New Year, new day

It's the first of January, 2008. The beginning of the first full year in this home. This morning the wind is howling straight at us across the bay, from the ocean in the south. It makes a sound in the reeds like someone wobbling a large sheet of steel. A little rain is starting to hurl itself against the windows--there will be more later. The sun rose pink and purple, but has now hidden in grey.

The windchimes are ringing in the new year. I have my beady eye on a juvenile oak tree that is going to be disappeared before its sap starts rising, along with a lot of surrounding brush. Now that all the leaves are gone, the view of the water is clearer, and its indicating what needs to be done.

I am impatient to be started on some new projects: the upstairs/master bathroom, and some bits-and-pieces downstairs that will allow it to become liveable (for example, side doors that don't leak when the wind is blowing the rain at them... which reminds me, I must make some preparations for later today because this wind is going to slide round from the west, and blow water at the laundry door).

I have spent several days working on the kitchen backsplash: my first tiling work. Today, it's time for the grout. Was going to make the backsplash from black pebbles--I bought the tiles which are basically black, flat and smooth pebbles glued to a mesh backing, like any mosaic tile. But after putting the job off for a while, I realised that it needed to be a lighter colour. Several trips to Home Depot later, (even if you buy the boxes of stone tiles which have the right colour label, the tiles inside may be a different colour, have huge holes or bits missing--and I my guess of the number of small mosaic tiles I needed was a little out), the backsplash is in place and the stone is sealed ready for grouting. Will post pictures once that's done.