That’s the kitchen, obviously, after yesterday’s work.
And here’s the dining room, after a second coat this morning. You know, it never occurred to me, the whole time we were there, to pull out my real camera. So, my apologies for the cell phone pictures. I’ll actually spend a few minutes with the camera function soon and learn how to use the thing properly.
We returned the ladder to Jeremy‘s grandfather. The lady of the house answered the door again. We’d talked briefly, as much as she wanted to chat with a young stranger, the other day. You can only be so charming, but then you’re still a stranger, you know? I made nice with her puppy today, so all was well. Being from a time and part of the world where your pedigree will tell you everything she needs to know about you, she asked me if I was related to Homer Smith. I assume she meant the football coach.
No ma’am, I said. But there’s just so many of us. I’m related to a Comer Smith, but that’s as close as I know how to get.
She asked where I was from. I tell her Birmingham, but my people are in northwest Alabama. She knows the place. She used to live there, too.
“Do you know the Thigpens?”
Everybody knows the Thigpens. That’s one of the big, branchiest family trees in that area.
I dated a Thigpen, once.
I may or may not have done that. My memory is foggy. Either way it sounded good. I thanked her profusely, helped get the dog back inside and we left to return to Birmingham. There is still packing to do. And so we had lunch, using a coupon for Surin West, thinking spicy hot coconut soup on a triple-digit day was a good plan.
It is always a good plan.
And then, back to the packing. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. And that light is attached to a train. And on that train is a crowd of people screaming “You’re not ready to move yet! But the time is at hand!”
And so you just accept it. Throw things in boxes. Wrap soft things around fragile things, eschew the detailed labeling system your organized wife has developed and just start doing.
The next step is to move everything that is ready in the house down to the garage. The heat index will only be over 100 degrees when I do that tomorrow.
