Scared Stiff

This little guy took one look at the task before us and just keeled over, stiff as a board.

Nah nah nah....and a double nah nah for those of you wondering if Josie has begun earning her keep--she's still attacking bugs and leaves, though she is perfecting her stalking & kill of T's hiking boot--vicious creature!
The last couple of weeks have illuminated more of what we want from our little maison, but she as well has shown us a few surprises, the most exciting of which is that the house AND the grange hide facades of beautiful Sarthe stones! We had harboured a small hope that this was the case, but being a quintessential pessimist when it comes to things like this, I already loved the house for the crappy 'crépi' covered maison she was (crépi is the lumpy layer of, cement/paint covering the stones...the French love to cover their houses with this). The winsome vines that portray the seasons passing will have to come down, and my heart aches at this prospect, but I am going to do my best to preserve the root and train it to accent the stone later....I hope.
In the meantime, as the work list grows, we don't grow daunted by the task at hand, in fact, the exact opposite is occurring. A sense of excitement is building between us as we see the dream unfolding before us. Visits recently to several friends who have renovated, or are in the process of doing so (Hi Faith & David! Bonjour Amy & Laurent!) lets us see the future, and folks, that future is bright and beautiful--stone and light--woo hoo.

So, I'm hunkering down to the mission of today- FIND ARCHITECT- ok, small clarification after meeting with an architect last week, Find Architect who gets It. It is our vision, what we see as the end result...not what they want us to see (and this is not pretty, I can assure you--remember the crépi people). So if there is anyone out there who knows this visionary, residing in the Sarthe, Sacré-Bleue--send me their details!!

In the meantime I'm off to pack for a couple days in the city...sushi calls....Freya needs pet pal time....Josie--well, she likes to sleep and play in the fireplace....and I have to re-focus all these visions of grandeur I have for La Maison M-J, none of which include fear.