Thursday 14 July 2011

Cheers to Iris

Tribute to our Girl




With sadness we tell you that Iris was put to rest on Monday. She was in her 17th year after living a wonderful, adventurous life. We believe she had a stroke after slowly going down hill in the last month. Even though we feared she might be enjoying her last days, finality is never easy. We were with her when she passed on very peacefully. She was out walking with us just two days before she died, still with a slight bounce in her step and a nose that never aged.

Even though Iris only shared a couple years with us, we became very attached to her. She came to work with us on a regular basis when we were surveying in Ontario and even went for bike rides and runs with us until WE decided that it was too much for her. She wouldn't give up no matter the circumstances.

For a mature dog she adapted very well to Crosbie becoming part of the family. After the transition period, she would even let him share her bed and often lie in the sun with him.

We buried Iris on the hill across the road. On her little walkabouts through the day and night she would cross the road carefully and trip around the hillside. One last memory we have is her tripping up the road with her ears blowing in the wind. As the cars drove by they would smile and point at Iris who would often sit at the end of the driveway and watch the cars go by. She took well to being a Newfoundland dog. She will be greatly missed by us. We are left with wonderful memories though that will live on.

Finally an Update!

I must apologize for not updating my blog. I must say though, there aren't enough hours in the day. Ok, where do I start?? I think the last blog was when we were plastering away. Well, our plastering days are long gone (hopefully for a while).

After finishing all the plastering we were able to start the fun stuff...the stuff where you see results anyway. We painted the main area of the store a very light green and the kitchen an orange. We were very happy with the way it all turned out.

The interior of the building is basically finished, it is all trimmed and plumbed and most of the kitchen is finished. There are little things to finish inside the kitchen but they can be done anytime (at this stage maybe in the fall). Here are a few pics of our new "pad"




We went down to the wharf in Crow Head and the beach in Wild Cove and found ourselves some nice driftwood. We thought we would give our deck a "dock" feel. It was also neat to be able to use some of the props that we had at the marina for our store. Our neighbour Nelson really liked the anchor and told us to chain it down or it might disappear.









We were also lucky to find an old lobster trap under the wharf. We had been looking for one for a while. They are hard to come by unless you know someone.












Here is a view from walking in the door. We are going to be starting to bring in our inventory tomorrow. This is a very important part. The way we display our artwork has to be effective and eye catching. We were able to get great lights at Ikea while we were in Ontario. They will accent the walls where some of our artwork will hang. The space is small so it should be interesting.







Here is a view from when you come to order a coffee or cookie from us. Again, its a cozy space but we feel that we have used the space efficiently. We got our display case on kiiji used. We were lucky to find it because you couldn't make it for what we bought it for.







Here is the view of the kitchen coming in the "employees" door. The counter top we made we were using in our house and the stove as well (which we brought from Ontario). We are feeling quite disoriented now while making our meals because we have a little stove with an oven that burns most things and no counter space. We are managing though.

You will notice the floor is not a bland concrete colour anymore. This was quite an ordeal for us. We had to scrub the floors about 5 times to get all the plaster off (we would have had to do this anyway). The stain we put on the floor was supposed to dry in 1-2 hours. Well, the dampness in the air and the concrete didn't help our situation. We had to wait about 12 hours inbetween coats and a few days after the sealer coat.



We worked on finishing the bathroom and finishing off outside jobs since we couldn't walk on the floor for a while.

This washroom is now completely finished with all the fixtures. I haven't taken a picture of the finished product yet though so this shot will have to do.

We had to meet specific accessibility requirements to accommodate the handicap.






Fresh Bread....Finally!!

We were on our way home from our trip to St. John's and we stopped in to see some of the artwork of a potential supplier. We arrived at around 8pm and by the time we looked at her work and purchased some of it it was getting late. We connected well with this couple by the time we left. We headed out for home with approx. 6 hours of driving ahead of us to get home. Not 5 minutes down the road we hit a nasty pothole that did quite a bit of damage. We were carrying a big load (including a trailer load). The pothole bend our back rim and caused a flat. The front rim was also damaged but the tire was still sealed. The rims are aluminum and so cannot be bent out like steel rims (which is what we did the last pothole we hit on the way to Newfoundland). At this moment we got a call from Keli-ann letting us know that we could stay over if we wanted. Perfect timing for us since we couldn't make the trip on a spare tire. We stayed the night and went back into St. John's the next morning to get a steel rim to replace the aluminum one.

While we were visiting our new friends, I was excited to hear about their experience making artisan bread in just 5 minutes a day. I decided that this is what I wanted to do. My frustration with the bread selection here motivated me to give it a try. I bought all kinds of different flours at the bulk barn and now I am making fresh bread. It takes me about 5 minutes to make the dough and the dough is good for four loaves of bread. You just rip off a chunk and bake it and put the rest in the fridge until the next day when I rip off another piece and bake another fresh loaf. Its is so easy and fast. If anyone feels inspired let me know and I can give you the recipe. I change the recipe with different flours and grains each time so the loaves are always a bit different. Here is a picture to wet your appetite.





I will definitely be updating my blog again really soon. This is the fun stage when it all comes together. An empty room can suddenly come to life.. I will also have a better picture of our lovely faema espresso machine.

So, hope you enjoyed the tour. More details to come.

3 comments:

  1. Is it a sourdough bread? - I think that's what you call it. I'm thinking that you use a starter and basically keep a bit of starter from each batch of dough to be used to start the next batch. Am I on the right track?

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  2. Fairwell to Iris. She was a classy lady with a strong spirit and a keen nose.

    Hugs to you who bade her good-bye, and to all those who knew her.

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  3. What a great picture of Iris, I know she loved her "retirement" years with you and Ted, what dog could hope for more? I am still getting a little teary when I look at the wonderful framed photo megreggles gave us some years back of Iris, but I know she had a wonderful life.

    Regarding the bread- now you must post the recipe, we have to know!

    I think the colour of the kitchen is better described as pumpkin? I love it!

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