Inching forward

Another day on the deck and some progress was made. Brandon spent the day with Nick, pulling up boards and ripping out nails. We really need this job to be completed by the end of next week. It will be a completely new structure, very sound and professionally finished. After they left I plucked 231 nails from the small section of lawn where Brandon had been ripping them out of boards. Could have been "lawnmower hell" if I hadn't spotted them!

Empty boots

Outside City Hall

empty boots wait

beside a dry fountain.

The sun shines on another deck day

I am trying to figure out whether there was progress made today. Nick assures us that everything is coming together now but I feel as though everything is coming further apart! The jacks were in use again as he replaced a rotted beam and reinforced the support structure.  I acted as his assistant while he was taking a lunch break. Donning work gloves, I threw the ripped up pieces from above into his trailer below...five minutes of sweaty labour! 

Progress on the deck??

It feels like very slow progress as Nick continues to find faults with the original structure. His main goal is to ensure that the revised deck will allow rain water to drain away from the house, unlike the original structure! It is fun to listen to him as he instructs himself and memorizes pieces of information.

While Nick used amazing electric tools and hydraulic jacks to correct the basic support, John heaved and yanked on nails and screws to remove them from boards in order that Nick can recycle them into the new deck.With aching shoulders, John called it a day at 4pm so that we could take our pre-dinner walk. 

Tackling the deck

I had the help of a strong 17 year old on Sunday afternoon to remove the railings from around the back deck. Some of the pieces were rotted, some were nailed and others were screwed. It made the job more challenging and I was very grateful to have young muscles involved.

Today Nick arrived to start the process of ripping apart the existing decking in order to rebuild the entire surface. Never second guess what you'll find underneath the surface layer! Lurking beneath was a good sized wasp nest, cedar decking and a couple of bats!

It looks like they put plywood and vinyl over top of decking. Nick almost went through the rotten wood!!

Is that snow??

You can't see the snow in this photo of the Fly Hills

but it was there two mornings in a row!

Everyone knows that winter weather arrives

six weeks after the first snow is spotted on the hills!!

Greek lessons

With the start of a new school year, the cost of learning another language through Education Outreach escalated from $0 - $150.00. I decided that if I paid the money, I would be more focused with my daily lessons. So, here I am again, attempting to string together a sentence in GREEK! Refreshing my aging brain cells with repetitions of the alphabet and verb conjugations! In my notebook from 2007,
I discovered this poem that reflects my ongoing struggle with the language.

This language is elusively

leaking through my pores

seeping out of synapses

that continue to disconnect

and open without warning

so that bits and pieces remain

in an abstract version

of an invisible sensibility!

That about sums up my experience, whether trying to learn on the computer or visiting the country. Of course there are a few words that have stuck. I can call a dog to "come here" when necessary and order a kilo of wine with no problem. It would be an advantage to read a menu with confidence! So now there will be daily lessons and reviews on Rosetta Stone until next March when we will step onto Greek soil again and embrace the scent of the Aegean!