wndow on the world

What time does Home Depot open today? Eight? Good. Let’s go. I need more paint brushes.


By nine I’m at the farmhouse...


 


...applying polyurethane to yesterday’s windows and conditioner to the next batch – the downstairs lot.

I’m wearing a mega mask. The fumes are getting otherwordly and (therefore) dangerous.

We both work tirelessly on our various projects for the day .

And we have visitors! Two sets! Curious friends and a sundry daughter, all wanting to see where this is heading. And I think to myself – that’s right. It’s Sunday and it’s wonderful that on Sunday someone should pause here merely to chat and inquire about how the season is unfolding. Someday, I'll be able to offer them bread and cheese and maybe lemonade or rosé, depending on their inclination.

Except that, of course, I have nothing to offer today. Just the stench of polyurethane and dust covered chairs.

In the early afternoon Ed and I take a break. We hop into the truck and chase down an armoire in Sun Prairies (some half hour drive). The farmhouse has nothing by way of shelves or cupboards and so one must supplement. It’s a small piece, with a missing backboard, but it’ll keep my summer tshirts and winter turtlenecks in their neatly stacked piles. $80 okay? Yep.

I tell Ed we must hurry back. We’re already at that time of day when the grays seem especially gray (as gray as the sandhill crane in a March field)...





I have more windows to stain, some to seal and I have so few hours in the days before me.

I work into the late evening. It's very very dark when we finally pick up a pizza and head home. Condo home. It's good to leave it all behind and retreat to a well ordered world at the end of the day.