It's been a long time, but really busy for us!!

We’ve gone and done it again – bought a house that has more issues than most anyone could conjure up if they tried.  This is a long post with lots of pictures, we hope you enjoy reading all about our lives.....

We first decided that Asheville is a cool town about 4 or 5 days after we got here!  And, after about 5 months of being here we decided we’d make it our home base, and we began to look at real estate.  We came very close on two places (another story or two), and around June we decided on a third place that is part of a “cluster home,” community which “needed some work”.

We knew we wanted to take down some walls in the house and redo the bathrooms, floors, etc but didn't know that we had a seriously faulty foundation wall.  Even with a home inspector, an engineer and all of our experience no one caught it until the previous owners moved out and got their piled up stuff away from the wall in one of the bedrooms in the “walk-out" basement - after the closing we discovered a soaking wet carpet and tackless that was very much disintegrated and black.....then, as it rained some more, a puddle on the floor appeared and the moisture meters put on the block wall read from 60-100% wet.  The bottom line is that we now have a 40’+ long hole next to our house that is 11-12’ deep by about 5’ wide in an area that is only about 10'wide total, so the dirt has been taken out creating a new couple of mountains in our neighbors yard!  Some of it will be returned and we will change the landscaping considerably. . .  

We got 6 formal recommendations and estimates and about a hundred suggestions about how to alleviate this problem and it has been quite the learning process…in any event below are some of the photos of “The Coopers Big Dig 2012.”

Before we knew about his issue we had contracted to have the 3 bathrooms gutted, the stairs replaced, wood floors installed and tile floors on the lower level…the painted over wallpaper and the popcorn ceilings removed and skim coated…and, the ceilings painted.  We are doing the rest of the painting ourselves – every square inch of the place was painted in really awful colors and, except for closets and bathrooms our “Linen White” is being slathered on everywhere (sometimes it is taking 3 coats to cover those nasty – to us – colors).

So, along about November 10^th, we should be moving in and will have plenty of room if you care to drive to the south east where it really hasn't been very hot this summer…where the fall is glorious both weather wise and with fall color treats….and if this year is anything like last, the winter won't be very cold either - the town doesn't own snow plows so when a tad of the white stuff appears everyone goes back to bed.

As we said, aside from this house mess, we are really busy - the OLLI Senior Learning Center at the Uof NC is much bigger and more sophisticated than in Tucson and the courses are super...did 2 days a week in the spring, but skipped the summer and are only taking 2 courses 1 day a week this semester... the UU congregation is really something too!  About 800 people, very active with lots of social stuff (monthly “restaurant tour” dinners with a group and “dinner for eight” groups), as well as social action and good adult RE programs (we will facilitate one on “Living Deeply” beginning in January).  Then we are still spending at least one day a week (sometimes 2 or 3) volunteering for the Hospice estate sale/resale store program - we pack, unpack houses and trucks, set up the warehouses for sales then man the cash registers.  It is hard physical work and we seem to love it....they raised over 800K for hospice last year and hope to top 1M this year.

 

 

Here are some photos of what we bought at 14 Cedarcliff Circle in Asheville - and what we've managed to turn it into so far...

The kitchen/dining room was an amazing turquoise green color - 3 coats to  cover it, we took out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, and took out the fireplace in the 'brown" living room and opened the wall behind it in the kitchen so that the fridge can be counter depth but full size.  Note that the floor in the kitchen is a dark stain and the adjoining floor in the living room is very light - go figure...They are being sanded and stained all one color - "Espresso."

Below is the downstairs "purple" bedroom - after we closed on the house, we found that the carpet was dripping wet in this room - there is mold and the water seepage thru the wall was enough to create a really neat puddle in the middle of the floor.  We removed the sheetrock and the insulation and the wall is now supported with 2x4s at angles.  We are anticipating that "The Big Dig" will allow the wall to dry out so that the rebar that has been put into the 2" wide strips (every 16") on the inside can be secured with epoxy.

The home inspector pointed out these cracks in the unfinished part of the wall and we called an engineer before we closed on the property - he said in his report that we could easily fix these little cracks with rebar and epoxy, that it looked as though there "had been" a water issue but it was fixed - so "no problem" - we'd have a stronger wall than when it was built...now it is part of this massive waterproofing/wall stabilizing project and the engineer returned and changed his report...free of charge!  We broke the sewer twice and the AT&T cables 3 times with the earth mover - what a mess!!

All the bathrooms had 25 year old plastic tub/showers - the master had nasty shiny pink walls with nasty cabinets and sink tops.  The paper in the second bath was amazing with a ton of paint over it...and a dreary pink.  The down stairs bath had a border of wall paper and painted white walls that were really a greyish color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The downstairs bedroom was "major blue" and it took 3 coats to cover it up.  The rug smelled.  It now has a tile floor, white walls and the bathroom has been tiled.  We can't wait to hang some pictures - this is to be the guest room and will be a comfortable place for you to visit...we will post some finished pics after we move in.

It's taken so long to get this blog together that "The Big Dig" is moving toward completion.  More to follow...

Take care and hugs to you all.  We are just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and it is glorious – come!!

Susan & David

 

It's 2012 - WOW!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Hard to believe that it’s 2012, isn’t it???

First and foremost…It is our intention that all you wish and hope for in the coming year becomes your reality.

We are writing to you from Asheville, NC, where we have rented a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment (read: room for guests) thru August.  For starters, it is really fun to live out of a closet and drawer space – since we left New Mexico last March we have been essentially living out of our 2 small suitcases and one bag full of toiletries (requirements of this advanced age, we’ve found).  We were ready to “park” for a bit and had heard many good and wondrous things about Asheville and so decided to give it a test drive.  

After returning from Ireland on Oct 1, we spend a couple of weeks visiting folks on the east coast then flew to Salt Lake City, bought a car and headed east – with the autumn leaves in full glory, it was a great trip.  Our intention was to spend a month here then go south, west then north ending up in Northern California so we didn’t bring much of anything from our storage space (we have clothes, some art, a few rugs and kitchen stuff in SLC).   But, we found the Unitarian Congregation here with 800 members and lots going on; we found a large and active OLLI (Senior Education) at the U of NC and we found CarePartners Hospice Estate Sale Division (where we are now really active volunteers – worked 3 days last week hauling and selling stuff)…so, after 2 weeks at the Residence Inn we decided to stay awhile and found this brand new apartment within about 2 days. 

Since we couldn’t find a good furnished apartment we thought about renting furniture, but figured out that we could buy estate/used furniture and at the end of 9 months donate it back to hospice both saving money and supportinga worthy cause – we started with the most unlikely (especially for us) chair.

And we have gone on from there having a good time and supporting some great causes – it’s amazing what you can buy for next to no money!  Wish we had thought about this concept years ago…reusing is great for us and super for the planet!

Our future plans are unknown – but we have many possibilities all under discussion.

For those of you who keep up with our kids:  John and Sutton in Salt Lake City are doing great – John has returned to school – he’s at Iliff School of Theology in Denver ( http://www.iliff.edu/ ) doing a distance masters with the intention of becoming a Unitarian Universalist Minister, continues to run his web/data business & Sutton (bless her heart) continues as a Jr High art teacher and to develop her Mary Kay business – they are both very involved with their UU society and with their 2 dogs, Felix and Memphis who are a hoot.  Payson and Chris in New York City are also doing great – Payson is an entrepreneur at heart and has her fingers in several pies but at the moment focuses on consulting with other entrepreneurs on how to use social media in their growing businesses & Chris (bless his heart) continues to manage one of NYCs tall commercial buildings and play music, music, music – he’s a terrific guitarist.

 

IRELAND (a little travelogue – been meaning to add this to our blog to finish our postings about our 6 months overseas, but somehow it has never gotten done – earlier posts are at www.cooperstwo.org )   

We were there for a month – actually 30 days – and it rained on 29 of them.  Spent our first week in Ashbourne, just north of Dublin in the Boyne Valley – we really enjoyed the several days we spent in Dublin!  The architecture is a wonderful combination of old (as Trinity College) and ultra contemporary (as in the big financial company buildings).  We also spent a number of days while in Ashbourne, setting a pattern for the rest of the month – tracking down and marveling at ancient sites. 

tombs,

 

round towers  

 (there are over 80 on the island), 

abbey & castle ruins.

 

 The Boyne Valley is where Newgrange and several other Neolithic burial mounds are located – magical!!  http://www.theboynevalley.com/

 

From Ashbourne we headed south –

had the best crab of our trip (they reminded us of Florida stone crabs – yum!!) near Wexford on the water.

Our plan was to circle the island, which we did, putting over 5000 kilometers on the rented car (a diesel Vauxhall that got 40+ miles to the gallon – which was great as gas is about $8 per gallon). We headed across the southern end of the island and began our trip north along the West coast …It is just simply a gloriously beautiful country -  we drove around the Ring of Kerry, the Ring of Beara and, also a peninsula called “Dingle,” but not called the “Ring of” for some reason ;-)

Susan has always loved wool tweeds and when we got to Donegal we bought one for David from the man who wove the cloth…

 

 And, she got to sit in with a few folks playing "trad" music on drum, in a pub!

Once in the north we headed East spending time in Londonderry (these days most folks call it by its ancient name “Derry”) then on to Belfast which we really loved!!  The botanical gardens, adjoining the university is in a wonderful ‘hood – there is really good food and people are wonderful.

Here are some things that we never knew:

• · There was a Norman “moving in” in the 1100’s!  They stayed and mixed with the prevailing inhabitants.  So, many names that we think of as “Irish” are really “Norman” (i.e., all the “Fitz” names such as Fitzgerald and, the Butlers – who were the tasters for the Norman kings).·         Extensive settlements in the 3-4000 BCE years – there are stone age remains everywhere and in some areas (like the Boyne Valley) they are really dense.
• ·   Celiac disease is so common among the Irish that most restaurants (including pubs) identify Gluten Free items on their menus (David was thrilled – we found this to be the case in Scotland, too)

• ·   Ireland has lost 95% of its bogs.  And, it takes 5000 +/- years to make another one.  They appear to have been created by iron-age people clearing forests, lakes being filled with residue over time.  The Netherlands have used up all the peat in their bogs and so they are encouraging (even with $$) Ireland to increase the preservation of those that are left .  This has become a political issue as many people are attached to burning peat.  Although houses are now heated with oil/gas and cooking is done differently, the tradition of burning peat in the home is very strong.

We have tons of photos and many stories and if you come and visit we will be delighted to share them.

 We are at:  41 North Merrimon Ave #305 in Asheville, NC 28804

Home 520-326-1894 David 914-316-2553 Susan 917-273-9579

 We’d love to see you … they tell us it’s really beautiful here in the early Spring – the Blue Ridge Parkway is just down the road!

Again, Happy 2012 – we are hopeful that this is the year things will begin to turn toward a more sustainable planet with folks who can really live the concept of wholeness.  With onelove….. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=one+love ,

S&D (& Bob - thanks, John)

                                                           

It's been a great couple of months here in Scotland...

Susan especially hates leaving!!

But first . . .

What a terrific opportunity we had - attending “England and the 67^th Anniversary of Operations of 550 Squadron, Royal Air Force from North Killingholme Airfield.”  A great friend from Tucson, 87 year old Roy Harris, was the navigator on a Lancaster aircraft which had a crew of 7 and flew bombing missions during WWII from a field nearby.  Twenty of these planes were being shot down by the Germans each night and the crew members had about a 45% chance of returning each time they took off.  Roy was one of 8 original fliers who attended this reunion which is held annually, but there were a total of 80 in attendance, including friends and families. These survivors meet to catch up and honor those who did not return or who have since died – and we were there!

After the Saturday lunch, we marched about a mile, led by the Immingham Air Cadets Band, to the memorial on the “Lancaster approach.”  There was “An Act of Remembrance and the laying of wreaths at the squadron memorial stone.”  Then, right on schedule, the only remaining Lancaster flying in the UK, the “Lancaster Bomber of The Battle of Britain,” made three flypasts - a pretty impressive and emotional sight - then headed off with three waves of the wings.

We all marched back to the village for a “Service of Thanksgiving” at the local church (which has a stained glass memorial window)  then attended a tea for the group in the historical society.  Dinner was fun and festive, the program included songs by a lovely young woman who had come with a group from a small town in Belgium that had sheltered two survivors of a Lancaster crash (those townfolk were caught by the Germans who took 20 of the them away -3 never returned - as punishment). 

No pics, we deleted them by accident!  Whoops!

We took that jaunt down to Kingston Upon Hull (Susan’s maiden name is Hull) not only to attend this event, but also to explore the east coast of England which we had never done.  A key stop was Lincoln, to visit the Lincoln Cathedral and St. Mary’s church where there is a stone carving of the rabbit that was the inspiration for Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

 

We drove up along the coast, stopping to walk out to the cliff tops and watch the hundreds of thousands of birds – including the super cute puffins - nesting in the magnificent cliff-sides.   Reminded us a bit of Mendocino and last summer, but with even more birds!

We returned to our “Chalet” in Scotland (http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p802854) and began a wonderful 2 months – with 3 Shetland ponies, a sheep and a mass of rabbits in the field next door.  Although The Chalet presented some challenges (uncomfortable beds, up to 4 of the same picture hanging next to each other, thin bottom pots, really crummy sheets, etc, etc.) it was warm and dry, and in a fairly convenient location in a very rural area about halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh (the two cities are about 50 miles apart).  As we explored in all directions we found larger towns that had grown up around now closed industries, and the still weak economies make the towns pretty drab and uninteresting.  So, we explored the larger towns and cities, and we found some great things, especially just north, around the Firth of Forth.

Our first find was Linlithgow, about a half hour away.  Unlike the towns near us, Linlithgow has a long history, some important sites (notably Linlithgow Palace), and some good pubs and restaurants.  It also has a refurbished canal now used for recreation, and there is an active group of volunteers, having a great time, who maintain the local facility and offer canal boats rides.

A new find for us was the Royal Burgh of Culross (pronounced coorus), on the North side of the Firth.  The town, with a fascinating history, an ancient palace, a ruined abbey and a church with it’s most important character/builder, George Bruce buried with his 5 daughters, 3 sons and wife...possibly David’s long lost cousins! The town was a backwater for a very long time.  In the 1930’s the National Trust began preservation and restoration.  We found it a quiet, delightful look at the past (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culross) with nice, helpful people (which Scotland is full of).

On one of our several visits to Glasgow, we got a taste of the Merchant City Festival, which was a fun mix of food, entertainment and just plain whacky stuff.  One of the strangest things was a group of 10 or so creatures dressed in pink from top to bottom, who pulled pranks and generally freaked out most of the people they came in contact with.  Merchant City reminds us of Soho and Tribeca as they were some years ago – great restaurants & loft conversions happening, but still very commercial.

We thoroughly enjoyed visits from our friends from Spain and from Princeton, NJ.  With the Vergaras we took a 3 day trip up into the Highlands by way of Arbroath (home of the Arbroath Smokies – a delicious fish, and of the Declaration of Arbroath http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath).  We had a delightful dinner in the very typical Scottish home of their friends in Aberdeen, then continued on to Inverness….and down The Great Glen past Loch Ness (we stayed on Loch Lochy), then back for a quick tour of Glasgow.  We also spent time touring the Falkirk Wheel, Stirling Castle and other special places.

August brought several festivals to Edinburgh (book, art, spiritual, etc), and we focused mostly on The Fringe Festival.  The Fringe is about performance – music, comedy, dance and drama.  There are about 250 venues around the city, and anyone can book one if they pay the price, so the events are very mixed.  Given all that, the numbers of things to see and the variety are off the chart.  In 2010  there were over 40,000 performances by more than 21,000 participants!  Amazing, and very difficult to decide what to see.  High Street, from early morning till very late at night is like a carnival!

 We all decided to focus on drama at the Festival, and that helped narrow the choices some.  We went to see three shows the first day, and they were fairly poor overall. But then things picked up…we saw about 10-12 performances over all (including the Intl Breakdance competition which was great) and the range was from great to yucky.  We had a special treat, because a drama teacher who worked for Susan at Service Messenger Co in NYC 25 years ago and who we haven't seen since, brought her high school group to perform.  We saw their show at 9:30 in the morning and caught up with Janet and her husband, Jim,  over lunch.  WOW!! 

When Pat and Jim Hyatt visited, although the main purpose of their visit was the Festival, we talked them into an overnight trip to the Borders region with the goal of seeing several ruined abbeys. Although it rained most of the time it was beautiful!

We are off to Ireland for the month of Sept before returning to the US on 1 October.  We are not yet sure of our plans once back, but will let you know when we know….

 Oh, just before we go, we realized that we didn't tell you about the Highland Games that happen every weekend during July and August  in towns across Scotland.  The photo below is of a contestant in the "heavy weight events" - he is from New Jersey and is wearing a breast cancer tartan kilt designed and patented by a woman in NJ who challenged him to wear it - he was quite the site - we loved it.

And, finally....we attended a Fringe event at the Edinburgh Zoo - "Feeding the People" - we sat in the rain and watched a wonderful, funny performance.   There is a huge population of penguins in this zoo and some of them take a daily walk through the zoo paths... This is the sign on the wall at the top of the very steep hill near the performance space- it resonated with us in a very big way...

Which reminds me of what one young man said to us in Israel -  “The youngsters will lead the way – we are all one.”

Hugs to you all!!