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In and Out of Hot Water

Fiascos, Home and Renovation, Uncategorized

As most friends here know, I have a couple of ongoing health management things. These few things require a tub and hot water.

On Sunday evening, I was taking a bath, and the water stopped. I thought, “Huh. Water main break or something.” It’s an old city, happens now and then. Our plumbing is only five years old and we have an on-demand hot water heater the same age, so I just sat there a minute … until J said, “There’s a bunch of water out here on the floor.”

That, of course, was the end of my bath. After drying off and collecting my wits, I took a look at the “closet full of a million pipes,” and found this, with hot water gushing out of it —

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The lead from the water heater had separated from the pipe that takes the hot water to the rest of the house. The clamp on the top broke. I actually thought, “thank the plumbing deities for that,” because it looked like an easy fix.

You may or may not know — I don’t do plumbing fixes. Won’t touch ’em. But. I do understand most plumbing things. To confirm my suspicions, I had J go down to the basement to turn the main waterline off-and-on while I checked the bazillion valves in the plumbing closet. Looked like I was right. It was already evening, so we decided on cold water sink baths in the morning, and I Scarlett O’Hara-ed it until the next day.

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During the critical stage — messy!

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Called my good friend and contractor (who also happens to be our next-door neighbor) Monday morning. He ran by the hardware store to buy a few things, and it was fixed by noon! Couldn’t have taken him more than five minutes. He only wanted the cost of the supplies, but of course I doubled it and made him take it. Because calling in a plumber for something so simple and stupid would’ve cost three or four times that much. Let alone, having it fixed in less than a day.

So, as I was thinking when I first saw it, if we were going to have a plumbing issue, I’m glad it was a simple one.

I was back in the bath by 12:30!

All is Well-ing

Garden, Health, Theatre

To start, I’m fine. I believe I mentioned earlier that I had an infection at a surgical site which went away and then immediately came back worse. Very bad. Approaching sepsis. (During this, the bathroom renovation went belly up and two vacations were canceled.) However, it is gone now, I’m getting my strength back, and I feel better than I have in a very long time. I mowed our postage stamp size front yard yesterday. =)

I think I might’ve mentioned I was working on an adaptation of 1728’s The Beggar’s Opera. Didn’t work out. I was enjoying the work, but the details, places, people, customs and occupations of 1728 London are all things that would have to be very clearly explained to a modern audience. That would result in a well-over-two-hour musical, it could possibly prove tedious, and that’s not what I’m after. I’m after small, meaningful, and fun.

So I’ve started something else. At this point, I’ll say that it is a two person musical (plus the non-speaking pianist character) based on the local stay of a very famous, very fun, very complicated person from the 1920s/1930s. The first 15 minutes is currently being read by a few people. Interestingly, it’s revealed itself to me as about 75% sung and 25% spoken. I’m having a good time.

The garden is at peak!

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And of course, I’ve already got a good amount of herbs in hanging and drying. A few stalks of sage, basil, oregano, and thyme so far.

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Today is a rest day! You have a great day too!

Only Beautiful Things

Arts and Crafts, Goals, Home and Renovation, Personal

We all know that I am currently ill, and abed atop a hot water bottle.

However, I don’t want to talk about that today. Today, I resist torpor and complaining. Today I only want to talk about beautiful things.

I have to thank my dear friend, Madame K, for asking about my projects, and how things are going. It reminded me that I am not made of illness. I am made of creativity. She always knows just the right thing to say.

You see, my trade is creating beautiful things; whether that’s a cottage kitchen, live music, a flower garden, students excited about the possibilities of music, or a musical based on a 1728 play. And, I am privileged to have been able to spend my life as a creator.

So, with illness and frustration aside, I walked around the house today and took photos of things I’m working on that I find beautiful.

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The front yard flower garden. I’m definitely an English cottage garden type person. (No surprises there.)

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A (mostly) finished corner of the kitchen, with our now-exposed huge beams. I had to fill in the space at the top of the wall, of course. I stained new rough-hewn wood to match the old beams.

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Another kitchen wall. Still needs some paint work, but I left the little cellar door rough on purpose. I like to see the history.

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A staircase wall in progress. Because I decided to go with stucco in between dark-stained beams, (Tudor-style), I went with artwork that reflects that.

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And that’s all I know about that! I’m off to rest and have a little bit of dinner. Yep, at 4:00. =)

How Doers Get *Nothing* Done

Fiascos, Home and Renovation, Personal

An update. Un-date, really.

I had to cancel the purchase, ergo the whole renovation. The bathtub had been delayed three times already, and today’s fourth delay would put it here after my contractor/plumber was scheduled.

Nevermind the fact that this was all arranged so it would be done while I was out of town; because there wouldn’t be a bathtub or shower here for three or four days.

Honestly, I’m glad to be rid of thinking about it. The sheer hours of work, websites, phone calls about screwed-up delivery has been exhausting.

I’ll spare you my further thoughts about large corporations destroying the service economy through greed.

ETA – And now, the giant awful infection at the surgical site is back. And my surgeon is on vacation. And I’m supposed to be on a plane a week from today,

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Oh, hi. It’s me, Phill.

Health, Personal, Travel, Uncategorized

Since I recently updated my ancient Facebook account (I only look at it once or twice a year — Marketplace.) At any rate, probably best not to post anything to me there. I’m on Instagram as well if you’d like.

Since we’ve already had a lot of folks joining us here that I haven’t spoken to in quite a while, I thought I’d do a little bit of a catch up. (Yeah, this is going to be a very long post. I’ll intersperse some photos.)

J and I now live in Westchester, in a charming downtown, short walking distance from the train station and less than an hour from midtown Manhattan. A few blocks from the Hudson River. We bought this 1100 ft.² 3/1 project-house cottage just about six years ago.

The original part of the house was built in the 1840s, it was extended in the 1880s, and I’ve been renovating since we moved in.

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(A fun photo in the cellar!)

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It is truly my avocation. When we bought it, the first thing I did was tear the front room of the house off and rebuild the original covered porch. Every board, rail, and post — hand cut, all wood, all me, no pre-fab whatsoever.

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The day we closed, and a few months later.

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There was a big initial construction push; but then … two bouts of cancer, several operations, and finally a quadruple 10-hour operation with four Columbia specialists last July. This sidelined reno for about three years. I have my challenges, but I am absolutely fine now. I am nearing a year in complete remission. I’m officially disabled with the tag, parking spot in front of the house, etc. But, you probably wouldn’t know it just to look at me. It’s a neuropathy and chronic fatigue situation, besides the fact that they removed a lot of my insides. (Seriously.)

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Renovations resumed just recently in full! While we were on vacation, we had our close friend, nextdoor neighbor, and contractor tear down the 1 inch thick plaster-and-lathe ceiling in the large kitchen to expose the huge 180-year-old beams. (This was something I was never going to do on my own. Too big, awful, and unpleasant.) I’m now in the process of doing all the finishing work and putting the kitchen back together the way we want it. Very cottage-core, or course. The work is challenging, very creative, very satisfying, and I’ve learned to pace myself. Updates will come on that soon. It’s looking gorgeous.

I am, as always, a Director of Music and Organist at a local church, which I love. I’ve been there six years as well. My friends there were an enormous help during my very serious health challenges. I also teach piano and other instruments privately, but I’m very selective about who I teach, and only have seven students over three days, 30 minutes each.

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I suppose if I haven’t spoken to you in quite a while, I’ve also developed quite a travel bug. I was in London a few months ago, we were in the Catskills a week ago, I’m in Orlando in a week and a half, and in July I’m visiting my mom for a week in Tampa.

While I’m in Tampa, our contractor is tearing out the fiberglass tub/shower situation and putting in a huge, deep, wide tub. Also tiled walls, and vintage shower fixtures. (The tub will be a big help for me. One of the things that helps me most is doing my PT exercises while in hot/warm water.)

Who knows what August will bring!? =)