CONTINUED PROGRESS...

​OCTOBER
The only obvious progress one will see driving by through out the coming seasons is more cleanup at the old site.   Much will be happening though cozied up in warm places.  I am thrilled to say we have most everyone lined up for carpentry and artisan work over the Winter.  Friend John and Larry's Carpentry on the mainland will be reworking windows and doors getting them ready so Nate can finalize framing.  We'll be creatively preparing signage and storyboards with Mitch while Rob, our Island 'Dabbler' creates some decorative copper pieces to grace the rebuild along with Bryn's beautiful Tree of Life.  All the while we'll keep sorting and cleaning up our reclaimed wood in order to have it, along with everything else ready for 'Jack of all Trades' Chris, to help start putting together as soon as the boat runs in the Spring.  It will be here before we know it!
A season behind schedule, but that's okay, more time to enjoy the finishing steps.  We can savor the process by slowing it down...
It will be so exciting to see it all come together!

In the meantime, enjoy this glorious Fall weather.
​HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I know I sure have lots to be grateful for.  

NOVEMBER
... and what a glorious Fall we have had!

​
Just when we thought we were all done with the remains of Mission Hall, Mack and Clayton managed to strip more treasure from the interior. There is hardly a piece of lath left to be found.  I can't wait to see where it finds an artistic new home in the Island's coming Microbrewerypub. I'm thinking one awesome feature wall!


We also were able to get a small foundation poured before back-filling the new space under the rebuild site.  My father came quick and built the form and Don was ready and waiting to do the work when I arrived off the boat with the cement supplies.  To the rescue!  Thanks guys!
We'll be creating a sweet little alter like space over this base come next year.

​A cold, windy DECEMBER day was our last trip over on the Pelee Islander and a rough ride it was. I was glad though for the chance to see the crushed limestone all nicely spread to finish things up for the winter.  One final little wander through the foundation debris of the old site left me feeling a little melancholy...

​... but I'll set my sights on Springs' arrival and accomplish what we can here on the mainland during the Winter.  Stay warm!
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                                                                             *   MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS  *
                                                                           Lotsa Love , from THE MISSION HALL PROJECT  
                                                                                                     Hello 2017 !
​

​Here we are, almost the middle of FEBRUARY already.  This winter is moving along so quickly as we do our projects here on the mainland. My desire to get over to the Island to work on our Mission wood has not yet happened.  I once again must accept a slower pace on the rebuild than I had hoped for.  Oh well!  I suppose I 'm getting used to it.  :)
We're making a few new MH pieces that will be around for sale, just to keep the fun going and the cash flowing.

In the meantime, a few encouraging words...

MARCH is almost over.  We made it through the WINTER.!   It has been a season of crazy mixed up weather.


Much sketching, editing  for signage and creativity has been blowing around.  We settled in on some great decisions and accomplished much work.
 

From the kindness of his heart, John Wiebe methodically reproduced two arches from the one and only original we had salvaged  It was an exciting day when he came to deliver these! 


This allowed for our friend from 'Larry's Carpentry' to begin his work on re-sizing our vintage materials to fit these arches and the new structure.  What a Saint!  We flew him over to the Island to see the site so he could obtain a visual of the framing necessary.  Fun trip over...

EASTER  weekend!
                                                                                                    *    *    *
​
Job well done...    The windows are sitting tight at Leamington Glass patiently waiting for their inserts.  We have a little of the original glass so once again we will combine old and new.


After enjoying a beautiful holiday we'll be loading up for our first round of work on The Island.   Finally...

​Oh, one last thing before we go...
Set up the new display of retail pieces at 'The Flower Shop'.
Thanks Krissy for sharing your incredible showroom with us!  Rob Konrad of 'Rob's Rustics' did a beautiful job reworking Mission Hall finds into great boxes and birdhouses.
Be sure to 'get a piece of it'.

End of APRIL...       SPRING 2017 has definitely sprung!  
We arrived in DANDELION SEASON on a wet windy day, then down Ruggle's Run we found our way...

There was no time to linger, it was straight to work.  We had Larry just for the weekend and he sure did make the most of it.  These guys hardly allowed me a moment to absorb the reality of what was finally happening.   As the wind blew our voices around,  feelings of gratitude and accomplishment cozied up inside, waiting for a moment to scream with excitement!  

The Crew!  Love the smiles...

 Started out day one tidying up the framework while the windows lay tucked away waiting for their moment to shine. 
  
The pace picked up on day two once framing in and preparing the front facade started.  Then the crowning glory!  Our sweet little gem. The green glass pieces in the upper arch window are the only two coloured pieces left behind in the old building.  We were so happy when Brandy from Leamington Glass was able to re-cut them safely to fit here.
There was actually never any stained glass, they had simply used green paint on the inside of the glass.

​Wow, what a day!

Then day three out did the previous days.  The back wall was completed, the inside walls shimmed up and ready for covering along with the soffits closed and the gable ends trimmed up with more original wood.  Oh, so pretty...

​In this moment as I reflect, looking back on these photos,  all those cozied up emotions now flow out...
I'm in awe at all that has been accomplished and thankfulness keeps the forward motion strong.  It's the perfect timing to have placed the arches John Wiebe created.
​Larry did an amazing job of reycling our Mission Hall materials and sacrificed much weekend time.  My Dad and my husband were troopers! Vic Thiessen certainly made it easy to take care of the crew.  Brandy Martin, Jeremy Truax and Bill Krestel, big thanks for helping out along the way...

​End of MAY!  But the month just started it seems...

MAY means beach cleanup.  Those darn mylar balloons, but you know, they deliver the sweetest messages!
​
MAY also means get your hands in the dirt.  I couldn't resist the urge to start digging some little gardens around our rebuild.


​After sharing ideas with John Ambrose, we decided to wait and do our planting in the Fall.  It will be the final touch!  John had reached out to us last year at this time offering his plants and advice.  Aren't we lucky!  I quite enjoyed wandering around acquainting myself with some native trees and plants that he will take care of until we are ready for them.  He even has some very special heritage perennials for us.

​On leaving John's property, I spotted this guy in the tree just down the road.  I think he was giving his approval on plant selections, each one perfect!

Pam Brenner of Beautify Pelee is keeping some heritage white violets for us.
​
Henry Driedger from Leamington is anxious to plant some special trees also.  He lived on the Island from the age of 3 years to 6 years.  His father was ordained at Mission Hall in 1929.
So much to look forward to...



All that said, I wasn't able to stop myself!  These pretty little Dianthus spoke to me...
'Silver Star Pinks'    They flower from April until September.
​Sweet entertainment until our Fall planting.

We have sorted through all the exterior siding pieces and have determined that, YES! we have enough to cover the front and back walls.  Thank goodness!

Just a little garden time...       nice to have my right hand lady supervising!

JUNE brought SUMMER along with exterior completion of the front and back walls!  Gerry Lepp and Luke Penner were soldiers on a mission.  The right guys for the job!
                    ... prior, behind the scenes
                                  Thank you, Rob Tymstra,  for getting up on a ladder and reaching those highest points with staining :)

What a bonus this was!  The final clean up of the demolition site!  I didn't think we'd get back in there until this Fall after we were finished the rebuild.  A controlled burn last Winter left the area still filled with a smaller mess.
Thanks Huebert for getting it done.  Not a spec of debris left behind!


​We did slip in and get a few more treasures before everything was gone though...
This heart shaped stone was just laying there. The excavator must have chipped it off the underlying bedrock beneath the old Mission. We'll be sure to give it a special place!
We also collected crumbled pieces of the original foundation to lay into the new concrete threshold.
Can't resist the pickins!


​

​LAVENDER SEASON
I was very happy to be staining out the exposed pressure treated wood that was used for framing.  The newness alongside our vintage wood was so not pretty.
On one particular heavy feeling day I was there preparing to stain.  With the sounds of the wind I had been oblivious to a busload of workers pulling up to hoe the lavender fields.  So now imagine, I find myself up on a ladder, the healing fragrance of lavender set free by them, blowing my way, circling around my head as it lingered in the rafters.  
Hmm, sweet surrender...

JULY was a very busy month indeed!
​
I can bear witness to many glorious mornings breaking on days of hot, hard work, closing with serene contemplative evenings...


​​We drew a halt to the birdhouse frenzy as we prepared for next steps on the Sanctuary.  They were worth the extra time spent.  We ended up selling about 30 of them.
So grateful to everyone who gave them a happy place to be!

It's hard to believe that a year ago this time we had just dropped the walls of the big old Mission, getting ready to remove the siding piece by piece, and now here we were recounting the leftovers after covering the front and back with them.  We had to wait and see if enough was left to finish the four side wall sections.  We made it work after reclaiming some of the pieces that hadn't made first cut.  This was great news as this was certainly our first choice of salvaged material to use on these sections.  We've come full circle in a years time now completing the new exterior walls with the old.

​
I have had the honor of the most incredible 'committee' working on this project...
Just when I think we've maxed out, someone else shows up!  No pressure, no titles, just follow your heart, it's been beautiful.  Our latest helper is the ultimate perfect example.  Jacques Fortin is excited to take us to the end, he totally gets our vision.  Thanks to Rob for connecting us!

After day one, adding some additional framing and plywood, Rachel, Jacques' fiance came by and also lent a helping hand.  It was a fun day but day three felt very celebratory, not only after nailing in the last board but also because it included Jacques and Rachel announcing that they would like to exchange their marriage vows in the new Sanctuary!

                                                                                    the  'GOLDEN HOUR'     how sweet it is...

Meanwhile...    One of our Island Artisans stopped by with his spectacular pieces of Coppersmithing he created for our building.  Each one is naturally significant.
Rob Tymstra, is there anything you haven't done?
​
ooohhh,  I am starting to taste completion...

The next week Jacques was back on site working on the trellised wall sections.  These are constructed from original framing, actual 2 x 4's with a beautiful dark patina.  The open walls lend to the inside outside atmosphere with the intention of inviting you in.
Jacques wasn't content to simply cut and screw,  instead a much more crafted technique was used, and handsome it is!  Feelings of extreme gratefulness for his affection to the project linger on...

                                                                                              It was a GOOD MONTH !
                                          love, love, love 

Then we went full swing into AUGUST and now almost over,  QUEEN ANNE'S LACE SEASON holds on only by a little bit.


​While Jacques completed the trellised walls we loaded up and headed back to the mainland with the salvaged interior boards from the Sanctuary.  All the walls and ceiling were covered in tongue and groove beaded board installed horizontally, a little unique from what is most commonly done vertically.   Our plan is to do the same as it was.
​
The finished trellised walls look truly amazing!!

Visualize canes of native wild pink roses reaching through into the interior!

​
​The task of once again pulling nails, sorting, cutting and trimming, washing, then varnishing all the boards seemed a daunting one.  Maybe more so this time because I could still freshly remember the work of doing the exterior boards.  But once again, we made it through!   Thanks to Palichuk Farms lending Frankie and Agatha to help and Mary Jo and Ruth saving me at the end, we got it done!   oops can't forget Little Ray

​
​Found a couple more treasures at this point!  Understand that we thought it pretty cool to find wood pieces with the words Mission Hall or Pelee Island hand written on the back while we were stripping trim in the beginning.  Well talk about exciting to notice a piece of beaded board with the date scribbled 6 10 11, the year it was built.  Then a week later  while looking for the perfect piece of trim for a project, right there in front of us on a board that flipped over is  GEO PEGG.   Felt like a blessing from the man!
 
I wonder if anyone noticed some of the little things on site?  Like taking the tiny garden beds out from the front and instead putting down all limestone...  It was just too broken up and busy looking.  Not too worry though, the Silver Star Pinks went to a good foster home at Pam Brenner's.
Or how about the fine threshold job done by Gerry and Luke...     Notice the old broken pieces of foundation inlaid into the new concrete.
Often it's the little things that matter most!


​Or...   sometimes many little things coming together making for big progress!

We reloaded up all the prepared beaded boards ready to be installed in their new space, grabbed my father to assist us again and headed back to the Island...
The boards went up like butter, thank goodness as we had our concerns since many of the tongues and grooves were damaged while being dismantled.
The walls are beginning to speak!  They are very happy to once again shine!
We completed all four sides except the ends up top.  Jacques wants to do the ceiling boards now so that the wall boards properly butt up to them.


So we switched mode once again to preparing boards.  This process will be less labour intensive as we are using the pine boards from the attic to cover the ceiling.  This will give a more rustic touch similar to the trellis lumber.  Both were unfinished framing material.  This only requires pulling nails and a rough brushing.

​You may remember this big old door...   My husband put one door together from the best parts of the two dilapidated originals.  Well it has made its last trip back and forth after being displayed over the last two years and now has trudged back on the final leg of its journey.   Stay tuned for his final resting place...

​With only a FEW DAYS  left in AUGUST we sure managed to make them productive...

My dear young neighbor friend, Stefanie came to Pelee at the end of her summer break.  She came out for the first days of installing the ceiling boards.  Thank goodness she did, I would not have been half the helper to Jacques as what she was crawling up and down and side to side on the scafolding, holding boards up and whatever else needed to be done.  Before Stef had to go we had one angled side and half the other completed.  Thanks also to Gary for helping finish the second angle!  

​
These busy days of summer were full of fun and excitement on site.  We had many visitors stop by on bicycle or by car or Explore Pelee tours.  This was my favorite visitor and best customer from The Filling Station.  She kept getting 'just one more' special order MH piece.  Many generations of Eileen's family have been cottaging on Pelee.

SEPTEMBER brought back to school once again and back to beaded board for us! 

Always a treat to have Rachel around and Jacques, well he gets it done no matter what it takes!


With the upper walls covered it was finally time to put that big old door in his final resting place.  Yep!  We laid it into the ceiling!  Uh ha, we did.  'Doorway to heaven' ?

​No easy task!  This really deserves a play by play here although language used is not appropriate to share.  :)   Matt, thank you so much for your very much needed brawn!
Don't miss Rob there again in the shadows...

​...and in the end, big happy smiles!

We had Mitch out again on a day trip helping fit the final cieling boards.  At long last beaded board meets ceiling boards!


Seeing the trim start to go up really enhances the beginning tastes of completion.  Can we really be close?!

As SEPTEMBER CLOSES the Island's energy keeps our momentum going...


We were pretty excited to begin preparing for one of our finishing touches.  Some icing on the cake!  Remember that awesome heart stone from the bedrock under the old Mission?  Well it is going to be placed in a grounding mosaic that will sit under Bryn's Tree of Life on the back wall of the Sanctuary.  Some beautiful artistic Island ladies coming together to make this happen!  The first step was preparing the base using the terracotta bricks we saved from the chimney.  I feel warmth just looking at them...

Lisa and Ruth shone their lights during this whole process, it was priceless witnessing them at work on this.  Two Island Classics so perfectly fitted for the job on many levels, their Island connections to each other are quite special...
​
​Stay posted for the end result!



​Slipping into OCTOBER,  Lisa backfilled the base once the brick mortar had set.  This then had time to dry before Ruth and I returned from mainland Thanksgiving.


​




​They then set the large center stone at the perfect level to enhance it and which also determined the level of the finished mosaic.  This allowed for time to do the final dry run of the layout...



​
 
Now what you may notice is that there are no pics of the mosaic being laid in place.
This is because the air was so quiet as they began, their concentration so focused it felt sacred.  Plus they didn't need my paws in there too so I left.  My anticipation was too great.

Upon return and the first reveal, I may have been speechless. 
​Truly sublime!  A .fabulous work of art!  All the love put into it radiating out...
                                    *     SUBLIME    *     of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe             

FALL  continued to move us on to other finishing touches.  The summer-like days of the last two weeks along with a little rain offered perfect conditions for our long awaited garden plantings!  Our well nurtured plants and trees finally made it to their new home!

Henry's Blue Ash was a nice size therefore got center stage position right beside the main signage spot. A nice nod to the Mennonite population that so fondly remembers Mission Hall. He started the tree two years ago from a Pelee Island seed.  With a little help from Art Warkentin, Henry was right in there doing the work and giving instruction!  I aspire to be half as strong at 93 years of age.

The following week John showed up with a car load of plantings ready for the soil.  I'm quite excited about the back wall garden. Here we planted an Eastern Redbud flanked on each side by pink roses.  As these mature their canes will reach inside towards the heart mosaic...
Farther back on the property we planted a grouping of another Blue Ash and some Hop Trees.  These will offer some shade for a quiet spot.  Lastly some special heritage bulbs were spread between the gardens. 
Come Spring we'll expand on our garden thoughts a little and also plop Pam's heritage violets in!
Feeling gratefulness for our Earth Caretakers!
.
​... then all of a sudden a blustery day blows up, littering the ground with AUTUMN colour.  As I cozy up inside, I reflect on the last piece of trim being installed.  Those last days seemed to take forever, maybe we really didn't want them to end?  Emptying the site of tools and scrap wood still didn't allow for the reality of completion to sink in...

​                                                                                                        *
​                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Now today, I feel humbled by the divine strength and determination I was given to navigate through this journey.  I am drop to my knees grateful for the wisdom and courage I gained along the way, fortunate for new friendships made.
I am thankful beyond words for the opportunity to save the soul of this nurturing old building and to those who felt the energy of the project and chose to join us.
                                                                                                        'all is one"

So where do we go from here?  I think we take a little time to let it all settle in...

Well into NOVEMBER we can feel the chill of the changing season approaching.  It's hard to let go, to be away from this space after spending so much time in it the past year.
I trust it will be taken care of.

It is the end of the month.  Nothing left to do now other than enjoy the atmosphere of the Sanctuary.  We placed our benches made from doors inside the Mission and added some little tables.  Looks like a good spot for a hot toddy on a sunny winter day!

I suppose it has finally sank in, we have officially completed construction.

We'll look forward to this sacred space waking up from Winter's sleepiness and finally adorning it with its last embellishments.  Maybe a Celebration also! 
Until then, enjoy...
​
                                                                                               'this little light of mine"

Back at it in DECEMBER!    'get a piece of it'
​More soulful salvage custom work...

                                                                                                   
                                                                                    hope you receive all you wish for

                                                                       * WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS *
                                                                                                Excited for 2018!
​
Glorious FEBRUARY day!
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