Paris had been SO amazing! We love the area we are staying in and have done a lot of cool stuff already! Yesterday we went to the Camille Claudel museum which was so awesome because she has very little work so it’s rare to get to see it in person. We also walked the Promenade Plantee which is what the high line in New York was modeled ...

We are officially done with construction. Total time 2 years, 1 month. We built this beautiful partition collaboratively with our neighbors.

The kids just landed and were driving by one of the new stadiums for the 2024 Olympics!

Eating and beautiful places around Bologna. Tammy’s international award too.

Took a high speed train to Florence for a day trip. Came across an amazing restaurant for capesse, ham, and buratta delights. Visited the Duomo. Amazing high-end shopping there as well. Executive class on the train! We were on other regular train seats too and they are modern and well maintained. Comfortable seats on all.

We had a late lunch at a garden cafe refereed to us by our friend Cydney. It was a fabulous outside environment with vibes of Biddle Cafe and a co-op. Students were studying in groups in sunken seats covered with cloth canopies.

More shots of the palace, which is really a fortress in the city with a courtyard. Note the “palace gates” designed to keep folks out. There are other pictures of restaurants, shops, and buskers. We are in the university district and bunches of students hang out on a long loading dock across from a row of stylish outdoor restaurants to...

Staying at a palace! Such a cool place.

We are about done. One more hardscape to build then done.

We are officially done with the renovation!! We are still putting the fire pit together and a few other additions. We will have landscaping in the spring. Tammy wants to put up a rain chain and lights. Here is the first set of lights post construction!! Happy Holidays.

So, the fire pit arrived. All, 830 lbs. of it! It is a huge box. Below you’ll see me playing gas fitter (I went to the professional plumbing supply and got expert consultation). This is a very low fire pit so everything had to fit under that silver cover where gas jets are. Not easy! The rim of the fire pit weighs 525 lbs. The base is ...

We had tile put on the small porch off the kitchen. Also the foundation is done for the fire pit.

We are so close to being done!! Today the new light was put up in the lounge. Also, the stair lights are working perfectly. The last picture shows our new lamppost with a full moon in the background.

The rest of the limestone was installed today. Grout was added too. Also, the gas line for the fire pit was installed (big job). Jimmy and Chris laid out the base for the fire pit. It should arrive next week. The gas line will have to be cut down and the gravel foundation for those white tiles will be next week. Have a good weekend.

This is a big one for us. It is a coarse sign this project is coming to an end. The pillars that support the roof over the upper terrace are finally finished!!! Jim and Carol did an amazing job as always. Very happy!! Oh and some limestone was put on the stairs!!

We are getting our garage pointed so that we can lean trellises against it to augment our backyard flora. This picture is before ist is sponged down. More limestone was installed. Our fire pit is getting delivered a week early which is nice.

Today, the guys started dry fitting our Indiana gray limestone wall caps and stairs. We positioned the under-stair lights. Got the lamppost installed and the light is now on my smart app to control, dug the trench for running gas to the middle of our yard for the fire feature. Crazy day!!

Our trusty lawn guru planted our second bit of landscaping plants (recall I planted the trees and they are still alive!!). Hopefully our limestone steps and wall caps will be here soon. Those will be the next pictures.

Yesterday we had grout installed in the walls of our back patio. The grout has to be different than the ground grout because it has to stick inside the crevices. I think it turned out pretty good.

Our walkway is tiled and all of the back sides of the wall! Next is the limestone. Landscape designer comes tomorrow.

Topsoil delivered today. Looks good. Also, the post tops were installed.

I superimposed my favorite little butterfly garden from the Cherokee Lodge, Coronado and some quick sketches on top of the new fence which is almost done. View from our upper terrace. Original below.

More Fence.

More wall tiles went up and in the background of the second picture you can see some fence posts.

Our new tile guy cut a bunch of tiles and they are going up tomorrow when the whole team gets here. Some are on the ground and some are clamped to the walls. He used plywood to make templates around the stairs because the clamps couldn’t hold up the tiles. You can see finished tiles on the wall in the top picture.

The team started putting up the black tile on the cinderblock walls. Looks great.

Lower terrace has tile!!

After a long hiatus the guys showed up again to put down a few tiles.

We have a mirror and a towel rack in the shower. The shower is in use and it is awesome.