I'll be there tomorrow

First of all, I'd like to share that on the weekend David and I went to the high school graduation party for Alex, the son of our friends Michelle and Jim. Alex had always wanted to wear a kilt to his graduation, and I happen to have uncle Ray's kilt, so I let Alex borrow it for the occasion. It is our clan plaid, Stuart of Bute. It was really nice to see someone enjoy it.

 

Our friends Bruce and Jane, who Mom and Dad know, went with us. That's Jane with Alex, above, and Jane with her and Bruce's daughter Shawna and her husband Jim, below.

Carter and Arnold went to the house last night to deliver four mattress and box spring sets from Arnold's motel, The Bay Vista Motel, very near Anne of Green Gables. Check out his website: Bay Vista Motel.

The seam-filling is under way but not quite finished yet. Dad moves in the house today with the moving truck full of their stuff, and Mom moves in tomorrow after picking me up at the Moncton airport. We should be there for dinner. I don't think I'll be able to update the blog while I'm there but I'm back in Nebraska on June 8th so look for lots of fresh pictures and the story of the move-in on June 9th.

 

 

Plumbing Fixtures

Carter made it out to the house this morning. The old truck is already moved in! Mom and Dad left it there last week because the next time Dad is there he'll be driving the moving truck.

Last Saturday Kerras delivered the birch for the main floor. It is stacked on the second floor until it gets installed.

 

 

The tub arrived while Mom and Dad were there and now it's ready to use!

The telephone faucet is installed.

The vanity is installed but the sink isn't attached yet. It will be mounted underneath the marble counter.

The faucets are oil rubbed bronze and the sink is copper.

The transom above the bathroom door.

The old iron sink has also been installed in the basement, with new faucets.

 

 

The pine walls are finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the most important thing. For the first time ever, the house has a real toilet.

 

 

 

 

Island Treasures

As the time winds down until I'm there I can't help but think about my favourite things to do and places to go when I'm on the Island. I'm going alone this time, and this will be a quick and busy trip without time to tour and visit, so I guess I'm missing those things that I won't be able to do this time. But when you go to the Gentle Island, give these a try. Click on the links at the end of each description.

Places to eat

You can't go Down East without eating at Brehaut's in Murray Harbour. Great chicken & chips and homemade pie. Lots of seafood too if you like that sort of thing. Thankfully it's already open for the season because I have a feeling we will be eating there a lot until we get the stove and fridge hooked up: Brehaut's Restaurant

When in Charlottetown, the best fish and chips and beer is at the Gahan House 

Island History

I've been a member of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation for 30 years now and I always make a point to visit their headquarters Beaconsfield on Kent Street in Charlottetown. The first time I went there I was with my Dad and Grampy and we looked through old family records. The house has been restored and is well worth a visit to see the second finest house ever built on the Island: Beaconsfield

The Heritage Foundation has several sites and I like going to Orwell Corner as well, which is not far at all from the house. It's a small town that time forgot. The main road was diverted around the town many decades ago, so the town stopped growing and changing. Grampy told me when he was young that the road still went through Orwell, so seeing this village is like seeing the Island of his childhood: Orwell Corner

Everybody should visit Government House, Fanningbank. This IS the finest house on the Island, and the tours are great. You can see the Queen's bedroom and it's filled with fantastic antiques. It is also one of the oldest houses on the Island: Fanningbank

I always enjoy catching up with Donna Collings at the Garden of the Gulf Museum in Montague. First of all, I love the building, the old Customs House designed by my favourite architect William Harris in the 1880's. It is also the oldest museum on the Island, opened in 1958. The museum holds the original land grant and papers of my great-great-great-great grandfather James Munn who settled in the area 205 years ago: Garden of the Gulf Museum

Art

David and I collect art and usually find something to take back here to Nebraska to remind us of the Island. One summer I found in Details Past and Present an original watercolor by Robert Harris, of Murray Harbour, dated 1868! I also really like the work of Richard Vickerson and have 2 of his watercolours, and one is of the old store in Orwell. The gallery is located on Victoria Row (in another William Harris building) on Richmond Street in Charlottetown: Details Past and Present

David's favourite gallery is located on Great George Street in Charlottetown: Pilar Shepherd Gallery

We usually visit the Confederation Centre of the Arts to try to see the Robert Harris collection, for which the art gallery was built, but the last few years they have mothballed it unfortunately: Confederation Centre of the Arts

One of the best galleries, with a great restaurant, is the Dunes on the Brackley Point Road. We always spend at least half a day there: The Dunes

Beaches

Panmure Island is a great beach. Very quiet compared to the north shore, and close to home: Panmure Island

I also like going to the beach at Northumberland Provincial Park, near the Wood Island Ferry, and its even closer than Panmure: Northumberland Park

A new favourite place to go is Kerras Jeffery's Back Road Folk Art. He supplied me with a lot of salvaged stuff for the house, like sinks, doors, a window, even the antique birch hardwood flooring for the house. He is a talented folk craftsman and I have a feeling I'll be getting more from him over time. If you like his work, I would suggest getting something soon. He is getting pretty famous: Back Road Folk Art

And we always visit Carter. He lives in Hunter River so I really appreciate all of the trips he has made to the River over the past 10 months. He has a website that I really enjoy. He is a talents photographer and gets to showcase some of his work at PEI Heritage Buildings. Check it out regularly.

So that's is a little bit of what the Island means to me. 14 days and counting!

Trumpeter Swan in MacLure's Pond

Sandy and Jim both sent me this article about a Trumpeter Swan that somehow found it's way to MacLure's Pond, across the river behind the house. It's stirring a lot of interest and made national news as they are not native to the Island. Guess he wanted to check out the house!

See the article: Trumpeter Swan in Murray River

Mom and Dad saw the house on Friday for the first time since November and started the move by leaving some things there. Everything looks great and the bulk of the work is now complete. They said the basement is much larger than they expected. The cedar and pine makes the house smell terrific. No more dirt cellar musty smell throughout the house. It's very bright inside too and once we get some paint on the walls it will be cheery. The paint is ordered and will arrive in Halifax by the end of the week and Christopher will pick it up for me, thanks Christopher. The paint is made by Farrow and Ball, a company in England that makes reproduction colors found in centuries old country houses in England. It's very durable, no volatile organic compounds and the colors are unlike anything anyone else makes. Once the seamfilling in complete, the hardwood goes down on the main floor, and the kitchen cabinets get installed. The plumbing fixtures are in and hopefully hooked up by now. The clawfoot tub arrived at the house from Portugal via Montreal while Mom and Dad were there. I'll be there 2 weeks from tomorrow soaking it all in. 

Update from Carter

Carter went to the house today to check up on the progress. Spring has sprung it looks like. 

The pine walls are just about finished in the basement. Below is looking down the stairs into the room below the kitchen.

Mike restored the shingles and corner boards on the interior sides of the kitchen, with pine walls below. These are the shingles that I will paint yellow. The white shingles are original.

 

Mike also rebuilt the soffit and fascia along the rear of the kitchen.

At top is one of three skylights in the back hall. The window opening is the George Lowe window, and the skylight beyond is in the kitchen above where the stove will be.

Looking down the stairs in the back hall.

 

 The kitchen

Looking up through the kitchen skylight

 

The new Parlour

The dining room at left and butler's pantry at right, looking through to the kitchen.

Looking out a dining room window toward the trail and the river.

What is left of the property line fence on the west side.

 Sprayed insulation on the second floor

Window frames stacked on the second floor and ready to get re-installed.

Looking out the butler's pantry window to the bathroom addition.

This is the room below the kitchen again. The old pots and pans cupboard that used to be behind the pump in the kitchen will be installed in this little corner, across from the old iron sink. The door to the left is the basement bathroom. The door to the right is to the storage space under the stairs.

Looking up the stairs out the new back door. All of the pine will eventually be painted.

The green drywall is cement board for the tiles in the basement bathroom.

 

The shower enclosure, with an exhaust fan in the ceiling.

The shower stall also gets a ceiling light.

Shower drain. The floor will eventually be tiled.

Looking from the basement bathroom into the space under the kitchen, and across into the wine cellar.

This seems to be the last wall to get pined. The old iron sink will hang on this wall.

The stair treads and risers are done.

 

 

A good view of the new driveway.

 The old railway bridge behind the outhouse.

 I don't know plants, but it's May, and those are flowers. Are they Mayflowers?

 Looks pretty lush

Good to know we have plenty of earth leftover. The ground level around the house will be raised about a foot with this.

 

Looks like Carter went through Hopefield. The land to the right is where my grandfather grew up, and the road is named after his father Ira.

Mom and Dad saw the house today for the first time since last November. They arrived after Carter left. I hope they like it. Thanks again Carter for the great pictures.