The next chapter… Chestnut Grove Studios

Twenty (and a half) years ago, as we were anxiously anticipating what the year 2000, (aka Y2K) would bring – I was a Computer Programmer, working in corporate America, on call 24/7… a single mom with two kids, ages 9 and 11… about to marry a man, my best friend, who I had met on my 30th birthday eight years earlier.

He was an Architect who loved history, music and art, working for a small firm and traveling 2-3 times a month… a single dad with two kids, ages 14 and 18.

As smart as you think you are at 19… at 30… even 40, we had no idea what was about to unfold in our lives over the next 20 years.

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary on June 1, 2020, we have said goodbye to our professional careers. We have left the big city of Nashville for a small 15 acre farm in Santa Fe, Tennessee, and we have built our own workshop, studio and tiny house. We have planted wildflowers, blueberries, blackberries, watermelons, chestnut trees, pecan trees, pine trees, fruit trees and our creative roots.

We are focused on our crafts and are ready to share that work and enjoy our new life as an Artisan couple crafting instruments and art in our self-built workshop called Chestnut Grove Studios. Logos, color palettes, and all that fancy business stuff will come, but we want it to show our love for the outdoors, art and each other. Prelim sketches look like this:

We have a facebook page that links to an online shop… an instagram account, and a pinterest page (search for us on any platform as “Chestnut Grove Studios”. Please follow us, look us up, message us, share us with your friends…and shop with us.

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P.S. Happy Anniversary Babe!

xoxo,

Robyn

Small House – September Update… Moving Day!

We are officially occupying the small house!  Finally!  What a chore it is to move, even though we just moved a couple of years ago when we sold our home in Nashville and moved to the rental close by the construction site.  This is how just a small portion of the end of the last day of moving looks at the workshop.

Poor patient hubby has let our hoarding invade his workshop.  It is almost embarrassing the amount of stuff we have.  There is one major garage sale coming!

The first room ready is the bedroom, including art on the wall.  I bought this tile structure in 1996, and it means a lot to me.  It weighs at least 80 pounds.  The artist is Polly Cook.  I love many things about it – the sepia tone, how the intended cracks in the tile create the face of the male figure.  It was my first “art” purchase.

What’s finished?

• Wood floors installed (see above bedroom picture) – Walnut 4″ tongue & groove
• Bathroom sink & toilet are functional (critical components)
  

  
• Washer & dryer installed (no pic yet… there’s too much laundry)
• Rods and shelves in closet (no pic yet… there’s too much chaos)
• Heated floor in bathroom – there were multiple tests involved in this install to validate the 10 year warranty – i.e. I had to purchase a multi-meter and understand Ohms, let’s just say, the tile work was much more complicated
  

  
• Refrigerator moved from the workshop to the kitchen

What’s in progress?

• Installing the gas line to hook up the range (current cooking options are outdoor grill and microwave)
  

  
• Tile work in the shower (outdoor showers with the hose are invigorating, but I’m looking forward to that steam shower)

What’s next?

• Kitchen cabinets
• Baseboards
• Interior doors (bathroom and closet/laundry room)
• Steps to front door
• Rail on back deck
• Landscaping

Showers tonight were compliments of the gym we belong to; however, showers earlier this week were compliments of the hose-pipe!  I have not slept better in any other house than the house that we built!  More to come…

Small House – July Update

What happens when it feels like 100 plus degrees outside?  Work continues, but nothing happens without a lot of sweat; however, a hose pipe spewing cold water feels really good when you put it at the back of your neck… well until it gets to your socks and your feet are squishing around in your shoes for the next few hours.

Half Full – Half Empty – that is what the month has been about.

Half Empty – your phone dies and your car battery dies in the same week.  You lose all of your photos of the last month’s progress, (plus all of the photos of your amazing granddaughters, your trips, your wildflower garden progress, your foodie stuff, and everything else you had chosen to snap a photo of for the last 18 months)!  This equals not many pics for this post

Half Full – we have FINISHED putting the heavy-a$$ cement board on ALL of the exterior sides of the house!!!  We have finished putting the battens on one half of the house – AND – we have a front door!

 

Half Empty – the deer ate all of my corn.  As in    E V E R Y       S I N G L E      E A R… all 35 of them.  However, the next day I saw a momma and two little baby fawns scurrying thru the yard while I was mowing, so I guess she had some hungry mouths to feed.  (Glad this novice farm girl could help.)

Half Full – the wildflower garden is really going great!  I have all kinds of sunflowers, zinnias, poppies, daisies, and more!  I love being able to have fresh cut flowers in my kitchen window.

 

Half Empty – the grass grows so fast when it rains and every time I mow I get a rash on my legs that nearly requires medical attention.

Half full – the garden is producing… we have had squash, cucumbers, hot peppers, and even a few watermelon babies are soaking up the sun.  LOTS of blackberries – in fact, I’ve already made my first ever batch of blackberry jalapeno jelly – and a cobbler for dear hubby’s birthday.  After today’s blackberry picking, I hope to have enough for a second round of kitchen goodies – blackberry balsamic onion jam with bacon

Half Empty – there are no more half empty stories – LUCKY ME.

Some of the other highlights for the month include:

• Finalizing kitchen cabinet layout and ordering the cabinets
• Ordering bathroom and kitchen faucets and fixtures
• Selecting tile for the bathroom
• Putting up blocking for the kitchen cabinets
• Running the electrical for all of the lighting and outlets
• Purchasing the lighting fixtures

The workshop is getting pretty full will all of the goodies we (I) have picked out.  I cannot wait for the installations to begin!  Until they do, I just keep dreaming with my story boards.

All Full – Last night after we had showered and settled in to watch the news, the rains came… we looked at each other and said, let’s go over to the house to check for leaks in the roof…  Thankfully, there were no leaks.  So we just sat on the workbench to simply look around and reflect on how we had spent the last 11 months of our lives – together… learning, building, sweating, creating… it does not get any more full than that!

Small House – June Update

Well, after  9+ months, we have what looks like a “real” house… 

That’s her… peeking through one of our baby Chestnut trees!  And just like the mother of every baby on earth, I think she is the most beautiful I have ever seen… and I have labored long and hard over her… but she is still a newborn, and there is much nurturing and loving left to do before she can stand on her own.

There have been great strides this month – in spite of the heat and humidity –

and a quick family gathering in Savannah.  We stayed in an amazing cottage on Tybee Island – just two blocks from the beach – with an outdoor shower in back and a screened porch on front.  It was truly great to take a few days to be with our family, and appreciate all of the effort going into our cottage – for example, the front porch roof – notice how ours (on the right) connects at each joint where the two sides meet…

It was so sweet that the two were so similar in style and color, and NO criticism, or lack of functionality to the rental cottage, just a note to detail on how it matters when you are doing it yourself.

The metal roof is on… one of the few things we did not do ourselves.  Remember, “we” did put on the layer underneath the metal roof.  That’s me on the right with a safety harness and home-made ladder – the hired crew on the left with just a hand rope to hang on to.

The front porch floor is down – true tongue and groove flooring, not a deck floor… labor intensive, but well worth the effort.  I must say, while I labored over the priming and painting of each and every floor board, dear hubby tediously put them together, not once, but twice… the first time to “dry fit” and the second time to nail her down.  I cannot wait to hang some planters on the front and add a few comfy chairs and enjoy the view.

And that sweet cottage board and batten siding – it is Hardie Board, (fiber cement board), and it is literally like a sheet of cement and weighs just as much as you would imagine a 4 foot by 10 foot 1/2 inch thick piece of cement would weigh! HEAVY!  The battens are 1 inch by 2 inch cedar that we sourced from the nearby Amish community in Etheridge TN that I mentioned in an earlier post.  They are spaced 8 inches apart.  I am totally loving how it is all coming together – the cozy porch floor, the warm cedar shakes, beams and posts, and the continued day to day with my super talented patient foreman/husband.

We also have a few of the wildflowers blooming that we planted by the drive last month

The combo light and exhaust fan in the bathroom is installed, along with framing for the steam shower AND the most important cabinet to hold the Mr. Steam generator for the shower.

I have LOTS of packages being delivered next month, so stay tuned for that unveiling!  Lighting, tile, cabinets, front door… so many decisions, so many more tasks to tackle – I am SO glad this is a small house!

Small House – May Update – Tennessee Winters! Special Visitors!

FINALLY!  The weather is at last turning from winter to summer, (where was spring?) – it seems we have had at least the first three Tennessee winters so far, we will see if the last two rear their cold heads this month.

• Redbud:  early April – been there – done that
• Dogwood:  late April – been there – done that
• Locust:  early May – maybe not so much – we have had a TERRIFIC last week of April into May

So, what has been accomplished in the last month?  AND what have been the surprises?

WARNING:  Not a lot of sexy stuff happening – but every day is ONE day closer to living in the small house that we built ourselves, (mostly).

• “Other” small house work done
• Felt/tar paper on the front porch roof
• Back gable siding on
• Back gable battens on
• Back gable finish trim complete
• Wildflower bank and other gardening complete
• Back door installed
• Mechanical rough in / duct work complete
• HVAC concrete platform poured (with dad help)
• Front porch flooring started

SQUIRREL:  For a moment, we took a three day time out and stayed up in Grundy County near our “other small house,” and did some work.  We also stayed in a pretty awesome “treehouse” in Monteagle, (look it up on VRBO, and stay there!)  The hosts were amazing, especially when we locked ourselves out of the rental treehouse.

We had a goal to put down the leftover zip system wall/roof/floor sheathing on our cabin floor.  GOAL ACCOMPLISHED.  However, we had my nemesis, Sneaky Snake, keeping me pretty squirrel-ly.  Day 1, he was slithering around just outside the door when I went out to get more supplies – imagine me, turning 180 degrees, mid-air back into the cabin, of course with a scream… 

Day 2 – we are back inside, screwing down the floor, and I look over hub, who has his back to the door, and Sneaky Snake is INSIDE slithering UP the wall!  Hub says, “would you rather see a snake or a rat?”  I think I’d rather see a cat, who could also take care of the rats!

BACK TO THE SMALL HOUSE:

The  BIG DEAL this month is the back gable end!  I love my hubby more than I can say, (notice the heart with RB + BL), but he has no issue building a ladder to hang off of the roof ridge for me, (remember this)…but when he needs to get up high, here is what he builds.  Now I definitely benefited from this level platform off of the back porch roof, especially when I am on my back – 20 plus feet in the air painting but still – dude, build me some flat platforms and rails next time, kiss, kiss, love you!

We also were able to have the driveway pushed back from the “barn,” to the house, and then, (since because I do not like mowing on a slope), I suggested we plant native wildflowers on our slope!  We planted, around 8 pounds, of native Southern wildflowers along this slope… I cannot wait to see how this turns out.  P.S.  I also snuck in some corn!

We installed the back door!

We had the mechanical rough-in done…

We poured concrete for the HVAC unit!  This also shows the electrical panel being hooked up to the small house.AND another Special visitor number was my dad.  He flew himself in from East TN, and was what he called “the water boy” for hubby and me while we mixed the concrete for the pad.

Visitor number 2 showed up the next day – yet another dog in the pack.  This guy was a little hurt, he had a badly skinned paw, but he was sweet as they come.  We gave him a bowl of food and a bowl of water, which he enjoyed, then during the night, took off – we will see if he comes back to hang out with the rest of the crew.

And just for kicks and giggles – this is how we communicate…

Measurements to call down from the gable end…

His and Hers liquid refreshments… (he is totally looking in some goofy house mirror on both of our images)

We started installing the front porch floor!  It is the same “morning fog” / blue color of the ceiling.  I just love the way a tongue and groove porch floor looks – instead of a “deck floor.”

Oh goodness!  This stuff is starting to get REAL!

P.S.  Farmer tan lines have started to appear – life in building a small house is just amazing.

Oh yeah, and don’t think that porch floor is almost done… that is the dry fitting, it has to come back up, be numbered, have the cut edges primed and painted (with oil based paints), and then put back down… this was just a tease.

Small / Tiny House Update – April

MARCH MADNESS BABY!  WE KILLED IT!  No we didn’t have a perfect bracket, nor did we have Sister Jean, but we had some no-rain days, and got a lot accomplished.

May I first bring to your attention the beautiful front porch roof joists and decking… I mean – it is amazing, right?  Well maybe amazing if you knew:

• how many times I got on top of it,
• each board was:
  • jointed to square one edge
  • ripped to make them a consistent width
  • routed to make the edges interesting
  • painted with two coats of primer and paint
    • Why is the porch ceiling blue?  (From Gun & Garden magazine July 2015 issue), “So is the tradition of painting a porch ceiling blue. Some say the idea stems from the notion that blue porch ceilings prevented insects and birds from nesting. But more often than not, the color is attributed to the story surrounding the Gullah/Geechee shade known as “haint blue” and its influence on American design over the centuries.”  Our shade of blue is Sherwin Williams “Morning Fog.”
• how incredible it is that hubby got all of those joists perfectly positioned,
• a hip roof (the part where the angles all come together in the above photo is one complicated piece of construction (and apparently one bathroom steam shower salesman in Spring Hill didn’t think we were capable after we had already done it, and judged us by looking at us when we walked in the store looking to purchase a couple thousand dollars of supplies for our steam shower – I won’t dog him on my blog, but let’s just say my tongue is an inch shorter because I did want to tell him, “yes, I not only know what a hip roof is, but I built one, which is more that you can probably say AND having a hip roof on your house has nothing to do with whether or not you can put in a “simple” square box shower that you are selling, (or not selling to us).”
• the ends of those rafter tails are pretty amazing in the light and cast some amazing shadows, not to mention add to our craftsman theme
• I caulked each one of those joints on the top, even though there will be felt and a metal roof on top… because, that’s just what you do when you are doing it for yourself

There was also a lot going on inside:

• plumbing rough-in has begun,
• running underground electricity to the house has started, (although the day after we dug the trench, it turned into a canal)
• an interior bathroom wall was moved out 16 inches.  (This is something you can do when your are building it yourself and not add hundreds of dollars to the cost.)  However it’s a 20% increase on the size of the bathroom – which basically means our steam shower is 75% larger – WOW, that sounds awesome, right!  Well it is awesome when you are going from a 3 foot by 3 foot shower to a 4 foot by 4 foot shower!  Maybe not so awesome by some standards, but put some tape on the floor – stand in a 3×3 space, and then a 4×4 space… it probably will save you us a few elbow bruises.

Back in my October update I mentioned a few visitors to our humble dwelling, well now we’ve got dogs for days.  We’ve got “white dog,”  “brown dog,” and “black dog.”  “Black dog” is HUGE – like his head above my waist huge.

“They” are really cute UNTIL they (“they” is only white dog) starts digging up hubby’s watermelons.  So starting today – when the doggy train shows up, I walk them back home – no more treats for the digger and, unfortunately, his buddies cannot hang out either.  Because, as soon as I plant “my stuff,” I am going to be a lot more passionate about white dog up to her shoulders in garden dirt!  I cannot show the actual digging picture because there may or may not have been tears involved, but “white dog” was up to his shoulders in dirt.  Lucky for me, I go by the “do not plant until after April 15th rule, so my plants are still trying to survive in their mini trays.

Now the really, really hard part… picking out tile, flooring, lighting… follow my boards on Pinterest, and comment, please.

P.S.  So I have also been corrected that technically, a “tiny house” is 400 square feet or less, so since our “small house” is 600 square feet, I need to stop referring to it as a tiny house, (plus it is not on wheels).  So from here on out – “tiny house” will be referred to as “small house.”

Tiny House – February Update + 30-in-30 Part 2

Here is where we are at the start of the eighth month.

The front porch posts and beams have been installed.  We used Western Red Cedar and stained it a natural color.  The triangle above the porch, (gable end), will be finished out with handmade cedar shakes that we are waiting on from the Amish shake-maker to tie it all together.  We wanted something special for the metal t-brackets that connect the posts to the beams, so I trusted my best friend Google to help me find just the thing.  

We decided it would be nice to try to tie in the location to the design theme.  Our property is located on what is called Chestnut Ridge, so I sketched a couple of chestnut leaves and sent it to Cutting Edge Metals.  They forged these pretty awesome t-brackets (and square head screws) to “beautify” our structure support system for the front porch.  And like everything else we seem to lift into the air, they are hefty – about 20 pounds each… and that 20 foot beam going across the top is also one solid piece of lumber, weighing in at around 100+ pounds.

 

The weather is still refusing to cooperate more days than not right now, so we have been working inside the workshop on painting chores – like the roof joists for the porch – 2 coats of primer – 2 coats of paint – 6 edges – it keeps a girl busy for a few days.  Hubby routed out a special trim edge on the bottom sides to make the painting more interesting (time-consuming) for me.

Hub doesn’t seem to mind the weather as much as I do, so he has been keeping busy building some new raised planting beds for the spring.  They are conveniently located right between the house and the workshop.  I cannot wait to get some watermelons, peppers, herbs and more started in these beauties!

Standing guard over the fruits of our labor will be a bluebird family we hope finds its way to their new home that hub crafted and installed.  Note that no bluebird house is complete without a little engraving…

 

Another cold and rainy day project he completed with our oldest grand-daughter.

As for me, I joined the second 30 paintings in 30 days online challenge sponsored by artist Leslie Saeta.   The last one in September, I chose to paint rural Tennessee churches.  This time around, the subject matter is barns.  Here are a few of the completions so far.

 

 

You can see all of the churches and follow along on the barns on my Instagram page.

Tiny House – November Update

I cannot believe it is already November!  Seriously!  The time change, another birthday, cold (oh I mean record high temps), holy cow, this stuff gets harder, but still there is NoThInG, REPEAT NoThInG, I’d rather be doing than building my own house.

Lots of tiny pieces this month, no pun intended.  

Dear Husband has been painstakingly measuring and installing these 226 pieces of blocking JUST for the one side of the roof structure.   The distance between each roof joist should be the same, but since we put them up, “weather” has happened, so each piece of blocking is measured individually, i.e. climb up, measure (with a story stick), climb down, cut, climb up, install… repeat…

And then there is the other side… ugh, but that’s my hero’s job, and he’s a helluva hero to do all this, rain or shine.

Not a lot of low hanging fruit anymore.  We are getting to the nitty gritty.  Real decisions have to be made at this point.

I’ve been busy painting the tongue and groove porch floor boards.  Porch floor color is Sherwin-Williams “Morning Fog” which seems  appropriate right now because each day we wake up to a field covered with fog.  I won’t bore you, (like I wanted to), with the details, but short story, is…

each of the 160 boards were moved 10 times, by me, by hand & foot, between priming all sides (including the tongue and groove = hard) then painting the “up” side and groove.  Each coat had to dry for 24 hours before the next coat, and each board had to be inside by the end of the day since we are now getting dew at night, and they cannot get wet.  Note to self – “tongue and groove porch floors are a lot more labor intensive than “deck” flooring.”  But they will be beautiful, and all of the reason we are doing this ourselves, rather than hiring it out.

 

 

So much for the short story.  (Notice how painstakingly I describe what I’m doing… which is just painting).  I can’t imagine how long it would take to describe what hero-guy has been doing.

 

The house color is also Sherwin-Williams, City Loft.

The colors seems to pull out the gray and vanilla colors in the stone.   Of course, you’re not seeing it in person, but just ride this ride with me.

After my porch floor painting job, I (luckily) got to move on to the back porch roof rafter painting job…  (notice how my job photos are larger than foreman pictures)

What that all means is that instead of working together, we’ve been working separately, which is not what we’re used to, or like to do, but hey, everything can’t be fun.  It does totally make you appreciate the fun of working together.  We’re still in sight and sound distance of one another, but it’s lunch until we usually talk, which is sad.  Well there is the conversation about what music we’re listening to, and whether it’s “my music” Michael Jackson, Meghan Trainor, and Maroon 5, or “his music” Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, and Doc Watson.  The good news is, I like his better than he likes mine, so when it’s “his music day,” I’m cool.  We are totally spoiled, (that is if you like being with your spouse, which I absolutely would not trade for the world.)

We also started working on the kitchen design.  I say “we,” but it’s all about me on this one – Hub got the stone foundation and tongue and groove porch floors, but I’m all about the kitchen.  Decision making isn’t difficult if you ask me A or B.  But when you ask me A, B, C, D…. Z, ugh!  it’s the worst.  I’ve already purchased and have possession of the refrigerator, stove and microwave, and they are stored in the barn.  This is because, as hub says it, whatever I want has been discontinued or is sold out.  So what that means is I’m either way behind the curve (usually), or ahead of the curve (not so often).  I ordered the kitchen sink Monday, so we’re pretty much good to go on that front.

My cabinets will be a sea foam green kind-of color, and the appliances will be white – looking at copper cabinet pulls and faucets.

Hub has also been busy wiring the workshop – I ordered the exterior lights for the outside doors at the shop.  AND, hub has been ordering more pine trees!  We’ve already planted 400, but like fences, tall trees make good neighbors, even in Santa Fe TN.

And… since today was a wash out rain kind of day – we took a respite up to Altamont to the “original tiny house”… it, and the leaves were beautiful… this blog may never end… the tiny house, the “barn/workshop,” the cabin… all built by hand with and beside my best friend, and even better – dear husband.

Mid-month update – Caulk and Church Paintings

No pics this time, just talk.

It’s been raining cats and dogs, so after a lot of positive feedback from my 30 in 30 church painting challenge, this retired girl is putting the ones not already spoken for up for sale on etsy.

We did do a lot of indoor caulking, blocking, cleaning, and re-arranging in the barn, but I did spend some time looking around, and realized, if I’m going to keep painting, then I either need to start painting over some of them, or try to sell them.  As always, Mr. Architect, dear husband, BFF was encouraging to the sell option.

So… all that being said, and with additional knowledge from my art teacher, Susan Jones, I’ve posted images of my paintings, as well as photographs on two other websites.  These are called “print on demand” websites, which is kind of full circle since I used to work for a printing company, but way different.  These sites allow you to upload a photo, and then you can have that image printed on literally anything… leggings, phone cases, greeting cards, canvas, coffee mugs, etc.  I have personally ordered greeting cards of several of my photos and paintings, and have been pleased with the quality.  (BTW, I don’t set the prices – some of them seem pretty high to me, thus me ordering greeting cards.)

Just in case you are suffering from insomnia and want to check them out they are RedBubble.com and FineArtAmerica.com.

I have come to realize that I do truly LOVE painting, and the church series was so challenging and an awesome learning experience.  I only wish that dear husband could do the same with his banjo and furniture building.  It’s just not so easy to build a banjo or a piece of furniture in a day, much less 30 days, but we’ll get there.  Tiny house first, next career second.

Life is still good… life in the country… life working outside… life with my sweet, handsome, loving husband – swinging hammers, just not at each other.

October update on the Tiny House

Gosh – what a heavy heart I have writing this post after the tragedies we have had within the United States, (not just continental) this last month… hurricanes and shootings, some close to home, some close to friends.  The circle of life and mother nature are not being very friendly this late summer and fall of 2017.

Today – Oct 4 – We are COMPLETELY sheathed in (vertically).

We have made progress!  Visible progress!  I fear that once we get inside, hopefully this month, that progress will not be quite so visible.  The next step (roofing) also makes me quite nervous.  We’re still open to possibly hiring that out, I mean, who really wants to strap into a harness if you aren’t doing a zip-line? Not this girl, but I will, (if dear hubby can do it, I can do it).

We had quite a few visitors, some unwanted, this month.  Ms Black Widow Spider, and her sister came to nest in our concrete block pile.

“Spot,” the frog, named by one of our granddaughters, took root in the barn, seemingly entranced by this bottle of water on top of a tool box.

 

 

…and there is always “Hank” the neighbor dog who comes by most days for a treat and spray of the hose.  He’s also camera shy, and actually dodges the treats if you toss them to him, but he will sit and high five for a treat.

Now for the guts and glory!

• House completely sheathed, check
• Five front deck 6×6 cedar posts installed, check
• Decks on front and back framed, check
• Roof deck on back deck framed, check
• CoPpEr roof gables, ordered, delivered and installed, check (my FAVE this month)
  

  

Oh yeah, there were a few watermelon success stories from the garden, this beauty came home with us today.

 

 

 

 

This month we also took a mini time-out for ourselves.  We were headed to South Carolina to a sweet house that backed up to a waterfall, (here – photo from airbnb)but passing thru Chattanooga we got a call that Hurricane Irma had impacted the sweet treehouse, and the power was out at our destination for the duration of our quick trip.  So I got on the phone and we re-routed to Lake Lure, NC and landed in the Patrick Swayze Suite at the Lake Lure Spa and Inn who claims Mr Swayze actually stayed in the same room as us while filming the classic movie “Dirty Dancing.”  Luckily, (depends on your perspective), we just missed the 30th anniversary of the filming festival.  But we did get to do some amazing rock climbing and garden viewing… pizza eating… beer drinking… etc

And saw this Devil

near the top of Chimney Rock, which we climbed… over 900 steps, (there is a staircase to the top, i.e. stairway to heaven, then a 2 mile hike to a waterfall, at over 2,000 feet elevation

where I relaxed, finally!

 

 

 

So it was a nice break from hammering nails, sawing up boards, taping seams, etc… but it’s always amazing to be back “home,” and working on the tiny house.

P.S.  The church painting challenge… I believe I finished 25 paintings in 30 days – and we were traveling 5, or so of the 30 days, so I feel like I made my goal… the fact I was still painting every day after a week is pretty amazing – here are some of the pieces I didn’t post last update.