Canadiana – Cynthia Reyes

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EVERYDAY GLORY – Part 2

November 17, 2014November 20, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

*PHOTOS BY HAMLIN GRANGE*

Before the car accident, I was busy leading the big projects, travelling here and there. Running around trying to change the world can make a person miss the beauty of “ordinary” things.

Injuries and pain are indescribably worse. You finally have time to see, but barely have the energy to look.

But – oh – it’s worth the effort!

To see one’s surroundings with new and grateful eyes.

To take joy in the small moments.

To be open to small patches of everyday glory.

"Snow Cones" on Spruce Branch - Photo by Hamlin Grange — “Snow Cones” on Spruce Branch

Snow on evergreens. The first snow makes the garden beautiful, day and night.

The late sun. Late afternoon sunlight shining on wood floors is magical. And when the late sun hits the wavy glass sidelights in the front door of our old farmhouse, it’s wondrous.

My husband’s truant socks. He has tons of single socks and we spend time searching for their matches.I used to get irritated by this. Or by newspapers strewn across the breakfast table. (Or his overlooking my small attempts to ‘cheer up’ our house.)

Now, I call them “signs of life”. And I give thanks for having someone kind, funny and loving to share my everyday life with. (And I try to assemble the newspapers without muttering.)

Freshly washed sheets. There’s luxury in the smell and feel of freshly washed cotton sheets although they’ve been used and washed many times.

The old wool blanket. “Canadiana”, for sure, it would be worth something, unstained. Do I care about the stain? No. I love this blanket for its brilliant stripes – and for having survived decades of use.

Blooming Amaryllis. Bought for 6 bucks, it re-blooms (big red blooms) on long stalks each winter. ‘Nuff said.

Our family’s big mixing bowl. Many apple pies have been mixed up in that beautiful old bowl.

My daughter’s dogs. Sometimes, just the sight of them gladdens my heart. One brownish-black, one white, they’re both tiny dogs with personalities of their own. As I write, they’re stretched out beside me, fast asleep.

Julius and Dawson Fast Asleep — The Pooches

Slowing down by choice is great. Being forced to do so is awful.

But in the spirit of lighting a candle and finding my way out of darkness, I’ve been focusing on positives.

And keeping both eyes open for the everyday kind of glory.

This post is dedicated to the caring staff at the pain management centre of Toronto Rehabilitation Hospital. One of the techniques they teach their patients is mindfulness.

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Almost There – John’s House Pt. 5

April 24, 2014April 24, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Ever get the impression that this blog is my way of living vicariously through others? That I write stories about people who do things I wish I could do — or used to be able to do?

If so, you’d be partly right.

But what John Garside is doing – almost entirely by himself – blows my mind. And now, as he nears his self-imposed deadline for moving Ann and himself into their house in Prince Edward County, I find myself holding my breath every time a new email comes from John.

Will this be the email where John finally confesses that he needs a break from all this work, and that – promise or no promise – the idea of moving in this spring is ridiculously un-do-able?

But it never is. Not when he has to repair major cracks in the coach house foundation (below). Not when he undertakes the delicate restoration of original ceiling medallions. Not even when he is clearing out the basement.

A lot of the work has been onerous. As for the basement, John says it “was very crowded — 100 years of clutter — and cut up with old wooden partitions etc. This was totally removed by me. 6,300 lbs. of stuff!!”

Right now, John’s working on finishing up the library.

The more John restores the house, the closer he feels to it, and the more he learns about its past. He’s made a few intriguing discoveries. Like the original signatures of the first owner and his young son, written in concrete.

“William W. Bedell,” explains John, “was the father. Willet V. Bedell was his only son. The boy would have been only 7 or 8 years old when he did it.”

Sadly, Willet died as a young man. It was during the First World War, “on a Troop Ship in 1917 en route to France”.

The second family to own the house were the Wards, though John doesn’t yet know who exactly “Envers” was. There’s still a lot to learn about the home’s history.

John’s original move-in date was April 30. But life follows its own course.

Just a few weeks ago, John’s mother’s health declined suddenly. She died within days.

This spring is a time of change for John, Ann, and family.

It’s also a time of renewal.

After a rough winter, a flock of tiny blue scilla flowers is blooming in the garden. It’s one of the first flowers of spring.

And inside the house, John keeps repairing and restoring.

Another room done, one left to go. Then, after all the cleaning up, comes the big move.

The movers are now booked for May 7.

We’re cheering you on, John!

Photos by John Garside.

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The Dreaded Knob and Tube (John’s House, Pt. 3)

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Ever heard of knob and tube?

It’s the kind of wiring used in old houses. Like John Garside’s.

The gracious old house in lakeside Prince Edward County, Ontario, has beautiful features.

But behind those lovely features is knob and tube — on the second and third floors of the beautiful home. And that old knob and tube wiring can be dangerous.

“I knew the wiring was not quite fine,” John says. “The chief electrician, Dan, and I spoke about the house and the work. My comment: ‘ I want it to be beyond code’. He replied: ‘very good’. ”

It made sense to go above the basic requirements, or “beyond code”. John didn’t intend to replace the new wiring for a long time.

He knew the job would take a lot of time and involve “lots of new switches, plugs and all new wiring everywhere!”

Which meant punching holes in beautiful plaster walls.

“Yes. The holes are 4 inches in diameter and these allow them to fish the wires through the ceiling and around the joists. Very complicated and very time consuming. But it saves the plaster and the crown moldings!!”

The plaster and crown moldings in most of the rooms are remarkably beautiful. (I’ll show them to you in next week’s story.) They’d cost a ton of money – and time – to replace today.

But boring 4 inch holes isn’t enough access to remove and replace all of the wiring. John had to rip up the floors on the third floor.

“To get rid of all the knob & tube wiring on the second floor it was a better to remove the 3^rd floor flooring so we would have access to the ceilings and walls of the 2^nd floor”, John explains. ” That way the new wires could be sent up from the basement to the third floor, then dropped down into the appropriate room on the second floor. This saved a great deal of grief!”

I think I understand that…..

Electricians Bob and Brian did the wiring work. That left John to do the rest… the re-plastering on the second floor, the replacement of the flooring on the third.

“I am working on it right now!” John says.

He’s working hard. Time flies when you have a promise to keep.

John promised his wife Ann that they’d move in by the end of April. That’s three weeks away.

And there’s still a lot to do.

So, fingers crossed…..

And good luck to John.

Photos by John Garside.

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Colin and Justin in Cottage Country

March 22, 2014March 22, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Cottage country will never be the same.

Those talented, funny and likable designers – Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan (the duo who gave my book such a good review last fall) – have bought into the Canadian dream: owning a cottage. It’s on a lake in Muskoka, three hours north of Toronto, and every time I look at the photo below, I burst out laughing.

Colin and Justin, “Cabin Pressure”, Cottage Life TV

As usual, they’ve gone whole hog. No modern Muskoka Mansion for these two. They’ve bought the quintessential Canadian pioneer dwelling: a log cabin.

A log cabin, you might ask? Are we talking about the same Colin and Justin? The famously jet-setting designers known for creating glamorous interiors and sporting oversized flowers in their lapels on their previous TV series, Colin and Justin’s Home Heist?

Yes. They co-purchased the log house with two friends. And they’ve made a TV show about their adventures, called “Cabin Pressure”, (Tuesday nights in Canada on Cottage Life TV).

Of course, no matter where they go, they’re still Colin and Justin, after all. The same witty Scottish-accented pair who live in Scotland, England and Canada and make us laugh while sharing their clever design skills.

So, as they told the Canadian Press: “I think we scared the living bejesus out of a lot of people. Because we arrived in fake-fur, floor-length coats and trailed around the lake in the middle of summer like the Kardashians on crack.”

Oh, dear.

Colin and Justin Cabin Pressure — “Cabin Pressure”

But if there’s one thing I know about these two, it’s that they’re very talented. And another: they’re smart. They’re also very knowledgeable about the deep feelings people have for their homes. (See Colin and Justin’s review of my book, A Good Home.)

So what can we expect? You’ll have to watch the series to find out. But I’m betting you’ll learn a few things about log homes, cottage life, and a lot about interior design. After all, many of us would find decorating a log home very challenging. As did Colin and Justin.

They visited a dozen cottages before settling on this one. It passed inspection. But when the renovation was starting, they encountered a rotting deck, dangerous wiring, and several other problems. Their new purchase seemed to be “a pig in lipstick”.

Still, they describe the experience as “brilliant. It’s made us better people. We’ve learned such a lot about ourselves.”