Garage is above ground. Now it should seem to go faster.

It seems that this job is so slow. The prep work always seems to go slowly. You don't see the progress. And our builder Al says everything that can go wrong has gone wrong with the Township and permits and bureaucracy. I am totally happy. Remind me of this when I am steaming mad at the slow progress.

We have the cement floor poured, the inspector in, and the walls went up today. So we can see where the doors and windows will be. It is very exciting.

We had a family reunion on the weekend. The Callaghans. My mother's family. This very weird being a Callahan. My mom was a Callaghan, married Walter McAdam, so I grew up McAdam, and then  I married a Callahan. So this was a reunion of my Mom's family. My great grandfather Callaghan bought here in Bala in the early 1900's. I am fourth generation on this land. And am named Callahan.  It is sort of weird.
We had over 100 show up, some I had never met, grand children of my cousins. My Mother's progeny counted for over 30 of them! It was a wonderful day.

I just have to add photos of my kids. Alex and Heidi

Elizabeth and Steve.

My Aunt Gracey Callaghan, the lone representative of my Mom's generation. She is the widow of my Mom's brother John

Our place is a hive of activity. Along with the garage guys, we have the landscapers. Very exciting. Doing hard scape, rocks, stone patio, stone paths. The rocks they have are magnificent.

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You are very patient if you are still reading. Thanks

My golly it has been weeks!! So much for wondering how to keep busy in retirement.

So we are doing a garage. And I know I should double the price and double the time. We naively thought it would start May 1. Well that was the first mistake. We, two months later, have a pit in the driveway, which in heavy rain looks like a moat. The preparation for the garage takes a bit. Some very beautiful trees had to be taken down. Some very big ones.

We had a sawyer come on the property and he milled our large trees. We have beautiful oak, maple and pine. Some beautiful lengths. And we have a maple plank 10" deep, 5 '' high and 12' long with a live edge. (bark left on) We hope to use it for a mantle piece.

The trunks of these huge trees had to be dug up and we have a very low part of the property. In the past we have loaded all our leaves when raking in the Spring to this area. It is a joke to think we could fill this to make it less wet. We have had the soil dug out of the garage site taken to this corner of the property. We had a little road, because of all treks back and forth. The roots of these magnificent trees were dug up and carted over there too. One was so huge it took two diggers to get it over there. They thought it was a tonne!!!

Tim and Elizabeth did the Ride for the Cure early June. They were team Callahan The Peddlejets.
It was two days of 100 k's a day. They had a ball. Tim was surprised that he did not feel badly the next day. Don't you love E's hat "Look mommy no hands".

We have had some lovely weather and much sitting on our new dock. We have a Blue Heron who flies past daily. We have a resident mink. I watched him swim from across the way. He did sort of a breast stroke. Up for a breath, underwater for a bit, and up for a breath and then swim underwater a bit. We have seen foxes, deer, and the best was this snapping turtle. He was trying to cross the highway. His head and legs are the size of my fist. He looked like a senior citizen. There is one on our lake that has painted on his belly "1932". I think it is even bigger that this one I saw.

 It is so wonderful to see nature. We are on a busy highway and close to the road. To know some animals are still happy to be here.

This is why I am so happy. Here is the table set for supper, a fire in the fireplace. It is lovely.

I did a 5 k yesterday. Power walking. I had been doing 5 k, but my time was not what it was 10 years ago when I did the last one. Well, the day of the race, I got caught up in the energy of the crowd, and worked hard. I did my personal best, besting my time ten years ago. I was very happy with my result. I was hoping to do a half marathon for my 70th, having done one for my 60th. But my foot which has had surgery on it, was not happy at all after 35 minutes, so a 3 hour half (my time) my foot would not like. So I will just try to keep besting my time on a 5 k.

I hope I post more regularly. I wonder who actually visits. It says still about 70 hits a week. I am very surprised. Patient friends? Not sure.