Cottage West

West Coast family members decided to construct a California cottage for our matriarch, a kind of second home in what we like to call paradise. Impressively, we were able to build our warm. inviting abode in much less time than our Eastern kinfolk took - five days to be exact. Not so impressively, our cottage is not quite as roomy.

We began with a trip to Wal-Mart, returning with three huge boxes containing 42 billion (rough estimate) pieces of wood and hardware which were spread out and inventoried on the Santala backyard by Grandpa Gil and the boys.

Then came assembly. It should be noted that this was an all-male construction crew. Ma Ma was often busy with a beautiful little girl who seems to think meal time comes every 2 1/2 hours. The point being that these workers actually read all the instructions ahead of time and proceeded in proper sequence through the instruction manual. It might have been a first in home project history.

The boys worked side-by-side with Mitch, Todd and Gil to create something special for Grandma.

When the final project was beginning to take shape, Lan suggested we do what our Orlando kin had done - have our first meal in the new place imagining the final home.

Finishing touches included one of Grandma's favorites - window shutters. We readily acknowledge the questionable aspects of our project. Grandma doesn't travel. There's the issue of an upstairs unit with stairs. And then there are size limitations. But they say its the thought that counts. The question here is exactly what thought we were thinking.

Actually, our primary mission has been accomplished. The boys, and someday their sister, have a playground in their own backyard, ready for hours of fun and entertaining friends.