Halperin & Christ

we had a wonderful last day even though we got kicked out of our house (those darn michiganders again) because of a misunderstanding of timing….oh well.

a big “clean out the refrigerator” breakfast was enjoyed by all. we all packed and left at about the same time…ned and rose to new orleans, ruben, beth and kids to the gulfport airport and us to a last minute detail at shirleys and lunch with the gang at the gccds. they made us a fabulous meal with salads, bruschetta, chicken, galette, fresh fruit and sorbet and we discussed the gulf coast, volunteer groups, planning issues, millenials, not having work, the slower pace, hot weather, etc.  we had a great time and have definitely been enticed to come again….perhaps in the spring next time.

after lunch eric golfed and fran hung out at judy’s with the cousins. we had our first rain and thunder storm. short but intense. it turned out to be a good thing getting kicked out of the house, more time with the cousins.

we are back now, at least fran is, eric is off on the next building adventure in bloomington indiana.

until next blog………………….goodbye and thanks for reading!

the floor was completed. the trim is done and painted. two accent walls in each bathroom are painted and all the thresholds between tiles and wood floor are done!

eric’s cousins and mom arrived and joined the tile babes and sanded, caulked and spackled windows.

the green tiles for the kitchen floor finally came and were installed by beth and emilio.

we have two tile dudes: colton and avi.

the bathroom floors are all grouted.

christian michiganders came at about 2:00 to install finish flooring and we were pushed off the job! now we will have to paint over finished floor….go figure……this process works in mysterious ways!

so we took the afternoon off, luckily we had an early start and lots of helpers so still much was accomplished.

eric golfed, rose relaxed and the rest of us swam in the gulf.

you know it’s hot when the gulf water is hotter than your shower water.

we are going to the shed for blues and bbq tonight.

we are all saddened by the loss of michael jackson, farrah fawcett and teo the dog (ruben, emilio and avi’s dog).

we decided to make use out of all those pesky surface bullnose tiles we had previously been trimming. baseboard!

the new baseboard gives the bathrooms a much more finished look.

much was achieved today: all the windows are jambed and most are trimmed, both bathroom floors are glued down, the blue one is grouted, all bathroom baseboard has been glued and eric started on the kitchen paneling trim.

the green accent tiles for the kitchen floor have been delayed until tomorrow morning.

laura left last night and barb left this morning. we miss them!!!!!

nelda and jane arrived this afternoon. they will join us at the job site with the cousins tomorrow to start painting trim.

it was still very hot!

tile threshold         finished floor   jambed window     

today in her final effort before she left laura grouted the beautiful  biloxi blue bath floor. but she was not alone in the effort. the tile babes rallied in support of her. barb’s final effort was fully engaged with rose in finishing the pink floor layout and cementing tiles. those two tile babes will be sorely missed. we are hoping to recruit new babes later in the week.

the pink floor continues in it’s quest to equal the magnificence of the blue floor. it’s about 2 days away, more work to be done, fewer babes to do it. our techniques though have improved.

the boys were jambing on and on. they may never finish. (not!)

soon we will be caulking, sanding and painting the newly applied jambs and trim.

clearly it was way to hot for most people to work so instead many visitors came by to check our handiwork: david perkes (head architect of gccds),vince(fellow architect), seth (shirley’s architect), stan the materials man with much insight about life after the storm and jeremy of hope force.

record high temperatures continue to engulf the gulf………today not a breeze was to be felt.

t

     grouting          w/ architect        tile babes

last night fran industriously did the laundry.  fortunately eric’s shorts emerged from the wash, fresh and clean, unfortunately his phone emerged from the wash dead and limpid, ready for the trash (which is picked up on tuesdays and fridays).

fortunately eric was able to work all day. unfortunately fran and eric had to leave a bit early to go to the verizon store.

fortunately there was a $100 of credit for equipment, unfortunately it didn’t cover the new pink blackberrry fran purchased.

meanwhile………………………

a tremendously terrific transitional threshold was tiled by three of the titillating tile tarts……

we have two new tile babes in our midst, three new tile cutters, one new jamber, one new backer board installer and two new runners.  much was accomplished!

the kids and ruben salted themselves in the gulf which ruben discovered is not fresh water.

beth slept for 5 hours.

emilio won at uno twice.

a sumptuous meal was prepared which included fresh local produce and all is good at the historic harrison house.

tomorrow is another day.

after a slow frustrating start to the day where we were introduced to non-profit bureaucracy and idiotic red tape we perservered, found the key to the back door of the supply warehouse and got us some tiles to begin our day.

fran  propositioned a guy (Guy) in the lowes parking lot and the guy (Guy) had a truck and delivered our 5 sheets of hardi backer to the job site. way to go guy (Guy), way to go Fran.

hardi backer down, (thanks eric) the tile babes (barb, laura, fran, francie, juliet, steph and rachel) ruled and layed the floor on down……it is………….a thing of beauty, which of course as we all know, is a joy forever. 

lunch today was provided by shirley…..mississippi style gumbo and rice….yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it seems as though shirley is happy with the floor)

eric and greg continued jamming on the jambs and started trimming the windows.

it was, as you weather watchers may know, record heat today, 95 but it felt like 110!

we bid adieu to jeannie and mike, steph, jeff and rachel and welcomed into our midst ned and rose, ruben, beth, abby, emilio, avi and colton.

ned and rose shopped but didn’t drop and are fixing us a fabulous dinner.

we are plum tuckered out!

yesterday somebody had a birthday….she’s now 30!

the event was celebrated at world famous commander’s palace where a good time was had by all.

fran propositioned a guy (lorenzo our waiter) but he didn’t jump to the bait.

we ate shrimps bbq’d louisiana style, a great salad and pecan pie with caramel sauce and chocolate ganache…..and serenaded by a dixieland trio……

the kitchen floor was tiled today by 8 tile babes and mac in 98 degree heat (but it felt like 104)

greg and eric jammed on the window jambs without peanut butter….

and jeff cut tiles like he was being paid for it…..

lunch was served under the house and a vast quantity of gatorade was consumed by all.

coming back home we walked a quarter mile out into the gulf of mexico (got all the way up to our knees) and watched two crabs and several flying fish do their thing.

the boys played golf, the boys bbq’d, the girls cooked all the vegetables and jeff did the dishes.

games were played (hearts and bananagrams), wine and margaritas were consumed, bracelets were made by rachel and gifted to all.

shirley is happy with her new floor and promises to make gumbo on monday.

life is good on the gulf…….

Its almost two am, Fran just turned 50, and we all feel younger! Now we are all going to bed. Good night.

denise’s luggage arrived after traveling through, atlanta, new orleans, salt lake city, anchorage, los angeles, san francisco………well traveled luggage.

we all enjoyed the 95 degree weather and grocery store prices today.

juliet snacked on tomatoes at the farmer’s market while we selected fresh watermelons, squash, corn, hicama, honey and all sorts of other fabulous goodies.  at the farmer’s market it was noted that we weren’t from biloxi.

denise and mac fished for four hours….no fish but over 20 bites and a good time was had by all.

the tile floor was partially laid out, shirley came, approved the design and was very grateful and touched that we were helping her. she brought pictures to show us what the katrina damage looked like. rather sobering.

we had a wonderful gulfport dinner, peel and eat shrimp, corn on the cob and jambolaya style rice.

we visited patty at the end of the day. she has had all her concrete columns painted and they look fabulous!

two groups of guests arrived today, jeannie and mike in the afternoon and francie and denise in the evening. francie and denise came with their kids juliet and mac. it’s starting to feel like an event here. we had our first big dinner, ratatouille, made from all the wonderful vegetables we bought at the biloxi farmer’s market.

we purchased tiles for shirley’s house in biloxi today and procured a tilesaw from two young men with hopeforce who have been in biloxi working for free for the last several years. tomorrow we should be ready to start on the mosaic project. shirley seemed to like the design and was very happy that the colors matched some of the fabrics she already has.

it’s very hot……hot and humid. the weather announcement says 92 degrees but it feels like 97. something to do with that unrelenting humidity. it does do wonders to the skin though. quite a different temperature than when we were here last. the beach is lovely though and the balmy breezes at night are a pleasure.