The urge to DIY

Even just knocking down an old garage took somebody who knew what he was doing - not me.
Even just knocking down an old garage took somebody who knew what he was doing – not me.

A good friend of mine – a designer by profession – has decided to take on something new in his life. It’s really only a slight turn in his career. He’s created masterful book designs for Canadian publishers for years. But when he and I recently put our heads together in front of a computer to work on my latest book design, he told me he’d bought a property in a neighbouring community, an older house, one we used to refer to as “a fixer-upper.”

“And I’m doing most of the interior renovations myself,” he said. “I just thought I’d like to try my hand at it.”

“You’re a better man than I,” I told him. And I meant it. (more…)

Paving over peach paradise

We met her along a suburban crescent of retirement-like houses in Vineland, Ontario. The homes were built in 1990 on local farmland, but looked brand new. Anyway, for semi-retired Patricia Pierce, the setting was perfect – almost opposite her old elementary school and close to the farm where her parents had raised her and thousands of Niagara Peninsula fruit trees.

“I would never have thought in a million years I’d be here in this retirement village,” she said. “But somehow it seems very appropriate.”

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