My dad was an engineer, a perfectionist ... and a procrastinator. Whoever made up the saying, *'if a man says he'll do something, he'll do it. you don't need to remind him every six months'* had him in mind. More than once, my mom would begin some project he said he'd do - knowing full well she couldn't to it - just do he'd finally get it done. Typically, these would be Friday afternoons and the bigger the mess, the better. Then there was the **Japanese Teahouse**. And like a medieval cathedral, it took years to complete. Truth be told, it was never complete to plan but simply 'done.' In his defense, the mail order plans were complex and advanced. He'd never done anything like it and it even took quite a while to assemble the table saw he bought for the project. The first visible step was placing the four vertical 4x4 posts in the middle of the back yard, atop the stairs going up the terraced slope (see pictures below). That was the easy part. The top of the teahouse entailed complicated woodworking and it took a long time to cut all the pieces to measure. It was of redwood and the ceiling was beautiful. Fortunately creating the floor was delayed and delayed. It was to be red flagstone over concrete. 'Fortunately' is the key word because as the years went by (and you thought I was exaggerating), the nearby spruce continued to grow. Spruce trees are slow but they don't procrastinate. It eventually became apparent the Japanese Treehouse must move. The completed roof was about seven feet off the ground and probably weighed 500 - 600 pounds. Not something you could just pick up and move. Sound crazy, I know, but this is where engineer dad really paid off. First thing was to set up four new posts. And a series of temporary posts with a horizontal 'track.' The moving jig was quite solid and level. We used old swing set poles (remember the old a-frame metal swing sets?) to role the top to its new home. It worked. It was one of those things where the planning and set up took longer than the doing. I remember bumping my head on one of those many struts. But the move when rather smoothly, with no close calls. Soon my dad installed the floor. And that was that. The plans called for enclosing two sides with benches with backs. But that never happened. #### Forty Years Later Brigitte recently stopped by the house and the new owners graciously gave her a tour. And the Japanese Teahouse looks great. And you can imagine what it would look like if left in its original location. **The Move** c 1983. Photo Credit: Brigitte ![[77D710E6-BA3C-4128-B16A-9C97238D413A_1_105_c.jpeg]] **Teahouse 2025** Photo Credit: Brigitte ![[FC19A2A9-3095-457F-BD06-3B8F8A497634_1_201_a.jpeg]]