Monday, August 20, 2012

Whistle Stop Corner Apartment building SHINES!

Early March...
 We're happy-dancing right now!   Just to give you some contrast, above is the apartment building a few months ago. At that time, we'd removed the old screens, unboarded some doors and cleared some things from inside. You can see the metal roof- sound, but rusty and sad.

Yesterday, a very nimble, sure-footed man gave the building a beautiful new hat: aluminum roof coating. It was fascinating to watch it go on.

The roof getting its new, shiny silver coating!

Right after I took this photo I ran over and held his ladder, whether he wanted me to or not!

Applying the silver to the front roof. You can also see the fence we replaced toward the back.
Can't wait to connect the buildings with the front fence... all in good time.
We keep going to the window and staring. So beautiful.

Picture with red door (and minus recycle bin)
The main building will get its own shiny new hat in a day or so.  We'll have to take our time with the body paint on the main building, though.  The coffers are emptying out very fast, so the rental income will have to provide the means for that.  It's all good. Dancing on....!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Wonderful article about Whistle Stop Corner..

The article.   Our new neighborhood has gifted us with terrific new neighbors.  Bekah and Lewis McNeel live just around the corner from Whistle Stop. Bekah is a writer and Lewis an architect. We'd met Bekah only briefly at a Historic Homeowner's Fair last year. Before we'd properly met, we'd see Lewis zooming to and from work on his bicycle, using the Hays Street bicycle and pedestrian bridge a block away which connects our neighborhood to downtown. A month ago Bekah and Lewis invited six other new neighbors, Ugur and I among them, to a potluck at their home.  We left with six new friends!  Shortly afterward, Bekah asked if she might interview us for an article about Whistle Stop Corner. We were already trustful of her, so agreed.  The article, written for The Rivard Report, is SO GOOD!  That Bekah can write!  We think you might agree, if you'd like to read it here. There are some good photos of WSC included. (Side note: Isn't Bekah lovely?)
WSC Apartment building nearing completion
The exterior painting is done now, except we need to paint the doors candy apple red. We think the grey trim will really pop when the white blinds go in and, later, when the black-edged screens are built and installed.  The metal roof will be painted silver, which will top it off perfectly.
The central air units are installed and ON!  So we'll be finishing up the interior painting in comfort. August in Texas is wicked, wicked hot, did you know?  All the lighting fixtures and outlets and switches are in and functioning now, as of yesterday. The photo above is from just before the exterior lights went up, so we'll try to post a new one soon.
Karen McCauley's Gift
Karen McCauley is an excellent painter and teacher who is co-owner of the gallery next to ours in La Villita.  She's taken a brave and self-loving step to focus her teaching in San Antonio now and to close her studio in Pleasanton, south of San Antonio.  She offered Whistle Stop Corner's future art school all of her easels, drafting tables, chairs and beautiful flat files.   The picture above is from our adventure of fitting all of her equipment into a tiny U-Haul after the sun had set.  Thank you, Karen! We can't wait to use them- perhaps in a workshop Karen will teach at Whistle Stop Corner!

Further update: We love having hot water in the main building. It's true: a bath in a large claw foot tub is made MUCH better with hot water.  We also love having exterior lights and are putting in our security cameras this week.  Baby steps. We love our new neighborhood and we love our new neighbors. 

Everything we're experiencing tells us: Start living your dream now. The universe wants you to have what you want. Just start. The people, the circumstances, the little miracles arrive when you do.