Muddy March

We drove up for an incredibly brief but informative visit to the construction site on Sunday. Ed Brady had finished preparing the exterior for the application of clapboards (although that won't occur until the French door assemblies have arrived and been installed). The eaves have been trimmed out, and the attic ventilation at both the highest and lowest points is there as well. Overall the roof looks quite trim and smart. What was noticeably different from an earlier visit was the absence of the 8-inch thick glacier that covered the concrete slab. Suddenly the ceilings (still in rough-in state) seemed as high as we might wish. And although the percentage of fenestration to wall area does not exactly provide sweeping all-glazed panoramas. it was evident that there will be ample light and plenty to see, and yet the desired sense of enclosure and privacy. We were impressed with Ed's progress. And we wondered how he coped with the mud. It may be spring elsewhere, but in rural New England it is mud season. That said, Ken managed to get the car we parked (to winter over in Hawley rather than endure the cost of Manhattan parking) extricated from the mud and snow and repositioned in a much drier, more accessible location. All in all the visit whetted our appetite for returning to life in Hawley.

Though frozen in the morning,
this becomes inescapable mud by afternoon

From the courtyard, through the living room

From the kitchen, toward the far end of the living room