Follow the Lights!

Every May, my birthday rolls around. And every May, my beloved husband finds something sweet and amazing to surprise me with.

It wasn't these...

These beauties were the by-product of his search for the perfect gift from Craigslist! He did find an amazing little piece of furniture for me but it's for home, not the church, though it does have quatrefoils on it. 

We had been looking for light sconces for some time, and our search had schooled us in the prices and quality we were likely to find. 

These had been polished.

We knew they were neither cheap, nor easy to find in quantity. So it was with utter amazement that he found this set of five doubles and two singles. All for one low price. 

Score!

Yes, they will need some love, both aesthetically and electrically. Someone had wire-wheeled some of the metal. I used Brasso and elbow grease on the one on the left, and it has a very different tone than the polished one on the right. But I will figure out how to make them match, never fear! They will be a beautiful addition of light to the Church!

Meanwhile, the protective plywood came off the front windows, and the front of the Church saw first light, again.

All closed up.

One eye open...

And the other...

Who's that in the window?

Why, it's Grindstone Mike, putting the final touches on the paint. 

Soon it will be time for dinner. How's it going, Dr. Fisher, of the Institute of Barbeque Grills?

Oh it'll just take 15 more minutes...

Right! Well, we'll check back in 20... 

Painting.

The windows look just great!

Just a few more to go...;)

They sure do let the light in!

Meanwhile...

Assistance from a guest!

And so it took a few hours, but the lads were able to find all the right places for all the right parts, and we did dine on burgers and dogs. Our first grilling in Grindstone Corners!

Yay-Be-Que!

Let's light it!

Looking Down the Road

You know the road that leads from M-25 to Grindstone Corners, our little neck of the woods? It was a dirt and gravel road.

Our Little Piece of Heaven, and a dirt road.

Rybak's Ice Cream Store and a dirt road.

Yes, that's definitely dirt and gravel.

Dirt roads are...dirty.

Bring on the asphalt, please!

You can even call it ASH-phalt, I don't care!

Mmm you can smell the progress!

Yeah, that smell is tar.

It's definitely a Kodak moment for us all!

Now that Rybak's Ice Cream store is open again, Grindstone Corners has come alive. Ann Fisher is the proprietress of this historic and delicious establishment, and people come from all over for the high quality ice cream, the pleasant surroundings and the friendly atmosphere.

GC- corner of Rouse and Copeland roads.

 Not sure why the church icon is out in the lake, but it's pretty cute anyway. OMG! The FISH in Grindstone city are as big as a HOUSE!!!

Rybak's isn't on the old map, but it is the place to hang this summer.

We all scream for ice cream!

Come on up- the people are warm and the ice cream is cold, and the road is PAVED!

Caulk and Spackle, Toil and Trouble...

Sorry Shakespeare! 

It was another Sunday Morning session with the white pasty substances. Using Fast and Final spackle is almost like frosting a cupcake. Here, let me show you!

Astronomy-related treats for my students!

I recently made cupcakes in the colors of stars: orange-red stars are cool small stars, and blue stars are hot and bright. Our Sun is there in the middle. The Main Sequence is the result of the relationship between color, temperature and lifetime of stars.

 I had fun making them, and I thought spackling and caulking would be just like that!

Frosting?

stuff and spread...

Yes, just like frosting cupcakes....

...except for, like, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!

I didn't have to frost the cupcakes on my side, in piles of dust and spider webs, trying to stuff "frosting"  into cracks upside down. Darn gravity!

Smooth!

Eventually this will all be painted over, and realistically, no one will ever rest their eyes on this part of the building, but there is a sense of satisfaction knowing that it is done and done right, or as right as rookie me can get it. 

Meanwhile, Grindstone Mike was working on the quatrefoil window frame. Sanding and caulking was the order of business. 

Sanding

We also put up trim between the ceiling and the wall along the back of the church with toe molding. 

Could you hold this, please? 

We angle- cut the molding so the pieces would fit nicely against each other and be held in. I'm learning a lot about how buildings are put together. I ask a lot of questions, but luckily Mike is very smart and knows the answers. 

"If we don't angle them, it will look like crap..."

I'm good with it! 

So up the ladder with all the tools and materials. 

Nail gun control! 

And wah lah, the finished product. Again, will anyone ever notice? Probably not, but they'd notice if it WASN'T done, so it must be done! 

Voila!

Another cold, dry, windy Sunday in Grindstone City. Another chunk of work done. But as Shakespeare said, "Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing." So we are feeling joyful!

Yaaaaay!!

Hard to tell, isn't it!

But it is done, and it was kinda fun! We're learning a lot, trying to enjoy ourselves, and imagining the finished project. A beautiful church, an art gallery filled with gorgeous and thought--provoking art in many different media, lots of light and color and love! 

'

"If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work."
-William Grindstone Shakespeare

Hiatus

It had been over three weeks since we had last said goodbye to the Church, unplugged the wax melter and shut off the lights. Three weeks of December bustle, of Christmas parties, Church events, and seeing family and friends. Three weeks of shopping and eating and making merry. It seemed like a long time, and we worried about the Church. But the Church is so snug now with its new insulation, drywall and excellent Geothermal furnace that everything looked exactly as we had left it. Well, almost everything...

OOPS!

We were babysitting two plants from Rybak's Ice Cream store for the winter, but they cannot live on sunlight alone. They do need water...

The Blue Hydrangeas made it - but they are fake...

I even left them on the Robo-Saw with its awesome swinging arm and a few bottles of water, but apparently the saw drank the water and left the plants to fend for themselves. 

Now that the church is comfy-cozy with its spray foamed long underwear on, the windows are the only weak link. So it was the windows that we worked on. I didn't snap any pix of the work because (as if it wasn't evident) sanding and caulking windows isn't very glamorous, nor is it adrenalin-producing. (Really I just forgot...)
I did manage to sneak a picture of Mike working on the trim between the ceiling and the drywall. There is a bit of a gap there and the trim will fill that nicely. But again, it's not super sexy work, though he did his best to make a nice pose...

Nice form, Grindstone Mike! 

We did have a leisurely week off in the Thumb, and some of the time was spent just nesting with the critters.

"Could you bring me my fez and slippers, please? Yes, all four slippers!"

I don't know if it was all the extra sleep I got, but I started daydreaming about the bathroom ceiling. 

An Empty Canvas

So I searched for ideas...

Hmm... classic but a little pretentious?

Uh, no.

This should have been at Graceland! 

Well, perhaps we'll just stick with something more tasteful, like this for example:

Is that a cumuloNIMBUS cloud?

Or maybe something artsy:

We call it "Pearls and Paint Chips"

I call it ugly. What do you say, Iggy? Pass or Fail?

ZzzzzFailzzzzzzz!

Maybe we could get a giant print of this picture for the ceiling: 

"Ah what's that lovely aroma?"

OK, maybe not. But something must go on the ceiling. Can't wait to see what we come up with!

Merry Christmas from White Church Gallery!

Vintage Church,  ca. 1980's

Drywall!

I've been in the habit of bolting out of school on fridays and driving north. I say goodbye to the Astronomy Club kids, hop in the car and drive two hours in the waning but magnificent burnt orange sunlight 'til I make my way to Grindstone Corners! I get to the church with some pent up energy and literally run around like a kid.

I know, no running on ladders...in a skirt!

Mike arrives after me, since he has to stay later at his job. So on this particular day, I got to see it first.

See what? 

See the new drywall, of course! 

What does it look like? Well, I knew that Mike's jaw would drop when he saw, so I had the camera ready when he arrived. 

Let me indulge myself by showing you a happy person!

Hi Hunny! Notice anything different?

Ye aulde dropped jawe...

DANG! What a difference! 

So I don't have any nice, Pinterest-worthy photos of what new drywall looks like, but here's what I do have:

North side of Church

before...

...and after.

And the south side of the Church.

DRYWALL!

Wayne and son came back on Saturday to do some mudding. It was the cutest thing; Wayne up on  the scaffold slapping down drywall mud, and son pushing the scaffold along!

Teamwork!

Before you know it, the team had finished up, and we had walls!

Awesome!

Stucco-finish paint next. Color choice will be an intense decision. Stay tuned!