East Meets West- Josh in Brevard

Dear Family and Friends,

Our son Josh is between semesters at massage therapy school, so he left Portland OR and the foot of fresh snow on Mt. Hood, and is in Brevard for a week. We took him to "Camp Kluge", as Jess calls it. Walter Kluge is a retired Industrial Arts teacher from Long Island, and one of his many skills is making- and shooting- black powder rifles. Walter showed us how to clean and load (powder-patch-ball), and blaze away at a target in his back yard. Only down here can you take target practice in your back yard. Josh liked what he called the zen of black powder shooting. It is one thing to empty a clip on a firing range. It is quite different to clean, load, and fire a handmade rifle. In case you are wondering, the shot closest to the X on the target is the one demo shot that Walter took. Like any good teacher, he sets a high standard of excellence.

Josh is visiting his college friend Nate, Nate's wife Crissy, and their new baby daughter in Durham NC this weekend. His camera has all the shooting pictures, so I'll add them when he returns.

I hope the blog pictures do justice to what is happening at the house. The front door frame is set in with a temporary door, and Rainey, our lead carpenter, made the Japanese Tori Gate door frame trim that I designed. We think it is beautiful, and we can't wait to hear what our refreshingly politically incorrect brother-in-law Mark thinks of it. You remember Mark- he's the one who has brought us The People's Republic of Portland, Golden Hand Grenades for Secretaries, 3rd Children as Spares, and other delights. C'mon now, Markie, we're counting on you.

Fireplace units and metal flues are in. They are real wood-burning, not gas. Stainless steel on the outside porch, black metal inside. This means that the rock guys can start doing the chimney next.

Electrical continues- I have spared you from more pictures of wire, but there is a lot of it. I put in speaker wires for the family room, and a mic cable for a Voice-Over recording studio. The bad news is, any hum that we hear will be nobody's fault but mine.

Stanley our builder says that the picky building details are almost complete, so progress should start to be faster and more noticeable. Roof shingles are in and are just waiting for some final porch framing and flashing.

We hope that all is well with all of you. We will do some touristy things with Josh, and then start our volunteer schedule at the Brevard Music Center. We won't be ready to have Keith Lockhart over for snacks this year, but maybe next....

Take care.

Love,

Em and Marsha