Frontiers of Construction...

There are people that build bridges to span impossible distances, they construct international airports in places where there is no land, they build cruise-ships the size of small cities, and railway lines that cut through mountains...there is no limit to the capabilities of human endeavour. In the same spirit of ingenuity and perseverance, our task this weekend was was to construct a window covering for an odd shaped window in the kid's room. The top part of the window, as seen here....

And here...

You will notice that the ceiling is angled above the semi-circular top part of the window. Very pretty...lovely and bright, but tricky to cover. Neither a curtain rod nor a blind would fit into the angled top. What to do? We have pondered this dilemma for a while now. It was beginning to get serious. As the mornings were getting lighter, those pesky kids were waking up earlier and earlier...we began to fear the dreaded 5:30am summertime wake-up call; their chirpy little voices pulling us from our cosy, much-needed sleep. They are not yet old enough to go downstairs on their own and mess about with cereal, toast and milk. As well, putting them to bed with bright daylight glaring through the window was also becoming a problem. You're not allowed to give your kids "a wee dram" to make them sleep any more, so it was necessary to construct a window covering.

"It can't be done", we thought. "It's never been attempted before (by us)". But where there is a will, there is a way. We contemplated various methods and I finally hit upon the construction of a sail-type covering made out of black-out fabric and dowel rods. I nipped down to Dressew...one of my all-time favourite Vancouver stores...and picked up some black-out fabric (errr...and some fabric to make some tops for me, and dresses for Bronwyn). Incidentally, I resisted buying more yarn! Mark went to the hardware store for the dowel rods. With our supplies gathered, I blew the dust off my old and trusty Viking sewing machine, which I brought over from England (and is now more than 20 years old).

We borrowed a step-ladder from our neighbour, and construction began. We did employ some child labour...those little legs can get up and down ladders very fast...and it's about time they did something to help around here.

Tadaaa...here's the finished "sail". The bottom dowel comes out so that we can roll it up and fold it away for winter. It's not the most simple thing to take up and down, and to store. But we are very pleased.

We put it up and take it down by means of an additional dowel rod with a hook on the end. It works like a charm. And the proof? The kids slept-in until 7:30 this morning! Mind you for some reason they choose weekends and days when mummy and daddy are hungover to get up really early. The true test will come at the weekend.