September 2012

Watch your step!

©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com



So, does it fly?

This was the 4th summer of a project that I intended to complete in one. Ok, so I was full of it but I was ambitious and determined. Good parts of two of those summers were preoccupied with Janice’s cancer issues but still… Last summer ended with my finally having the plane inspected and signed off by Transport Canada (The plane is licensed in Canada) setting things up to begin flying as soon as we arrived this past June. People don’t follow every minor event in this saga, every little step forward that has been made, so once in a while they simply ask…

does it fly ?

It’s been a great project but they can’t help but wonder if it will actually really work. Like, really work. In mid-June, Janice had the misfortune of needing surgery once again (totally unrelated to the Cancer) so I spent a month on the island to help care for her. Then, we had our customary two week of rentals where we did a little traveling and we had friends and family visit.

I know, I know, but just tell me. Does it fly?

Early in August when checking the throttle cables my inspector found that they were questionable in reliability. Obviously, we decided to replace them and it was to take a few days. Two week later the new ones arrived causing yet another uncontrollable delay in my ability to launch and begin to fly. All this time I have an instructor waiting in the wings with my giving him reason after reason why I was not ‘quite’ ready to go. Finally, the day came where I was able to start the engine up for the first time. She fired right up and sounded positively sweet! Everything was great and I was ready to start the break-in. New engines whether in cars, boats or planes need to be ‘broken in’ for a certain amount of time.

Blah, blah blah! Yes or no. Does the #%*& thing fly?

Going through the systems I went to turn the engine off, and, it wouldn’t. A minor electrical wiring issue clearly had to be resolved. Another delay. Days later after fixing it I made another attempt. Everything was fine, so I let the engine warm up to start the break-in once again. The break-in consists or powering the engine up and down at different RPM’s for set periods of time. Obviously it is done on the ground and is the first phase of testing a new aircraft. 

I have an instrument which monitors the engine temperature at various points to make sure all is well. Somewhere between the sensors and the instrument was another minor wiring glitch which had to be worked out. The problem was that I was now looking at a drop dead end date of September 15th when my instructor was leaving on a 3 week trip. After that date, it would be all over for the season.

HA, HA!! I KNEW it! It doesn't  work, does it?    Have you flown it or not????

I reached a point where I felt somewhere between frustrated, discouraged and an overall sense that there was an active, effective conspiracy working against me. Sensing my crushing frustration, my friend Ian stepped up and offered to to the test flight  if I was ready. Ian, you may recall, has provided me with all the areal pictures of the islands I have used in the blog each month while we are here in the summer. He took them from his identical aircraft that he flew for 20 years.

So, after an exhausting pre- flight inspection (do you blame him?) Ian and I hopped in and I taxied to the runway. Then, I got out (test flights are done alone) and he flew off. Once satisfied, he returned and I hopped back in and once again, took to the sky. 

It was freeking magical. I fulfilled a dream that I shared with Leonardo da Vinci. On his deathbed he said that his biggest regret in life was that he had never flown. Over the years many lives and fortunes have been lost pursuing the dream of flight.

Does it fly, you ask? Of course it flies! I built it, didn't I?

I am not saying that building this airplane was hard, well no harder than assembling a 5000 piece puzzle of a clear blue sky anyway. This is not a big airplane. You don't so much get in it as put it on and wear it. Still, it is the real deal and I have spent may hours going over it, not so much to check it as to think just how clever I was to pull this off.

So happy you would think I was double fisting cans of Red Bull

A kid with a dream

Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it you can

The view takes on a radiance and sense of possibility that seems to border on the divine.

 Prozac smile happy

This months visitors

 Last month we had the pleasure of daughter Mandy’s company here at the island for the 5th summer in a row. She flew from Germany for a 10 day visit to get her yearly island fix. Unfortunately she was sick a good deal of the time here but we still managed to get about as much as she was up to.

Currently, we have our niece Jessica and her friend Sina  spending the week end with us. Jessica is an old hand here but this is Sina's first visit so we will have to see how he takes to being marooned. 

Mr. Christopher

The Make-A-Wish foundation grants children with life-threatening medical conditions a wish, organizes all the logistics and pays the cost of granting it. Our grandson Christopher’s wish was to go to Disneyland to meet Lightning McQueen and Mator, the animated figures of the movie “Cars” (If you are over 6 years old, you don’t get it) The whole family was included so dad, mom, 4 kids, two nurses plus all of Christopher’s medical equipment flew to Los Angeles like a traveling circus. They spent two days in Disneyland and a day at Knots Berry Farm before returning home. Many of the costumed Disney characters met with them for pictures and they were given VIP rock star treatment by going to the head of every line for rides.

Projects

This month, we completed a few projects around the place. First, I had to raise a collapsing corner of our working dock. Over the years the supports have gotten weak so I found a novel way to jack up the heavy dock over the water. Shoring everything up with much more substantial beams, we should be good until I am pushing up daisies. Next, I finished the skirting on the inside of this same dock. 

Before

After

It is the original dock that was here when we bought the property and I have been meaning to get around to this for some time. You can see from the before and after pictures that while we have no tides, the water levels can vary substantially.

The second was to build a platform to allow for a hammock. Having found her perfect spot, Janice turned me loose to make it happen. The problem was that like all things on the island, it was close to the water. 

The local authorities have strict restrictions on people building anything near the water, so following the time tested experience of our children, we thought it best to ask for forgiveness if confronted rather than to face sure denial if we asked permission first.

Can you find it? Click once on the picture to enlarge it.

This called for using one of the principals I learned while performing stage illusions. The best place to hide something is in plain sight. You just have to help people see what they expect to see, as opposed to what they are really looking at . 

Ahhhhhhh.......

Singer Castle 

I have written before of our visit to Dark Island and the tour of the Castle of sewing machine magnate fame. This month, we were invited to return, not so much to repeat the tour but to experience a rare behind the scene visit of its tunnels, secret passageways and hidden access ways.

Singer Castle, during the day

Our friend Kim was big time reporter in a previous life and now publishes her own glossy magazine called "Island Life". She has developed an extensive list of local contacts and gets into places the rest of us mere mortals never see.

A secret twist would open a door behind you

So, a small group of us were invited to a private guided tour of the areas not part of the public tours.  Much like many European Castles, this one was designed to allow service staff access to all areas of the Castle without disturbing the residents or walking the same halls as the owners. Thus, a shadow system of access ways, corridors and doors hidden behind closets walls and secret panels allowed staff to come and go to provide for the owners every need and yet, be rarely seen.

Staff could spy from behind this picture to see if dining guests below were ready for next course

Kitchen staff could monitor the dining guests needs, for instance, from behind a picture high on a wall. The latches to these secret doorways were pure James Bond.  A twist of a coat hook or even placing a coin at a certain location on a wall would release a magnetic latch located behind the wall, opening a  hidden door.

This Castle was the location shoot for a recent episode of "The Great Escape" TV reality show. All in all, a ton of local fun.

August 2012

The Bahamas? Nope, Potters beach in the Thousand Islands

©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

New and improved department

Last May, while visiting our kids in the North West, my favorite son in law took me to visit one of his customer’s showrooms. The guy harvests enormous hardwood trees that have become unmanageable in size, ready to fall down or whatever, from private property owners or city parks in the Seattle area. He then hauls them out to his one man sawmill, cuts them into thick slabs and has his crew turn them into beautiful custom dining room tables and desks. 

These have “live edges” and retain many of the unique characteristics of the tree they were cut from, so you won’t find any straight edges. These one of a kind pieces are typically found in boardrooms, executive suites and really nice homes. If nothing else, we share the same tastes, so we set out to upgrade our dining room set here. We are on our way to replacing furniture we had acquired before we got married, that we had brought to the island because we had managed to upgrade at home in California. 

Our new Cherry wood dining room table

To make a long boring story much shorter, we found a local with his own one man saw mill who harvests trees out of the upstate New York woods. This fella has his own drying warehouse full of slabs of hardwoods, with the tools and the skills to replicate anything you can dream up. 

For all intent and purposes, he is out in the woods, off the beaten path, with no on-line presence and relies on word of mouth for new customers. The result is they are limited in number and with the local economy being what it is, he works for much less than the big guys in Seattle. He seems to have no idea what this stuff could go for, if sold to city slickers. It’s like he’s sitting on a ham sandwich starving to death.

Click only ONCE to enlarge any photo

Jumping at the chance to help us both out, we handpicked the burl slabs and commissioned a Cherry table with a half dozen Adirondack styled chairs of our own design. The result has pleased us so much that we have several other pieces in various stages of planning for both here and some we would like to ship home to California.

Visits and visitors

Last month we had friends from North Carolina who came to visit for several days.

Chuck, Allie , Rachel and Jennifer

While Chuck is retired military, we have known Jennifer the longest, when I recruited her years ago as a teenager to work as our lighting technician for our magic production. I had attended some event where she was working and was immediately impressed by her skill, artistic ability and plain “get er' done” work ethic. She married and moved away but always kept in touch. 

Naturally, while here, we spent our day’s lollygagging about, swimming, boating and visiting the islands. It may not be the best thing to do in the world, but it sure beats whatever comes in second. It was great to have them.

Pierre, mom, handsome, Lorraine and georgeous

Next, we visited my mother and sister in the Toronto area for a few days and returned via Niagara Falls. Very touristy, but splendid just the same.

Bonus feature

                                        

So, how about you? What is new and exciting in your world?

July, 2012

               My patient is well. 

Last month I wrote that Janice was going in for a "little" surgery. She did, did very well and has been home recovering since. Her job is to point and mine is to lift, pull, open, reach and push as directed. She has seen every Home and Garden and cooking show that has been produced in the past 5 years so she is seriously caught up. Another couple of weeks and she should begin to start getting around far more. The doctor said that after this rebuild, she will be good for another 100,000 miles. 

Da Plane

Hours before she was admitted, I quickly completed my ground school before this month long hiatus, so I am officially a licensed and certified armchair pilot. I guess that means I can now make airplane noises while I flail my hands in the air, simulating airplane moves, as if I had any idea of what I was talking about. 

Click on any of the pictures ONCE

I practically have the flying part whipped since I already had my 1st lesson. I can now start the engine all by myself after yelling “CLEAR PROP!” out of the cockpit to prevent decapitations. (We surely would have had a close call with that one before my traumatized instructor taught me that trick) I also got to taxi down the runway a bit, some of it near the middle. I am sure we will have much more fun as soon as he stops yelling at me*. If that ain’t pickup-truck nirvana, what is?

Lifting off was magical. My testosterone was pumping like Henry VIII eating a turkey leg and demanding a new wife to behead! I have a friend that refers to flying as “the privileged view”. True, but I would add “for the privileged few”. I know, I know... many people have flown, but there is a huge difference between being in a 100 foot long aluminum cylinder and flying like the Wright Brothers. Only 2/10 of 1% of Americans are active pilots and barely half of those own their own airplane. I am extremely grateful to be joining their ranks.
*Note to instructor: Dude, lighten up; I was just kidding about the yelling thing!

                 The Little Free Library

Several months ago, we saw a TV news story reporting on a volunteer effort that some guy had put together in memory of his mother who had been a school teacher. He built a small box to look like a school house, and then put the box on a post on his lawn by the sidewalk of his house. He put a bunch of books in it with a sign offering them to people to take. To see the NBC story, click HERE

The idea was to encourage people not only to help themselves to a book, but if they wished, put another in its place for others. It was a “pay it forward” kind of thing and we thought it was very sweet. We looked the organization up online and saw that there were no two Little Free Libraries that were alike. With a lot of TV publicity behind it, the idea had really taken off. There are now 2,000 Little Free Libraries in a dozen countries.

We decided we were in and so we built our Little Free Library this past month and inaugurated it with friends and some adult beverages. Ours is registered with the organization as # 1335. The kicker is that they then told us that we are the first Little Free Library anywhere that is boat accessible only.

Right about then, the Los Angeles Times was doing a front page story about the Little Free Libraries featuring one in their local area. As they interviewed the organizers, it was mentioned that they were all over the world and that there are no two alike. “In fact” they said, “there is even one on an Island in the Thousand Islands”.  The L A times reporter contacted us to confirm what she had been told and included a reference to our Library in her story. To see the L A Times story, click HERE 

Within days, Janice had made the front page in our local paper on the Canadian side in the "The Brockville Recorder and Times" (HERE) and the "Thousand Islands Sun" in New York today.  We have not seen today's paper as we drove down to the Hampton's on New York's Long Island this morning. More on that in a minute.

By the way, the new oversized hanging flower planter above the Little Library is suspended by the arm I forged in France this past winter. Since I am to do whatever the little voices in Janice's head tell her, it  has been decided that what our dock needs is a second one, so I will be back at it again next winter.

           

                        The Hamptons

Every summer, we rent our Island out for two weeks to allow us to travel somewhere on the East coast, while having our entire yearly overhead costs paid for by the rental. Depending on your point of view, it is either being cheap or efficient in the use of our property. 

This week, Janice brilliantly arranged a home exchange in the Hamptons on Long Island outside of New York City, where we drove to yesterday. It certainly lives up to its reputation as being a playground for the beautiful people who are rich and famous, with money to burn. 

We are fitting in as best we can, except for the part about being beautiful, rich and famous or having money to burn. Still, it looks like we will have a great week with new places to explore and adventures galore.

     

                        SS Honey Bee

Last month we “invested in our security” and acquired an addition to our fleet. [Isn’t that how the government explains spending money?] Janice has been hankering for a canoe she could handle by herself, so we bought one that had seen service as a vessel used by smugglers and abandoned somewhere nearby. As the owners could not be located for the past year, it was put up for sale.

I promptly repainted it in the appropriate color and made it otherwise seaworthy. She (the vessel) is the third to join our armada and will remain under Janice’s command as real men don’t paddle, we throttle up.

                          Bill Johnston

Every year, thousands of people are drawn to the area to celebrate “Pirate Bill" Johnston days, held sometime in August. It is a 10 day celebration of a Thousand Islands smuggler, river pirate, and War of 1812 American privateer. He so annoyed the British in the 19th-century Canadian colonies that they called out the army every time his name made the newspapers. He was the man the British most wanted to hang. They spent a fortune hunting him and preparing defenses against him. 


Please, bear with me. There IS a point to this story. In 1838, he served as admiral in the rebel forces that repeatedly attacked Upper Canada. For his efforts, 500 British and American forces and at least four steamships hunted Johnston throughout the Thousand Islands.

In those days, the lightly inhabited islands were heavily treed and offered Johnston refuge and concealment in numerous groves and grottos. During his decades as a smuggler, he had discovered every trail, portage, cave, and hidden cove. Many of his cavern hideouts are gone. Some survive. Others surely remain to be rediscovered. 

In 1838, one of the commanders returned from a Johnston-seeking excursion with a discovery he'd made on one island. He found his bivouac on an almost inaccessible islet near the narrowest part of the channels of the Thousand Isles at Fiddler's Elbow, and cleverly constructed inclined planes upon which fast-rowing boats had been drawn up. 

Johnston pulled his boat up here

He never named the island but his description held several clues: it is near Fiddler's Elbow; it has a gentle inclining slope where a boat ramp could be constructed and concealed; and, it has a deposit of tourmaline resembling coal. (Tourmaline is a rare crystalline mineral found in many colors but most commonly black.)

I had read of this account by Shaun McLaughlinin in the "Thousand Island Life" this past winter ( much of this is from his article) and recognized that the area was a mere 5 minutes from our island. I had to see for myself if I could find what this commander had discovered 174 years earlier. 

Leaving Honey Bee, I steered my small aluminum boat into the roiling, turbulent waters of Fiddler's Elbow, the narrow channel between Ash and Wallace Islands to Lyndoe (a.k.a. Lyndoch and designated Island 79 in 1884).  I circled the island, past the navigation light and around the west end. On the south side, I found the sheltered bay. 

Pulling up on a stony beach, I discovered a wide gently inclining slope, concealed by shore-side shrubs, leading up into a pine stand. Climbing to the island's igneous spine, I had a close and clear view of the western end of Fiddler's Elbow. In one area, I found shards resembling anthracite, the hard edges of its crystalline form (like quartz but black shiny version of coal).

Johnston could watch for the ennemy's approach

 In the War of 1812, Johnston enlisted with the Americans as a river scout and raider. Fiddler's Elbow was then a principle route for boats supplying Upper Canada. On the spot I stood, a few armed men could command the channel's upstream approach. And, spread before me to the northwest was thousands of acres of open water. Any rebel or smuggler on my perch could see boats approaching long before they presented a danger. 

He was right! Pirate Bill Johnston had holed up here. Why study history when you can walk through it?

 

Buddies Joe and Tony, just hanging out.

To hear about and see more of life here CLICK HERE

June 2012

The transition: part II

Last month, I left off with you when we were visiting daughter Kami in Los Angeles. From there we drove up the coast to our home in Arroyo Grande and to stay with Janice’s mother and husband Vern. Every transition we have made over the past several years in May and November between Europe and the Island has involved this ‘side trip’ to the west coast. 

Goofing off with Vern to tour a B 17 Flying Fortress at our local airport.

We start in California which involves a combination of staying in touch with patient friends who wonder how much longer it will be before we come home, doing basic maintenance on our home that is currently rented out ( but not for much longer) and just enjoying the endless sunshine after a less than sunshiny winter in Brittany. 

Visiting with our friend Michelle

Maintenance on the house…? What maintenance, we have been asked? Just little stuff really. This time for instance, Janice refinished the entry doors and helped me by replacing some 3 bar corral fence. I mowed most of the 3 acres (1.2 hectares), repaired some drywall and got serious about saving our 11,000 sq ft (1,000 sq M) asphalt driveway and parking area. 

I am loathe to admit that I have been a very bad boy in neglecting to provide the care it has sorely needed for several years and it reached a point where I either had to get real and save the sucker or plan on having it redone. I was not left with a dog’s breakfast of choices but fiscal constraints guided me to clean up, sweeten up and show up to take care of business. 

Over several days I spread 100 gallons (400 Lt) of driveway filler and sealer to bridge the spider web of cracks that had developed and were threatening to cause the whole house of cards to crumble. Heck, I hadn’t had this much excitement since the Avon lady came by! The good news is that I determined that I had done enough to salvage the situation. The bad news is that it will require twice as much still to put it back in first class shape. 

Mom and Amy

Our next stop was Seattle Washington, to drive up to Anacortes Island to visit daughter Amy, favorite son in law Vance (he’s dreading the day when there is competition) and the five little hooligans. Finding them all healthy upon our arrival, the situation seemed to change quickly with fevers, sweating and other signs of impending contagious ickyness. We decided to wimp out and left a day early to avoid the possibility of passing anything on at our next stop, daughter Cassie and little Kayla.

Still, in our short visit, I spent a day with Vance cutting logs that he has recovered from trees that he had harvested on his property and wanted to turn into fence boards and siding for an out building. I got a shot at running the one man sawmill and as cool as it was, I discovered yet another occupation I would not like to pursue. If this keeps up, I will never find another job again and will be condemned to remain retired for life. 

Heading south to daughter Cassie’s, we spent a few days with her friend Marc and his family at their lake house north of the Oregon state line. Returning to their place in Longview, Cassie followed the tradition of all our visits to our children, by handing her father her “you must do this for me” list.  

Marc and I got busy and installed a food disposer, ceiling fan and lights, a garage light sensor, a heater thermostat, a closet pole, knobs and handles on all kitchen cabinets and patched drywall. Then we broke for lunch.

Finally, Janice and I kissed the babies, drove off and flew to the Bee. We were home.

Home, Sweet Island

Arriving home after 6 months is not exactly a turnkey operation. Boats need to be launched. The fridge and pantry are as empty as the day you moved into your home. The water pump needs to be dropped into the river and all treatment systems need to be fired up. Outdoor furniture has to be taken out, phones, internet and satellite service reactivated and of course….the leading edge of the Thousand Island Air Force needs to be checked (the plane is fine) 

Several scheduled dental and various yearly medical appointments were seen to, including follow up's for Janice's cancer treatments (all clear, all is well) 

However, Janice is scheduled for another surgery. I am told that all I am authorized to write here is that it is for "feminine plumbing issues". This will occur in the next few days and she will be homebound for at least a month. Of course I will be here the whole time with her.  

Before she goes in, I should have completed my ground school but all other flying questions can be answered by re reading the above paragraph. I will try again in August.

May, 2012

Isles de Brehat

Let's see now... we leave these islands to go to the islands. Is there a pattern here?

Bits and bobs

As you may know, the French just had a big election. We had recently told friends in our village that if France elected a socialist we would leave the country within 48 hours. They did and we did. Never mind that the election coincided with the fact that we were scheduled to fly out, it made for good effect.

 

Wild French political rally for Sarkozy

We were invited to attend a political rally for Sarkozy and got to watch 3000 enthusiastic frenchies go wild for the man. It was the first time we attended a political rally anywhere but it was just like you would expect and see on TV.

Loic launching his sailboat for the season

Did a little more boating this month and enjoyed seeing the coastline from the water. Really great.

In the final days before our departure, we had Los Angeles friends Ed and Marilyn visit us and see the area for several days. Ed is a diehard table tennis afficiano so I set him up with a local club to play one evening. He is now an intercontinental player. After downing all the wine and French bread they could, they were off to other parts of the country.

That’s a wrap!

We have transitioned from Europe back to the land of the free and the brave, and our first stop was to visit daughter Kami in Los Angeles for several days. While there, she took us on a tour of her workplace at the Paramount studios in Hollywood. Kami is a set decorator in the movie industry, and is currently working on season 3 of the television show called “Rizzoli and Isles”. The weekly series is about a female detective and a medical examiner that solve murder investigations in Boston.

Kami on the job

Medical examiners room. Note lack of ceiling

Kami showed us around the massive studio grounds as well as the sound stages where they were actually shooting the show. It is incredible to see completely decorated police station offices, as well as the medical examiners room, complete with all appropriate equipment and paraphernalia housed in rooms whose walls are an inch thick and have no ceilings. (The ceilings of the rooms are never seen on camera). All the rooms are contained inside a warehouse.

Outdoor scene being shot on studio grounds. Rain being created in foreground, wind being created by fans in background and lighting being made 'just so' by reflectors.

Next, we visited the outdoor area on the studio grounds where some of the scenes are shot. Entire city streets with 3 to 5 story buildings---or facades I should say--- provide a backdrop to the action. The facades are less than a foot thick and are supported by hollow steel structures.

Buildings are fronts only

"Inside" of above building is but a hollow shell. Walkways are for cameras, lighting or special effects crews.

Kami's flower arrangement. Happy mothers day, mom!

 Being back home.......eh, in California that is, we spent time with Janice's mother and her husband Vern as well as catching up with friends. This is the last time we plan to make our returns here little more than a drive by, as we intend to re-claim our house when we leave the island in the fall. The plan will be to spend the better part of the late fall / early winter in California, late winter and spring in France and  the summer unquestionably at the island.

Meanwhile, we did as much maintenance as we could on our house and will fly up to Seattle to see more kids and grandkids shortly.

Long lost cousins

 I have a younger brother who had two girls with his then partner. About ten years ago, after they separated, she married and moved with the 9 and 11 year old girls to Florida to start a new life. The move was sudden, with no forwarding address, phone number or any manner to contact her. In fact, our family didn’t even know her new married name.

Over the years, we tried several times without success to scour the internet in attempt to locate our nieces. We hoped that at some point they would be old enough to want a Facebook page so on occasion, we kept checking. We knew that if they had taken their new fathers name the effort would probably be futile, but last month my sister finally hit the jackpot. She found them.
 

We tentatively sent a message, not knowing if they would remember us at all or if they would even care to reestablish a relationship. Would they think that we had just blown them off? Would they just not give a rip? Being 20-ish, would they have few memories of their childhood extended family? 

Victoria and Valerie

Within hours we had our answer. They responded with Facebook links, email addresses, phone numbers and sheer joy that they had been the object of such a long search. They did have good memories of the relatives they could remember and have been slowly re-introduced to cousins, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and assorted other hangers on.
 

We look forward to having Victoria and her husband Efran along with younger sister Valerie visit at their earliest opportunity.