CLAY AND WATTLES

Monday

Okay, so Sunday night - Sher called me and wanted to "look at houses" on the internet, so we did for about an hour. She'd give me the number and we'd look at the pictures together, scrutinizing and commenting on location, style, rooms - "That wallpaper would have to go." "Is that a canal?" "That looks like a swampy pond." Around 9:30 I said, "Why didn't we do this this afternoon?" (We'd talked earlier.) "I was climbing the walls then," she said. Took a notion to take pictures off her walls, including a big painting from over her fireplace. Then she wished she hadn't. The house she - rather her real estate agent daughter Melanie - found is pink. Pastel, coastal, tropical pink. Built in 1902, I would bet it doesn't have many or any closets and it doesn't have a carport or garage. But - it has a bayview and shares a dock with two other homes. Since this is her "final" house, she said, (then in an aside, thought aloud to me: "Maybe I could go for one more overseas tour then I'd have job rights here when I came back." That girl. Who knows.) But it is a pretty two-story house, and looks as if it's been well cared for. Finally, after finding the house and the dock on Google Earth (she did) I said I had to go to bed. Talked to her this morning and she'd gotten about two hours' sleep last night. Hyper over all she has to do and finish in Columbus and wanting to know about the Pink House - what she would put in this room and that room. She said she has a project for me - to do a calligraphy quotation on one of her walls. (She'd intended to paint one in her present house, but never did.) "Well," I told her, "that should be easy. Since this is your last house and considering it may be located on the bay, I'll just paint "DOCKED."

And this morning I got up and got ready for work, but Paul had gone back to bed. He's still a little puny. I asked if he wanted anything, had he eaten anything, did he take medicine, would he call the doctor or actually go to the doctor. No, yes, yes and... "No, I'm better," he told me as he rolled over and poked his head from under the comforter. So I left Oscar there to take care of him. I hope he (Paul) won't decide to go to work or get outside and do stuff in the yard today. This may sound terrible, but it's not in my actual job description, so I don't normally do this chore - I rolled the garbage can down to the curb for the first time. Pretty easy. We don't have a lot of garbage since we recycle so much, so it wasn't even half full. I think of all Sher and Amy do every day that I take for granted that Paul does... and I admire them for all they do. And thank Paul for all he does. Hope he's better soon. I have a pretty short job description - I even had to do more laundry yesterday...