My Favourite House

 This was, definitely, my favourite house, 90 Forest Cove Drive, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

This is where I wrote my novel. Do you know how many years it took to write my historical fiction novel? Over 3 years. That's a long time, isn't it?

I had this house built in 1986. My brother needed a customer and I became that fortunate client. Every empty lot needs a client. His lot was empty. I was the client. Now, the wonderful thing about being the client of a brother, is that he introduced me to the 'builder loan' process of building a house. So, the way that works is... the client has to go to the bank and secure all the monies for the house that is to be built before anything is started. That's what I did. The tough thing about that is... you learn what you can afford. So, this house is about 967 square feet. The original plan was very unsuitable for my needs so my brother had it re- worked until I was satisfied with the results and it was the most user friendly space for the entire time I owned this little jewel.

I owned this house for over 28 years. I raised my three sons here. Two of my sons lived their entire lives here before they married and started off on their own. My oldest son was only 2 years old when I moved in.

The fireplace was part of the renovation as well as the hardwood floors. If you look closely at the fireplace mantle, you'll see a tiny little Eiffel tower metal figurine beside the E. That Eiffel tower is on the front cover of my novel. I just took a picture of it and then it was added to the photo I took of my tea room table and chairs in a lovely forest setting. You would be surprised at what you can do with a mediocre camera and a lot of 'vision.'

This was my shed... built by myself and my, then, partner. This was another plan that was re- worked from an original but this was built, entirely, by the owner.

For some reason, all my photos have suddenly gone missing. I'll add them when I recover them.

Always doing something

 Living far, far away from Winnipeg is getting so hard to do... currently, I live in Dauphin, Manitoba. I have tried to convince a decorating store, in town, to hire me but the people there really enjoy their jobs. I have inquired as to the availability of a position there, oh, five or six times or more. 

I just love making things better, you know?

I purchased my bathroom flooring from that store. I wish I could load more pictures from my old phone camera to my getting old computer but, alas, it doesn't seem to work! 

Here is a picture of the windows in the old house I have tried to fix up a little. We don't plan to replace any windows because the age of the house and re- sale market might not create a balanced scale. When I moved here, one window was broken and my dear son fixed that for us so, the glass was replaced in the bedroom I'm in. 

So, my desire to move to Winnipeg, again, when the husband is retired, is a careful 'what will be spruced up a bit and what is fine the way it is?'

This outdoor project is still my favourite project I have completed for that wonderful garden setting. The tea room table, featured on the front of my novel, is sitting in the middle of the deck we built and my garden chairs were also used, a lot, to prop up the construction materials we purchased, and purchased, and purchased... mostly at McMunn's... but some at Co-op building supplies too... such helpful places to get supplies.

As you can see, in the background, the 'shed' likely dates back to when the house was built, maybe 1940's... my husband calls it a shed because of the size. It's quite small. Some people might say it's a garage but it can't fit most vehicles.

One day, when my old equipment is cooperating, I will load more photos and show how two $50 screen doors were transformed into wonderfully sturdy doors that were then hung from my 'barn door ironmongery' that I hauled out here, having purchased those in Winnipeg a few years earlier. The construction of those doors was totally the brainchild of myself and my husband. 

When living far away from a major city, you must be very creative to complete little projects with what is available. So much of the work is 'in situ.' It is my guess,... I shall try to find out for sure, that this house was likely built by a rough and ready do-it-yourselfer. I sent a photo to my son, of the joists that are visible from the basement. The rough- cut lumber of one joist, in particular, still has the bark of the tree on it. I am wondering if the lumber came from Kippan's Mill in Riding Mountain... now a National Park. The mill did provide building materials for European settlers from approximately 1895- 1945. The area was proclaimed a Forest reserve in 1895 to properly manage the resources. A very enterprising man by name of Alex Kippan, purchased an area that was excluded from the park, and operated a sawmill until all marketable timber had been logged sawn, and used for building, 1936- 1946. Well before I studied this tidbit of history, I suspected that the lumber for the house I currently live in, likely came from that mill. From my small study of this, it is likely white spruce.

This photo is the the floor, after I removed the very old indoor/ outdoor carpet from the bedroom I mentioned. It was a terrible job removing the glue on the floor. This was the second thing I tackled when I moved here. The first thing was removing all the worn out carpeting on the stairs between the basement and the upstairs. When checking the thickness of hardwood in an old house, open up a register and look for the top layer to see how much hardwood there actually is. If it is 1/2 inch, or less, don't rent a big heavy sander to refinish the floor. Just hand- sand to re- finish this type of old wood flooring.

When opening up the outside bathroom wall, I was surprised to find a very sturdy wallboard that is not used nowadays, in the building of new homes. the entire wall, behind the sheetrock, is constructed of one by six wooden boards. Likely from Kippan's Mill? 

Three years ago, 2022, I was up there cross- country skiing, and snow- shoeing, and I saw what is a bit of a remnant of the mill. Now, it is just a ramshackle memory with a 'danger sign' so be careful if you go exploring. 

So much of the building of Canada was accomplished by European settlers... of which I, also, am a heritage of.  

Live a Good Life

 

I am not very fond of the word aggressive but there is one

place where you must be very aggressive to get good results...

 that place is a garden,

and a kitchen.

Grow something good...

Make something good...

Eat...

     

         Something

                       Good

Lots of work, this good life...

Horrible job

So, I was thinking about page 43 in my novel, The Orchard Walk, El Dueck... a line I wrote talked about 'Horrible Bosses.' Now, it's very difficult to say if a boss is horrible if they're never on site. Truth be told, most of us would prefer it if a boss was never around because we don't really have a need for them if they won't do any of the work. This is how I resigned a position that went from promising to horrible. 

This boss, in particular, almost never popped in. 

This resignation goes way back to 2017.

The most wonderful aspect of this job... and I am sure Mr. Buhler will agree with me... was my attempt to make the items have a more 'human touch,' so, I would bring in little things that I made or grew and try to decorate the items that were for sale. The problem was... I don't think he ever knew about these efforts I made to try to sell items. This quilt is mine. I still have it. It's one of those... very creative quilts that are always timeless. I was going to try to help the business by posting photos, like this, to try to entice people to come into that location but, alas, I was not hired for that. So, here is a lovely piece of rugged furniture that I really liked. I have no idea where the good stuff actually went to because the items I photographed were not in the auction. I may try and make this or get my son to.

Now, you would have thought that all the horrible experiences could be blamed on the owner of the company but you would be very surprised at how common people are, and were, in this situation, willing to take full advantage of this owner.

The last day that I worked for this man... was 'auction day.' I had never participated in an auction before this day... as in working in it, so I was assigned a task, without any training, and things did not go well with that or anything else either.

When the auction was being 'organized,' the only other employee, that was at this location, told me to invite friends and family. I thought that was a rather odd way of doing business so I didn't invite anyone I knew. I thought, well, everyone I know has all the furniture they need so why would they want to come to something like a furniture auction?

So, it was a nice, sunny Saturday and, lo and behold, here comes the boss. That made the other employee very nervous. I'm not sure why. I have always thought it is a good thing when the boss shows up because he knows that he is personally responsible for his business and I am so relieved that he would show up because the worst thing that can happen to an employee is to be given a key, on day one and then never see the boss again. Key holder jobs scare me.

Rules for this auction were strange... I asked if I could bid on some of the furniture because the prices were so good, I could never have purchased any of it on my wage. The auctioneer said... of course, I could bid as well as the handful of people who showed up to clean out this stock.

Other than myself, I would have said that there was one other honest person who showed up. The reason I felt he was likely honest is because he was trying to purchase all the 'fake fireplaces' to sell them in his own furniture business. So, I thought, he's like legitimate.

I can't corroborate the information, other than what I was told, so you'll have to use the information for your own future protection. That's what most of my stories are for... a situation that happened and 'ways to protect yourself' in these uncomfortable situations.

There was a very energetic young man, with his wife, who had just purchased a brand new home. He bid on everything for each room of this house and won most of the bids and filled his new house with 'Buhler's furniture.' I didn't know this man but it was, almost, like winning a lottery the bargains that he got that day.

So, what I really appreciated about Mr. Buhler was his testimonial about being a church man because I feel comfortable with people who follow moral rules.

So, what proceeded after the auction was an interesting segway. It appeared that Mr. Buhler felt fleeced by the auction so I said to him... well, if it would make you feel better, I can leave the items I bid on. They aren't very valuable. I still have my bidding sheets and there really wasn't much money in the items I bid on. 

He wanted me to leave them there for him so I did and said... well, these fellas who are cleaning you out are probably the ones you want to lecture so I'll be on my way. The fellas who were being lectured looked very nervous and sheepish... but, not church sheepish, if you get my punning.

So, as I left, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't invited any of my friends and family because, man, were those guys in trouble. I'll never know who the 'natty thieves' were but, I hope he found out who they were... because they did have to pay. 

Living and Giving

 Give out of what you have is a common, conversational way of saying...

II Corinthians 8:12 "For if the eagerness to give is there, the acceptability of the gift will be measured by what you have, not by what you don't have. (CJB)

Whom did Jesus exalt for giving? Well, it seems the only person he really drew attention to, as an example of a person who gives more than others... was the poor widow. You can find that story in the gospels of Mark and Luke. 

Question- Now, how, when she gave so little, so very, very little was she the one who gave the most?

Answer- Jesus was the only one who understood and worked with true math. You see, he knew how much she had and he knew how much she gave. Therefore, Jesus knew that she gave the most.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, in this story, the poor widow gave all her money to an 'institution' that was responsible for taking care of the poor,... the temple, synagogue, church. If and when reading Mark 12:35- 44, you will take note that Jesus was teaching in the temple so we could say 'He was the preacher that day.' When He was done teaching, 'He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.'

What's really interesting is what Jesus did after that... He didn't resume teaching to all the people in the temple, about 'who gave more,..' He called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

I'm going to be a bit funny here and suggest... 'I guess she liked the preacher.' 

But, even more importantly, did she trust the preacher? Because the story doesn't say, yet we must ask... where would she live and how would she live if she gave all she had?

Let's fast forward to today... and the cost of living in Canada... where I live... for a single person, information I just looked up, on the internet, says that average, yet very large number is approximately $3300- $3800 per month. 

My best question now is... where will we get what we need to live on? 

Living far, far away

 It has been a very long three years, seven months, and twelve days since I have lived in what I term civilization. Now, the worst thing about living hours away from the city is that I tried to send love packages to my children and grandchildren in that fine city I lived in for fourty years. At first, when I sent packages to my dear loved ones, it took weeks for some to come back, unopened. This has me very worried, indeed. Have my children moved? Have they lost all capability to communicate? Has poverty struck them? I can't get an answer. 

So, I have a few questions for anyone who has had the misfortune of having to use a service which is certainly not as reliable as being able to drive to my sons' house... as I used to do when I lived in the city. But, after my very bad experience with the new rule at Canada Post, I have decided that I am going to wait to deliver packages, in person, to my loved ones. The new rule which I was subjected to is this... 

after paying huge sums of money to mail packages... this week, when packages came back to this town that I currently reside in, Canada Post now charges for any returned packages. Has this happened to you? I would really appreciate city dwellers to contact me to see if this new rule is just a this town anomaly or is it also a Winnipeg robbery? 

This has completely changed how I plan to deliver things in the future. I am so upset at the 'double charge' for packages that come back unopened that I am not sending things in this manner anymore. 

That will, of course, mean that I won't be shopping for many things, where I live, because it's just too expensive to pay these kinds of fees.

My recommendation is to stay in a city where you can better manage services. The wait times for some things can be weeks and months when you live far, far, away.

The Winery Inn

 

So, this is the photo I took on the front of my novel The Orchard Walk- El Dueck... The self- published novel, 2013, takes place on a winery... as yet, fictional. On my site map, very crudely drawn by myself... The Winery Inn is the building where the wine is stored and celebrations are booked for myriad events. The Eiffel tower was a separate picture I took and it was then photoshopped into the original photo.

I did write a study guide for my novel because a dear relationship of mine asked me to.

The original goal of the story was to be a two or three novel series. The reason the novel has 

The Winery Inn 

as a main building, is a touch base to the winepress of God and is very deep, theologically; and that subject can only be unfolded and developed if, first, the original marriage of man and woman is mirror- imaged to Genesis.

So, what was the orchard? God's created paradise.

I have written many chapters for novel II but, as yet, I am undecided if I will publish a second novel.

The reason I find my novel endlessly relevant is because The Bible is endlessly relevant, to me, and writing a historical fiction story of real world events makes the 'current- day' corollary an ever present representation of current events.

This was my living room in 2013, the same year I published The Orchard Walk... fireplace designed by myself.

The was my floor, in my shed, at the same location. I painted it black and gold... isn't it cool?

In my small inventory of representational items from The Orchard Walk... this European- sized cushion cover is still available.

I still have two of these Love signs... I purchased them in 2009.

These 'Sherman' earrings are still in my inventory as well... pictured here on the tan cover of my novel... with EL in gold lettering... the first photo is the jacket cover.

My hair is a bit greyer now than it was in this photo but... it is said that aging is like fine wine... it just gets better and better...