i get so behind on this. I have Mahazda updates on the demolition work, we remodelled the Cottage bathroom a couple weeks ago, we’re working on tilling the garden for Spring, and then this past weekend, my beloved cat Tattersall died.
it all gets to be a bit too much, sometimes.
and then, you know, it’s not really too much. it’s just life, and it keeps moving, and one of the things that falls by the wayside is making time to update the interwebs. for much steadier information on what we’re up to, do consider “liking” us on facebook.
anyway.
the demolition proceeds apace, and we’ll be at it again this Sunday, tearing out the remaining bathroom wall, the floors, and the kitchen. Feb 16th will be the rest of whatever we don’t get done this Sunday. hopefully. we might have a make-up day in March. then we’re going on retreat, during which we will Scheme a great deal, and come out with a solid plan for where the new walls and rooms go (because we are re-imagining this house), and we’ll turn that, and the house, over to the contractor. soon!
a couple weeks ago, we entered the next phase of the Cottage bathroom remodel, which process found me on my knees, re-tiling the bathroom in the middle of the night. (well, 10pm, which i totally did to myself. and for the record, Gawain is heroic at Sleeping; he can sleep through a remodel going on one wall away. it’s wonderful.) as Jenny put it, she and i spent the weekend trapped in a bathtub with a good friend & two razorblades. cleaning grout! and removing the old wall-tile-caulk. and making truly appalling caulk jokes. all day. plus we redid the floors. Jenny and Rev removed all the cabinetry, & chipped out the old tile. Then we repainted the room, tiled the floor with nice tile, and put some of the cabinetry back, and replaced others of it with these nice new shelves Rev has been building. and we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned that poor bathtub, and it is really much nicer now. we levelled up. There will be one more phase of this project, when the final shelf is built & installed, and then we’re fully finished. meanwhile the room is actually quite nice.
and then, on a more personal note, my sweet old cat, Tattersall, who was made entirely of Love, died last weekend. he has been failing since autumn, when he was diagnosed with kidney failure. sunday night, i came home from a weekend full of circus events (y’all knew i’m in the circus, right? well, and so. it’s a semi-recent development.) to find that the cat, who had chosen to stop eating about a week and some before, was no longer able to walk, nor interested in drinking water when it was brought to him. i knew then that it would be very soon. he died peacefully, at home, surrounded by his people and by love, because he had chosen his time. it was a very gentle way to go. Alan and I were both able to be there for him at the end.
we buried him the next day on the edge of the small ritual ground. in the spring, i will plant a lilac there, where it will grow big with flood waters, and honor his memory.