Not a lot going on building-wise today. The builder/magician spent most of the morning redoing some of the electric work the professionals had done. When they put in the electric outlets in the garage, they didn’t allow for walls. Um, really? How is that possible? Originally, my contractor was going to do the electric work, but since he’s not licensed, the building inspector wouldn’t let him do the work. I had to pay a huge amount extra to licensed folk only to have my builders redo it. Oh, well. It’s done. I can be glad about that.
I’d saved the faux window I’d painted on the old garage, though I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to sully my brand new walls on my brand new garage with that bit of folly, but after all, it is a piece of art, silly as it is, and I do like the idea of sprinkling objects of interest around the yard. So today, he cut new frames for the window to match the rest of the trim on the garage, and put up the window. Seeing it made me smile, so apparently, it was the right thing to do.
The white framing around the “window” had gotten dingy, and the window had pock marks from where it had been attached to the old garage, so this afternoon, in the excruciating heat of the July sun, I went out and freshened the window. Such folly! (And maybe glory? After all, I did do something instead of just loll around reading.)
But that wasn’t the only glory. This morning, I had to smile at finding a morning glory bursting out of the periwinkle. Such a lovely surprise! It’s amazing to me how many things I plant that never do anything, and yet things I have nothing to do with grace my yard with beauty.
Ah, folly and glory! Not a bad way to celebrate a day.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator
Bertram's Blog 
July 18, 2020 at 7:40 am
You really have that place looking good!!!! Such a change from when you first got there!!!
July 18, 2020 at 8:49 am
Love the notion of rejuvenating and including something older into the new structure. It somehow brings continuity to what can be a stark newness.
In a past life, I did “adaptive reuse” development. This is rejuvenating tired old buildings for use in a modern urban context. I think these projects helped create a sense of place; an environment with a history that didn’t just spring, fully formed, into life as we know it now. Cities with no historic buildings worked into the mix strike me as something someone built out of an IKEA box. Done right, they fit into the new built environment nicely, while still giving a nod to the past. Just like the “window”.
July 18, 2020 at 1:29 pm
Before I moved here, a friend wanted to look at new houses where we lived in California, and despite the spaciousness and artiness, the houses all left me cold. My house, on the other hand, is a charming blend of new and old — a 1928 house with crystal doorknobs and arched doorway, nooks and built in cabinets, but with a totally up-to-date kitchen and upgraded heating, cooling, plumbing, and electricity. The best of both worlds.