More.

A record 10 'Avatar' enthusiasts* and lasagna lovers watched 'Blue Crush' last night at our weekly dinner and a movie night and pretty much maxed out our theater (living room).  Even our overflow area (hallway) was full but thanks to Kim who always brings her own chair and the new 150 pound tree stump-end table, everyone had a place to sit


If our house was a meal we would be about half way through dessert. 
1. The main level concrete floor has 2 coats of clear finish on it and is a masterpiece that no one in the lasagna group noticed so maybe is doesn't look as incredible as I think it does.
2. Vin hung chains from the gutters.  His intent was to divert rainwater while looking chic (we saw it in a magazine).  So far they only work part of the time which is when it is not raining and they are just looking chic.

3. I love our sliding barn door-y bathroom door mounted on inline skate bearings and am hoping that someday I won't even hear Vince mumbling that he'd rather have an in-swing door every time he slides it shut.  The bedroom doors are in-swing and chic because of the strip magnet (like a shower door) that sucks and holds them shut.   The closet doors are still pretend.

My Kitchen.
9 feet 2 inches is a perfect sized kitchen for someone who doesn't want a microwave or coffee maker.

Visitors:
Tim (of MikWright fame) and Boyd (of having a 40th birthday party that lasted a whole week fame) showed up one day after school.  Flying first class from Charlotte, they found martinis and acupuncture in Nelson.  Hiking trails and Gilbert Grape in Metaline Falls. 

Our friend Eric came to visit. He's in the truck...the one with the cap.  We started following each other in Massachusetts.  Now he's in Bozeman, except for last week when he was in Metaline Falls.


* at the last minute we decided  that Avatar was too long.

It's all GOOD LIFE

The sign on the door read "We will be closed for Christmas this Friday, Dec. 25" and that's when I realized that we wouldn't be sending out cards on time again this year. I knew Christmas was coming up pretty soon but I thought I had another week. If we were going to visit Dad in Arizona for Christmas, I'd better make a few phone calls. The only two seats USAirways had available were first class on Christmas day. I bought them Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas.

Dad's 'house' sits among 1,200 other houses that look exactly like his. Each 300 square foot unit rests five feet from the its neighbor. The name of the resort is 'Good LIfe'. It was sixty degrees and sunny. The locals were freezing in their parkas but I was hot. For 2 !/2 days we hiked in the desert, walked Rocky (Dad's dog), played computer card games, walked Rocky, watched TV, and walked Rocky. Shopping was everywhere. I'm supposed to hate shopping but after being able to get my Mac fixed 5 minutes from Good LIfe, I've had to re-think my dogma. I know I'd probably get sick of having everything I need a short bike ride away but after 6 months in Metaline Falls and the nearest 2 x 4 being 60 miles down the road, maybe not.

The morning we flew back to Washington, I was sitting in one of the resort hot tubs. The residents taking the water aerobics class in the pool next to me were bouncing up and down while singing 'I've Been Working On The Railroad' and 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart.' It was 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' that was looping in my head like a nightmare the rest of the day.


Holiday Photos...
DC Auto and Secondhand, Metaline Falls' newest retailer, offered gift wrapping for the holidays.

The lone Christmas wreath spanning the town's Main Street broke in half around Thanksgiving and never got fixed.

Elves in lieu of a manger scene.

Rest assured that Max has a good home when we can't bring him with us. He lives with Drew and Katie when we're in school etc. He still likes us better, we think?

Vince loves the scarf (so do I) I got from my brother Dale's family...(Brenda, Tashauna and Dale).


Non-photo news...
Vin just finished installing the home theatre system. Seven speaker surround with a Panasonic pt-ae4000 HD projector (whatever) and a 120 inch screen. It doubles as a stereo...with really good sound. Glen Gould's piano and humming is in here with us right now. OK, with that all done, maybe we'll hook up the water.

Live and Learn

No one told me that one of the most important steps in shooting documentary was transcribing. Or if someone did, it was when I wasn't listening. It may not sound like a big deal to you but I have to listen to and write down EVERY word with the time...to the nearest one-hundreth of a second...that it was spoken I have about 5 hours of shooting for my 5 minute documentary and my fingers look the times of a garden cultivator. Ironically, accidently forgetting to turn the sound on during a one hour shooting session was a disaster that ended up making my day.

I never paid much attention to Skype until our cell phone bill finally found us up here in Nelson. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty but were still surprised to see that the last two months were 690 dollars. Our favorite call was the 24 dollar casual chat the Vin and I had to each other from one classroom to another (in the same building). Who knew? (don't you hate that saying?)

Canada.
Benjamin Moore paint chip colors are in French. Rainforest dew is vert stuart. Pale avocado is avocat pale.
Yesterday it was pretty cold....1 degree in the Peace.
Remember I told you about the Cocoa-nut lounge? We showed up to another standing-room-only crowd...this time on a Tuesday....groovin' to an electric guitar artist yelling a combination of opera and rock.

Wednesday was classmate Alan's birthday. He turned 25 so the whole class (except Naomi who's only 17 and has a grandmother my age) went out to a karaoke bar where Vin and I belted out 'I've got you Babe' to a crowd that didn't know that Cher had ever been married.

House.
We've had electricity, plumbing and 4-6" (R30-R45) of high density closed cell foam insulation for ages but since they didn't lend themselves to compelling photography or storytelling I've had a hard time working them into my news.

The insulation people? Perfect.
The electric people? Perfect. Two brothers dba Brother's Electric. One of the brothers, Darin, went to college somewhere in Ohio because it had the strongest Ninja 'team' in the country.
The plumber? Apologized after hollering F*** You and hanging up on Vin because he asked when the boiler was going to be installed.

Max loves hiking on larch needles, a silent, western version of New England's fall leaves.

Waiting for Kathy

"OK. So we're just waiting for Kathy." the instructor said.

I know he wasn't trying to be mean or anything and I doubt anyone even heard him or cared but I felt like I'd just been the last kid picked. When did everyone finish anyway? And how was I supposed to finish now that everyone was maybe staring or pointing? I handed in the test and then he said "Do you want to take a couple minutes and stretch your legs?" How long had everyone been done? I'm in my 50's shouldn't I be smarter and faster than everyone else except Vince?

Vince and I started school a couple weeks ago. We're renting a great little house Nelson, British Columbia Sunday nights through Thursday afternoons.

Joanne is 34. Shannon and Nils are 28 and the other seven are somewhere between that and 18. They're good kids. They offer to help me with new software and I offer them any information they may need on the 70's.

I don't think I'm as smart as I thought I was. These classes are hard. I'm not sure I like it. Actually I'm pretty sure I don't.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking that once we get through editing the Sea World footage and capturing 29.97 fps in DV 720 x 480i (1.33:1) becomes second nature, I'll like it well enough to be inside all day.....when it's 70 degrees and sunny???

Film Studies
Screen-writng
Photoshop
Sound
Final Cut (editing)
Cinematography
Workflow
Directing....they looked interesting and fun on paper to me too....

Meanwhile. I just WALKED to the food co-op for tofu and avocados and tomorrow morning we'll WALK to Oso Negro (coffee) before Cinematography. I think I'm spoiled.

I'll figure it out.

Pictures:
• first day of school
• our Nelson house
• Oso Negro

A Day In The Life of Absentee Builders

"Hi Vince. This is Andy at Fogel Pump out here in Colville Washington. Yah we're at 380 feet and it's silty sand. No water yet. I'll call you on Monday." Guess that sort of makes up for the well at the shop in Plainfield when we hit water at 40 feet. 380 feet. I don't know much about wells but I think that's pretty deep. And I'm pretty sure they charge by the foot. What do you do when that happens? Do you say. "Here, let me just pay you for what you've done and we'll call it a day"?? We need a well so I suppose we have to keep going. Of course I'd never let myself think....."He says 380 feet. I know the well business is slow. We're in Massachusetts. He's in Washington....hmmmm.

The building permit for the cabin in Washington needs
1. The electrical permit for which we needed a street address. 242 Perkins Road. We finally got it yesterday.
2. An approved septic design. We have it. Pend Oreille County requires land-owners to install 1 of their 2 designs based on soil type...one expensive and one not as expensive...guess which one we had to get?
3. Building plans. We're pulling them together. Now that's a long story and the topic for my next entry.
4. A potable water source for which we need a well and based on the message from Andy...which I got on my birthday....we don't have yet.

Once we have the above four line items we can apply for the permit which they approve (or not) in 2 days. Then we buy our plane tickets to Spokane. Looks like the beginning of June depending on that well. I wonder if there is such a thing as digging a well and never hitting water?

Vince just finished drawing up the foundation plans and sent a few sets out yesterday (on my birthday) for prices. Lots of concrete for a 900 sf cabin. There are a couple areas of exposed concrete that will be 'board formed' which looks really cool. We have to be out on the site for the excavation just in case the digger decides it's easier to dig the hole somewhere besides where we want it dug. And then we have to be out there for the foundation pour just in case the foundation guy decides it would be a hassle to do the 'board formed' areas. It could happen. We figure we'll be out there a week. A week to line up some subcontractors and materials. Hke, ride our bikes, and visit friends.

Meanwhile. We continue to plug away at our 'to do' list here in Plainfield. My new birthday resolution is to do one big thing everday (and make sure that Vince does too) until we're done which has to be May 26 since our friend Eric from Montana is visiting us in Vermont.

I think there is some cliche' about anything worthwhile is a lot of work or is not easy or something which I've found is never not the case.

BTW. My birthday weather was perfect.

ps. captions to the photos are at the very bottom of my blog. I haven't figured out how to add text to those top images yet.