2015 begins

We're home -- in Vermont -- and it's wonderful.  2014 was filled with so much change, distance, and not-knowingness.  The two of us are together again and, since the holidays, we've done as much as we could with the house to make it a home (while staying sane):

• Repaired and repainted the whole first story (including ceilings)
• Rerouted phone lines
• Rebuilt a wall (aftermath of the sofa/doorway fiasco)
• Built a hearth out of riverstone we harvested last autumn
• Built some odds an ends (a hallway mirror out of reclaimed materials, a hanging lamp for the dining room, a coatrack)
• Made or bought curtains for four rooms
• Refinished our butcher block countertops (without chemicals)

A few other projects are in the works, but I'll leave that for later.  We've scrounged the secondhand and antique shops of the greater Burlington area for furniture to fill the various spaces that needed filling.  In most but not all cases, we've managed to avoid buying new.  Erin's done a wonderful job decorating the place, including unpacking many of my travel things that have been collecting dust for a decade.  Mixed in with that was a long overdue holiday: 2.5 weeks in Ecuador.

To the present.

Winter's on its way out and we're excited for springtime!  In a few days, a box containing 40+ varieties of organic seeds will arrive.  Soap making has begun again.  We've taken an introduction to beekeeping course and will be getting our own hive in May.  The debate is still on about backyard chickens.  I'm a month into a fantastic woodworking course at a local craft school.  Future refinishing projects include making from-scratch milk (casein) paint and experimenting with chalk paint and beeswax-based polish.  I've a small pile of reclaimed wood -- including a gorgeous 3x8 beam -- that I'll be transforming into a console and some shelving.  All will be future postings!