Tag: Houndstooth

It’s raining again

It rained a bunch last week, and a couple of times that meant I was mopping up water in my empty back room, which remains unfinished as the permit ordeal with the city continues. Next month will make Month 11 since the Harvey Flood. I never dreamed my house wouldn’t be finished in eleven months, BUT–I’m so grateful we’ve been able to live in it almost the entire time, and that for the most part, there is just that back room to finish and then little touch-ups here and there. Oh, and getting windows replaced. But still, so much has been done, and I never had to rent an apartment or be away from my home unless it was just down the street at Lynne’s (until she sold her house, our hurricane refuge!).

I’ve done my first painting in my new series. It’s whimsical but conveys my message. I went outside to photograph it in natural light. The dogs went with me. Right after we stepped out, there was a HUGE clap of thunder and simultaneous lightning. They looked at me as if I’d betrayed them. Trust me, Bat Pack, I don’t control the weather. It controls me. Because now it’s pouring, and soon I’ll be mopping up the back room again.

So no photo of the new painting. But I can offer you a pretty picture taken last week at a neighboring house between showers.

Water A Flower Day

Every year, May 30 is Water A Flower Day. We all know I’m not really the gardening type, but I have been faithful this year about watering Aaron’s Garden, and so far, I haven’t killed anything. This is a record for me.

It takes two each of the watering can and the green watering pitcher shown here to water, either daily or every other day, depending on the heat and rain we get.

The New Guinea impatiens just lost their blossoms and are starting new ones, so there’s not much color right now, only a few hints of pink.

The dwarf morning glories in the green planter (called “Blue My Mind”) could probably use more sun, but they’re doing okay and consistently flowering, if not showing off.

The citronella is flourishing (I STILL get bitten by mosquitos), and the aloe on the bottom right is coming back from looking anemic and nearly dead. This makes me happy, as I received the various pieces of aloe in this garden from my friend Princess Patti many years ago! (I have a huge pot of aloe in the back yard from a former neighbor from when we lived at The Compound.)

That’s my contribution to this day. Wish me luck keeping it going on days to come!

…and on the other side of the wall…

Just empty space where an office used to be.

And where crafting space and the dogs’ favorite couch used to be.

A couple of things to notice. The mop bucket which stays ever at the ready, because when it rains, this room continues to leak. And will do so for the foreseeable future, because Keith our Contractor is being stalled by the city in getting the permit to fix this as it needs to be fixed. That part is long and boring, but what’s longer and not quite as boring are the nights of rainstorms when Tom and I sop up water with towels that we then have to wash and dry, mop up water and drain the mop in the bucket, and wish we were sleeping. The electrical outlets are turned off in this room because if you squint, you can see they’re in the baseboard. Whoever built in the old patio to make it a sunroom did a crap job with their design. One day it will be so much better. Let’s hope that day comes before the one-year anniversary of Harvey’s 50 inches of rain.

The second thing to notice, if you will, is the plywood door (open in the second photo) that became Tom’s creative way of keeping the dogs IN this room when it was the only room of the house we were living in, and now keeping the dogs OUT of this room when the fix-up starts. The door worked beautifully and gave us the idea that we’d like a permanent door there. We suggested a Dutch door, so the bottom could stay closed, corralling dogs where we wanted them, but the upper half could stay open for air circulation and so I wouldn’t feel shut off from everyone when this is my office again–UNLESS I WANT TO BE SHUT OFF, and then I can be.

We discussed lots of ideas with Keith and Mike, and when I said what I’d really like is to get an old solid wood door and let them cut it in half to make a Dutch door out of it, painting it the same color as the kitchen cabinets but letting the wood stay a little rough under the paint, Mike said to go for it. So Tom and I found this 1910 door salvaged from an old house in one of our favorite Heights antique stores. The door has many coats of paint in different colors on both sides, so Mike said he’ll give it a light sanding and clean it up but not too much.

As you can see, the door still has its glass panes. LOVE! We are excited to see how this will turn out. How the entire room will turn out, in fact. At least this is one time when I have definite before photos!

Tradition

Last night was the return of Craft Night, Part 2. Rhonda and Lindsey came over (first time since they helped us pack up stuff after the flood!) and brought their dog Pepper. Jack is the only one who ever had a play date with Pepper at RubinSmo Manor, so it was a chance to introduce her to Anime and Delta. Anime likes to make new friends slowly, and Delta just wants to be the Boss of All Dogs and People. Pepper doesn’t care. She loves everybody.

Later, she even got a little outside time with Tim’s and Debby’s dogs. Pixie and Penny took it all in stride, as they usually do. Pollock got a little rambunctious and needed some time in solitary to think things over. Harley thought Pepper was wonderful, and Pepper did not understand that Stewie does not think he’s a dog and doesn’t want to be treated like one–so Stewie went back to Fairy Cottage to brood about why flies, his nemeses, exist.

Jack and Pepper, however, renewed their friendship and played so hard that when the night was over, Jack dropped like a rock and slept all night. I hear Pepper was worn out, too.

Of course I took no photos of any of this. However, today being our late friend Steve’s birthday, we did all recognize the occasion last night with birthday cake (thank you, new oven!) as we do every year. It was so nice to be in an almost fully recovered home, celebrating Steve’s life with people we love.


And a big thank you to Tom. When I realized that all the Winnie the Pooh ornaments I use to decorate this yearly cake were in storage, he went through the Christmas decorations that are still on the property to see if any of them were duplicated and still in their boxes. Found one!

Passenger

All that you want
Is standing right in front of you
All that you need
Is love….
One Republic, “Passenger”

It will always be the hardest date, the day Aaron left us in 2012. I’m sure everyone in our family has mentally rewound that day and all the ones before it, wondering how anyone could have made it not happen. How we could have him alive, happy, and with us today, maybe two years out of college, maybe starting a family, and while it’s poignant to say doing all the amazing things he might have done, any of us would be happy for him to be doing the simplest of everyday things. To see him, share stories, laugh again with him. Depressed people can do all those things so well that even the people who love and know them best can be misled into believing everything is okay when it is so not okay.

So some of us who lose a person to suicide do whatever we can in case even one person might benefit. We tell the truth. We say, “Aaron killed himself. He didn’t get help. He didn’t tell us he needed help. We would have moved mountains to get him that help. We would have visibly, persistently, fiercely, loved him so much in hopes that the light of our love would get through the cracks and give him even one more moment to love himself.”

If you are suffering as Aaron suffered, if you believe there’s no one you can tell, then please, please call:

National Hopeline Network: 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
National Youth Crisis Hotline: 1-800-448-4663

Today Debby and I worked in Aaron’s Garden. The tin trike is the new addition I got last year with this in mind, making a path through the garden. We love you so much, Aaron, and we send all our love to David, Lisa, your brothers, and your sister.