and the disaster begins

Being at home--there is nothing like it. One of the problems though is that our family has been here for a long time (since 1808) and we have got a lot of stuff, memories being the biggest of big stuff. The hardest thing we fight with is our own reluctance to let go of what we need to let go.

This picture was taken in the early part of the twentieth century with my grandfather sitting on a wheelbarrow while someone else paints the house (lazy bugger!) The house looks slightly different now, but when this picture was taken it was already more than a hundred years old. Luckily we do not have so much to take out of the house. When my grandfather (ahem) 'passed on' in '97 we cleaned out 2 rubbish tips full of stuff that had been packed away in the house. AND BELIEVE ME, this picture is deceiving. The house was originally built for two families, so it has:
four bedrooms,
two kitchens,
three living rooms,
a dining room,
a toilet,
an indoor cellar,
an outdoor cellar,
and an outhouse.

There is a lot of stuff to be cleaned out this time around too.

Things I (am not sure I) have missed:
1. our one true local soft drink : CANADA DRY (see pic below)
2. conversations with family friends about why I have no girlfriend (MOM! Stop looking at me with that face!)
3. seeing small town people who have never left their immediate area wearing shirts that say "Canada kicks ass!"