the fence, day 3

Monday: (Labor Day, Somerville MA). Slept in as MB headed off to her dance space for some personal practice. Up, then email, made the bed, shower. Took out the garbage. Made a shopping list. Down basement for brief sitting. As I emerged, MB was just arriving. She had bought us a sandwich to split, and also had some coffee for me. We ate and chatted a bit. We decided to combine my trip to fill water bowls at KKC with a shopping trip.

I dropped her off at the Shaw's market, and went to do my bit at Kurukulla. Very quiet at the center. None of the things that can make the task take longer needed to be done, so I was soon heading back to the market. Helped MB with the rest of the shopping.

Back home, and put away the groceries. Walked next door, to ask our neighbor B if it would be OK to paint his side of our fence. He said "Who's fence is it? Yours right? What am I gonna say, 'no you can't paint your fence?'" He also pointed out that we'd gotten some stuff on the side of his house in our stripping efforts. I promised to clean it up. Then, MB and I walk around to our rear neighbors and made a similar request, which was also granted.

We spent the next several hours painting. I accidentally sprayed my lovely wife with stain through the cracks in the fence. She didn't seem to think that my assessment that this sort of occurrence is an occupational hazard that must be accepted, was quite on the mark. As we rounded the corner from the rear to the side, I realized that we were not going to have enough stain. At about the half-way point (just beyond, actually) I declared I was stopping to make a paint run. Put a frozen pizza in the oven, called Home Depot to confirm they were open (they were) and headed out. Quick trip there and back. The weather today was absolutely lovely, by the way.

MB had made us some little salads, and we ate our pizza, and drank Coke. I asked her if she was ready to resume our task. She said "I have to finish my Coke first." I amended the question to be "in the fullness of time." As dusk fell, we realized we weren't quite going to complete the job. We made it along the side, but there are some bits in the front that still need to be done. We cleaned up outside, then cleaned ourselves up, then lay down for a well deserved bit of rest... but not for long.

Around 8:50 PM we headed out to OCBC for JW's 70 birthday party. We were hoping to arrive in time for the coffee and cake. It turned out their evening hadn't gone quite as planned, and we arrived just as the local comedian Jimmy Tingle was going on. I ate some leftover Italian food that was hanging around. MB found the last piece of cake. Jimmy was very entertaining and topical. A local accent, but a worldly outlook. Many zingers aimed at our illustrious leader. After his bit, we said hello and goodbye to JW... his long history of tireless work for social justice, make him a truly inspiring person. Gave an OCBC member a ride home. She was carrying a guitar, and said that she had sang a song entitled something like "Old time religion on a holy ghost night."

Back home, I talked to my mom. She has sold her house on the Cape. A good move for her. We made plans for MB and me to go out and help her pack and so forth. Some more coffee and email. Still have daily practices to do. It'll be a late night.