Hello to anyone that might still check this blog. I am taking a break from my very reluctant foray into middle class suburban life. For weeks now, I have been managing an unlikely stable of contractors and subcontractors, doing major updates to this house for the first time in its thirty years...readying it for eventual sale.
Several of these folks have been people I've hated to see finish up, because I've enjoyed their company. There was Woody, the painter, replete with tales of falls and near falls from ladders, and his wife who drove a half-hour to hold the ladder for him when needed. I arrived home one day and Woody was wearing our exterior house paint all over his face and hair...his paint sprayer "blew up", he said--did I want him to cut off the painted rhododendron leaves?
There was Joe, the "kid" with the souped up, low rider pickup truck and the tattooed arms, laid back, hard working, and always accommodating ("I get paid by the hour, I don't mind re-doing it.") In seeing my son's room, he spoke encouragingly about his transformation before his 18th birthday, and said that he and my son have a similar taste in music.
There was the tall, young, and black cabinet installer, with the somehow incongruous name "Ryan", who absolutely LOVED our dog Honey. And the two very hard working floor refinishers who apparently eschewed deodorant.
And in between all of this, we are living like privileged refugees, washing dishes in the bathroom sink, preparing food on cabinets that have no counter tops, moving one room of stuff at a time into other rooms, and feeling guilty for complaining about "problems" that we brought on ourselves and that many people can't even fathom dealing with. Cognitive dissonance.
Ryan found some old papers behind the original cabinets...a list of clothes to order from the Ward's catalog, including girls jeans for $4.75/pair. A ruler with the name Jason H_________, who is apparently now 32 years old and still in the area. I am assuming that his parents were the original owners, and that they had pretty...weird...taste in wallpaper. Ghosts.
Then there is the work WE are actually doing, wallpapering and installing new cabinets and plumbing in the bathroom, actually purposely planting perennials that grow in shade, and the previously mentioned shredding of trees' worth of branches and sticks.
And then, there is the incredibly strenuous work of the garden, 5 miles from home, since there is no sun in our yard. I have found nothing better for temporary relief from real worries and persistent distress than being physically exhausted. And the always thrilling emergence of tiny seedlings that are, amazingly, just what you planted!
P.S. Whatever "higher power" created the goldfinch is to be commended. I cannot imagine a more frivolous, shockingly beautiful bird that I don't even have to leave my kitchen to see.
... you didn't mention Larry :(
Looks like he's supervising things really well. :)
Posted by: Khushru | May 17, 2005 at 08:51 PM
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Posted by: Yaehoo | April 30, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Hi, It's the second time i'm posting you without a reply. I found your site using Yaehoo, does your site support firefox?
Posted by: Yaehoo | April 30, 2009 at 10:36 PM