La Traviata on a hot day with no air conditioning

Di quell'amor ch'è palpito
Dell'universo intero,
Misterioso, altero,
Croce e delizia al cor.

Of that unspoken love,
The pulse of the whole world,
Mysterious, unattainable,
The torment and delight of my heart.

Violetta and Alfredo were so enchanting that we totally forgot about how steamy it was in the theatre. This is only the third opera I have seen, and it was by far the most interesting. The staging and especially the performances were just beautiful.

To listen to some (or all) of La Traviata, check out this website: http://www.magazzini-sonori.it/esplora_contenuti/approfondimenti/traviata.aspx

The heat of summer and our first visitors

Yesterday was a day for visitors to review the progress on the house. As far as I can tell, everyone approves. Of course, the kids were more interested in swimming in the creek, refusing to get out and come home for dinner. It is incredibly hot and humid here so far this week, so I think maybe they are smarter than we.

Later today we go to La Traviata at the Glimmerglass Opera. I hope that our ticket price includes some serious air conditioning.

The good with the bad

Got a better look at everything today. The house looks great, although it still looks smaller than I imagined. Even though I have seen many architectural drawings over the years in my job, I guess this is the first time I have seen a drawing turn into something real.

We still haven't jumped up inside for the full tour, but will do that this weekend. In this photo, Sophie is in the driveway where you would pull up and first see the house. The front door is the hole on the right.

The bad part: a small sour cherry tree that we planted last year had to move for the driveway to come through. Found it today still not replanted.

Bad part 2: We bought a 12' piece of dock awhile back for $25. We were going to use it to bridge the creek, but couldn't find a way to carry it or drag it back there. Found it today destroyed by some big equipment. Oops.

If these are the worst hurdles we have to jump, we'll be doing very well...

Got in while it was still light

Another wow! Second floor is in and some of the second-floor walls are framed. It looks like my best view might actually be preserved. (Some finessing of the garage location can take place over the weekend.) The excavator filled the hole around the foundation, and graded the house site maybe a little too much. It looks too smooth and wonderful, we might have him rough it up a bit to be more natural like it was.

Just got done ordering some expensive tickets for the Glimmerglass Opera for a matinee on Sunday. La Traviata by Verdi. From their website:

"Jonathan Miller’s Glimmerglass production has been described as 'brilliant' by the Schenectady Gazette, and 'well directed and carefully understated' by the Ithaca Journal.

In this tale of passion, sacrifice and heartbreak, courtesan Violetta abandons a life of freedom and extravagance to be with Alfredo. Although their unconventional union proves unstable, their love endures.

Mary Dunleavy as Violetta and Ryan MacPherson as Alfredo are '…utterly convincing as a couple trying to navigate a path between sudden passion and social protocol' (The New York Times)."

So there really is some semblance of civilization out here!

The invisible second floor

The second floor is framed and ready for plywood, and the excavator was there on Tuesday morning to fill in the hole around the foundation. Jim the Builder promised to take some photos while I was in NJ, but he couldn't find the key to get my camera from The Dump. So no pics of the house until I go back up there tomorrow night to catch up on the progress.

We are expecting some of The Husband's family to visit this weekend through next week, so I will update you with some family photos while the second floor remains invisible. I am working today on trying to print out this photo of my parents leaving their wedding reception to go on their honeymoon in 1954. This is how I choose to remember them both, before age and illnesses took their toll. I am wondering what they would think of my home-building project and our plans to eventually move there. I expect they are following our progress from above, without the need of my blog updates...

(Sorry, Mom, I know you would hate to have a photo of yourself up on the web for all the world to see, but you look so beautiful here!)

Central NY farmers

Who knew we could build a house and grow crops at the same time?

Well, I don't think we're any competition for the real farmers. This is our whole crop of peas. Last year we got maybe 7 or 8 ears of corn. The year before was our first gardening experiment. We paid Shotgun Mike to prepare 2 fairly large garden beds for us. We added some composted manure and peat moss to the gravelly, partially clay soil. We planted 2 seed packets of sunflowers and 1 of winter squash. We got one baseball-sized squash and that's it. Groundhogs got everything else.

Measure twice, cut once

Watch out Spielberg! I took the video from the other day and added the latest, from yesterday. The whole first floor is framed—all in seven minutes, 39 seconds. I told the guys I would delete the part where they had to measure twice, cut twice...but it was much more interesting to leave it in. Sorry guys!

The big hole gets filled in tomorrow and they start the second floor next week. The husband and some other family are coming up Friday. They should be starting the roof by then—if all goes well. Enjoy.

Gonna run back home for a few

Things are going to slow down just a bit, so I'm running back to NJ. These pics, and the ones I take later this afternoon, will have to suffice until I get back. But then Jim the Builder offered to take some while I am gone. We'll see how that goes.

All the walls around us

Rising above the goldenrod

Today, for the first time, I am able to see the house from the lower field. The photo on the right was taken from about halfway down to the creek. The weeds out there are head-high, mostly goldenrod, but also dame's rocket, bachelor's buttons, burdock, and others yet to be identified. We have blazed a trail to the creek, for our daily walk, by walking sideways and breaking off the stems at ground-level. Well, I guess I did the trailblazing, the dogs just ran ahead. The creek is running really high today, they must have had more rain since I left last week.

If I can see the house from the creek (not yet) will I be able to see the creek from the house? That might just help me get over the loss of my favorite view from the front porch.

Later today I am going to meet with Karen, the kitchen layout design pro, in Cooperstown.

Arrived in time

to take a few pics before the sun went down. This photo was taken from the top of a dirt pile, to get the best angle for you guys, because I care. I do.

Looks like the concrete basement floor is finished, and the first floor framing begun. I am still concerned that they moved the house forward a bit too far, after all my staking efforts, and that I will lose my favorite view from the front porch. But I won't be able to tell for sure until my front porch reappears. Maybe we'll have to make that a wrap-around porch like the one in NJ...