Flooring 2.0

Dear Reader -  As this little 19th century nail and the pile o' wood it resides on will attest, the aforementioned layers of flooring at the back of the shop are gone:

The layers included a few shelves, the odd piece of particle board or two, and these signs, apparently from the dissolution of a restaurant in the building - Britt's, perhaps?:

What's in their place are a whole lotta exposed floor joists. Some older and marred by fire damage:

And some that looked a little newer, probably replaced when the carpet was put in a couple decades back:

The next step is to get the sub-floor up to a level that'll allow the new oak to match up as well as it can to the existing hardwood.

Everybody's over working on that as we speak, and I'm sitting at home with the snow/ice-bound Miss C (who's currently snoozing on the bookshop's couch that's living in our kitchen), making a miscellany of phone calls while Helen Humes, my favorite jazz and blues singer, blasts in between:

Doggonit, we could use a spot like that here at the beach, Reader - and more performers, like Helen, who have that brand of unequivocally happy energy . . . happy Wednesday to you!  - Jen