Tag: Tony Foster
-
Tony & Trigger
Sometimes a snapshot… is all we need! This candid of Tony and Trigger (Aaron’s constant companion) landed with a digital ding on my phone this evening. The caption, “Tough Guys”, made me chuckle. Like a movie poster for a vintage action film, perhaps? Trigger shadows Aaron wherever he goes, whatever he does. Tiny dog. Huge…
-
Thank You, Tony!
Preparing for tomorrow’s family feast, my mind meanders to the good fortune we enjoy in large part due to the amazing people with whom we live and work. Today I offer a follow up to Tuesday’s salute to Pam with an overdue salute to another indispensable member of our team. Thank you, Tony Foster! Thanksgiving…
-
Logs Off to Sawmill
After felling five ash trees in the vicinity of Rosslyn’s icehouse and carriage barn with precision and arboreal poetry Aaron and Tony passed the baton to Phil and Calvin. There are still stumps to be ground down and logs to be split into firewood, but our ash logs have migrated one step closer to their…
-
Fallen Giant
Timber felling continues. Bittersweet benchmark after bittersweet benchmark; five ash trees succumbing to the chainsaw. This afternoon we honor a fallen giant, the imposing 3-stem behemoth that stood just northeast of Rosslyn’s icehouse. It’s a poignant passing and sentimental benchmark when towering trees that helped define Rosslyn’s environs over the years must be culled. (Source:…
-
Stump-to-Lumber
In yesterday’s post I mentioned that we’re felling trees again. But my update was brief, overlooking a couple of important details, so I’m revisiting the stump-to-lumber topic this afternoon. (I probably should have titled today’s post something more inclusive since our homegrown wood isn’t exclusively destined to become the next round of Rosslyn furniture, floors,…
-
Lumberjacking
Back to lumberjacking! With a twinge of irony as draw down our stores of homegrown lumber (cured and stored in Rosslyn’s carriage barn), we’re once again compelled to cull a few mature ash trees that are dying back and threatening to tumble across our outbuildings. So — despite the fact that we’ve endeavored over the…
-
Persimmoning
As autumn and winter braid themselves into a textured tapestry of yesterdays and tomorrows, persimmoning is upon us in all its nectary extravagance. Hint of honey. Scent of cinnamon. Bliss. I began my morning with the tender caress and sweet kiss of an hachiya persimmon. These photographs tell the story. But the backstory, that’s better…
-
Flashing Flashback
Weather reminds us that autumn will inevitably yield to winter. Frost. Flurries. Cooold nights… Probably soon-ish, at least for short intervals. And yet the threat of colder, wetter, even snowier and icier days ahead is 100% less concerning than it was a year ago. We’d only just begun our foray into Rosslyn’s icehouse rehabilitation. And…
-
Sidewalk Upgrade Begins
Hurrah! I’m super pleased to showcase the swift progress that the Town of Essex has made so far with the sidewalk upgrade. A couple of weeks ago I met with Town of Essex Supervisor, Ken Hughes, and Town of Essex Highway Superintendent, Bradley French, to review plans for replacing the derelict (and potentially dangerous) section…
-
Solving the Paver Puzzle
Some days at Rosslyn are more kaleidoscopic than others, textures tumbling, patterns resolving then dissolving again, protean punch-lists pushing the limits of planning and patience, and ever evolving priorities and timelines. Nothing is constant except for change… Some days, many days lately, we’ve been solving and re-solving the paver puzzle. No one ever steps in…
-
Stone Paving Icehouse Courtyard
The title of this post conjures a hot summer’s day along the highway, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, slooowly advancing through a construction site where hot asphalt is being laid in a stinky, tarry, gravelly layer, then rolled flat and smooth with an enormous steel drum ballasted with water, pressing the roadway into submission. Paving. We’ve…
-
Undocking 2023
Were back at that bittersweet bookend to summer: undocking. And it’s in especially poignant threshold this year. We pulled the docks, boatlift, and both powerboats on Friday, September 22, 2023. The last day of summer, literally and metaphorically. At Rosslyn we… use the term [undocking] to describe the annual autumn removal of docks (and boat…