A year ago we started demolition. Late this past month the house achieved Net Zero. In another two weeks I and our belongings return to the mainly finished place. As soon as the coast is clear and the border is open the whole clan can gather at the house on Fernwood. But, who knows when that will be?
Last October Don headed back to Chicago to visit his mom. It made sense I stay on to be close to the work as questions came up. I remained until mid November. We had expected to undertake the later stages of the renovation together in 2020. We knew we would have to leave at some point… but could not have imagined a scenario in which to leave would mean to be denied reentry. But that was before Covid.
While Don was gone last autumn there were widespread protests condemning the lack of climate action by national and global leaders. On the first Monday in October, Extinction Rebellion organized closure of the Johnson Street Bridge. Throughout the fall Wet’suwet’en protests continued over the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline construction on unceded First Nation’s land. Greta Thunberg inspired 14 million young strikers from more than 200 countries to demand climate action by policy makers. In November 2019, Trump flipped the planet the bird when he called for the US to begin the process of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. It has been downhill ever since. This fall the news has been all about the pandemic, wild fires and elections. Working on the house project, phone banking, walking and connecting with friends and family has kept me sane.
This appears on a wall at National Museum of Czech & Slovak History in Cedar Rapids. I toured the museum one January afternoon. Claire was working in Iowa as an organizer on the Pete Buttigieg campaign and the only way I would see our daughter was to drive to Iowa. My grandmother’s family came to NY from Bohemia. Kundera won the Nobel Prize for literature for The Unbearable Lightness of Being .
https://medium.com/@jonathanseyfried/6-reasons-to-read-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-right-now-59356b91a29d
Precisely a year ago today, this is how the parlor looked. Part of the interior space was sacrificed to restore the front porch to the house. There were no exterior spaces when we bought the house. Now there are three.
A glimpse of the parlor and a reading nook - fir floor beneath the interior trim - to be revealed in 2 weeks -
The heavy equipment has been in use of late - stump remover came Tuesday - post excavator , but pre soil slinger and and tree planter.
After the net zero reno, I feel sure I’ll be ready to start this franchise on the island.
The crew is getting the upstairs in shape so I can move in right after Halloween. The trim is new but perfectly matches the old.
House is looking proud - the scaffold is down and soon a cleaner image of this facade will be posted
Beautiful light in the kitchen. Next week Michael will be back to install and finish the cabinets and the following week the marble gets sets in place
Also seen in Cedar Rapids
Considering a grille
Another series of grilles with a fern pattern made just for the house on Fernwood
A glimpse at Mo’s tiling in process seen through the doorways -freshly hung - the first coat of blue paint is on the floor and protected.
A tree grows in Brooklyn - but in Victoria artichokes abound in autumn. This prize specimen is in boulevard garden on Haultain down the street from our house.
Pete Buttigieg takes questions in Cedar Rapids - Claire organized the event - proud mom and dad were in attendance.
The view from Little Mount Doug on a walk with Kate and Sandy today.
The old bricks from the chimney rest in the back yard and will soon be used by mason Jim Meunier to build the stair and retaining wall in the front yard later this month.