so many things to show you:

Summer means many things to many people. To me, it means not sitting down at the computer to post pictures of what's getting done around here.

Obviously.
Over the months of June & July, the back wing was completed. I, for one, will not miss the white tyvek-paper that proclaimed we bought it at Lowes. Instead, I will regularly get a happy kick from seeing our beautiful stained hardwood siding.

It was a labor of love, let me tell you. Each piece of siding was hand-routed by the Lord of the Manor (LOTM, remember?). He rules my kingdom.

At this very moment in time, I am enjoying the finished screened porch. I have a great view of the waterfalls from the table here. We were very careful to make a smooth transition between the old stone of the original house and the wooden addition. I hope we were successful, because this porch STAYS.

Around the other side of the house, one can see the edge of the upper driveway and a make-shift stone path which lead to the back door. Before winter, we need to have a permanent walkway. Stay tuned for that!

Let's not forget the garden, where one can find me most mornings wiping mud off my hands onto my jeans.

Sometimes one can find me dragging a sprinkler around, lugging produce into the house, pulling stubborn weeds, or admiring my eggplant -which are almost too pretty to eat.

But mostly one can find me wiping mud off my hands onto my jeans.

Down in the lower driveway, the minions have been as busy as bees working on "The Cottage". We are not allowed to call it "The Garage" anymore. Orders of the LOTM.

One of my personal-fave minions is cutting sheet-rock while wearing a tool-belt. Presently, he is in far-away Uganda wearing a steadicam. Ask me later & I'll tell you all about it.

I miss him like crazy. I may start a whole other blog about how much I miss him, but after about 4 or 5 entries, I don't think anybody will read it.

It's kind of the same old thing over & over & over.

Oh you may think we are hardly doing ANYTHING around here, but you would be dead wrong. BECAUSE:

Over on The Town Square, the minions have been overhauling one of our apartment units. In deference to my blog-audience, I shall discreetly leave out the details of this particular overhaul.

-but I am compelled to mention that one of the bedrooms was "affectionately" dubbed The Cat-Pee Room. And one of the other bedrooms had been housing chickens.

You read that right. And might I add one last thing: there was no affectionate name for that room.

To quote Forrest Gump: "-and that's all I've got to say about that."

From the front window there is a great view of the town square, where one can spy on the Amish when they come in to town.

P.S. they buy chewing tobacco & powerade.

We also own the house on the end of the square. I have never seen the inside of it. I'll bet they are housing piglets.

Just kidding. They are nice people who read the fine print of their rental agreement.

Inside the Big Yellow House (as we call it), we find Geoffrey who does not have a friend-number. He deserves one after all we put him through. He claims, and I quote:
"This apartment has sucked my soul." He was fed well & comforted daily while he was working with us. Poor guy.

I don't think he was overcome by the fumes here, I think he was merely adjusting his equipment. -At least that's what he told me.

As I was departing the upstairs apartment at Big Yellow, I came upon this. I was rendered speechless.

Don't worry: it was summarily scraped off & painted over with Navajo White.
Two coats.

Perhaps if I follow up that last image with something stunningly beautiful, you will forgive me. This is a shot from the back window of The Cottage.

One last thing. Clever Tommy was able to install the mad-cool lighting on the porch. These are IKEA candle lanterns which he wired for us.

After installing them, he did what all clever people do: relax on the porch while taking in the view.