Oct 13-14 - chateaux Lopes & Thompson

Let's be clear -- our entire house, including basement, would just fit in Bob's basement ...

On Saturday we went to Bob & Sarah's new house under construction. I forget whether the living space is 15,000 or 18,000 square feet, but it's something like that. Construction is really coming along with all the interior framing complete and exterior brick and stucco nearing completion. Everything is being built to a grand scale -- 3 staircases from the main floor to the second floor including a spiral staircase from Bob's den to the master bedroom area; an elevator; 10 fireplaces (I think that was the number) etc. etc.

I was actually wondering how you would use up that much floorspace before we got the tour, never having seen a floor plan. In fact everything is just to a larger scale -- larger rooms, not necessarily more of them and each bedroom, for example, having its own walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom, and big open areas. Plumbing and electrical work are underway -- in fact the electrician was onsite and had some questions for Sarah. It will not be long before they move into finishing -- drywall etc., but there is a lot to do to prepare for a Spring 2008 move-in.

They have no immediate plans to finish the basement or the rooms over the detached garage, wanting to live in the place for a while before organizing that activity.

So ... that was our morning. Back at Stef's I relaxed, watched TV and had a snooze. Sandy went over to Jeffrey's to see Emma. By 5pm we were both getting ready to go out and left around 5:15 arriving at the Hyatt for the Living Beyond Breast Cancer black-tie gala around 6:30. As usual it was well done and a successful fundraiser. I bid for and won two silent auction items -- a hooded blanket for Emma and a bracelet for Sandy. She gets a piece of jewelery from this event almost every year -- it's a great cause.

Sunday we were on the move again. I got up early and went to 6am mass then we hit the road at 7am. It was a good driving day, sunny most of the way, and we arrived at 7:10pm. Along the way we stopped for Swiss Chalet for lunch just inside Canada so we had total "stopped time", according to the NAV system of 1:25 out of the 12:10 elapsed time -- cruise control for 10+ hours at 7mph over the speed limit -- lots of police on the road but none came after me at that speed.

Everything was ship-shape here at Chateau Thompson aka "the cottage". The scale of Bob's place dwarfs ours, but we love it. It was just dark with the sky a deep blue/black when we arrived so we have not seen outside except for the piles of pine needles on the deck. It took a while to unload, what with the dresser in the car, but by 8:30 we were relaxing by the fireplace with glasses of wine. Because we had a big lunch we only snacked. The inside temperature was 59 degrees when we arrived -- I set the furnace at 50 when we are not here. It takes a while for the furnace to get the temperature up which is the penalty you pay for having an efficient setup. I think that it was only 62 by the time we went to bed, which wasn't long after ...

The sky is just starting to lighten. We have a lot to do today sorting out and unpacking. I have to move the 8x8's down to the waterfront deck to prep for building the gazebo since Timbrmart will be delivering the other 8x8's today or tomorrow and I need to have the boat trailer empty to have a place to put them. Sandy is anxious to see what is happening in the garden and will have cleanup to do.

Time for breakfast ...