Blood on the styrofoam

These last few days have been big ones for us.  On Friday the fixers that the moving company hired came and tended to our damaged furniture.  While it is just a fix-up, Dee and her crew did a very good job, especially on Mom's teak hutch.  Now we can finally move our stuff into our living space!    
 And for the water in the basement we put extensions on all the down-spouts to bring the water away from the house... that was good but Mom also found a large gap in one pipe right at the elbow so a lot of water was escaping and going into the ground along the foundation.  We fixed that and are now waiting for the next bigger rain.
  We had 2 rooms booked on the weekend, just such great folks!  So that was our 2nd successful B&B weekend!
  And today we got our new furnace, replacing this ol' thing.

One of the troublesome issues we've not been looking forward to dealing with is 2 heat outlets in our bedroom that were completely filled with expanding foam insulation.  Yuck.  But with the furnace guys willing to re-connect the works from the furnace, we had to see if we could get the foam out of the vents.  Why did the previous owners disconnect the pipes in the basement AND spray foam into the floor, who knows!?!?!?  

So we removed the floor registers and started digging... One was a 4 x 10 opening and the other much larger.  

For the last 3/4 of the dig, I had both arms in this 4 x 10 hole!  I have so many "defensive" bruises on my arms, it looks like I was in a nasty fight.  Then, finally I hit metal, only to find the pipe turned and now I had a full elbow!  How could I continue after the curve?!  I kept digging at the bottom of the pipe because that's the only part I could reach, wondering what tool might work better when finally... was that a hollow spot?  I kept digging and yelled out in pure relief:  I felt air on my fingers!!!  From that point on it was just ecstasy, although there was a lot of blood on the styrofoam at that point, both Mom's and mine.

Empty and clean, with all the wee bits vacuumed away!  And with air moving through!  What a difference this will make for heating, cooling and just having the furnace fan running for fresh air.

This old grate has a piece missing but is still lovely. 

And what a difference new floor diffusers make!  We got new ones for all around the house; the old ones were painted over, rusty

and a mess, as you can see.  (Of course, we kept the antique ones.)

This huge block was the last chunk that Mom pulled out of her hole!  

And Willow?  Oh, she supervised every move, laying upside down on her folded up bed!  

Enjoying the art in our backyard

We enjoyed the Elora-Fergus Studio Tour last Sunday and today and really were impressed by the artists we visited.  I could have purchased something from each of them, from Grayce Perry's Communion 4 collage/painting which featured a woman in a red cape with a black dog looking over a cliff into the blue, to Denise Rainville's beautiful plates and cups, to Tony Feluca's incredible, intricate insect jewelry to Stephen Kitras glass pumpkins to Vicky Beverstein and Edna Mewhiney's stained glass art.  

  In the end we had to be realistic, focus on the furnace and air conditioning unit we're buying (gulp) and only brought home a gorgeous floor vase by Edna Mewhiney.  It's now on display at the top of our grand staircase for all to see.  In the sunlight it's quite magnificent!

Tomorrow is the last day so if you have some time and are in the area, come meet some of the amazing artists and also enjoy the Horse and Hound Parade!  And if you're too tired at the end of the day, you can stay over at our B&B.  

Someone asked me if, since our B&B is a business, I would be playing Hallowe'en low-key from now on... my answer:  NO WAY!!!  Here in Elora shops already are decorated for Hallowe'en, Tim Murton's Twilight Zoo creatures are appearing magically here and there and I'm in my glee!  So here's our sun room now with a very hungry guest, I'm just getting started with the decorating!  Here's to October!
  Our second weekend of guests has begun.  Two very nice dog-friendly ladies arrived on this rainy evening and I just pulled a pumpkin cake/bars out of the oven.  We're looking forward to treating our guests tomorrow morning!

Online Hallowe'en Studio Tour opens!

It's October and our Online Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Trick or Treat opened!  Take a peak, I got 24 artists to take part and the variety and quality is scream-a-licious if I do say so myself!  We've already had 3 sales, so don't delay if you fall in love with something!  20% goes to the animals, so it's all worthwhile.

http://www.halloweenstudiotour.com/

And so it began...

Last weekend we had our first guests, two couples that took our Creature Comfort and our Meadow rooms.  They were fantastic guests, we're so lucky to have them as our first!  Even Willow got to say hello by request and she made her way around the dining room table after breakfast to greet each guest.  And breakfast:  after cereal and yogurt, we had a tomato- basil-feta-omelette with bacon, then almond croissants and, to finish, plum cake (with plums from the Farmers' Market).

Yes, our dining room has red walls, really red walls.  Even for me, an avid Hallowe'ener, I have to wonder what were they thinking?  I guess they weren't vegetarians, that's for sure!

(Update:  Last week a guest informed us of how common this colour is in older homes (thank you, Mr. Bailey).  It turns out dining rooms were considered "masculine" in the Victorian age and so dark, rich colours like navy blue, dark gold or (yup) deep red were used.  You can read more about this interesting tidbit by clicking here.)

  Our guests wrote lovely comments in our book:

This will become a treasure.

In other news, Willow got sprayed by a skunk, in our very own backyard.  It was last Thursday, around 8:30pm, when I let her out to go for a walk and before I saw it, Willow was nose to nose with a small skunk.  Yup, she got sprayed full in the face but this skunk must have just sprayed someone else or was very young because it wasn't so potent (not like when Russel got sprayed, we nearly died!) and after a bath of V8 (because that's all we had) and soap and water she was allowed to come into the house (but not the bedroom).  All in all, we were lucky!

This weekend, on Sunday, is the Horse and Hound Parade, you can see a very tasteful video here:


It looks wonderful and I think it even goes by our house!  And the Elora Fergus Studio Tour is on, next year I hope to take part:  http://elorafergusstudiotour.com/ .

Into the Gorge we go!

If anyone ever tells you they're going to quit their job, move and start a new business all at the same time, stop them!  Let me just say that we've certainly been pushed to our limits in many ways and it's only because of teamwork, positive thinking and determination that we've made it through some days.  Water in the basement = check.  Furnace that won't work (although it worked for the inspection!) = check.  Windows painted and glued over with no air conditioning = check.  Broken lawn mower = check.  Movers who beat up our furniture = check (22 damaged items and still finding more, avoid Good 'Ol Boys Moving Company at all costs!)  Wrong headboards sent, the ones we want on back order since July = check.  New fence chipped and scrapped at instillation = check.   The list goes on and on.  It was a blessing that our vacation, booked and paid for last January, was last week and we had a much-needed break in peaceful, dog-friendly Woodhaven Country Lodge.
  On the good side:  friends and family who have shown nothing but support (thank you Rose, Carl, Melanie, Doris), a community that has shown nothing but enthusiasm and glowing anticipation for our venture (wow, Elora, you rock!), a "handyman" that is worth his weight in gold with his care, attention to detail, timeliness and precision (Tim, you're incredible!), a realtor who has gone above and beyond after-sales service in regards to our leaky basement (George, all I can say is thank you!), bookings already for Thanksgiving and Christmas, doggy walks along the Gorge Trail that take my breath away every time, and this list goes on and on too.  
  I feel very blessed... that is when I'm not holding on white-knuckled with both hands and screaming on this roller coaster ride!  : }  
 Here are some photos that were taken when my sister visited, enjoy!  And come see the Gorge for yourself!

Doris and Merlin with Willow in the Irvine River part of the Gorge.  Love that cave!

The view from Lover's Leap.

 This is our Meadow Room, where my sister stayed with her pups.

Merlin in our back/side yard.

Spooky trees are created by the Gorge's merciless cliffs... beautiful!

Down into the Gorge.

 The "Tooth of Time", a stunning little rocky island in the Elora Falls.

Me and my Willow.

      

The Flying Leap!

So we bought a former guest house in Elora!  The house, an 1891 triple-brick beauty, became ours on August 8th, our furniture and possessions moved in on August 18th and my last day at work was August 21st, with a lovely send-off with many warm wishes and congratulations.  We slept (on the floor) in our old house for the last time and were completely moved August 22nd (with a little help from some friends:  thank you John and Pam!).  And of course we're naming our bed and breakfast The Flying Leap, aiming to open September 19th!
  I can't believe it's been less than two weeks as I wonder about who just completed my Tuesday night shift and the complete loss of any sense of routine.  It's been a roller-coaster of highs and lows, moving is a TERRIBLE thing to do, especially if you have LOTS of stuff... ah well.  The house, Elora, the people:  it's all good and will only get better.  Neighbours actually stop and introduce themselves (that never happened in Stratford!), our neighbour behind us brought over a casserole on moving day (thank you Leslie!), and my morning walks are along the gorge trail, overlooking some of the most beautiful rocky crags I've ever seen (I bet there are lots of bats!).

We have accomplished so much, going from this, our dining room and kitchen:

to this:

Wow, there were actually tables under there!  

When the going gets tough, the tough... hide under the kitchen table.  Can't say I blame her one little bit:  Willow found a safe place underneath and crashed after days of following us around.

Yet, in all this chaos and activity, there was still time to enter one of my pieces in a local exhibition celebrating the Year of the Horse!  

The opening reception was this evening at the Elora Center for the Arts, a catered event that had an eclectic, though seemingly exclusive, group mingling about the interesting and varied art and informative displays (which I really enjoyed).  

And there was my Tairo the Unicorn!

  

I'm very proud of this little accomplishment and hope that Elora will be a place where I can grow and flourish as a person, entrepreneur and artist.  It certainly is the Year of the Horse, hold on to those reins!