Life's a Stitch

An unveiling

My lastest watercolour dog portrait is a 60th birthday gift for my sister. Her name and “60” are hidden in the blanket pattern. 

Her kids benefited from Mom’s 60th, too, as I had professional prints made for them. 

 

569 days and counting

That’s how long it’s been sine we left our house in the rain forest. How do I know this? Every time I open my laptop it tells me how many days it’s been since its last backup. Fortunately there’s nothing crucial on there and the day count is coming to an end. Yes, the house is nearing completion.

Some people told us we were crazy, choosing a house requiring a total rebuild, with the overwhelming amount of requisite decision making. Right off the top of my head I can come up with many:  heating systems, lighting, plumbing fixtures, appliances, cabinets, flooring, doorknobs, cabinet pulls, towel bars, ceramic tile, siding, windows, countertops, closet shelving...but the one that caused the most anguish? The decision that produced the most hours of sleeplessness? 

Interior paint colours. It was a combination of too many choices and approaching a near breaking point with so many concurrent decisions. Further pressure was self imposed, not wanting the very common generic house tones of whites, light greys and beiges.

Reality check: paint is not permanent and this is, like all the rest, a first world problem.

Here is is, the official interior colour palette, minus a couple of vanities and the bathroom ceramic tiles.

With the current application of paint it looks as though the day count might max out prior to hitting 600.

Update: We did it! Move in date scheduled for day #592. 

A Two Beatles Song Birthday

"When I'm 64" and "They Say It's Your Birthday." There's only one year that both songs are relevant for anyone, and this Ides of March was the one for me. Thank you to all who communicated in the variety of ways available these days, so appreciated. 

64 is good, it's the countdown to 65, when in Canada, you become eligible for your Old Age Security benefit. They have to do something about that name. Unlike in the US, government benefits for seniors are split in two: Canada Pension Plan based on earnings, eligibility starting as early as age 60, and the Old Age Security, a universal benefit regardless of employment history. It's like getting a raise in retirement.

Dinner was with Blogless Marsha and Dave on a beautiful evening on the bay. We caught the early bird special at a local seafood restaurant, four courses for $24.99, followed by the three of them indulging me in evening geocaching.

That's what birthdays are for. It was also an opportunity for some nice phone shots over the harbour. These will morph into paintings as they fit in with my love of dark watercolours. 

 

What happened to the rooster?

If you google weathervane, the likely candidate to sit on top of one is a rooster. I found it unnerving to see one with a gun on top near us at our temporary place in in the US. When the wind is right it's aimed right at you. This is a photo of a similar one, didn't want to ruffle any neighbourhood feathers:

Should armed and fabulous be in the same sentence:

I know. If I don't like it I don't have to shop there. Enough said.

 

Ignorance is bliss

A few of my favourite things, HI continued:

You know what I'm going to say...a few more of my favourite things to do: hiking, geocaching and painting. Especially on a tropical isle.

Blogless Marsha's David took us on a "walk" in the neighbourhood where we were staying. The destination was the Queen's Bath and, bonus, it has an earthcache. Sounds innocent enough, a crystal clear natural pool along the shore, you can swim with tiny tropical fish and gentle sea turtles and get credit for a geocache.  Except in winter.

The walk down was treacherous, but I was well equipped with hiking sticks and appropriate shoes. Brand new shoes with bits of white on them. Kauai is known for their red dirt that is so colourfast, they sell famous t-shirts dyed in it. Get any  mud on your clothes, or new shoes, and accept the new colour pattern as your Kauaiian souvenir. 

As we approached the bottom we saw this sign with over 30 notches in it:

The rest of the way to the bath was over my favourite Hawaiian hiking surface, igneous lava rock. Remember when I had face-to-rock contact a number of years back, while geocaching on Maui? My Maui Owie. The lava always wins, said the doctor while stitching me up.

I continued with huge respect for the terrain, like walking on rock made of wet shards of glass. I know there's a pool here somewhere. 

We were later informed, by a local in-the-know, that the Queen's Bath is far too dangerous in the winter, rogue waves happening every couple of hours. Ignorance is bliss. We saw others hiking down in flip flops, carrying beer and a mug of coffee! Click here to see what it looks like in the summer.

Can't go away without some art supplies, resulting in two paintings. One was from an online still life tutorial and the other a hibiscus we passed on one of our walks, glistening with rain drops. 

Next post from "home."