On Sunday we went to Back Porch Oyster Bar with friends for Sunday dinner. Our choice was prompted by a recent survey in Wine Spectator magazine of more than 3,000 restaurants globally with an outstanding wine list. Back Porch is the only restaurant in North Georgia to get a mention. The food was good (all seafood) and the wine list had an interestingly eclectic range – not many places round here stock gruner veltliner or torrontes! Mind you, maybe wine is all in the mind – a recent article in The Observer claims that wine tasting is junk science.
The dinner was also an opportunity to raise a glass toasting the fact that it was exactly a year ago that we sailed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at dawn and landed in New York on the beginning of the next phase of our lives. Less happily, this was the day when our dead friend Tina passed away in London, and also the anniversary of the day when our friend Jeannie died. They are not forgotten.
I suppose that this anniversary should prompt a synthesis of my thoughts about being in America. As a first step, I will soon produce an index to all my “Thoughts about America” that have popped up in various blogs from time to time. So watch out for that.
On the Build Site
This week was another week of keeping out of the build site as the painters continue their noxious work. As always, things are taking longer than we had hoped. The time to complete interior work had extended quite a bit longer than we had expected. We went to check on progress on Saturday, and there were four or five painters at work. They had not completely finished the interior, but are getting close.
So, we are starting to invite the other trades into the building next week. I can see that this is going to be a bit of a scramble, but some deadlines are rapidly approaching. The big crunch is the installation of the granite countertops at the end of next week. For that to happen, all the relevant bits of internal cabinetry must be installed before that. We really want the lift installation to be complete to make the lift shaft safe, rather than having our own personal oubliette. With more and more stuff installed in the house, we need to up the level of security, so Rob Steele will be delivering the solid mahogany front door.
Bob needs to install the remaining air conditioning bits and pieces so that we can start to run this and finalise drying out of the construction damp. He couldn’t do this whilst internal painting was going on for fear of blowing construction dust over wet paint. The other work surfaces (laminate, not granite) are also expected this week. And with all the sinks in place, there is no excuse for delays by Brock in getting the plumbing functional. As is evident, there is a complex juggling job in ensuring that things are done in the right sequence.
Outside, we are hoping to have a planning session with TJ to establish exactly where more dirt needs to be pushed about to ensure that the land doesn’t get washed away or the house floods in a rainstorm. We are also having a meeting with the gutter specialist to arrange where rainwater will go. The screen and shutters man is also due to arrive and measure up.