Home and Hearth

I made a list of all the houses I could remember living in, from the house where I was born, right up to the house I live in today. That gave me a list 24 items long.





Because I have a healthy curiosity (am nosy) I had to use the internet to see just how many of them are still standing, and what they look like now. Some places don't look that much different, some look so much smaller than I remember and another looks much larger.





I was delighted to see that a wrought iron gate, which I had designed, is still doing service at one house (I'm easily pleased) and tut-tutted at the places some people leave their wheelie bins out, instead of taking them round to the back garden, out of sight.





It was fascinating and surprisingly speedy. My journey took me from a terraced house in Grimsby, to Hong Kong, back to Stamford in Lincolnshire, over to Cheshire, up to the Hebrides, to Hartford near Huntingdon,via Banham Zoo, Felling near Newcastle, Basingstoke, Dubai, Abu Dhabi...and on...and on.





Some places spoke to my heart and I found many memories suddenly flooding into my mind.





We all know how amazing the human mind is, how much we have stored in our brains - okay, the little filing clerks may play games and hide the files, spoiling our recall, but the memories are there.





Just visiting these places on Google Earth I suddenly 'saw' snapshots of people and places, snapshots of my life, and my emotions, snapshots which triggered yet deeper memories. My whistle-stop tour encompassed so many more places than the just the houses.





I realise that this is pure self-indulgence, so for that I apologise, but I hope to take you on a tour of some of these houses, places, memories.





Relax. I haven't got time today!

MEET THE FAMILY

I had great fun playing around with the camera today - I spent a great deal of time trying to photograph the cats, the dogs and the hens - not altogether successfully!











Toby - top photo - was certainly not amused and Pip wasn't exactly thrilled to see me with a camera either.





So, I moved on to the cats:











Bennie - tabby and white - agreed to sit still briefly, but Sparky muttered something and stalked off to terrorise the mice.





I decided to find the hens, they spend their day pecking around in the wood so they are not always easy to find.









I found them easily enough but they beat a hasty retreat.

Autumn Sunset, Grand Portage Bay

A recent sunset over Lake Superior. The clouds lately for our sunsets have been spectacular. Nice variety in the clouds and some amazing colors. Definitely better than August's sunsets, which most of the time didn't have a single cloud in the sky!

Susie Island Sunsets

For the past couple of nights the lake has been so calm I couldn't resist taking the boat out to the Susie Islands to do some shooting despite having clear, "boring" skies. On days where there aren't any clouds I find the most interesting light to be either the hour before the sun comes up or the hour after the sun goes down. Cloudless days can produce a rather beautiful glow in the sky during these times.

(Above and below: Sunset from Lucille Island)

(Above: Sunlit trees on Long Island)

(Above: Twisted tree on Big Susie Island)

(Above: Evening light on Big Susie Island)

(Above: Lichen on Lucille Island)

(Above: Small rock island off the western tip of Lucille Island)

Speyside spring

The first trees to blossom on Speyside are the geans, or wild cherries. This one by the banks of the River Spey was like a beacon of spring when we were there two weeks ago. The ridge behind the tallest trees is Ben Rinnes. There's just the tiniest speck of snow left on the hill, under one of the branches in the centre of the photo.
By this time the trees round about will have come into leaf, and I wish I was there to see spring unfold there. I haven't spent a whole year on Speyside since I was 18, and each time we return I long to see the next step in the season, and then the next, instead of a snapshot. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, but it isn't where my heart lies.

New Additions to my Library

These are the books that I bought last week at our local library's 'Friends of the Library' sale. I've been wanting to join this organization for a few years but haven't had the time for anything extra.
One of the perks of membership is being able to come to this sale first before the general public. I stayed about two hours and came home with these stacks. I spent $37.00 for 25+ books. Not a bad deal at all!
Where I'm going to put them I don't know. I think I'll go through my 600+ collection of fiction and weed out what I know I won't ever want to read again and replace those with the new books.

Berry Cabinetry Mods

Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama

If you want cabinetry work done while in Red Bay, there are two options that we know of … both come highly recommended on the TRVN forum. TJ Allison works for Tiffin, and does custom cabinetry work on his own time. Chris Berry is a former Tiffin craftsman who has branched off on his own now. With both equally well recommended, our decision came down to who could fit us in. Turns out, that was Chris Berry.

He came by one evening to look at our list and give us a bid; came by the next evening to do a partial install, and finished everything up the following evening. In addition to the cabinetry work pictured below, he replaced the door catches on my desk pedestals with stronger ones and came up with a 10-pound catch mechanism for the sliding door on our laundry cabinet. Seeing as how Chris already had his tools out, Mui also asked him to mount the cherry-wood cup holder he bought from the camp store.

Entry Door Cabinet

We had an empty niche under the dash that was begging for a storage solution. The cabinet, which has a flip-down door, is free-standing, held in place by a snug fit. It’s a good catch-all for small stuff, especially a few tools that Mui needs to do minor maintenance.

Dashboard Drawer/Laptop Tray

The drawer/tray came pre-installed when we bought the coach. The problem, however, was that the design dated back to when these coaches had smaller doors (or doors behind the co-pilot seat), so it didn’t pull out far enough to be useful. Cutting down the drawer portion to accommodate a second set of slides now brings the drawer/tray all the way out so that I can actually use it while we’re rolling down the road.

Before and After

Pilot & Co-Pilot utility trays

The wood trays have a shallow lip (at Mui’s request, deeper on the pilot’s tray) to keep things from falling off. We’re going to line them with some non-skid stuff to keep things from sliding around. Now we won’t be looking around for a place to put glasses, phones, pens, notepads, etc.

Trim for under-cabinet task lighting

This was a project Mui was going to do himself, but decided to ask Chris to build them instead. A simple u-shaped trim hides the fluorescent task lights and blends them into the cabinetry.

Linen Cabinet

There’s plenty of storage in the Phaeton, but we wanted to make use of the empty wall in the lavatory to add a cabinet to store things like extra rolls of TP and towels. Although the cabinet is only 7 inches deep, it holds a lot — or will when I finish putting stuff in it. The one shelf inside is adjustable.

Hamper Conversion

The coach came with a hamper in the bedroom vanity. Since we can use the washer as a hamper, we decided to have the hamper converted to more storage. Initially, I wanted two shelves installed, but Mui convinced me that drawers would be better. These deep drawers are good for bulky items; we use them to store rain jackets, fleece tops, and the like.

Before and After

Chris matched the stain color for the new work with our existing cabinets. The drawers in the hamper conversion turned out to be a little lighter, but I have been assured by Chris — and several others as well — that the color will darken over time. We might pull them out when we’re in a campground somewhere and set them out in the sun for a few days to hasten the darkening process.

Overall, we’re very pleased with these mods, and look forward to making good use of them.