An Abhainn

Other Projects and Purchases

2015-10-26T19:38:00.004-03:00

I lined up an electrician to arrive the day after we got there. He showed up in the afternoon and got some more lights hooked up.

Previously the three sconces in the back hall were just bare light bulbs sticking out of the wall, see below, a photo from last May.

Now these bronze and brass fixtures with milk-glass shades are in place.

The night before the electrician came, as we were driving from the bridge where Mom and Dad picked us up, after Jim drove us from Moncton airport to the bridge, we stopped at the Home Depot in Charlottetown to get some LED rope light for the kitchen pantry. The wiring was already there, just need to be hooked up. In my haste to pick something up I got LED rope light that is in several colors, and you can program flashing and fades, so I now call this the disco closet.

The stair lights to light up the steps have been in place for a year, but we didn't have the transformer to make them work, so we got that hooked up. They work really well and we keep these on all night when there is anybody sleeping upstairs.

The lighting project below didn't require the electrician. I had this electric floor lamp since the late 80s, and I just put candles in it as the wiring was rotted away. Dad restored the lamp, and rewired it, so I got these lamp shades and the big LED bulb for the center, and its in our bedroom.

Before we got there Dad restored the old wood box for the kitchen porch. It was in rough shape and in pieces, but Dad got it back together, and made a top out of salvaged boards from the garage door. Lift the lid and the recyclable bin is there. It also serves as a bench for putting on your shoes. I'm not going to refinish or paint it, just going to leave it as is.

Modern double mattresses are 2 inches longer than they were when the old bed frames were made. Therefore, we haven't been able to set up the old beds. However, I found a welder who cut the rails on this bed and added 3 inches (1 extra inch for stuffing the sheets down the ends), so now we can use this frame again!

Dad stripped all of the many layers of paint off the frames about 10 years ago. They were meant to be painted though, and the iron was starting to rust, so I primed and painted this frame.

The finish is metal spray-paint in oil rubbed bronze. It has a really nice finish. Dad had also polished the brass bed knobs and they look great against the dark colour of the frame.

The south wall of the back hall was originally an exterior wall, and has the only original cedar shingles left in the building. The wall is painted a yellow with white trim, the colour scheme that the house had when I was small. I carried with me on the plane this antique picture frame that I've had for about 25 years, with its original red velvet matte, and I had a photo of the house as it looked when I was small printed for it. The glass was missing, so I had the glass replaced with UV protected glass at Michaels in Charlottetown. I hung it on the shingle wall, so you can see how the house looked, on original shingles in the same colour as in the photo.

Below is the photo in the frame. The print was made form a slide that my grandfather took, and I think it was taken about 1965.

Dad had a painting I did 15 years ago hanging in an old frame in the mechanical room, so I also took it to Michaels and had it custom framed. It now hangs in the dining room.

The painting is of Main Street in Springhill, and the church on the left side is the one Mom and Dad were married in.

David and I walked down the trail to the village one morning and passed a yard sale. This little table and chair set was for sale so I picked them up for the new deck. We cleaned off most of the old paint which was flaking and falling off, and Dad plans on cleaning off the rest over the winter. Next time I am there I'll spray-paint them, likely the same colour that I used on the bed frame.

I needed a side table, and a mirror in our room. David and I found this dresser in a shop in Point Prim.

Its missing one knob, and the mirror, but I'll get those parts next time I'm home. I like that its very similar to the bedroom set that used to be in the downstairs bedroom, and is now in Mom and Dad's room.

Lots of little details were taken care of this trip. We were again busy every day, but the house is starting to feel really finished.

New Deck

2015-10-23T17:40:00.002-03:00

Last summer James and I built the deck at the kitchen door. I designed it as a kit, we picked up the materials and put it together in 2 days. That worked pretty well, so I designed the deck at the back door a few days before this trip.

This is what the stoop at the back door looked like before the work began.

I ordered the materials from Kent Building Supply in Montague on Thursday, the day after we arrived, and had it delivered the day after that. Saturday morning Dad and I got to work.

Its a floating deck, 8x12. The concrete supports distribute the weight.

I spaced out the decking to make sure the frame was the right width.

We built 3 frames, each 8x4, and connected them together. This was to make construction simple. the only tools we used was a circular saw, 2 electric screwdrivers and a hammer.

It took a lot of excavation. The ground was high there relative to the house, so we took out a lot of dirt and extended the downspout at the south corner to get water away from the foundation.

We reused the steps that were at the back door. This is temporary.

Next year we will build another deck that will run across the back of the house and connect to this deck, and we will build better steps to the ground at that time.

I found this metal table and chairs at a yard sale. Dad will scrape off the old paint over the winter and I'll spray paint them when I'm back next spring.

Another project completed!

October on the Island

2015-10-22T15:58:00.004-03:00

We just got back last night from 2 weeks on the Island. We got a lot done including a lot of work on the landscape, building the back deck, and it was exciting to witness the election!

As always, I walked around the place on the first morning, taking stock, and shooting some photographs.

Dad recently completed restoring the wheel barrow. We think it might have been Georges and might have come from the house, or from Hopefield. Dad had to rebuild the sides, and painted it the same colour that is has always been. Its too nice to use!

Call this a "before" photo. Later this day I ordered all of the wood, screws and nails for the new deck which was delivered the following day.

Day 2, we went to Charlottetown. Province House is now being restored and will be closed to the public for a few years.

I read in the Island Magazine an article on the 250 year old Samuel Holland map, the first accurate map of the Island, and the map that divided the Island into 67 lots. I also found out that the map has been restored and is on display at the Confederation Center, so we went to see it.

This is a link telling all about the map. If you are Charlottetown before January I highly recommend taking a look. Its an exciting look into the early history of English settlement on the Island:

SAMUEL HOLLAND MAP

I was back in July

2015-10-02T13:02:00.000-03:00

I came back to the Island in early July for a week and took these photos. Everything we planted was doing well.

The lilac hedge we planed is doing well...

...and so are Dad's oak trees

Dad and I pruned the maple down by the outhouse

The roof od the shed fell in over the winter due to snow, and Dad and Christopher have repaired it since I was there.

The apple trees are coming along.

The bleeding heart is going crazy!

The white rose bush is happy. It blooms over and over again through the season.

Peony

Peonies

Another peony and a hosta

I had this chair reupholstered in the Stuart of Bute tartan in May

down in the village

the dam

Dad, Christopher and I checked out the progress on the Cape Bear lighthouse.

We went up to Hopefield to look around the old place.

Christopher and I moved the china cabinet and suddenly there is a lot more room in the dining room.

The mock orange was just about to explode with blooms when I was leaving.

My cousin Tom flew over to Charlottetown and picked me up in his plane. I stayed with him in Moncton for a couple of days before coming back to Nebraska.

Now its October. I will be back on the Island again in a few days. as always, I am counting down the days and hours.

Last of May's Photographs

2015-09-25T12:23:00.000-03:00

We left May 27th. We had a few hours in the morning to take a last look around at what we planted and did, and see what we planted last year coming up.

David put in a vegetable garden.

Dad planted three oak trees in the field last year and they are doing well.

Peonies from last year coming up.

Gotta go I guess

We had time for lunch at a sidewalk restaurant on Richmond Street before heading to the airport.

That was the May trip. I was back in July, and we will be back again on October. More to come.

Still More, and the Cape Bear Light

2015-09-17T15:04:00.001-03:00

Sometimes when I get back to Nebraska I realize I don't have photos of everything, and I like to have them so I can visit when I want and look around, so here are even MORE photographs of the interior and some of the work that has been completed recently.

Above is the award that Mom and Dad accepted last year for the restoration of the house from the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation. The Lieutenant Governor Frank Lewis presented it to them at a ceremony at the Eptek Centre in Summerside, winter of 2014.

Above is the charcoal sketch I did of the house Grammy grew up in in Abney. It was one of the first charcoal drawings I ever did. I remember drawing it at the dining room table in that same room, summer of 1983. I was staying there with Grammy and Grampy that summer. I was 16.

Dad and Mom finished the second floor hall and stairs since we were there the previous year. The floor has been painted and Dad finished the baseboard trim.

Dad did a light refinishing of the railing and it looks fantastic.

David and I sent several boxes of clothes and stuff and set up our room. Now when we go to the Island we don't need to take luggage.

David took off one day and came back with this dresser he found in an antique store in Charlottetown.

Our cedar lined closet. Our room is one of the last that needs work. Last year when the trim was being installed, we ran out and this bedroom still needs trim, and the floor needs to be painted. We probably should have waited to get the room done before fully moving in, but we'll deal with that when the work commences.

The front bedroom is done. Dad finished and painted the trim and Mom painted the floor.

Dad put the red window back in.

This is one of the first watercolour paintings I ever did. Its again Grammy's childhood home in Abney. I gave it to her for Christmas in 1986 and it used to hang in her living room in Lakeburn.

Found this painting in a shop in Charlottetown

This painting is of the Wallace Museum in Wallace Nova Scotia. Its a project I worked on around 2000, and I did this little watercolour of it at the time. Its been sitting on a shelf ever since so I took it to the Island and had it framed in Charlottetown.

The painting above is by David's Aunt Bev. He gave it to Mom and Dad as an anniversary gift. She passed away a couple of years ago. She used to have shows in galleries in Lincoln.

Mom and Dad repainted the basement bathroom, after the tile and trim was completed.

The mechanical room, which is also Dad's project room.

The back hall

The bench was built last year, and the lid lifts and is a laundry chute to the bathroom/ laundry room below. I had the cushions made in Lincoln and mailed them.

View out through the old wavy glass

A few years ago I bought this page of the 1880 Meacham's Atlas of PEI. Its from an original printing and in colour. Finally got it framed too.

On this same page is this view of Murray River...

...and Duncan Munn's place at the shore. He was a cousin to Dan Munn, my great-great-grandfather. The House is still there.

The painting I did for Dad for Christmas in 1998 of the place in Hopefield.

The photo of Dan Munn that David shipped to the Island for me last year. I got a small copy of the photo from Viola in 1983, and the same summer I found the frame at a yard sale near Montague, so I refinished the frame and had the photo enlarged to fit the frame in 1984.

David and I spent a day in Charlottetown

Province House

I obviously love this building

View of the rose window of Saint Dunstan's from an alley on Queen Street.

My favourite architect has always been William Harris (1854-1913) who lived in Charlottetown and then Halifax. I photographed all of his buildings when I was in my teens and early 20s, about 150 total, and when I see again one I photograph again. This is the Connolly Block on Lower Queen Street that he designed in 1889.

Dad, David and I drove out to Cape Bear to take a look at the new location of the lighthouse.

Looking rough, but they are working on it, and its great that it was saved from falling over the cliff!

Then we took a drive down to the point

Still More from the May Trip

2015-08-24T16:56:00.001-03:00

These are just pictures I took in and around the house.

After the party, this certificate arrived from the Lawrence MacAulay, the Member of Parliament for the Cardigan district, congratulating Mom and Dad on their anniversary.

The new TV

David put in a vegetable garden where the garage used to be.

Many, many years ago, my friends Carter, Arnold and I "liberated" these hooked rugs from Jimmy Smith's house. I completely forgot about them, but Dad found them and brought them out.

They are faded, and tattered, but they cleaned up pretty well. On the edge of the rug above says "J.A. McDonald April 1898".

Presented to

M.D. Blue

C MacDonald

AD. 1891

Dad and I walk around a lot talking about the place.

More Photographs from the May Trip

2015-07-31T17:20:00.003-03:00

I am very behind getting these posted, but its never too late.

The day after the party, May 25th, Dad and I went to Hopefield to look around. We went first to the old place.

We then walked across the field to Jimmy Smith's house to see if its still there. It seems this past winter really took a toll on the house, but its still up.

Then on to the schoolhouse. It has fallen apart a lot in the last 2 years.

I have a lot more photos and I'll try to get them uploaded in a timely manner!

Photos from Lois

2015-06-24T16:27:00.001-03:00

Lois sent me these photos that she took at the anniversary dinner. Thank you Lois!

Debby and Murray at the House

2015-06-15T13:08:00.000-03:00

Mom's niece Debby and her husband Murray were not able to attend the anniversary dinner, but they did get a chance to visit Mom and Dad yesterday. Debby was Mom's flower bearer in their wedding!

They visited the place up in Hopefield. Above is Mom with Christopher's tulips.

Mom and her tree.

Thanks Debby for the pictures.

The Trip Home and First Day

2015-06-12T11:11:00.001-03:00

We flew out of Omaha, an hours drive from Lincoln, into Chicago, early morning on Wednesday May 20th. There are always hiccups when flying today it seems. When we arrived in Chicago we learned that our next flight to Montreal was delayed at least an hour, then 2. The ticket agent tried to talk us into staying in Montreal overnight and book to Charlottetown the next day as they didn't expect us to make our connection, but we went for it anyway. We arrived in Montreal with 40 minutes to get through customs, which typically takes an hour, get through security, and get on our next flight. Thankfully customs was empty, must have been the first time ever, and we ran from one end of that airport to the other with 10 minutes to spare! We were on the ground in Charlottetown at 6pm. We made it!!

The next day I did what I always do when I get to the house; get outside early in the morning, walk around and take lots of pictures. looks like early spring in these shots but by the time we left a week later, spring had sprung.

First thing I noticed is that the shingles on the house have greyed out a lot since last year. Eventually the house will be a rich and fairly even pewter color.

Below is a "photo study" of the poor neglected outhouse. I have got to get it fixed up.

The old foundation of the garage

The deck that James and I built last year held up well. Dad said it didn't move all winter and made getting in and out of the house much safer.

Fainting Couch Part 3

2015-06-03T15:55:00.000-03:00

Update on the couch. its done! It was delivered to the house a day after we got there. Looks fantastic in our family tartan!!

Party for Mom and Dad

2015-05-29T15:32:00.001-03:00

Saturday was the 50th anniversary party for Mom and Dad at the Lobster on the Wharf in Charlottetown. The party started at 4 and about 40 family were there. Below are pictures I took at the event. I'm not going to say much, just look and enjoy. We made a lot of new memories.

Mom and me

LOBSTER

I sat with Mom, Dad, Christopher and Mom's sister Alva.

I bet Loreen has a picture of me just like this.

over here Dad...

It was a wonderful time, thank you all for coming.

Fainting Couch Part 2

2015-05-04T10:52:00.000-03:00

I just received these photos from Jim Culbert. The restoration is more involved than anticipated. The piece was obviously home made. Jim said it needed lots of gluing. One arm was broken in many places so he rebuilt it. He also replaced one rail that was made out of thin barn board.

The back is made from a wide board that must have come from a crate, and is stamped.

I did a Google search, and didn't find much, other than there is a Walkerville in Ontario, Michigan and Montana, and I'm sure there are more. I was talking to Dad about the couch and he doesn't know if it came with the house in Hopefield, which was owned by Alex Taylor, or maybe from Ira's house, or anyone else's house, and we also have no idea how old it is. I doubt if it came from Ira. He and his father were accomplished carpenters and I think they would have made a finer piece, plus, the story is the only piece of furniture to survive the 1941 fire that destroyed Ira's house was the sideboard that is now I the kitchen a the River. The couch was in Dad's home as far back as he can remember so its at least 75 years old, but it could be 150 for all we know. Its a mystery!

Fainting Couch

2015-04-21T11:15:00.000-03:00

Remember the fainting couch that was in the kitchen?

I took the photo above the summer of 1985 when Aunt Joyce was living with Aunt Winnie for a year. The couch came from Grammy and Grampy's house in Hopefield, and had been recovered many times, the last by Grampy in the 1970s.

Dad remembers playing under the head of it when it was in the kitchen in Hopefield. I, and many others have slept on it when the house was full and there was nowhere else to sleep.

when the house project started it was put in storage in Montague along with everything else from the house.

It has been sitting in Dad's workshop room in the basement ever since Mom and Dad moved in. The fabric deteriorated and was threadbare. I have had it in the back of my head that someday I would have it restored.

So I found an upholsterer in Vernon Bridge, Jim Culbert, and he picked up the couch a couple of weeks ago, and just sent me these photos of it under construction. He says there is "lots of old cloth and feathers and padding" in it. He will put new padding in it, refinish the feet and reupholster. He is saving all of the old materials for me so we have a record. Below are progress photos.

Its fascinating to see all of the layers. I wonder if anyone remembers any of these older covers?

In honour of the family history, I ordered Clan Stuart of Bute (which Munn is a sept) fabric from a woolen mill in Scotland and Jim will finish the couch in it. This is our tartan.

I'll post more photos as the work progresses. it will be done and at the house by the time I'm home in May.

Mom and Dad have been married 50 years

2015-03-20T14:31:00.001-03:00

It will be Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary on June 19th. I will be on the Island in May so we are having a celebration while I'm there. I am inviting family and friends to come, so if I missed you and you want to be there, let me know!

Pictures from their wedding. Grampy took most of these, except for the ones that he is in.

They were married on June 19th 1965 in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Mom is from Leamington, a small village just outside Springhill, and Granny lived in Springhill then.

Grampy, Grammy, Mom's niece Debby, Mom's sister Nina, Dad, Mom, Mom's brother-in-law Bob Machum, Mom's brother-in-law George Parks, and Granny

Dad's Best Man was Mom's brother Russ, and Maid of Honour was Mom's sister Nina.

Uncle Ken, Nina's first husband, with Mom and Dad outside the church

Heading to Granny's little house after the reception

The little girl is Nina's daughter Judy

Dad's 1964 Ford Galaxie was a stunner. I loved that car.

I've posted this before, but its worth showing again. This is Mom and Dad that first summer they were married. Its taken in Uncle Danny and Aunt Winnie's front yard. I hope I have this story right. Danny and Winnie had a cat that just had kittens. Mom and Dad stopped in after leaving the house on their way to go back to Moncton. On the way to the boat, Mom made Dad turn around and go back for a kitten.

And 2011, just when they were moving into the house. How rare is it to get everybody to look the same way at the same time. This is one of my favourite pictures.

It's a New Year

2015-03-02T17:48:00.000-04:00

It is 2015! This year marks 5 years since the house project began. There are only minor things left to do to finish the house, and time to think about projects beyond the house, such as the west yard landscaping.

The grass is now in and the planted trees and shrubs are doing well but I want to design a garden in the west yard that is a little more formal, with benches, paths and beds. I have some ideas but needed inspiration. I wanted to see some gardens that are similar to what I have in mind. This wasn't the main reason for our trip over the Christmas holidays but it was a fun research project while we were there, even though its winter.

We visited Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Seeing this house has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I mean that literally. I remember building Monticello in Lego over 40 years ago when my fascination with the house began.

This is the garden side and is what they call the nickel side, because its on the American nickel. Monticello is the only house in the western hemisphere that is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The wings on either side connect underground to the little brick structures at the ends. The one on the right is Jefferson's first house that he lived in on the site while the main house was built, and the one on the right became his office. He spent 40 years designing, building, partially tearing down, and rebuilding the house until he got it just right.

The wings are called dependencies, because they contain the kitchen, wine cellar, storage, carriage house, the necessaries (outhouses) and various other functions that the house depends on to run.

We got tickets ahead of time for a "behind the scenes" tour. We were taken upstairs and into the dome room, which is normally off limits to the public. This is the only interior space that we were allowed to take photos.

The main entry to the house on the east side

We also toured Jefferson's getaway retreat, Poplar Forest, near Vicksburg, Virginia. This house was historically unknown because Jefferson didn't want people to find him when he was there. It's 90 minutes from Monticello by car today but it took Jefferson 3 days to get there by carriage. The house had several owners over its history, was changed a lot and had fallen into disrepair when restoration started 3 decades ago. They stripped it down to the frame and bare brick (sounds familiar) and have been reconstructing every detail exactly to Jefferson's plans.

Poplar Forest, constructed while Jefferson was President, 1809-1817

After Poplar Forest, we headed back to Charlottesville and ate at the Michie Tavern. It is about a mile from Monticello and has been in operation since Jefferson's time. He no doubt ate there too.

Another neighbor to Monticello is this little plantation, Ashlawn Highland, home of James Monroe, 5th President of the United States.

And we visited Montpelier, plantation of James Madison, 4th President of the United States.

Montpelier from the side

Reconstructed framing of the slave quarters at Montpelier

Then, off to DC

We were there only overnight, but we made the best of it. we walked the mall after dark and visited the Lincoln Memorial.

Next morning, the Jefferson Memorial...

...David and Thomas Jefferson...

...and the Holocaust Museum, before heading south to Mount Vernon...

...home of George Washington

We also toured the Virginia State Capitol, also designed by Jefferson...

...and Colonial Williamsburg.

A trip of a lifetime, and I took almost 800 photographs! But what I want to talk about here is the west garden at the River.

Below are some photos of formal gardens we toured. Many have privet hedges, and that's a little too much for the little yard at the house, but what really caught my eye was the ones with simple geometry and pathways. I think making a path like a cross that connects the four corners in the grass, place the birdbath in the center, and plant the remaining triangles with shrubs and flowers, with a couple of spots for benches. Maybe even some vegetables.

Williamsburg

Montpelier

Mount Vernon. This one is a good model to follow

Mount Vernon

This garden above in Williamsburg really caught my eye and is maybe the closest to what I envision for the house.

Richmond Botanical Garden

A gate or pergola would be good. I plan on building one at the steps to the street as well.

Dad likes grass, so this might be the model. This is the front yard of Monroe's house, and before the trees matured, he could see Monticello in the distance.

It's fun to plan!

Then it was time to go

2014-12-01T15:45:00.001-04:00

I hate leaving the Island and Mom and Dad. Seems to get harder as time goes on. I've been in Nebraska for going on 14 years and even though time flies, the trips feel further apart. Next year we hope to get back to the Island twice so there isn't so much time between trips.

Last look around before heading to the airport, Sunday August 24th.

Now counting the days until I am there again.

Black & White

2014-11-18T19:54:00.000-04:00

I took my old 35mm camera home with me and took these black & white photos of the place. Just wanted to see a different perspective.

Interesting to compare with the oldest photo I have of the place, roughly a century apart.

Basement

2014-11-09T15:51:00.003-04:00

Those who know the house, know that there was no real basement until this project. We had a dirt cellar under the kitchen and a crawl space under the rest of the house. The cellar was no more than 5'-6" at its highest point. So me at 6'-0", and Dad at 6'-2" tall always had to duck while in there. it was where we kept coolers for milk, butter and beer. We had to buy bags of ice from the gas station about every second day to keep things cool. It worked pretty well though, and it was a cool space.

These are pictures I took of the cellar in the summer of 2009, the summer before the demolition began.

I remember the forest of columns to hold up the kitchen floor. Every year Dad and I stabilized the ones that had fallen down the previous winter, and sometimes added more to keep the floor above from falling in.

Under the main part of the house

The base of the center chimney

The coolers were kept on this thick concrete knee wall under the north side of the kitchen. The steps were poured concrete with big beach stones in the aggregate. For the time, this house had a lot of concrete. The steps to the back porch, the stoop at the kitchen porch, the walkway to the street and the steps up to the street were all concrete.

Now the walls are ICF (insulated concrete forms), Styrofoam permanent formwork with a 6" thick solid wall of concrete in the middle. The Styrofoam provides insulation on the inside and outside of the concrete. The floor is concrete with a radiant heating system. Glycol, an antifreeze, runs through coils in the floor to heat the space. it is very dry and cozy. The ceiling is now at 9'-0".

The image below is the same view as the photo above. The stairs are in the same location.

Main Room (don't know really what to call it)

The ceiling fan was installed while I was home

The room is a catch-all for everything that doesn't have a place upstairs.

This is where we ran out of trim. I got 200 linear feet of window/ door trim, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to do it all, but it is now much easier to estimate how much trim we need to get to finish the project. That will happen in the spring.

Bathroom

The biggest accomplishment is that Mom and Dad's bathroom is now complete. The shower was tiled and the sink was installed. Since I left, Dad and Mom painted the bathroom. Its a new colour for the house, Dorset Cream. Mom really likes the Farrow's Cream upstairs, and this colour is very similar, except its a little darker and richer.

Dorset Cream

I haven't passed this idea by Mom and Dad yet, but I want to repaint the bathroom floor. I want to paint it in a checkerboard pattern, probably white and black, or white and dark red. I've painted a floor like this before and its pretty simple. Just takes a chalk line, a lot of tape and a lot of time.

The tiles on the walls are traditional 3x6 subway tiles, with a Carrera marble pencil trim and door frame. the veining in the marble is dark grey, so I picked a mortar to match.

The floor tile had to be small, because the floor is slanted in four directions to the center drain, and big tiles would crack at the valleys. The tile however matches the 12x12 tiles at the front door in the Parlour.

This is the cabinet that was in the pantry upstairs. It was built right into the wall and took quite an effort to get it out. I think I remember correctly that James and Dad worked a long time to salvage it. Dad sanded it down and painted it and now it holds towels and storage, plus its now a home for Dad's wooden duck collection.

This is what it looked like when it was in the pantry.

Dad's Workshop/ Mechanical Room

This room has all of the mechanical equipment for the room, is a storage room, and Dad's workshop. He has a system, I think.

Since we were there, Dad has refinished a number of these chairs. Some he painted white and I'm sure they look fantastic. Many of these chairs came out of their church in Springhill, long ago put in storage and would have been thrown out if Dad didn't rescued them. We have lots of chairs.

Dad also put a lot of pictures up in his space, mainly to just get them out of their storage boxes, which took up a lot of space. We are slowly finding homes for everything.

Main Floor

2014-10-20T20:24:00.000-03:00

Parlour

The picture rail has been installed, as well as all of the baseboard trim, and the trim around the front door. James and I painted the room last year, and I put a final coat of paint on the trim the day before we left. Since then, Dad has touched up the wall paint. This room is finished except for the two light fixtures for over the mantle.

Old Dan Munn is hanging by the picture rope. I had this picture in Nebraska, and David sent it to me for my birthday last year, when I was here without him. I got the frame at a yard sale, and Viola sent me the picture of Dan. It was about 2x3 inches, so I had a new negative made and blown up for the frame. That was 31 years ago.

I got this print from Gallery 18 in New London about 7 years ago. It was rolled up in a tube until this summer when I had it framed at Michaels in Charlottetown. Its page 159 of the 1880 Meacham's Atlas of Prince Edward Island. The original atlas printing was in colour, and this is a page from the original printing.

I found the atlas online here: http://www.islandimagined.ca/meachams_atlas

We hung the PEI heritage award with the photo of Mom and Dad receiving it from the Lieutenant Governor at the front door.

Dining Room

All of the trim was installed in the Dining Room as well. Dad has since painted it all a second time since I left, so this room is completely finished.

I've had this sideboard since 1989 when I was an architecture student. Its originally from the Island. It was painted purple when I first got it and I refinished it in 1992.

Butler's Pantry

The Butler's Pantry is finished as well.

I did the charcoal sketch while sitting at the dining room table in this room back in 1983. I remember when I finished it I showed it to Grampy. He was smiling ear to ear and we put it in a frame and hung it in this spot. It's from a photo of Grammy's childhood home in Abney.

The china cabinet that George built is permanently attached now in the corner where the Dan Munn sideboard used to be when this was the dining room.

Kitchen

Nothing left to do in the kitchen except add the LED rope lighting inside the pantry closet.

I wanted to check how well the lighting would work and had LED rope lighting added above the kitchen shelves first. It looks great, so the next time I have an electrician out, I'll have the lighting installed in the pantry closet.

The first thing I did when I got home this time was to hang the canvas of the family group at the house in the summer of 1977.

This is the image. Turns out its a great conversation piece!

...and the Dan Munn sideboard, the only piece of furniture to survive the fire at Ira's house in Hopefield in 1940.

Below is a picture of Ira's house. I borrowed from Winnie this snapshot of the house that Uncle Danny kept in his pocket when he was serving overseas during World War II. I had a negative made and my own copy, and gave the original back to Winnie. That was probably over 30 years ago too. The original was in rough shape and had some folds in it. The upper left hand corner was gone. This all from traveling through Europe in Uncle Danny's pocket.

Back Hall

Not much left to do to the Back Hall. I need to get the three light sconces for the north wall.

The laundry chute will get a cushion so you can sit there and look out the window.

The railing is now finished

The windows need trim and the chair rail needs to go on. That will likely happen in the spring.

Dad's beer stein collection looks great on the back hall shelf.

Bathroom

Since I've been back, Dad has painted all of the trim in the bathroom again. This room is complete.

Front Porch

The front porch is finished as well except for one detail. Dad has the old wood box in pieces and we are going to put it back together, use some other old wood for a lid, and make it into the garbage and recycle bin.

We have come a long way this year. Pretty minor stuff left to do.

Basement in a following post

Interior, Second Floor

2014-10-14T14:32:00.000-03:00

These are photos I took of the interior the same day. I'll explain as I go.

The hall was drywalled just before we got there this summer, and was bare gypsum board. The trim had also been installed. Dad had cleaned, scraped, primed and put the first coat of paint on the trim before it went back up. The Monday after we arrived the electrician came and spent most of a day installing all of the lights, fans and plug-ins on the second floor. This light fixture is a Moravian Star, the same fixture that is at the front door, and the landing at the basement stair.

David painted the walls with Farrows Cream, the same colour that is in the dining room. When I got the dining room paint, I got 2 gallons, and we only needed one so I figured it would brighten up this space that has no direct natural light.

The mounted print on the wall is called Point Prim, a reproduction of a painting by Richard Vickerson, a PEI artist who sells his work at Details Past and Present in Charlottetown. I picked it up the day David and I were in Town. We visit the gallery every summer, and I have bought three paintings from there in the past. 2 were by Vickerson, and a third of Murray Harbour by Robert Harris.

This is the website for the gallery: Details Past and Present

The old railing is just about the only thing in the house that is original and hasn't moved. Dad is now refinishing it in place, and when that is done, he plans on painting the floor and stairs. It will be Railings, the same colour as the basement stairs. The risers will be the same colour as the trim, Blackened, the white colour that replicates a little bit of kerosene lamp dust in it. I like the treads and risers to be completely different colours so they are easy to see and safer to climb.

Once the painting was done, Dad installed the original red glass window. It looks fantastic, and says to me that the house is done (nearly). It was one of the first things that Dad and my cousin Michael took out of the house before all of this began. It was carefully packed and waited over 4 years to go back where it belongs. It looks great with the yellow walls!

David also painted our room, the bedroom at the back. The colour is Olive, my favourite colour. We ran out of trim when the work was being done, so this room has no trim yet. In the spring I'll get more trim and have it installed so that will all be finished when I get there the next time. I'll paint the floor when I'm back. I have the paint there already, called Cornforth White, a creamy off-white that will keep the room bright.

David schlepped the painting in his luggage from Nebraska, and we took it in to Michaels in Charlottetown to have it custom framed. David's Aunt Bev painted it. She used to show in galleries here in Nebraska. She passed away a couple of years ago.

No trim, but the cedar walls in the closet are done. We put up some rods and hook. We brought 2 suitcases with us to the Island and went home with one. We left a lot of clothes there so we don't have to carry so much back and forth, now that our room is practically finished and we have a place to leave our stuff.

No door yet either. Dad refinished the door for this opening, but when the carpenter tried to install it, it was too small for the opening. Even though Dad and Michael did a great job labeling all the doors when they were taken out, so they could be put back where they came from, somehow they got mixed up. I think the door to this room is now between the parlour and the butlers pantry. The frame there was modified to fit the door so we can't just switch them out. The next time we have a carpenter there, he will block the opening to make it a little narrower so the door will fit.

David got the bedspread and hooked rug on the right at an antique store just north of Montague. I got the cable rug at Stewart and Beck's furniture store. The lamp was made by Grampy, and I got a new shade for it. Dad rewired it.

Both bedrooms have ceiling fans as well now

I painted the front bedroom with a colour called Lamp Room Gray. It is a very light blue-gray colour but looks very dark in the photos.

Right after we left, Mom and Dad painted the floor in this room. I haven't seen what that looks like yet, but it is now Cornforth White, the creamy off-white that I will put in the back bedroom.

The big closet in this room has also been lined with cedar. The old bedsteads are stacked in there. The bed rails are too short for modern mattresses, so I'm going to have to figure out how to make them work. Might have to have the rails cut and have a piece welded into the middle to lengthen them. Anybody know somebody who can do this?

One of my old trunks in the closet. I got this at an auction, for free, because no one wanted it, at Edgar Munn's home in Belle River.

Edgar was the son of John Danny Munn, who was a brother of Elizabeth Ann Munn, the mother of Ira, and grandmother of Grampy. Edgar was Ira's first cousin to put it another way, but he was just a year older than Grampy. Edgar owned a store in Belle River and the building is still there, although boarded up. The auction was at the store.

Anyway, the auction was about 1986 I believe and Edgar had just moved into a nursing home in Belfast. I remember being there, saying to Lois that I really liked the trunks. A woman, I think her name was Rafuse, who at the time owned Dr. Bonnell's house at the River and ran it as a Bed and Breakfast, bid $5 for a blue trunk plus 4 others, and got them. Lois asked her about the trunks, and she only wanted the blue one, so Lois got her to give me the other 4. I got them home and found inside a name stamped in this one, Neil A. Munn. There are a lot of Neil's in the family, Edgar had a brother Neil, but in my records, only one had the middle initial A, for Alexander. Neil A was an older brother to John Danny, Edgar's father. Neil was born in 1867 (I was born in 1967) and he died at the age of 21.

The parents in the photo are Hector (c. 1827 - 21 April 1876, age 49) and Sarah (Munn) Munn (c. 1833 - 15 December 1882, age 49). They had 15 children but only 9 lived.

Below are the children in the photo:

Duncan Hector Munn (25 June 1853 - 23 October 1876, age 23)

Elizabeth Ann Munn (26 November 1854 - 16 May 1927, age 72)

Mary Sarah Munn (9 February 1857 - 8 November 1935, age 78)

Flora Grace Munn (25 December 1858 - 25 September 1945, age 86)

Dorothea Jane Munn (26 November 1861 - 24 February 1949, age 87)

James Hector Munn (26 July 1864 - 25 May 1926, age 61)

Jessie Euphemia Munn (24 May 1865 - 15 June 1890, age 25)

Sarah and Hector had 2 more children after the above photo was taken:

Neil Alexander Munn (6 April 1867 - 22 March 1889, age 21, the guy with the trunk)

John Daniel Munn (26 November 1868 - 17 April 1939, age 70, Edgar's father)

I do know Neil is buried in the Wood Island Pioneer Cemetery but why did Neil die at such a young age? Why did he have a travel trunk? Did he go anywhere? I don't know. I keep my Lego in it.

Final Photo Shoot

2014-10-12T18:57:00.000-03:00

I took the following photos on Saturday August 23rd, the day before we came back to Nebraska. I wanted to capture as much as I could, so I took over 200 photographs this day. I won't post them all, but a lot of them! I'll divide into categories. First is the exterior. Many are very similar, but each says something a little different about the house. I want to sense of walking around the house and seeing from every angle. It helps to burn it into my memory, and I can come here and visit anytime.

David dead-heading the lilies and prepping for fall.

The deck is done!

We salvaged the steps that were at the kitchen porch and Dad and I put them at the back door, replacing the 2 wobbly wooden boxes that you had to carefully step on to get into this door. Its not the final solution but its better and safer than what was there. Later I'll post what this side of the house will eventually look like, with a covered porch and large deck.

taking a break

David moved some plants and I widened the walkway with more bricks to make it easier to access the handrail on the steps.

I bolted the bench to the deck

Got a final coat of paint on the rail

The outhouse is going to need an intervention. Dad and I are planning that for next year.

Dad planted 3 oak trees last fall, and they are growing. you can see 2 in the above photograph.

The old garage foundation makes a nice enclosed garden area. We will do something with it next year.

Above is the white rose bush I got at the nursery in Wood Islands. It will eventually fill the area behind the bench and you will be able to smell and enjoy it while sitting on the bench.

A close-up of a rose. I love lots of colour and contrast in everything but flowers. I like flowers to be white for some reason. Other colours are great, but white is perfect, at least to me.

There is still parts of the old house in this stack, like a couple of kitchen and pantry cabinets that we have yet to reassemble and install. That will come.

Next I'll post photographs of the interior

Photographs from Sandy

2014-10-06T15:21:00.001-03:00

Sandy is a talented photographer and she sent me these. Wonderful to see the fall colours on the Island.

These 2 are Munn's Road in Hopefield

Floating Bridge Road

Sandy sent me this photo last week of a Monarch Butterfly in her yard. She submitted it to the PEI TV show Compass and they aired it!

Thanks for the wonderful photographs Sandy

The River from The Air

2014-09-21T19:09:00.003-03:00

My cousin Tom and his wife Jennifer flew their 4-seater plane from Moncton to Charlottetown, picked us up, and we buzzed the house! I called Mom and Dad just before we took off, and they were out in the yard watching us fly around. its a 40 plus minute drive from Charlottetown to The River, but it took all of 10 minutes to fly there! It was a perfect evening for the flight and a real treat. Thanks so much Tom and Jennifer, what a great adventure!

I took this just as they touched down

Tom's is a 737 WestJet Captain, and thought this was a cool view. As Tom and Jennifer were taxiing toward us, it so happened that a WestJet 737 was taking off in the background!

Lets go!

We're off!

David sat in front with Tom, and Jennifer and I were in back (Davey was worried about a woozy tummy, poor thing).

View of Cavendish Beach as we took off

Orwell Bay

St. Joachim's Church in Vernon River

Kinross through The Hills

Caledonia

Murray Harbour in the distance

The River

the golf course and walking bridge are the first recognizable features

there's the dam

First glimpse of the house. That's Annie's place in the center so the house is hiding behind the red pine to the right.

we looped around Murray River to take another pass

the village

There's the house again!

I think the long shadow to the left of the driveway is Dad

Its a little grainy. its hard to look, zoom, focus and shoot when your flying by at several hundred miles an hour at 1,500 feet. But I zoomed and cropped the photo from above and you can make out Mom and Dad in the yard.

On the way back to town we could see Hopefield. the fields in the foreground is Don Livingstone's place.

The stand of tall trees just above the center of the photo is Grammy and Grampy's place in Hopefield .

The green fields to the right of the wing is Jimmy Smith's place

Hopefield

Wood Islands

Point Prim

We saw this, what we called a "Crop Circle" near Belfast. Its a message celebrating 150 years since the Confederation Conference, in corn!

Point Prim off the tip of the wing

sailing boats in the harbor

Charlottetown waterfront

the Basilica and downtown

Hillsborough bridge

landing back in Charlottetown

This is our flight path. You can see all the loops we made over Murray River, and then the loop at the cornfield on the way back to Charlottetown. The whole trip took less than an hour. It was awesome!!

Jennifer and Tom, I can't tell you how much this meant to me. Thank you