A place of his own

While Aidan and I were visiting my family in Michigan, James put the finishing touches on Aidan's treehouse:

 

In addition to being a place where Aidan can spend time alone or with friends, it is a work of art and the subject of much envy. 

Aidan has long wanted a tree house and I told James that if we were ever going to build one, it needed to be soon before Aidan gets too old to be interested in playing in a tree house. And while we have a line of trees on the border between our house and the house next door, it really wasn't feasible to build a tree house in a tree. We decided to build a freestanding structure near the trees and broke ground on April 27:

James - with assistance from Aidan and me - worked on it from late spring through the summer, with breaks for weather, vacation, camping trips and the MacKenzie-Childs barn sale. As the tree house took shape, we became accustomed to cars driving slowly by the house so the occupants could get a better view, walkers would stop to talk with James and ask about rent (!), and a photo even appeared on Instagram, although none of us have Instagram accounts.

This is not a plywood box on stilts; James took great care to make it sturdy and as weather proof as possible with shingled walls and a real roof. The windows have shutters that open out:

 

Inside there is a small shelf, a coat hook and a bench that provides storage and seating:

The storage bench also makes for a great place to hide:

One day Aidan got in, pulled the lid down and scared the life out of James, who did not know he was in there!

James added railing caps that have solar powered lights:

Glass blocks near the peak at either end also have small solar lights, which make the tree house look great even at night:

In case of a zombie apocalypse, you know where to gather:

The view from the front porch is beautiful:

 

We put a lock on the door and the ladder can easily be removed and stored in our garage, so that the tree house doesn't get occupied when we are not around. About the only things this marvelous tree house does not have are electricity and plumbing, but there is always next summer...

Envy

Today I received a wonderful package in the mail containing these lovely items:

Just what, pray tell, did I do to deserve such riches? I participated in a Top Chef Masters' pool on Ravelry, that's what. Prior to the start of the competition, each participant posted what item they were contributing to the pool and then that participant was randomly assigned a chef. Based on the order of the chefs winning or leaving the competition, each participant then chose what prize they wanted. The person who had the winning chef picked first, the person with the second place chef picked second...you get the idea.

My chef was Odette Fada and she was the fourth chef (out of fourteen) sent home. And while it usually isn't great to be the eleventh person to pick a prize, all the participants posted such great items that there was still good stuff when it came my turn to pick.

I chose the prize contributed by Susanna from Huntsville, Alabama and wow, did she put together a great prize pack. I received:

• a project bag in a fun chili pepper print
• Skein DK 100% superwash Merino yarn in the Envy colorway, which is a lovely turquoisy-aqua color
• a lavender lotion bar from Coyote Cove Farm
• a double bar of Icelandic chocolate (how did she know that I am fascinated by Iceland?) 
• a pair of scissors for my notions bag; and,
• a custom made friendship bracelet, which is hilarious if you happen to watch The Real Housewives of Orange County (not that I do. Ever.).

The yarn is gorgeous:

And should I share the chocolate, or squirrel it away?

Small world story: as I traded messages with Susanne regarding my address and her shipping schedule, I learned that she is currently not working due to the shutdown of the federal government (boo, hiss). She works at Marshall Space Flight Center and when I told her that Dad retired from a long career at NASA, she said that her dad had also worked for NASA, on the Saturn 5 project. How cool!

So now the fun really begins...planning how to use that luscious yarn. Today I prepared my own prize package for shipping (Three Irish Girls yarn, a project bag, a wine "sippy cup" and cocktail napkins) and I hope Jenn in Maine likes it as much as I liked mine.