I now have a high school student in the house.  Today was her first day in 9th grade and after her new haircut and new clothes from the past weekend, she seemed ready for it.  We did orientation last week and she ran into an old friend from the horse farm and another from her old soccer team.. so I was happy to see her rekindling old friendships right from the start.  It should be an interesting 4 years.. I am sure you will hear all about it here. :-)

I got a little busy and missed the week 3 installment of the kitchen.. so adding those photos at the bottom.  We just finished weekend 4 of kitchen work.  The cabinets are in, the moldings up, the painting done (minus some touch up work).   Looks like about two more weekends to finish the job.   Then comes the cleaning.. ugh!  I have given up for the most part until we finish getting the floor in next weekend.

Last time I posted, we were about to play golf.  That was a beautiful, low humidity day (unusual for August in Maryland) and I had the good fortune of making one great shot and won a hole contest for $165.  The first (and possibly the last) time I ever make money from playing golf!  We all had our good shots interspersed with the numerous bad ones, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

Weekend 2 of the kitchen project. This time we worked both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was running all the new electric circuits. My house has aluminum wiring in many places, so we had to pull all new copper runs from the fusebox.. and of course figure out what was wired to what.. seems like the electrician who did my house in the 70's may have been on some medications? Today we took out the other wall and installed the beam for carrying the load on that wall, removed the back door and framed that in, insulated, installed the boards for the new cabinets to be mounted and installed the lighting in the ceiling. Next week we drywall. It is coming along nicely!



Last week my daughter was at GS camp in Pennsylvania. She had a buddy with her and they had a good time... sounds like they want to do it again next year. It was her first time away from home and electronics for that long.. I was proud that she adapted so well! :-)



Saturday night I took her and another friend to the last night of the Howard County Fair. It was an interesting mix of people there... I was taking turns watching the girls riding the rides and watching the people wandering around.. they sure get rid of a lot of goldfish.. seemed like everyone had a plastic bag with a fish in it.


Tomorrow AM, Anne, Dant and I are off to play in another charity golf tournament. Should be a nice day and good company... will see if any of us play that well. At least the beer is free! :-)

Day 1 complete... all the cabinets, appliances, two levels of flooring, drywall and one of the two walls removed. Will see if I can move tomorrow. :-) Tomorrow, the daughter is off to a residential GS camp for the week with one of her riding buddies.. so have been busy packing and finishing paperwork tonight. The kitchen project will resume next weekend.. although I have homework for the week, moving the door bell and thermostat to the wall that will remain after this is all done.

Later today, the kitchen project enters the demolition phase.  Here are the before photos:

From the living room looking towards the kitchen, parts of both of these walls are coming out...

My vintage 1970 linoleum floor.... nice! ;-)

View from the dining room entrance...

From the counter looking towards the living room... these are the walls that are partially coming out...

Lost the sink already.. that happened this evening when the plumber was here to disconnect things...

The view towards the dining room.. this outside door is going away also...

Should be a dusty day... but probably cathartic during the demolition!  :-)

Whew!.. what a busy time it has been getting back up to speed after vacation. The kitchen project kicks off on August 1. Everything has been picked out, just have to pay for it all now! The daughter has put the horse up for sale, which she has been handling herself.. and doing a good job talking with prospective buyers, etc. Still needs help getting to the farm to show the horse.. which my mom has been helping with. She is not stopping riding.. just needs a horse that can do more than this one. He has been a great starter horse.. and we have all learned from him. Hope to find him a good home and plan to visit with him in the future.

Just downloaded some photos from my camera... 4th of July party at AM's. Kids dancing in the rain (of course... it had to rain!) but we still managed a nice firework show in the backyard.


Last weekend, took the daughter and two of her friends to Hershey Park for the day. It was a belated birthday party event. We had fun riding the rides.. it was hot.. and we did not get home until 1 am. But then, that is what parties are all about!


Got to enjoy "Camp Hawyah" with AM several times.. her youngest was dancing and singing in an entertaining production. It was amazing to see these actors on stage, looking so poised and grown up.. then they come out to the lobby at the end and they are young kids! Amazing.

Been running my daughter to horse camp at a farm in Ashton this week and next, then she is off to a GS camp "Cowgirls under the Stars" where the get to actually sleep out with the horses away from the cabins etc. Should be an adventure!

I will be home tearing out cabinets and drywall that week she is gone... going to get some "before" photos of the kitchen and post them soon!

We are home, safe and sound. It was a long trip back.. when we landed at 8 pm, it was already 1 am to us. Here are some photos of our last day in England. We took a train to Canterbury to hear some of the Canterbury Tales...

Then visited the Cathedral where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170.

Hopped back on the train and went down to Dover to see the castle.


Then home to a wonderful Dim Sum dinner in London. The next morning we were up, packed and on our way to the airport. We stopped for a break at Paddington station, the same spot we had stopped on the way in..


Now it's laundry, catch up on work, e-mails, blogs, etc. And of course a nice 4th of July weekend ahead! Happy 4th of July to all of you!

Another crazy couple of days... traveling all over, eating, drinking, laughing.. trying not to get hit going across all these street crossings in London.  I have so many photos, it's hard to weed it down to a few.

Thursday, my daughter got to ride around Hyde Park...

The afternoon was spent shopping at Harrod's and Hamley's.  

Friday we hopped a train for Brighton... it was a cool, breezy day...



Saturday we went to Ely, where I went to school as a young lad...  this is the Cathedral there..



Stopped at Cambridge on the way back for a punt ride on the Cam....

This morning we were up to tour the Globe theatre (proper spelling here)...  it's an authentic reproduction, built by hand with wood, pegs and thatched roof.

 A stop through the Tower of London..

Finished with Evensong services at St. Martin-in-the-fields church off Trafalgar Square.

Tomorrow.. off to Canterbury and Dover.  :-)