The project continues

The last 10 days have been very busy.  The contractors are in the reconstruction part of the project and it is going well. 
Monday, prep for the tile will start for the bathroom and a long delayed project of a kitchen back splash will begin too. 
Here is the progression of the bathroom. I have been painting for the last two days The good news is that more is on the wall, than me.

Day 3 Jan 16 Tear out and Reconstruction

Today was very productive.  Back to the studs and old floors removed.

Wood for framing and a saw for more dust.

Jan 15 De-construction day 2

It was another noisy day.  The crew grew to 3 today and they were busy, busy, busy.  Walls, parts of ceilings and the rest of the bathroom. 

Here are the pix for today.

 If you look up. You will see we have a roof over our head, granted minus some drywall and insulation. 

Jan. 14 Demolition - Day 1

7:00 A.M. Yes, we have the early bird contractor.   They sealed off the rest of the house, laid down some floor protection and started taking everything apart.  We stay in the kitchen-den during the day and sleeping the living room.  Urban camping.  This is going to get old very quickly.

Here are today's de-contruction.......

 

View of the dust barrier from the kitchen.  

Jan. 13 The Joy of Remodeling

Remodeling is such fun.. We have spend the last several months arranging for a contractor, making all sorts of choices and packing.  I did not remember we had so much stuff.  Here are a few images prior to the demolition part, which starts tomorrow. 
This is the packing up stage.

  

June 23 Marathon Day

We started our day at :0300 in Dublin.  A quick cup of coffee, a ride to the airport and off to Amsterdam at :0600.   

The Amsterdam Airport is very big and contributed to a very long walk to the other end of the terminal.  With time to spare, we arrived at the gate had  another body scan and lengthy security interview.   

After a brief 10 and half hour Airbus ride, with moments of dozing off, we arrived in Portland.  Nancy and I managed to stay up  for several more hours to make an effort to get back on a normal schedule.  We finally crawled into bed after the 27 hour endurance run.  None the worse for wear, we are up and going this morning.  Be it a bit on the slow side of getty-up.   

More things to do and places to go, but no long plane rides scheduled in the near future.

June 22 Portrush - Belfast - Dublin

more later.


We arrived back in Dublin after about 1000 beautiful miles around Ireland.

June 21

June 20

June 19th Feast, famine, feast

Today our group drove through the Connemara area, beginning at Galway.  We first stopped at Cong, the town/abbey close to Ashford Castle.  This castle has been renovated by the Guiness family, and now operates as a posh hotel.  In the Cong area we visited the monk's fishing hut, a stone hut built over the river, and walked through the ruined abbey.  At St. Mary's church next door, we saw more of Harry Clark's outstanding stained glass windows.
Traveling on, we saw Croagh (Mount) Patrick where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days during Lent, and afterward drove the snakes from Ireland.  Since there were never any snakes in Ireland, the snake is seen as representative of the devil.
Our group stopped at Aasleagh Falls to check on the salmon run (none yet).  We traveled on to view the memorial for people who died during the Potato Famine. We also saw the Coffin Ship sculpture commemorating the thousands who left Ireland during the famine to find food and work in the New World.
Bud and I had lots of time to explore the town of Westport, and to have some seafood chowder at one of the local pubs.  We have a long ride on the bus tomorrow, so need to sign off.

June 18th Walk in the mist and big band sound

Our tour group took the bus from Galway to Rossaveel, where we boarded a ferry to travel to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.  There we took a small van to Dun Aenghus, the stone fortress at the end of the island that hangs off the cliff 300 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a long hike through the Burren-like rocks to the top of the hill, but the view was worth it!  We took a side tour to see the chevaux-de-frise (Frisian horses) - stones placed on end as a barrier to protect the fort from warriors attacking on horseback.
The mini-bus also stopped at Seven Churches - a cluster of monastic houses and tiny chapels.  We enjoyed seeing the pony carts taking tourists close to the fort.  After our hike, we stopped at Dun Aungusa Knitwear to visit Sarah Flaherty's shop.  Sarah makes everything in her shop. I was pleased to find a pair of fingerless gloves that she knitted in beautiful Aran wool.
We returned to Galway in the afternoon in time to take a walk, shop and go to dinner at Busker Browne's restaurant.  We ate in a quieter area while we watched the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.  Later, we heard a "big band" group playing '50's jazz.  Not Irish, but great fun!

June 17th Moher Cliffs and Rocks

We left Dingle and went to Tarbert, where we took the ferry over the Shannon River.  Our group soon arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, the site of scenes from the Princess Bride and one of the Harry Potter movies.  It's a wild and beautiful spot with an interesting shop and restaurant built into the headland.

Cliffs of Moher

Our group stopped next at the Burren to tour the area with our local guide, Mary.  We viewed fossils, plants and limestone rock formations.

Glaciers ground the land down to the bed rock.

The landscape was like this in all directions of this area.

We drove around Galway Bay to the city to spend two nights.  Our group took a walking tour of Galway, stopping at Eyre Square, Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, Lynch's Castle, Spanish Arch, and River Corrib.

After dinner, Bud and I walked along the river to see the men fishing close to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

June 16th "Vacation from our vacation" in Dingle

Today was our "vacation from your vacation" day - time to regroup and relax.  Bud and his tour friend Al hiked around town taking photos.  We met at noon and went to the nunnery at St. Mary's church to see the Harry Clark windows of Diseart.  These stained glass windows were commissioned in 1922.  The workmanship and attention to minute detail was spectacular!  It was ashamed that he died a few years later, at age 42.

Full Window

The lines are the chicken wire that is on the outside of the window.

The detail, color and shading was amazing.  There were 10 windows and each one was just as good.

We planned to take a boat tour of Dingle harbor, but the wind had made the water so choppy the boats had to come in.

We went to the 6 p.m. Mass at St. Mary's church so we could hear our tour friend Mary play the organ.  She is a professional organist.  She asked the priest in the morning if she could play their organ to keep in practice and he asked to play at the service.  She is really good. 

Bud and I went to a local "home style food" restaurant for hake ( cod-like, yum!) and a bottle of wine.

June 15th Stone Huts and Troubadours

A gray day, but no rain.  Note the stone walls.  This was what many parts in the highlands of Ireland.  The farmers just cleared their fields and stacked them on the property lines.

Communing with the nature trail

Our group took the bus on an all-day scenic drive around Slea Head and the Dingle peninsula.  A local tour guide gave us information on important historical spots in the Dingle area.  Then we drove around Ventry Bay, named after the last English lord in this region.

We stopped at the Beehive Huts - circular stone huts built without the use of mortar for monks and clergy.  We circled the peninsula to the Blasket Center, a beautifully designed building built to commemorate and educate about those individuals who lived on the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland. 

This structure has no mortar and has been here about 1000 years.

We also stopped at the Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar Church and churchyard to see more stone buildings left by the early settlers to this region.


After dinner we all went to a concert of traditional Irish music at St. James' church.  We heard performances of Irish ballads on the accordion, guitar, whistle, bodhran (drum), and uilleann pipes (Irish version of bagpipes).

Since we can't get enough Irish music, we stopped at O'Sullivan's Old Courthouse Pub -again- to hear a guitar/fiddle duo on the way back to the hotel.