stitching on the dock of the bay

well, our weekend at the cabin turned into two weeks at the cabin. there was a lot to be done.

i managed to sneak a few sunny moments on my dear dock with my new obsession, embroidery.

i brought a leftover piece of my favorite avocado-dyed cotton, and went to work with my new book "doodle stitching" by aimee ray. what a great book, full of fun inspiring things to stitch.

 i think with time i may get it. i will need more time than i got from my husband.

you know the saying - it takes a lot of work to live on a farm.

we don't live on a farm, and i'm glad for it.

after i snapped these photos i heard the whip crack,

that was the end of the fun for me.

some of us got to ride cute orange tractors and dig in the dirt.

some of us got to lay in the sun and watch...

or take a little dip in the bay...

 i got a paintbrush and a ladder,

and got to practice my multimedia art techniques.

we didn't do too bad for two old people by ourselves.

i even figured out how to use the timer thing on my camera.

this shot was taken right before gerry told me my next job was

climbing under the cabin to dig out all  the nasty land otter nests and stuff.

you can tell he was thinking about how he was going to tell me

by the look on his face - just look at him up there, mr. i ride the tractor.

we had the most glorious weather, and when it got warm enough the no-see-ums went away and we could take off the bug nets and put on shorts. shorts! amazing. i have a tan line!

every once in a while the clouds would roll over the mountains...

that really helped keep us motivated.

before we knew it, we had replaced the foundation,

put up new skirting,

and for a moment, i had my white seaside cottage~

well, a gal can dream, right?

i had my 50th birthday during this work week,

and i am here to tell you

my husband put me on a pedestal for the entire day:

not a happy warm fuzzy feeling for me.

at least i talked him into giving me a 2x6

instead of the 2x4 he originally had up there for me.

but, we finished! next trip we paint the trim and start building the new deck.

(see the blurs in the photo? no-see-ums. they'll bite anything)

in the end, the two of us loaded over 6,000 lbs. of lumber plus the compressor and all the tools & paint in and out of the boat twice, onto the 4 wheeler trailer and up to the cabin from the beach.

my pal duffy did a lot of this:

we should have got a st. bernard.