This is an expression, is it not? Albeit an archaic one? What’s Toward. I know I’ve read this before in older literature, and I believe it means, ‘what’s happening?’ – even if I couldn’t find a single reference to it online.
So I thought I’d share more of what’s toward these days in the Goutet house, even if it promises to be insipid reading. 😉 (I need to get a food post up or something).
The truth is, I’ve been mired in corrections for my novel. I’m trying to remember that not every novel needs to be Pulitzer caliber, and sometimes nice light reads are the way to go. And maybe it’s not the end of the world that some of my characters threaten to remain one-dimensional clichés.
Our house has been enduring gusty winds, strong rain, and hail storms pretty steadily for two weeks, all without a proper roof to keep things dry. The result is quite a bit of mold
and plaster chunks nearly missing my head as they fall
and private rain showers in our library.
Truly, it could be worse. I’ve been wondering who’s going to have time to paint all that will need to be painted, but at least we don’t need to worry about the living / dining area since the workers will be obliged to redo everything.
They’ve been amazing, really. And it’s not their fault. They left the old ceiling intact while they built the new structure on top of it. This would normally keep the worst of the rain out. But we’ve been hard-hit with rain and wind, and it was more than the makeshift system could handle.
This is what it used to look like underneath our old roof – a view from inside the attic before they tore it down.
What a hodge-podge of beams, right? We were destined to have to replace the roof anyway, and I’m glad we were able to build high enough to add rooms.
If you’re curious, they pose the 150 lb beams in notches in the cement. They wedge wood in there until it’s a tight fit. Today they’re pouring cement in the cracks to fix the beams in place.
We’ve opted for outside insulation, so here is a shot of that with the beams in place, ready for our red roof tiles.
Everything is coming along smoothly, and if I didn’t have my eye on everything that will need to be done – my husband agreed to do that and put the floors in to save money – as well as my husband’s limited free time, and my limited DIY skills, I would be quite content.
Here’s more of what’s toward regarding our house. I begged Jesus (our head carpenter, not the Son of God, although I asked that Jesus too) to find a way to keep the iron guard on the front door when they replace it with a new one. He’s going to see if he can find someone to build a custom-made door for us, and incorporate the old grill.
However, all that brickwork is going to go under a more modern exterior insulation. I would feel worse about it if it weren’t decorative brick (instead of real, whole bricks). But we’ll still have the black iron window guards, and hopefully our front door iron guard, and the iron and glass marquise. So the house should still look charming.
And there’s more (making this post insipid and long). No just kidding. If you – like me – appreciate house renovations, you’re probably still with me. Anyway, here more (of what’s toward). It’s Wednesday, which means a half-day at school. After the school run, there’s solfège, 2 music rehearsals, piano lessons, soccer & art. That’s a lot of running around – and also plenty of time to catch up on reading while I wait.
But see that house in front of me? Yes, that’s a house and the windows are cement glass blocks because there are rules about having transparent windows too close to the edge of your property.
Anyway, the top of the house is the more modern way of doing a roof where there’s no overhang. My husband wants to keep our 1930s look, so he asked them to make a rood that overhangs. Here are the decorative beams that will hold the extra wood and tiles. Matthieu is so smart because now that I look around me, I notice how much better it looks than a roof that stops short at the wall. Here you can see the wooden beams that stick out.
We had a sunny morning for the first time in weeks (or at least it seemed).*
The workers can finally work in relative comfort
and I can assess my garden.
I’m trying not to think about how our entire yard is going to have to be re-landscaped (by us. our budget is already straining at the seams), and just focus on the fact that there is sun. And that fact that spring has come early this year.
What’s toward with you?
* (Update. It’s now 5:30 and pouring freezing rain again).
