In the frame

So this is what our house will look like.

After months of staring at one-dimensional renderings, there's nothing like a couple weeks of good weather, skilled people with hammers and a load of lumber to turn those drawings into, well, the framework of our house.

This has been the November activity on Orchard, and it sets the stage for the metal roof (Sue had to remind me what colour we eventually settled on - I won't give it away here) and siding (no, I can't remember the colour of that either). Both tasks should be completed before the Christmas break.

The view from Orchard Avenue

The view from the other end

But let me linger on the framing stage. This is the part that takes me back 50 years or so, to the community just down the road - Kentville. We moved to a brand new house in a brand new sub-division in Kentville in 1960. Ours was the second or third house to be completed on the street, and over the course of the next three years that we lived there, a favourite activity of some of us local kids was visiting - after the builders had departed for the day - various housing projects on our street.

We weren't up to mischief; mostly just nosing around and being curious, while keeping an eye peeled for protruding nails. As kids, we were forbidden by our mothers to be on these sites; I suspect for the very same nail-in-foot fear. We did it anyway, with no safety incidents to report.

We were busted once by my mother. I suspect she simply spotted us from the kitchen window as my brother and I wandered around the building site just up the street and within line-of-sight of our house. My memory of that bust was being sent to bed without supper. It was the first and only time that happened. And I would have eventually had a supper if I hadn't pretended I was asleep when mum checked in on us a couple of times.

I think that ended my building site wanderings. But I still remember the smell of the wood and concrete and freshly turned earth. Those memories are triggered when I look at the photos from our building site. Thanks to Caleb and Jeff at Denim Homes for snapping photos of the project.