A Long Time

Yes, it has been a long time since I had the time or energy to catch up on this blog, but it's quiet for the moment in Hazel Brake, and I'll do my best to bring you up to date.

One of the reasons for the hiatus is the fact that John and I have been fighting valiantly to overcome a virulent virus that moved in on us at the end of March and is still in the process of moving out, at the end of April.  John has been to the clinic once, and myself twice; and I think that at last it is really on its way.  (No, it's definitely not the Swine Flu; no pigs up here..... except on KPIG-FM, of course).

During the week following Easter, Eileen and Greg arrived in Boulder Creek to see, at last, the house and property they purchased a year ago.  Suffice to say they were delighted with it; and they brought beautiful early-summer warmth with them for the days they were here, which delighted us!  We spent a lot of time in the sun on the back deck; they inspired us to gather new outdoor furniture for said deck, and fed us many good meals-out (and in: Greg is quite a fine Frittata-maker!) and took care of me beautifully when I came down with a bout of intestinal disorder during the time they were here.  They stayed at a lovely little cottage-in-a-garden down in the village, and I believe they had a good rest and a wonderful visit with The Parentals. We miss them awfully, since they've returned to London.

But the house is so quiet now!  And as we are feeling better at last, we are looking forward to doing some serious planning for further renovations and redecorating and furnishing -- many things that we had postponed to do in the Spring.  Spring will be a little late, this year (as the song goes); but we'll begin, now, as May waltzes in, and hope to have effected many good changes within the next couple of months on our own.

During the next two "work months" we plan to refurbish the floors in the main part of the house (the parlor and guest room); buy some decent furniture for those rooms; do some needed work on John's "studio" and the garden areas; rodent-proof the cottage thoroughly; and install some safety features on stairways and walkways.

By the time summer comes, we ought to be able to relax a bit -- and enjoy the fruits of our labors, during the rest of the warm weather season.

April Update

Everybody has gone home, and it's really quiet here in our cottage.  March was a fantastic month, full of visitors and house parties, and it was delightful to see some of our Right-Coast clan here, enjoying the lovely forest and the early-Spring weather.

John has come down with a really heavy upper-respiratory and chest infection, however, and as it's been going on for a week now and not getting a lot better, I think I'll take him into our trusty local medical clinic on Monday and find out what's going on.  And if he doesn't improve, we may have to cancel our plans to go down to Santa Barbara for the Holy Week services and to visit with siblings and friends there over Easter weekend.