a stretch

He said to me this afternoon -- I think you're too old for this...
I sense a note of disappointment, or resignation, so I counter -- no no, give me a moment here...

I have to keep my balance on the ladder with my knees. I need my hands to hold the brush and, too, the edging cardboard. (Painting without it at first made me leave streaks of white on the glass. That's no good!) Looking up, then down to pick up more paint, then up again -- whoa, I'm getting dizzy up there!





He asks -- just in case you crash, which hospital do you want me to take you to -- Meriter or UW?
Depends on the extent of my injuries -- run of the mill? Meriter. Comatose? UW.

He comes back a moment later -- you know, I saw this TV show as a kid -- of people painting an elaborate mansion, so meticulously. I was mesmerized!

I think he cannot be mesmerized by what I'm doing up there, between the rafters of the porch roof.
Oh, cute five little dots! -- he says, pointing to a place on a rafter where I seem to have splashed paint. But he's not mocking it. He's telling me it's funky cool, like the countless other funky cool things we do to the farmhouse trying to get it right but sometimes missing things at the edges.

So now you know -- I spent the afternoon painting something that would have been far far easier to paint had we done it first, before installing the glass panels.



In other news: pre-breakfast morning walk through the farmette.






Oh! We forgot to water the newly transplanted raspberry canes yesterday. I do it now.






I look at the flower beds: the blooms are spent. Totally. Except for this guy who forgot to call it quits for the year.






Sticking to the steady stream of upsides:

Breakfast -- sunny.











Goldie, the cat with the world's longest whiskers (she's my daughter's -- I'm merely keeping an eye on her) --  cheerful.






And here's a big deal: a gift came in the mail from an Ocean commenter -- she'd found this on E-bay: the book is one that was used by first graders in Poland in the fifties to learn how to read and write (none of this printing stuff: we started with cursive). This book -- the "Elementarz" -- was my everything (we had no other texts that I recall). It was unreal to turn the pages now and remember the known to me images and words. You'd probably call it a commie text, what with the reverence for labor and factories and workers in all walks of life. To me it was an adored school book. Nothing less than that.






Still another upbeat moment:

The sunset --  beautiful.






On the downside (and there is sometimes a downside) -- there was school work sprinkled throughout the day.

And, too, not a small glitch: the new computer we (meaning Ed) configured for my mom? It arrived in Berkeley. It refuses to connect to her internet. We have (Ed has) tried everything. No luck. No clue as to why. No real solution for now.


And dinner? Chinese takeout. It's the best way to call it quits to a rather full day. Eat and unwind before a few library DVDs. Let go of computer frustrations, stretch the sore muscles. Exhale.