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This is 30
The day of Gavin’s party, our buddy Chase arrived with his backhoe. There was a fourth pine at the front of the yard that we wanted to take down (but I was hoping not this day). As I scurried around to prepare for guests arriving, I found Gavin starting his ascent up the tree. I yelled to Chase, “WHAT IS HE DOING?!” He replied with a laugh, “I told him I would climb but you know your husband, he wanted to do it himself.” Gavin was hoisted up in the claw of the backhoe. I watched in frozen terror as his 200 pound self reached higher and higher. The flimsy…
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Letting The Light In Pt. 2
Chase & Tito arrived the next day & successfully dropped the last of the three pines. Gavin & I worked nearly every day to clean up the remains of those giants, one wheelbarrow load of branches at a time. The fire burned for a week straight, through all that rain, it continued smoldering with thick plumes of white smoke nearly up until his birthday. But this post isn’t really about the trees, it’s about something more than that. It’s about light. Its task is to illuminate, to cast brightness into dim spaces. It offers a sense of warmth, transparency & security. It diffuses the darkness until only certainty remains. Light…
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Journal Entry
We had a party last Saturday for Gavin’s 30th and Aunt Cathy’s 50th birthday. The preparations to make everything as ‘perfect’ as possible has left me drained of all motivation to pick up where I left off before the party & begin again on the projects still unfinished. One conversation in particular from last weekend has stayed with me though. I had the joy of giving my grandpa’s brother, Tom, a tour of the house. It made me wish grandpa could be here as well to see all that we’ve done. I hope it’d make him smile. As we walked up the stairs and arrived in the library, he looked…
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Letting The Light In Pt. 1
Driving back from my sister’s wedding a couple Saturdays ago, Gavin and I rolled down the road in his new truck dubbed, ‘the billy goat’ (we’re getting more hillbilly by the day) and right at the top of the hill, we saw it. Orangy-red the color of a ripening tomato peaked out, unveiling itself to the world. A spark of excitement blazed through me. “We can see it!” While we were gone, our tree buddies, Chase & Tito got to work. We had asked a big job out of them – taking out three monstrous pine trees in the front of the house. Gavin & I drove slowly past, taking…
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The Library Pt. 2
I started with the first windowsill, using a small putty knife & sanding block to slough off the chips of paint. Next came wood puttying all of the holes, allowing it to dry, then sanding everything smooth. I caulked around the perimeter of the window & any gaps that remained. I looked over my work. Better. Two more windows to go. The following days, starting clockwise from that window, I began working on the walls. I realized quickly that the two strips of wallpaper that had come off easily before was not how the rest of it was going to be. My rose colored glasses began to wane. What have…
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The Library Pt. 1
Also known as the toy room when my grandparents lived here. I have to say out of all of the places in this house, this room was always my favorite, and still is today. Not because there were many toys in it though, but because it felt the least eerie, in my opinion. As a child, I would creep past the painting that hung on the wall at the top of the steps, looking over my shoulder to see the stern man with a ruffled brow starting back at me. Indeed, that serious glare followed anyone that dare step into his line of vision. That was an unknown mystery to…
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Window Pt. 2
I anxiously turned the knob of the back door and stood inside. Light poured in from the opposite end of the hallway. It was in. The window had successfully been installed in less than two hours Gavin said. I walked closer and it grew larger until I stood at the entryway of the bathroom, gazing out through our new window. It was more than I imaged. This had been a dream of mine & there it was before my eyes. The original entryway to the home was officially reopened, displaying a beautiful view of the land around us. I think about all of the families that have come before us,…
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Picture Window Preparation
Monday morning, Gavin got a call from Mark, our window man. After nearly two months working around the weather & his health problems, he said Wednesday was the day. That meant Monday night was time to bust the glass block out. Gavin started in the top right corner using his hammer drill between the blocks, breaking up the mortar. It didn’t come easy because the top row was glued to the wood frame. He drilled harder, leaning into it as the 10 foot ladder he was standing on fidgeted back & forth. I couldn’t watch. Dust plumed into the air as I closed the door & went downstairs to the…
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Spring Collection
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Hobo Pies
Gavin pulled into the driveway, home at last. It was nearing dinner time but I knew as soon as he got out of the car & went to the garage, we’d be eating late tonight. He walked out with chain saw in hand, ready to go to work for the second time today. He cut & I dragged the dead branches to the burn pile. Cut & drag, cut & drag, back & forth until we had a heap of branches mounded to the sky. As dusk settled in, he started the fire. We continued on until we couldn’t see anymore. Darkness covered us up like a blanket. Finally the…
