Things are all tied together in sequence. You can't finish painting the outside until the brickwork is done. Cold weather works against both painting and bricklaying -- but the brickwork is done. This is below the french doors from the library out to the deck.
And, of course, you can't finish the rest of the deck until the bricks are in. And so it goes. This is the first half of the lower deck going up.
Finally the driveway slab permitting entry to the new garage is going to be poured. And, of course, when it was dug out it rained for days so no mo' progress until today. The rock is in; can the concrete be far behind?

The kitchen cabinet people (remember this name "Canac Kitchens") have failed for the tenth week to come through with the fixes they promised so long ago. To refresh your memory, the cabinets themselves were installed months ago and we love them. But the pantry drawers fell down and have not been redone. Several panels were missing and were finally put up on Friday.

But the big deal is the appliance garages. They were late, then they were wrong and then, when the Canac troubleshooter came out on Friday, he didn't understand what an appliance garage is. Now I see why Canac needs a troubleshooter. We have no idea when this will be resolved but Gael is steaming. We had to take all sharp objects from her. Not pretty.

All of this has delayed the final finishing of the floors; oh, and the fact that the flooring contractor died. Truly. Gael (I'm told) is innocent and no indictment has yet come down.

On the brighter side, the dining room is all but completed (floor finishing notwithstanding). In this view you can see one of the West wall sconces.
The paddle fans are up (mostly) in the kitchen. See that tiny lazy-susan gizmo on the dining island? That's another Canac screw-up. It's 15" in diameter in a 30" cabinet. Not acceptable.
And, finally for today, the West wall of the library is starting to take shape. The base cabinets are in and the painting is all but complete.