Let's hit the restart in 2014

Suffice it to say that 2013 is not in my top 10 favorite years of my life. It has been a struggle. Work has been overwhelming with immense and constant change. There was a "small flood" that interrupted the summer and then amid this chaos,  I decided that going back to school would be a good idea a so I started a graduate diploma at the University of Waterloo in September.  Our family also walked through months of health challenges along with valleys of grief due to the passing of loved ones.

So as you can see, not the best year for the books. There were moments of goodness and joy interspersed  throughout. A week with a favorite niece and nephew. The honour of being asked to be a godmother not just once but twice. Wonderful conversations with my grandma. Being accepted into the grad program. And of course, my garden...my sanctuary. Those good moments seem so much sweeter. It is easy to be grateful for those more joyful moments but I still am trying to find gratitude for those moments where it was a struggle in the sadness and darkness. I hope to find it.

I want to end the year with hope for a better 2014. I thought about the Tennyson poem "Ring Out Wild Bells"

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

 

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

I think this poem echoes my thoughts so well. So to prepare for the end of 2013 and to really punctuate my intention, I am in the final countdown for a trip to East Africa. Truly a trip of a lifetime and I have been waiting impatiently for it all year. It will be epic and there will be pictures in January.

I am taking this vacation as a re-set for life in general. I know that life will continue to have struggles but my outlook can change and that is what I need.

Because I haven't really updated my blog since MARCH! What?! here are some shots of the year around the magic house...well, actually just my garden because that is all I managed to do in the last 9 months.

Dad and Jon move the deck stairs for me.

I get handy...

And build some raised beds

This was taken with my ipad so the quality is bad but you can see the growth

The river by my house with the fall colors...another season gone

See you all back here in 2014!

Winter 2013

To be honest, I haven't done a lot on my house the last 3-4 months. It has been fairly busy with work and it really just took all my energy to keep up with the projects, training, events, etc that is my career. But as exhausting as it was, I am so fortunate to be doing good work that has impact in my community. Love my job!

I digress...back to the house. Today I spent some time this Easter weekend starting garden clean-up. It may be a bit early but it was so warm and green is already starting to pop through on the parts of the garden that enjoy lots of sunshine.

My garden today

This is called hope.

This is called reality

A clean deck and patio

Besides the garden, here are a few photos of some small projects I did get to this winter to bring you up to speed:

Added some details in the bedroom

Added some pictures/postcards to my closet doors

Decided to get rid of the bathroom curtain and install privacy films

Quite easy to install the privacy film. Love it as it lets the light in so nicely

Rearranged furniture so I could have a place for visitors to sit in the kitchen or another spot to watch the garden.

Replaced the washstand with a small table for my kitchen window

The result of furniture rearrangement in the living room

I also created a library in my office...I thought I had a picture of it in my files but no luck. Will reveal that at a later date.

Then my bedroom door "started" chipping...which isn't a bad thing because it is an off-white color where the rest of the trimmings are bright white. So I helped it along...

Now the front is nearly done...makes quite a mess but fairly easy.

Then I thought it would be fun to learn how to stain furniture. So my guest room chest of drawers went from this Ikea RAST to

 

 To this lovely chest of drawers:

 

Also, this weekend, I tried my hand at caulking. My back room window was getting condensation in between the 2 panes of glass. Upon investigating, I realized that the window was not sealed on the inside. So I thought I have seen people do this therefore I can do it. Small DIY tip for you all: after snipping the tip off the caulking tube, DO NOT forget to poke the seal on the inside of the tube or you will have the mess I experienced with the caulking squishing out the other end and all over the caulking gun. If I had "you-tubed" how-to-caulk, I would have learn about this secret seal. It also would have been handy for the manufacturers to put opening instructions on the product...just saying. 

The next thing on my to-do is try to determine why my washing machine decided to leak all over the basement floor this weekend. Super fun!

photo shoot antics

My friend Danielle is a budding photographer so for Christmas last year, she gave me a free photo shoot. It could be anything I wanted so I decided to capture the magic house. She was excited as she had never done an interior/architecture shoot before. We had a great time staging and trying different lighting techniques.

Here are shots of her in action:

All the photos below are compliments of Danielle.

 

 

The women

This post has nothing really to do with the magic house so please indulge me.

For the past couple of years, I have been thinking a lot about the women who came before me...the feminine heritage. So often family history is patriarchal and almost dismisses the women who played such an important role.

Whenever I am in Toronto, I have this uncanny feeling of walking with the women of my family. Not sure how to really describe it but I almost feel their presence. I often ask my Grandma for stories about her mother and grandmother but it is getting hard to gather them. I wish I thought to ask about the stories years ago. However, I was lucky enough to borrow a photo album with pictures of these women. I want to name them so the world knows they had value and contributed so much to those in their lives. In fact, who they were/are has influenced much of who I am today.

Mertie Chase - My great great grandmother

I love her name...it is so strong. I don't know much about her but what I do know about her is that she was kind and would care for my grandma and siblings when they were young. My grandma's family was not well off financially but Mertie would bring fruit and candy as a treat. She was beloved by my grandma. Mertie was born in the USA and I am not sure how she ended up settling in the Toronto area but I am assuming she had an adventurous spirit to move away from her family.


Ethel Chase Scadding - My great grandmother

I was once told by my grandma's former boyfriend that I reminded him of my great-grandmother. I took that as a compliment (I think I was about 10 at the time). Since then, I have learned about her compassionate heart. She took in numerous foster children throughout the years. She was also ingenious and often had to figure out how make do with very little. Her husband was ill for many years so she really held the family together. She loved to read as well.


Ethel Scadding Light - My grandmother

My dear grandmother...what can I say? I feel an affinity with her. She was a career girl and didn't get married until her 30's. Then she moved from Toronto to the middle of the Saskatchewan prairies. She had a tough time in her marriage but she faced her life with grace, humour and a love for reading and poetry. She held onto her faith during the hard times and raised four amazing children. After her husband died, she embraced life and continued to travel.


Marilyn Light Bateman - My mother

My dear mom means the world to me. She taught me that the definition of family is far bigger than those you are related to by blood. She led by example of loving people no matter what...even those that are not also easy to love. She always had extra food and chairs for Sunday dinner and that guests should be treated with the nice towels and a clean space to rest their head. Since retiring, she has traveled to Haiti and Guatemala to serve those who need her healing touch. She lives with great love and grace.

 These women opened their homes and hearts and hands to those they encountered in life. Perhaps the connection to my magic house is that I use it to provide a place of love for those I encounter. It is humbling to come from this lineage and my hope is that I live with the strength, grace and love they demonstrated in their lives.

The chair

My skill at procrastination is undeniable. More than two years ago, I bought a chair from a great antique shop in Nanton. However, the chair required some TLC. The chair sat with a blanket over it for quite a while. In September, I moved it downstairs to the studio to start the re-upholster project. But as you know, it is now November and I finally started the project.

Here is the step-by-step disassembling of the chair.

The Chair...faded and stained fabric...it must go

the first panel is removed

you can totally see the fading of the color.
The original was a deep emerald green

The first indication that the chair was stuffed with straw. Yes, I said straw!

The straw!

The nearly completed disassembly

My next steps for the reuphostering (which I hope to complete in the next decade) will be re-finishing the wood and make the frame a bit more stable. Then I will attempt to reupholster the chair. I have never done this before. It could get interesting.

I picked up a couple metres of dark brown material from IKEA recently. I hope it will work with the chair. I kept the fabric I pulled off the chair to use as a pattern. Let's cross our fingers and see if I can make some furniture magic happen. Stay tuned!