. I was hoping to see the moon rise over centerfield, but the moon didn't cooperate. It rose behind the stands instead.

Weekend

We had a great weekend. Sunday we went to Fenway again. This time the Red Sox won! Yippee! And now they are at the top of their division at the All-Star break. That totally rocks. It was a gorgeous day-- nice and warm if a little humid but there was such a refreshing breeze it blew away the stickiness. This was the view from my seat:
Notice anything missing? Like maybe the batter? The catcher? The home plate umpire? I had the perfect non-view of home plate. If I leaned forward to where my nose was almost touching the person in front of me, I could almost see a righty batter. Forget about trying to see a lefty. It kind of stunk, but I felt fortunate to be there in the crowd anyway. It was a lot of fun.

Manny went into the wall again during a pitching change. This is him coming out.
(I deleted a big whine here about the all-star break and about west coast road trips)

As far as the bead cottage goes, there won't be too much progress this week as Keith and Charlie have to work on some other projects before building starts here. I do hear that we may get some lumber drops, though. They might be blog-worthy. Maybe they'll use a crane.

Well slab man Steve has come and gone. I was considering placing some beads in the slab but couldn't make up my mind. I didn't want to mar the perfect finish. It was so smooth and nice. When Steve left for lunch I went out there and tested the slab and even if I wanted to there was no way to put a bead in. That stuff was like a rock already. It's too bad because I had the perfect beads to place in there. They were beads with sayings like "joy" and "dream" and "create" -- perfect for a bead cottage.

This morning slab man Steve showed up along with another cement mixer to pour the slab. It was pretty exciting to watch. Here's the cement being poured into the forge area:


Even Barney was fascinated with the goings-on:

Here's a close-up of the cement pouring out:

And the almost-finished product (slab man Steve had run out for coffee so I snapped a pic):

This morning Keith put up our new canine containment system. We tested it out and it works! No dogs escaped. Until the filling in of the foundation, the hills of sand plus a wheelbarrow and a couple of sawhorses worked to contain the beasts. After the hills were flattened we were forced to break out the leashes. This would be fine if we had normal dogs, but Barney will not do anything on a leash. Anything. It's a nightmare when we travel with them, and we cancelled our plans to bring the dogs to Bar Harbor pretty much for that reason. You have to wonder what goes through these dogs' heads. You know?

So I came home from my nail appointment and there was a Slab Man in the driveway, taking a look around. He told me they'd be back tomorrow to put in the slab.

Oh it's a beautiful day and no one is around so I'm sneaking off to the garage to make some beads.

I took these pictures seconds before a storm blew up, so it was quite dark out. The excavating - or filling in - is finished. The foundation is completely filled up and ready for the cement slab. Here's the typical shot I've been taking:

And a close up of the bead shop area. the forge is straight ahead and the storage area is to the left.


And a shot from the porch. The dark dirt is new topsoil and the lighter area is where the patio is going to be.

And then I had to run inside because it was thundering.

Yesterday, the insulation guys came and sprayed the foundation with a coat of this icky black gooey stuff. Then they insulated the foundation with baby blue styrofoam boards. The boards are scored to allow the water to drain.

When I came outside to take pictures, I saw a sock that was left in the foundation (I later found out this sock was Artie the plumber's sock. This was not the sock he was wearing - I asked. He was using it to wipe up the PVC glue he was using on the conduit) and that gave me an idea. I threw a bunch of beads into the foundation to be sealed in forever. I always end up with a ton of extra beads that aren't good enough to sell or are experiments and I finally figured out what to do with them. Here's one:
This morning the man from the excavators came over to mark where to fill the foundation and he told us that the Indian people he has worked for put gems in their foundations. Cool! They also fly their house plans to India to have them blessed. I didn't get my plans blessed and now I wish I had.

So here they are backfilling the foundation. I got the stinkeye from a couple of the people - especially Mr. Bosnia - but that didn't stop me from watching them. I love watching machines at work. I just wish they needed a crane.

They are almost finished. They just have to back fill the studio room.