Stanley arrives from New York today just in time to see the finishing touches on the pavilion and to meet all the new staff during the annual Christmas party.

It will be nice to relax with everyone at the party on Sunday!!

I hope all of your loyal readers also have a Happy Holidays wherever you are this season!!

The store looks great and the crew have almost completed the electrical wiring and framing for the roof. We are scheduled to pour the ceiling to the store tomorrow as long as we are able to get our inspections today. Maggie is working hard to get the inspectors out to the site today even if she has to drive them out to the site herself!

The picture above was taken from inside of the new store. The view is truly breathtaking. We have hired 2 new crew members to help with the installation of our awning windows that will be placed in the store, cafe, and bathroom areas. We hope they will stay on with us until the end of the construction project.Nick and Bernard are working hard to compact the fill which has been placed behind the retaining wall at the cafe level. You can see behind them how the windows will add a great deal of natural light to the store. The awning windows will also allow extra ventilation on those extra hot days on the island. Remember how the site looked a few month's ago when we only had the cistern poured? It is amazing to see how much progress has occurred on the project the guys are truly working hard.The compactor is a heavy piece of machinery and must be used with extreme caution. You have to have strong arms to operate such a large machine. Nick and Bernard are taking turns shoveling the fill and operating the machine.

We removed the frame from the second column this morning and more adjustments are needed to insure a clean removal of the frames. In the picture above you can see how it turned out. Each of the columns have lights at the top which will enhance their beauty when they are lit at night. The Vaseline is helping but some of the concrete is still sticking. Dave is hoping to have these issues settled by the next pour.The glass block openings are much easier to visualize now that the frames have been removed. You can scroll down through past postings to see how the opening's looked prior to the concrete pour. The blocks were delivered this morning so they should begin installing them either later this week or next week prior to Christmas. I will make sure that I take more pictures during this installation.Once the windows have been installed the scaffolding will be removed so the stucco can be applied and the awning can be installed over the cafe porch. In the picture above you can see the bags of stucco and palates of pavers, which have been stored in the cafe area so they stay dry.As you can see above all of the windows have already been installed in the bathroom area. The guys are working on the store today and hope to be finished by the end of the week. In the foreground you can see the next column which is scheduled to be poured this week.