Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Long Obedience......In The Same Direction

I went to a funeral today.

He was the grandfather of a good friend of mine. He was 90 years old. And he lived the New Testament.

He had a long obedience, in the same direction. A direction similar to those of the "greatest generation". An obedience like my father and Rob's father had, and live by.

The funeral was two hours and I could have listened and stayed longer. There was the usual family, including a brother who was 13 years younger, tributes and memories. A devoted husband of over 60 years, a great father who welcomed all his daughters friends, a wonderful grandfather who read books endlesssly to his grandchildren, played games with them and took them fishing, a brother who bought his siblings Christmas gifts during the war when the farming parents could not afford toys, a hard working teacher at Canton College who developed the HVAC program and instructed students who would come to the house for help, a loyal and active church member for decades, a committed and productive community member and finally a friendly nursing home patient. A long obedience, started early.

The pastor gave a wonderful homily on Luke 6, about building on a solid foundation. Both houses could look the same and be built out of the same material but if one was built with no foundation, the river could and would sweep it away when it raged against the houses. Rivers, (some of lifes issues that we all face) are not selective or respective.

And then he said...."they don't grow them like... anymore". Yes, the people in my father's generation were generally moral, honest, full of integrity, law abiding and God fearing. But I believe that this generation, our sons and brothers can and will be great "in the Lord". We're raising men out of a generation like Jeremiah. God was constantly asking Jeremiah to tell the people to amend their ways and turn back from their sins, because He loved them and wanted them to prosper and He wanted it to be well with them. Unfortunately, they only hardened their necks and went backwards, never a good thing wth the Lord.

I'm counting on my son's generation to hearken to the voice of the Lord, raise His standard, follow after those who have faithfully gone before, and become the continuation of "the greatest generation".

Friday, July 23, 2010

And We Are Up and........Running!!!!

My head has almost stopped spinning. Almost.

I haven't posted since May so I thought perhaps I should let everyone know I'm alive and well.

We did it! We managed to "finish" the project, have the Open House and today I will have my first guests. Wow!

Looking back, I can't believe that we finished this major renovation in a little over four months. We had a great contractor, who worked, himself, on Saturdays and some Sundays and on several occasions came in to 44 well before 6:00am. In fact, one morning when I could not sleep past 4:30pm I wandered over to 44 in my pajamas and was standing on the back porch when in comes Dominic. "Oh, you couldn't sleep either", I said. He had promised me three months, which Rob and I knew was a fantasy but he was determined to get done quickly.

But I really couldn't have done it without my family and some dear friends. Elizabeth worked tirelessly on 44. She shopped with me, she and Jon dug an entire new front garden (he was only home for 5 days before leaving for Kentucky), she mowed the lawn, she moved furniture, she cleaned the upstairs when the contractors were done and the floors had been sanded and refinished, she set up the bathrooms, ironed bedskirts and sheers and she made us dinners when it looked like we would not have any food for that particular evening. She is my hero and soon she will be headed off to Pittsburgh. Hope I didn't drive her away with all her involvement at Litengard.

Ethan came home from the city several weekends to give us muscle moving furniture into Litengard, help with the back deck, powerwash everything outside, set up the croquet court, set up the beds, the daybed with trundle (it came in a box with a thousand pieces, I couldn't have figured it out), and a host of projects too numerous to name.

Christian has been my contact person. I get calls all the time now telling me that a nice man at the Best Western recommended Litengard Bed and Breakfast. He had lots of ideas about hospitality and what people are looking for. He doesn't say much but I think he is really proud of our "product".

Jon is the inspiration for the whole project. Rob and I had thought about doing a Bed and Breakfast for years and had actually looked at other houses with that in mind. 44 had been for sale for almost a year and yet it never occured to us to take on the project next door. Off and on the house had been sold but the deal feel through so it lingered on the market. One day, Jon suggested "why don't you buy 44? You've been talking about doing a B&B for years, I don't what to hear you still talking about it when you are 80." I don't know why we never thought about it. And with some vision, it did become a possibility and then a reality. He was disappointed that he could not be here for the whole process but he is up to his eyeballs in equine surgery and medicine now in a really spectacular internship. Just hope that we will be able to visit him sometime in the near future.

Rob, of course, was my second contractor. He built and built and built. He would love to do carpentry. The finishing work on the back deck is all his workmanship. He hung absolutely every picture and mirror in the place and developed the headboard concepts to all the beds. The general contractor left on Thursday, and we worked continuously until Sunday when we had our Open House. He did have to take a couple of days off and change hats from surgeon to handyman!

And Aunt June....my 83 year old aunt from New Hampshire. She had come a previous weekend and worked on projects, but she came the Tuesday before the open house and began to work. She rewired lamps, she polished silver, and she was my constant gardner, endlessly dead heading and weeding. I really don't know how she did it. She did rest on Monday, per my demand, before going back to New Hampshire and securing a new job. I hope I'm like her when I'm 83.

Greg and Jeremy took the deck to the swimming pool down and reassembled it on the back of the house. And whenever Greg came over he was pressed into service doing "whatever" But he's really good with power tools now and can probably build a deck, hang pictures and mirrors and generally do whatever is needed around a house. And he and Elizabeth helped me log people in who had called wanting reservations before I had a website. The little notebook I was carrying around wasn't at all profession and Ethan was horrified!

My adopted neice, Carol, designed my business cards, and Open House invitations. We went on a fun shopping trip to Penns. but now she's bought a house and is going to have a baby so I hardly see her for now. But she is one of the most creative people I know and I will be selling her wares at Litengard.

And not the least or the last are my really good friends Ryan and Jamie. Ryan is helping me navigate my way through this internet business. And Jamie set up the Resovation software for me and I speak to him almost everyday now as I encounter the next situation that I don't know how to handle. He's one of the most patient people I know. I had to bring Ethan with me the last time he was home to learn how to "do it" and then help me out. Ryan has been invaluable in encouraging me with the website, connecting me to a designer (from CA no less), having loads of ideas which iI could not possibly implement now...he's a visionary. And I'm surprised he even associated with someone like me who is so not hi tech!!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Litengard. The website is up and running and I am taking reservations on line but the pictures have not been uploaded yet and there is a fantastic virtual tour thanks to Ben. And the music on the tour, I believe, is from suggestions his Mom, the concert pianist, had.

The first couple of pictures are of the outside and the diningroom/living room.






The next three are of the suite in the back of the house. It has a small room with a daybed and trundle and the larger room with a fun chandelier which shines through the stain glass window to the bathroom. Really neat at night.





These two are of the Trondheim, we named the rooms after cities in Norway. The particular city is where my family is from and many still live there. This was the first room we "put together" and Elizabeth says it is her favorite. It does have a room size bath with a pedestal tub and crystal chandelier so I can understand her point of view.




These are pictures of the Bergen, Rob's favorite city in Norway. He wants to live there when he grows up. We had a great time there....the fish market, the ancient city on the harbor, the funicular and spectacular meal on top of a hilltop followed by a concert.




I actually prepared a new recipe for tomorrow morning but... I have one kringle that I had in the freezer and always the standard cereal, local fruit purchased today at the Canton Farmers Market, coffee from our local roaster and lots of good North Country friendship. I'll let you know how it goes.......