Chim Chiminey

Our fireplace has not been working wonderfully the last week or two. We often get smoke coming out the front when we open the door and it really can stink the house out. So Brendon organized to borrow some brushes and got up there this morning.
Last year the chimney sweep had come and had put wire mesh around the top to stop birds making nests. The mesh was so blocked up with soot though. The bottom section that Brendon is taking off in this photo was especially bad and so we decided to rather leave this bit off. At least there is still the mesh over the top which would be more of a temptation to the birds in summer.
It was quite scary for all of us with Brendon up there. It's a high room to start with (being a double story house) and then the chimney itself is incredibly high.
When Brendon got down he said he finally understand the Mary Poppins song:
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be
He said they are lucky if they don't fall down and break their necks. We were all pleased when it was done. What a brave husband I have. He does not like heights any more than I do.
Then we had to work out how to get all the loose soot out the bottom of the chimney. We figured out how to move things in the fireplace and got that cleaned out. We were thankful to get the fire going again. We had let it die out last night so that it was cold enough to work with this morning but it was a cold day today and so it made us all very thankful for what the fireplace does in keeping us all nice and warm.

It amazes me how within the last month or two Hannah has all of a sudden just taken to books. These old books from Brendon's mother are her absolute favorite. You heard her reading from The Three Bears the other day and she loves paging through and finding the stories we have already read to her.
I had started to wonder if she would ever be interested in books. She always seemed just to busy to sit still for long enough. So it's really great for me to see.

Rachel got started on her old jean skirt today. She cut along the seams so that we had nice pieces to work with. Then we moved them around and worked out a bit of a pattern.

Rachel really enjoys sewing and is in her element when she is busy with things like this. She even loves sewing on buttons for Dad. :-)