California...
...maybe the land of 'fruits and nuts' but if you look outside your snowy window, you should remember that at this time of the year, it feeds you and a good chunk of the rest of the continent.
Yea, I know. This is not exactly the look of a daughter who is miserable with her young man Jeremy, who was introduced to her mom and dad for the first time. Janice and I drove to Los Angeles for a week end to meet him when Kami was in town from New Orleans to work on a TV production. Jeremy also works in the movie business accounting for the finances of the hundreds of workers toiling on set. While we gave him two thumbs up, we have a feeling that they will be inseparable regardless.
Kami and Mr. wonderful
Yea, I know. This is not exactly the look of a daughter who is miserable with her young man Jeremy, who was introduced to her mom and dad for the first time. Janice and I drove to Los Angeles for a week end to meet him when Kami was in town from New Orleans to work on a TV production. Jeremy also works in the movie business accounting for the finances of the hundreds of workers toiling on set. While we gave him two thumbs up, we have a feeling that they will be inseparable regardless.
I Promise
30 years ago..., OK 32 years ago if you want to get technical about it, Janice and I bought our property in California while we were still engaged. At the time we made plans to develop it as much as possible with the goal of turning it into a mini Golden Gate Park. Swimming pools here, orchards there, helicopter landing pads, gazebos, whatever. The whole Mary Ann and a bag of chips.
The kids would laugh when we would add to the 100+ item list of things we kept for dad to build, add, improve or fix. Then, Janice would add 3 new items for every one I got done. At the time, she asked me how long I thought it would take to finish developing the property. I naively told her "about 10 years". Meanwhile, no one told me we would be adding two other homes, each with their own 100+ item list of things for me to do also.
Be that as it may, I knocked one off the list this month by finishing phase 1 of the 3 decks we have planed for 3 decades. We made a big push forward towards it last year when we were here, by installing a see through 2 sided fireplace in a new stacked stone wall. That is, a fireplace that is open to the sunken living room inside the house as well as from the deck I was to built outside .
Then, two days before we left for France last year, we came across a piece of art that we could not live without. We seem to have a way of 'discovering' things at the last moment prior to leaving the home we are at, that we acquire and store for next years project. In this case it was 'Inspiration'. No, not an inspiration, but an original Sherri Hardthalae bronze sculpture called 'Inspiration" that was just crying to be the focal piece on our deck.
This in turn called for a deck worthy of featuring her, so we opted for Brazilian Koa, commonly known as Tigerwood because of its exotic striped wood grain. Her raised pedestal is a slate stone, capped in copper. The pedestal itself is surrounded by a trough that contains about 4" of water. The purpose of the water is to allow the bubbles from a submerged gas line perforated with hundreds of tiny holes to ignite on the waters surface, creating a 'fire on water' effect, surrounding her pedestal with fire. A great way to 'light her up'.
Back in the day, it took me a year to get my California pyrotechnics license to be allowed to perform with fire and special effects on stage for our show. ( It was the fire in 'Starfire') Now, I couldn't resist adding this touch.
OK, so this is how to build a deck in 4 easy steps ....
The kids would laugh when we would add to the 100+ item list of things we kept for dad to build, add, improve or fix. Then, Janice would add 3 new items for every one I got done. At the time, she asked me how long I thought it would take to finish developing the property. I naively told her "about 10 years". Meanwhile, no one told me we would be adding two other homes, each with their own 100+ item list of things for me to do also.
Be that as it may, I knocked one off the list this month by finishing phase 1 of the 3 decks we have planed for 3 decades. We made a big push forward towards it last year when we were here, by installing a see through 2 sided fireplace in a new stacked stone wall. That is, a fireplace that is open to the sunken living room inside the house as well as from the deck I was to built outside .
Then, two days before we left for France last year, we came across a piece of art that we could not live without. We seem to have a way of 'discovering' things at the last moment prior to leaving the home we are at, that we acquire and store for next years project. In this case it was 'Inspiration'. No, not an inspiration, but an original Sherri Hardthalae bronze sculpture called 'Inspiration" that was just crying to be the focal piece on our deck.
This in turn called for a deck worthy of featuring her, so we opted for Brazilian Koa, commonly known as Tigerwood because of its exotic striped wood grain. Her raised pedestal is a slate stone, capped in copper. The pedestal itself is surrounded by a trough that contains about 4" of water. The purpose of the water is to allow the bubbles from a submerged gas line perforated with hundreds of tiny holes to ignite on the waters surface, creating a 'fire on water' effect, surrounding her pedestal with fire. A great way to 'light her up'.
Back in the day, it took me a year to get my California pyrotechnics license to be allowed to perform with fire and special effects on stage for our show. ( It was the fire in 'Starfire') Now, I couldn't resist adding this touch.
OK, so this is how to build a deck in 4 easy steps ....
First, dig a few holes and fill them with cement...
Then, lay a few sticks for a foundation...
Add a couple of joists...
Build a simple pedestal...
Pots before plants arrived
Build a simple pedestal...
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| ...and, Ta-Da! |
An honest days work for you maybe, but 2 full months work for us slow, lazy guys. Some friends asked me how long it would take to build this when I first started. "How long", I asked? "How should I know? What do I look like, a freaking contractor? Lets lower our expectations, cowboys. I am just a guy with a rusty hammer."
The video above is the outside view of the two sided fireplace. The stacked stone wall was last years project with an eye to finishing the deck this year.
All kidding aside, it is fair to wonder why do so much in such a short time here instead of just goofing around. The fact is that this is not the kind of project you can do part of this year and finish it next year. We make the house available to others when we are gone and having someone fall through an unfinished deck would not have a good outcome. Besides, the sun would make wood laid at different times look goofy. No, its the kind of project that you are either all in for the duration or you are out.
The video above is the outside view of the two sided fireplace. The stacked stone wall was last years project with an eye to finishing the deck this year.
This is the inside view
All kidding aside, it is fair to wonder why do so much in such a short time here instead of just goofing around. The fact is that this is not the kind of project you can do part of this year and finish it next year. We make the house available to others when we are gone and having someone fall through an unfinished deck would not have a good outcome. Besides, the sun would make wood laid at different times look goofy. No, its the kind of project that you are either all in for the duration or you are out.
Moving right along...
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| Our place is the first one on the right |
As we go to press, we have flown the coop (the bills were beginning to pile up) and have arrived at our new villa in France. For the geographically challenged, the French Riviera where are are now located is at the bottom of the map of France, kinda between Italy and Spain, about an hour from the Principality of Monaco.
We wrote last May that we bought the villa, sold our house in Brittany and moved lock, stock and barrel within 30 days. More precisely, we signed a contract to buy the villa at the time but the funds and final signatures only changed hands this past month. Meanwhile, we were permitted to store all of our worldly French possessions in the house in the boxes we had moved them in.
So, upon our arrival this month, we walked in the front door after some 27 hours of travel to have nary a clue where anything was, most importantly...our bed. Just because our careful inventory said 'box 76, sheets and pillows' doesn't meant you have a hope in heaven of finding box 76 in the first few days.
We had the good fortune of meeting our neighbors at the time of purchase, who generously picked us up at the airport, brought us home and put us up for several days while we sorted through the piles of boxes to establish a beachhead in organizing our life in our new home.
Janice, of course, is dying to get busy decorating the place while we are still trying to get phone, Internet and satellite service. Once settled, we began the task that awaited us and the reason we arrived 3 weeks earlier than normal. We may have built our home in California from scratch, did huge remodeling of our home in Brittany and saved our Cabin in Canada from an imminent tear down but this project is much more than a remodel but somewhat less that a new build.
The ground floor is pretty much turn key but the truth is that there is nothing to remodel on the garden level of the house as it is little more than a concrete bunker. It has cement walls and ceilings, with plumbing and electrical needing a total makeover. Furniture? Yea, that too. Thus was the price for us to acquire this sized oceanfront property on the Med. We are gladly paying it.
Again, most have thought and some have said that it is silly to spend some much time and effort working our buns off on these home improvements. The way we see it is that it is a relatively short term investment that has- and will- pay off for years for our own enjoyment - and financially - with no further effort on our part. Frankly, we are so excited over the potential we see here that we could pee our pants.
Again, most have thought and some have said that it is silly to spend some much time and effort working our buns off on these home improvements. The way we see it is that it is a relatively short term investment that has- and will- pay off for years for our own enjoyment - and financially - with no further effort on our part. Frankly, we are so excited over the potential we see here that we could pee our pants.
