Sunday Sundries

I know everyone is just dying to see the foundation... done! Bob and I worked all week and pulled it off. Before my "vacation" ended, we had finished the block and mortar. Bob swept up so it looks all clean and new. I'm thrilled. It will cure for a week and then we'll get the sill.
In the meantime, what haven't we accomplished? I was without my car all last week as it needed a brake job. Our former next door neighbor Pete did a magnificent job of replacing the brakes with Bob's capable assistance. Probably not having the car to drive was another inducement to put noses to grind stones and finish that foundation!
Then we attended a wonderful garden party (for Roberta's birthday) at our friend John's house. What an amazing garden he has! Hidden behind his house on an unassuming street, you'd never guess at the incredible garden tucked away up the side of a hill. Every nook and cranny harbors a wonderful, intimate- and maximalist!- view. John is a super gardener.
And today we left bright and early for New York, where we had perfect weather to enjoy the High Line. That was also a garden treat. Some exceptional plants that caused Bob and I to play "stump the stars"; some really cool cultivars to hunt down. And such a great concept (for those who don't know what the High Line is). It's an abandoned elevated rail way line that was to be torn down, but was restored as a garden/park several stories up in the air. Wonderful views of the river, various buildings, the Chelsea art world. It was kind of surprising that we'd never been.
The real reason we went into NYC was for us to attend a meeting about a art fair- called Debt Fair that I may participate in. It was in a not easy to reach venue, but was peopled (thinly) with other earnest artists who are attempting to right some of the obvious inequities of our capitalist system. We would have been happier had there been a few hundred in attendance instead of the thirty or so (of which we were two). We left a little early...
So here's a photo of a butterfly that kept us busy on the concrete while we finished up. Don't know what the attraction that concrete holds for butterflies! Also, not sure what kind of butterfly this is.

Blockheads Everlasting

The second stage of my foundation wall is complete! This morning, I filled in the cinder block holes with a smaller batch of concrete that I mixed up (all by myself!) as Bob is gone to NorthWest CT to help out at an estate sale. I'm pleased that Bob trusted me to shake and bake and mix and match that concrete mix!
So you learn all kinds of useful stuff. F'rinstance: concrete is a 1-2-3 mix. That is, three units (a small bucket in this case) of gravel, two units of sand and one unit of Portland cement. You mix these dry ingredients together in a wheel barrow (or trough) add water, and hey presto! you've got concrete. (Bob also made a sticky mix of Portland cement and hydrated lime and sand. This he used to fill in around the bolts that will hold the sill in place. I guess there's a concrete/mortar mix for every application).
What's scary is that you do have to work somewhat quickly as it sets up and gets hard- mostly to clean off tools. Bob and I went in the house the other day, thinking that we were taking a brief break but then it rained and we ate lunch and the next thing we discovered was concrete enclosed trowel and hoe and wheel barrow... nice. I'm not as precise about clean up as I should be. It's one (of the many reasons) I don't paint with those blasted oil paints. Just plain hated the clean up. Don't get me started about print making...
I remarked to Bob that we're at the stage with the foundation that I think it's all we have ever done, or all we ever will do. I realize that two days from now, we'll be done and onto the sill and framing and whatever. But right now? Seems like my entire life has been concrete and blocks.
Anyway, in between a million things, the studio is progressing. I also took time to shoot the below beautiful and disgusting photo:

I was out cleaning up Maggie's pasture and there are three(!!) butterflies chewing and flapping and engaging in some sort of butterfly menage-a-trois on a fresh, steaming pile of horse manure. (I've seen this before. A fresh pile of our previous dog's shit with a truly marvelous huge swallowtail butterfly astride it.) While I crouched down to take my picture, there was suddenly a powerful, warm and mysterious breeze on my shoulder. Maggie had snuck up and me and was wondering about my sudden interest in her poop.
Enough fun and games!  I have to get back to the homemade version of labor camp.

Square and Level

It took Bob and I all day to arrive at the above accomplishment. Bob says, "It doesn't LOOK like we did a lot, but we did". The day began with working out the elaborate ritual of elevation and square.
First, you have to draw out lines from the completed first wall of block. You set a small line level on a string and make sure both directions are level. This takes a while as you cannot be off or the whole building project is messed up- or "fucked" in the patois. So then after leveling determined, you have to square the strings to make a good corner. (I think I'm really tired from all the work- both mental and physical- and my explanation is dull and confused!) Anyway, it worked or so we hope. Seeing as how I am always maintaining that the universe is crooked, maybe it doesn't matter...  (Only kidding!)
Anyway, after all that Pythagorean figuring, we secured more block and began the sexy and exhausting work of actually erecting the wall on which the sill will set. We established the corners. That took the afternoon. Bob and I were both plum tuckered out after mixing wheel barrow upon wheel barrow load of three parts gravel, two parts sand and one part Portland cement and water to make a stiff mix; that's the recipe. Then of course, you must level the blocks... very exacting stuff, this foundation piece!

Bob tucked the corners in for the evening with tarps so that the concrete will stay damp and set up slowly. I really have learned a lot and the results are nothing short of amazing. I seem to have studio corners and the beginning of a real defined space.