10th June 2018
It’s the rest day of the week. I managed to sneak out to the garage to prepare some timber to take up to Dave’s to plane up for a table top.
The lunch at the future in-laws was the usual division of foods, meat at one end, vegetarian at the other. In all the years Kelli has been vegan, there are all the regular comments regarding her food choices,that she ignores, I respect her for her moral stand, she makes great food, and I haven’t died of starvation yet.
9th June 2018
I decided to thickness all the pallet wood I had stripped yesterday, and because the blades were new the finish was smooth, and the pile of shavings were high, as usual we missed the trash wagon so the bin was full. I searched around to find any container to stuff the spoil into. I also forced as much in the bin as possible, so much so that when it comes to emptying it into the truck it will fire out like a canon,shaking the vehicle and waking up the driver.
The package was delivered today, hurray! It had been sent back to Grand Rapids??
Since I’ve been back there has been a certain lack of Justin Hayward, I did ask, but received a cool response ” You always take the piss” and “you always sing the words, Tights that you shat in”, “But I miss it when it’s not there” I pleaded, but to no avail, guess I’ve got to endure all the chill-out music that’s the flavour or the month.
The good news is the toilet paper is the same!
7th June 2018
Another thing on the wedding list was ticked off this morning. We called on the place that rents out the chairs and PA system and got that ordered. Kelli also found someone to make the cakes. After pages and pages of Pinterest, we decided to have a small cake for ourselves and cup cakes for the guests. This will give people choice of flavours and they would look cool.
Kelli went to the aid of a friend who had a bad abscess in her mouth, this entailed several hours at the hospital, with a lot of draining and injections, most of which would usually render her flat on her back, but amazingly she came back with a large dresser she had spotted at the side of the road. The thing smelt strongly of cigarettes, so that needed to neutralised with coffee grounds, bang goes my breakfast drink.
This was a heavy beast, but in pretty good condition.
6th June Wednesday
Got down to some serious work today on the dresser that has a buyer at the end of it.
I managed to make the new drawer runners, and then scratched around for ply to make new bottom panels. We raided Dave’s stock, as we always do. He has wood that came from the original Ark, but this time we came up short.
I have got used to watering the new plants, trying to keep them alive at least until after the wedding.
Kelli and I finally agreed on the invitations, and got them ordered. This has been a trial because we don’t usually sit down until quite late in the evening, by which time my eyes have to be propped open, and after twenty-odd pages of examples, I just want to sleep, and agree with anything.
5th June 2018
I heard from Louise that my grandson Marlo had his work experience at HM cancelled at short notice. That’s a shitty thing to do to a young lad who was looking forward to it, and typical of what is happening there. Now there might be a genuine reason, but it was just for five days, so an alternative person could have stepped in.
The weather was a bit chilly today, I worked on a dresser that required some remedial work to the drawers.
Kelli continued to plant flowers in the boxes in the patio, now its starting to look like someone lives here (Kelli’s words not mine).
Kelli and Greer returned giggling after a visit to the opticians. This was the first time for Greer, and as she sat in front of the chart, ready to read the top line, she hesitated, ” I can’t pronounce that word” she announced, as the optician, and Kelli dissolved in hysterical laughter, you can’t write that stuff.
4th June 2018
Today was a bit of a musical chairs day, we picked up one piece from Act 11 Boutique that had been there so long the woodworm had died of old age. It was an impressive piece, but it hadn’t attracted the right buyer. Kelli wanted to move it to Tin Roof to pad out the dwindling stock she had there.
Then we went to Hudsonville to replace a dresser sold with another we just finished.
On the way back we stopped off to buy some plants for the front of the house. I had no real idea about what we should get, we just needed colour and variety, and bags of cow shit, now that’s a subject I do know something about.
3rd June 2018
We had lunch at Kelli’s mum and dads, her brother Matt and his wife Brenda were there.
Matt will be taking the pictures at the wedding so he was sharing some of his ideas. They sounded really interesting, as we don’t want any traditional poses, it will be a free range for him.
Later we called around his house to listen to the song he had written for us that he will perform during the ceremony. It was great, and in keeping with songs he had written before. It was very humbling to hear something that someone had taken the time to write. Over the years I have recorded many of his songs, including one that is on my all time list of great tracks, so to have him perform it will be an honour.
The song will be the soundtrack to a video that I will compile from all the video clips our guests will be taking during the ceremony. This will then be put on line to allow those who couldn’t make it to share our day.
2nd June 2018
The words “You need some new clothes ” spreads fear into my head. Men don’t need clothes, they need a covering, that can be hosed down or burnt. Reluctantly I went along, and the first stop was The Gap. Within the first five feet her arms were full of shorts, tee shirts and jeans. She was muttering things like ” This would go with that, and this is really cool” words I never thought would go together, or indeed I would ever say. My view is women shop, men just get. Kelli would easily win a reality show based on shopping, as any guided tour around her closets would confirm.
I did agree that her choices were good, and the shirt did match my eyes, so it was just a case of me paying and getting out.
It was also the plan to do something with the front yard, it always looked a bit sad, so stopping at a garden centre we looked around at things that would make it a bit more interesting.
Our starting point is a curve of wild grass, I want to include some rocks, but Kelli is not keen on me raiding other people’s garden for them. Guess I’m going to have to buy some.
1st June 2018
As resourceful as she is, Kelli had sold Greer’s old bed practically before we dismantled it, so today we took it to the new owner. The buyer lived close to Muskegon, in an old property, out in the woods. Apparently the house had a basement where illicit alcohol was distilled back in the days of prohibition, and all the equipment was still there, but we didn’t get the chance to see it. The house was so dark, and we had to take the bed frame and mattress up some stairs. The lady of the house led us, and when I expected her to switch on the light, she didn’t, so we had to stumble towards the small glint of light that was the room the bed was destined for.
Money handed over, we headed back to Holland.
There was work that needed to be done on a dresser that Kelli pulled from Hudsonville, so sandpaper in hand we set about working on that.
In the evening we met up with Bethanne at Perredies, I hit the red wine, which was a mistake, whilst the girls engaged in a torrent of giggles and laughter, always entertaining.
31st May 2018
Took my first trip to Hudsonville to re-hash the booth. We took a new dresser that Kelli found for free and transformed it into a really cool piece.
I haven’t started working in earnest yet, there are some pieces that needs thinking about, so that is exactly what I’m doing, thinking.
We had to take a table that Kelli sold to St Josephs, about an hour away.
It looked like the biggest employer in the area was Whirlpool, and sure enough, the Chinese girl we delivered the table to worked there. On the way back we stopped off at the Saugatuck Brewing Company for a veggi burger and beer, this is the life.
Another Lifetime to go 