Tag Archives: Gary

Gary at the Cabin

Let’s talk about Gary at the Cabin. Every morning, he’s up before me (full disclosure – he’s up before me every morning even when we’re not at the cabin, but still…), has brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and has a crackling fire waiting for me.
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Trust me, you want that early morning fire in May at the Cabin!
He stays quietly reading not to disturb my quiet time, although if I sleep especially late (unlikely, but not impossible!), I may also awaken to the sound of the lawn mower or a power tool!
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As usual, he had his List of things he wanted to accomplish – Kayak rack,
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redesigning and launching the floating dock,
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tree and debris clearing
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to name just a few.
And just when he thought maybe he was done, I asked him to paint the conduit to the light because it ‘bothered me in the pictures”!
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But please rest assured – this is the epitome of “love language” to my sweet Gary! There is nothing he does at the Cabin that isn’t done from his heart.

I don’t have any photos of him in his favorite spot on the back porch, but I did manage to catch a rare photo of him sitting inside by the fire (playing a game of Sudoku, no doubt).
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Yes, Gary at the Cabin is a sight to behold! We head back at the end of June to do final preparations for our big Family Reunion – so I’m pretty sure I’ll have more photos of Gary doing what he loves most – working at the Cabin!
Thanks for stopping by – and next time I’ll share what I was doing while he was ever so busy!
Steph

Sabbath Rest and Happy Birthday!

Today my driver turns 74! And he spent it driving the 450 miles to get us from here
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to here –
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His gift today was an uneventful drive that only needed two of these –
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so that was a good thing!
In honor of his birthday, our Sabbath Rest hymn is one of his favorites  – Fairest Lord Jesus. This video also gives a little history of the hymn. Enjoy!
(If you want to skip right to the hymn, it’s at 1:11)

1. Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son;
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

2. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3. Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight
And all the twinkling, stary host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heav’n can boast

4. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, Praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be Thine!

Words: Anonymous German Hymn, Munster Gesangbuch; st. 1, 3 tr. Source unknown, st. 4 Joseph Augustus Seiss
Music: Schleische Volkslieder

Vocalists: John and Lisa Martin
Instrumentalists: John Martin – Piano

My sweet Valentine

I’m rerunning a post about Gary from way back in 2010 because he is still this guy. My guy.
April 28th, 2010 – Gary
Before I continue with more “pictures of rocks”, I need to share a little something about Gary.
He turns 60 today.  [He’ll be 74 in April]
Many of you know Gary – you know what a hard worker he is, what a good job he did taking care of his family, and I’m sure you know how much he has loved these last five-plus [19 plus!] years that we have been on the road. But maybe you don’t know this about Gary.
He has become an expert at waiting.
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At Death Valley while I find just the right spot for that perfect picture.
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In Sedona as I climbed up to the cathedral view. (Don’t know why the hood is up!)
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At one of the small lakes in Prescott, AZ – as I checked out the shoreline.
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All bundled up waiting for the bus that wasn’t going to get us to the Grand Canyon rim for the sunrise.
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Or passing the time while I wait for the sun to set.
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Maybe he’s waiting for me to finish exploring some Hopi ruins.
It’s true that sometimes he walks on ahead, knowing that I’ll catch up once I figure out how to get that pretty flower into the picture.
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I don’t have any pictures of him waiting for me at various quilt shops around this big country, but he’s done it time and time again.
And always with a smile.
I think it has something to do with those verses in 1 Corinthians –

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Happy birthday Valentine’s Day, dear husband of mine. Thanks for waiting for me, and watching out for me, and putting up with my horrible sense of direction (along with just a couple of other idiosyncrasies), and for loving me even when I’m less than lovable. I’m so thankful you’re my Valentine!

From vision to reality

It might’ve been in late summer 2021 that Gary first said, “I think the kids would really like a treehouse up here at the cabin.” It was a new thought to me, but I’m pretty sure that he had been mulling it over for a while. In late April of 2022, he started scoping out different groups of trees that might work for what he had in mind. By early May we had settled on this group of trees
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that was just the right distance from the cabin, in a different direction than the pond, and had enough different trees to support his design. (Not that any of us actually knew what his design was. But we have learned to trust him!)
And so it began! We came up for two weeks at the end of July and he started in.
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By the end of July he had the basic frame up, the deck part down, and the ship’s ladder built.
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We returned for most of September, and by the time we left to head south the deck railing was up and the building all framed in.
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Thankfully she wintered well, and Gary was able to resume construction in early May.
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He worked pretty steadily throughout May (with the exception of a long weekend with our Ohio families) –
roof –
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windows
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walls
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and siding.
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When we left for our June SOWER project the outside was complete, and it was certainly usable!
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But Gary wasn’t done yet. We returned last week to finish up one final detail – the flooring! We had been collecting lots of odds and ends of plank laminate flooring to use and while it took a try or two to actually come up with a design that worked with the different options, I think it has a nice eclectic vibe!
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Today was our last day. Gary mowed and finished up with any outside clean-up. I took care of the “inside” chores as we worked to pack up for an early morning departure tomorrow.  It’s been a quick week, but I know that the chief architect and builder of the Cabin Treehouse is feeling like it’s ready and open for business!
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Good thing, too – the families start arriving on Saturday!

Thanks for coming along as I reminisced about the treehouse that started as a thought and ended up as a beauty!
Steph

 

A couple of things….

    1. As always, it’s hard to believe that this month’s project is more than half over. So far it’s been quite the painting extravaganza for us ladies. We’ve painted a large conference room and just finished up three motel rooms. And sometimes you have to be creative to get the job done!
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    2. More details to follow about the project here, but let’s just say that Gary was in his happy place last week.
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    3. And speaking of that guy….
      this hardworking fellow stepped on the scale this morning
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      and saw a number that did not start with a 2.

I’m so proud of him and his determination to make this journey!

4.  And since we’re talking about family…. this young man turned SEVEN today!!
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And although he looks like he could be just a few years away from college in the picture above,
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THIS picture speaks more why we love us some Taran!
Happy Birthday, Taran!! We love you to the moon and back!