Spring Break at Nordegg

Helena and I headed out to the cottage on Wednesday March 31st.  By the time errands were wrapped up and we hit the road it was early afternoon.  We arrived in the late afternoon and got unpacked.

I marvel at Helena...  with kids her own age she is a little self conscious and insecure.  But, with younger kids, she is totally at ease and becomes somewhat of a mother hen.  At home in the city, all of the younger neighborhood kids hang out with her.  She has a whole entourage of them that are always hanging around our house.  At the cottage, the situation continues and the neighbor's daughter Arlette, who is in grade one, totally worships her.  The two girls hung out together all through the afternoon and evening, after our arrival.  Later when the girls turned in, Helena and I had a supper of soup and toast, and watched a DVD for a while.

On Thursday April 1st Helena and I spent the day at the cottage.  Mostly she played with Arlette and the two of them had a lot of fun together.  It was extremely windy, and the trees were whipping back and forth and banging together.  I fully expected some of them to come down, and wondered if there was a safe place to park my truck.  In the end, all of the trees survived.  By evening the wind died down and I was hopeful that this would be the end.  Although it has been an early onset of spring, for the most part, it has been very windy.  I made a supper of chicken wings and fries for Helena and I.  After that was finished up, she headed over to play with Arlette for a little longer, before bedtime.

I got a phone call in the afternoon from our realtor congratulating us on the purchase of our lot.  Although the deal was made last fall, it only became official today.  We are anxious and ready to get going on construction and the early spring will help in that regard.

It got up to about +11C on this day, but it didn't feel that warm on account of the relentless wind.  I set up in the sheltered area between our cottage and garage and worked on the last interior door.  I finished installing tongue and groove pine paneling to both sides of the door.  I routed the perimeter and the opening flush, and filled all the knots and nail holes.  The next steps will involve sanding down the surface and applying the lacquer finish.  Once that is done I can install the antique window in the door opening, install the door onto the rolling hardware, and then complete the baseboards in our spare room.  These are pretty much the last remaining construction projects in our cottage.  The timing seems fitting, as we are now able to move on to construction of our second cottage, on the lot next door.

Margarit drove out to join us on Good Friday.  I was hoping that Annelise would come along with her, but she chose to stay home in the city.  On Saturday I continued working on my door.  Margarit and I went for a long walk around the subdivision.  It was a little cooler, but at least the wind had died down.