The Slow Thaw

I heard on the news that the storks are returning to Lithuania.  Definitely beginning to feel like Spring in Vilnius.  I tried out my new Vallon Hazelwood sunglasses yesterday, as the sun poked out of the clouds in the afternoon.  I had been debating for weeks over the different pairs in the facebook ads, before finally settling on this vintage tortoise shell model.  So nice to feel the sun shining on my face.

I chipped away more of the ice from the driveway so that at least two tires gain traction.  The worst thing about the snow is the way it forms a sheet of ice in late winter that takes forever to melt, so I get out there with my pointed Fiskars shovel and peck away it.  Fortunately, the ice usually breaks away in big chunks.  The water underneath having loosened it from the concrete paving blocks.  The city should take care of the sidewalks, given it now charges to park in Žverynas, but they do so only sporadically, so I cleaned the entrance to the our driveway as well.

The dog was running around.  He seems to recognize the more friendly office workers next door by their cars, as he was impatiently waiting for one of them to step out of a blue Volvo.  They were all returning from lunch.  It was the friendly blonde woman.  I don't know any of our office neighbors by name. She has a little dog of her own, which she brought one day much to Loki's delight.  She had probably gone home to look after it.

I come home for lunch to let the animals out.  I have to do the cat and dog separately, otherwise it would be a big chase and I would never get Loki back inside.  As it is, he doesn't want to come when called, so I scrape the terrace with the shovel and he comes running.  He can't stand the sound and immediately gives chase to the shovel.  The cat doesn't seem to care.  She just sits there and watches.  The dog now barking from inside the house, mad as hell that she gets to be outside and he not.

Daina and I have tried to get the dog to focus less on the cat, but in winter it is difficult.  He's bored and has no one else to play with, so he gives chase to her whenever she jumps down onto the floor.  At least, he is no longer pouncing on her as he did before, bringing the full weight of his stocky little body down upon her.  It looked like he broke her leg one time, but fortunately no major damage was done, and now we watch their interaction much more closely.

We had taken the street cat in a year ago.  She has very much made this her home, and for the most part knows how to fend off the dog.  She's a real sweetheart, and has managed to win over Daina's heart, who doesn't particularly like cats.  With the weather changing, she's spending more time outside.  I registered her at the local vet and had a chip put in her so that animal control doesn't take her way.  We call her Ash, but she doesn't seem to accept the name, having shed two collars and tags.  Still values her independence.

I don't spend more than an hour at home, otherwise Daina would be calling.  I'm not very keen in returning to work but things have improved in the office after our incident last September.  Not much interaction but at least it is friendly again.  The Christmas party helped.  Nothing like champagne and oysters to bring everyone back together again.  Still, I prefer to work at home and only spend three days at the office.

We're busy again, which is nice.  A handful of small projects.  No word back from a Russian couple, brother and sister, who bought an unfinished house on the lake in Trakai and want to clean it up.  Unfortunately, not so easy as simple repairs.  The building was never registered and the project will need to be treated as new construction.  That means getting the approval of the national park, which is never easy.  They have this vision that every house should like the little Karaite houses. The only problem is that this house is much bigger and doesn't lend itself well to that prototype.  All could be that the national park asks them to tear it down and build a new house at a more appropriate scale.  I've long said we should start a consulting business advising persons of these regulations before they buy these houses, so that they know that they are getting into.  The days of big projects appear to be over for us.  I feel like Ibsen's Master Builder, reduced to building country houses, careful not to include any towers. 

I don't mind.  Big projects tend to bring with them many more headaches, as we had with the Vilnius International School.  We're still fighting with the interior designer over authorship.  She keeps publishing articles of the minimal interior work she did while trying to pass off the entire project as her own.  We finally got the project published in Archiforma, hoping to end this argument once and for all.  Photos are at the bottom of the page.  We're not the only ones facing this dilemma.  Other colleagues have complained of interior designers usurping their work, with little or no mention of them as the architects in the numerous journals.  Unfortunately, our architectural union has yet to recognize it as a serious problem.  At least with houses, the client tends to stick with the architect for the interior design.

Promised Daina I would wrap up the finish schedule on our son's house this morning.  She wants to submit the project for approval and a building permit after the fact.  We already rebuilt the roof last summer, and have all the new thermal rated windows and doors installed.  It is a conversion of his grandfather's old garden house.  Even here, the regulations are so tedious, especially now that any new construction requires an A++ thermal rating, driving construction costs literally through the roof.  However, he will have something special in the end, living on the edge of the forest, far from the madding crowd.

I kind of envy him in this regard, although I think Daina would go cabin crazy.  She could barely stand spending a weekend at the garden house in summer, much less live in such a place permanently.  She's a "city girl."  When we go on vacation, it is usually to another city.  She loves taking in all the sights and sounds.  I don't mind as long as we can have a little excursion to the countryside.

I can hear the dog getting restless.  The cat has enjoyed this time on my lap but my butt is getting sore.  Time for a little walk outside and chip some more ice.  It looks like the sun will pop out again.