work and play

The summer seems to be flying by.  Since Nina and Paul left, Dave has been working on the final installation of the refrigerator and building the cupboard/pantry unit to fit beside it.

we're keeping Lowes in business these days

sizing the tray cubbies

He's tailoring the shelves to my specifications.    There are a few things we use often that just don't fit nicely in Beluga's original cupboards and these are the things I'll put into the new one.   Platters, my cookbook/binder, our gin bottle, etc.    Now they'll have a spot made just for them!

preliminary fitting before the door is attached

If Dave had a solid block of time to work, it would be in and installed by now but other things interfere.    Some pleasant things, friends visiting, a family wedding, and some things not as pleasant.

We evidently have a sewer pump alarm in the basement.   It goes off more than we'd like.   Sometimes with reason, sometimes just for the fun of it.   Working on a sewer pump is not high on Dave's list, but he finally had to get into it.    The joys of homeownership he reminds all of you contemplating buying a home.

Dave's nephew's only daughter got married last Friday and we were invited.   The reception was held in a fabulous old barn in Scottsville, New York.    It turns
out we'd been to this barn before.....It, and the beautiful cobblestone home on the property, used to belong to our old equine Veterinarian, Dr. Pierson.    Needless to say, it looks much different nowadays.

niece Lisa and her husband Chris

I didn't take any pictures of the interior of this barn I really should have.  It was stunning.   As a matter of fact, I really didn't take many pictures at all.    I did manage to capture the sweet Polish tradition of Oczepiny or "unveiling".   It symbolizes the rite of passage from a young woman to a married one.   Her veil is removed and replaced with a small lace cap while everyone stands around singing Sosnie Trawka.    This song is usually sung in Polish (song sheets are passed around so everyone can sing along) but this day we all sang it in English.  Everyone sings and sways around the couple, a really emotional ceremony.

To lighten the mood a bit, the groom gets a hat too.   It reminds the couple to laugh and have fun in their marriage.   Lisa made this hat for Andrew.   I think a fertility "reminder" is always included.   Look closely at the back of his hat when they're dancing.    Often that "reminder" hangs in the front, right down in front of his face, but Lisa was a bit more restrained by adding a cucumber and two walnuts to the back of the hat this time!    An old friend of ours, Norm K, had a hat placed on his head (some 47 years ago) with a very large piece of polish sausage and two hard boiled eggs dangling in front of his eyes.

Lisa places the grooms hat

On Sunday afternoon Judi (from Buffalo) and Barb (from Webster) came down for a sleep over.    We've been friends with these two for more years than we can count and we always have a really great time together.    Sunday was no exception.

Dave sets the table

I love a good low country boil but have never made one myself.   The girls volunteered to be guinea pigs.

Oooooh it looks so good says Barb

They each made a contribution to the meal and it turned out very well.   We all sat around the newspaper covered table and ate and ate til we ate it all up.    I noticed that Barb had the paper's crossword puzzle next to her plate so we decided to work it after we ate.

We laughed and laughed!    After a ridiculously long time we successfully completed it.   As we looked over the table we discovered 3 or 4 more puzzles but decided one was enough for the day.

In the morning we all shared the peanut stick donuts that Judi brought and they were on their separate ways after lunch.     Barb is off to England later this week. I think we'll recreate our meal and game night when she returns.

Back to work for Dave.   Lewis likes entertaining company much more than woodworking so he's bored today.

routing the door trim makes chips fly!

sigh