Chapter 21
Building projects continued on the other side of the river, a doctor's office was built and a bakeri and townhouse were started. The doctor could not help Ennie, the woodcutter, who died of a weak heart. The weather was rainy and dreary when Ennie was buried in the town cemetery.
We were full of anticipation when 2 river boats were spotted coming down the river, but we were disappointed with what they had to offer. Garther, the hauler, had no canvas and would not even take an order for any, and Hilber had a wide variety of food items but nothing we wanted or needed. We had no idea what was needed or how to make canvas but we began work building a weaving guild. The bakery was completed and we looked forward to bread, cakes, and even meat pies as soon as we got either flour or grain and canvas for our own windmill. We would need a water supply nearby so we laid the foundation for a village water pump by the river. It would provide fresh drinking water and water for baking.
A large upper living quarters was built above the doctor's office. The building projects on that side of the river were rapidly depleting our stockpiles of logs, stone, and iron. The laborers had far to go in the cold and snow to collected more. Elayna was now one of the builders working on these projects and Melishaad had returned to his fishing spot on the riverbank. Our son Hollington took over Elayna's fishing spot and his wife, Callas, took over my job as teacher. They now had a baby girl, Kanessa, our grandchild. I took over Hollington's job as botanist and Larryl was now the herbalist next door to the greenhouse. We were both working close to home to look in on our youngest child, Alph, who would be starting school soon.
I late autumn, Hilber returned to port and we traded for bread, potatoes, and flour. Our baker could now begin baking bread. The impressive looking village water pump by the river would provide all the water that was needed. Garther also returned before the end of year 21 and we traded for flax. Shortly after he left the weaving guild was finished and we realized we would need to trade for hemp in order to make canvas to complete our windmill. We would have to wait for the traders to return at the beginning of the year.