A helping hand makes housebuilding more fun

Gilles and I were very excited to have our friend Steve come for a visit ad spend 2 weeks helping build the house. Since we bought the land, we spent many dinners, evenings and afternoons with Steve contemplating the design of the house. At times Gilles and Steve would spend hours on the detail of the house: thickness of walls, inches between the countertops in the kitchen and the island, the slop of the roof, etc. The idea if the house and the design of it began to take such a presence in our lives that there were also countless hours of research and dreaming. Steve was very excited to be part of it and graciously chose to spend 2 weeks of his vacation in hard labour - "Habitat for Sutton". Although he arrived Saturday night, we did not want to put him to work right away. On Sunday, Steve had his safety orientation and site visit. He now knows what he is dealing with and he is excited to get started. We spent the afternoon discovering the Eastern Townships: Abercorn, Dunham, Frelighsburg and Sutton. Steve got a good sense of the architecture and history of the area as well as the local bounty of ciders and wines that the area offers. At night, the full on discussions began. There was brain storming session after session.  Gilles would simply state to Steve, "I need for you to contemplate the stairs... or any other topic to discuss". Steve would just jump right in. You could see the happiness on Gilles' face. So many decisions to make and to be able to discuss them with someone so equally detailed...

Well, I am off to Toronto today and will not get to see any progress for a few days. I look forward to my return to see their progress. By the time I get home there should be 4 walls and the second story will be progressing. I can't wait to go inspect their work and hear the results of more brainstorming sessions

THANK YOU STEVE for coming, for your time and the hard work to follow 

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THANK YOU GILLES for all that you do to build our dream house 

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THANK YOU CHULITA for being a good foreman and making sure all is well on the construction site