The realtor Phyllis Stelting had a video tour produced to help sell the old family home on 10th Avenue. This is a great reminder of how the house looked as we may soon forget since Mom’s new condo is such a beauty and very comfortable.

Lorin and I bought a 1942 Osoyoos cottage and spent the fall fixing it up for rent.  Lorin’s uncle came out from Manitoba to help out so things went very quickly. We’re very please with the outcome and the tenants love it. They were part of the selection process: they chose the interior paint, the kitchen layout (two options – they selected the breakfast bar) and agreed to put the dining room in the room where the back porch used to be.  We added a single french door there and it turned out great.

Local trades contractors were great:

Joe – glazier extraordinaire – custom window design and installation throughout

Clay – HVAC (furnace with a/c heat pump) battled tons allergens in the ventilation system and survived on double-doses of benadryl

John – landscaper – cleaned the yard up and also hauled away tons of debris

electrician, plumber etc — they were all very skilled and did outstanding work.

We turned this:

into this:

and this:

into this:

and this:

into this:

and this:

into this:

and this:

into this:

After 42 years, Mom has sold the old family home. She has moved into a beautiful condo with a view of the Fraser River.

It was the longest move in history.  For weeks we took truckloads and car loads to the dump, to the Salvation Army and to Value Village.  Our garage and house is full of stuff she wants me to sell through consignment as she couldn’t bare to give it away. She wants to know it will go to a good home.  The moving company had to come twice: once to move her into the condo and a 2nd time to take some stuff out as she took too much and also to take a load to my house and to a friend’s place.

Here are some photos I took as I said my goodbyes to the old place. It might look empty but it is full of memories . . .

my old bedroom – became a guest room:

Dad moved into this room eventually – he stayed up late and slept half the day:

Mom and Dad’s room – Mom’s only after Dad died:

Glen’s old room – Mom turned it into a sewing room:

upstairs landing looking into the bathroom with clawfoot tub:

TV room addition to the house:

Living room with beautiful new gas fireplace insert:

Dining room – look at those beautiful beams:

Kitchen eating area – new owners bought the hosier and some other furniture:

Yeah, I have to admit I love that song “I’m all about that bass, ’bout the bass, no treble”.

When I was about 12 years old we had a console stereo system – a big wooden thing that had a lid and the record player was inside of it.  I love playing the 45 “wild thing” on full bass and no treble – loved it! It sounded like a woof. “woof, woof, I think I love ya.  Woof, woof, I wanna know for sure” ha ha.

So this new song makes me think of those times because “I’m all about the bass, ’bout that bass, no treble”.

I found this battered old fiddle (violin) in the barn on the farm. Uncle Sylvain said it was from Grandma’s family but Lorin’s Mom is sure it was her Grandpa’s.

Lorin is a luthier (as a hobby) so he’ll restore it for display as it may not be able to make a decent sound. I’ll send the bow out to be redone. Needs lots of TLC.

If only this fiddle could tell us stories of where it was played and by whom – wouldn’t that be something. Was it a fiddle playing jigs and reels or was it used as a violin for classical pieces.  Hmmmm.

Yippee – Lorin has begun work taking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  Our kitchen is large but our dining room is quite narrow so now it will “feel” larger just because our view won’t stop at a wall.  The instant he bashed through it we realized it will be even better than that as there is another large window in the kitchen that we can now see from the dining room.  Amazing to have a such a wide view of our beautiful yard – very exciting.

The plan includes lower cabinets and countertop along the outside wall and where the old wall was, plus task lighting above so we don’t have to work in our shadow when preparing food there.

And since the windows are ugly original aluminum we’ll replace them too, and of course change the paint colour.

One thing always leads to another so Lorin wants to finally put in a good quality kitchen floor so were shopping for that too.  We’re looking for cabinets in the construction recycling shops but we’ll get new countertops custom installed through the whole kitchen when complete.

Sure is nice to have a handy husband.