Having lived in a small town (Greenwood, population 1,100) I grew up experiencing small town living. My mother was a school teacher school and my father delivered mail; both my parents were well known in the community.
We received a dose of having friendly neighbors this past week. While we were outside trimming trees and bushes, two of our new neighbors, Jan and Lorraine, walked past and struck up a conversation with Pam. During the conversation Pam mentioned she wished to get some rhubarb starts so we could eventually have rhubarb pie.
The next morning we found a pot of rhubarb on our east porch! Brand new and obviously from a greenhouse, we really appreciate the gesture. (Pam now thinks of the two neighbors as the Rhubarb Sisters.)
Along the same small town theme, a couple deer came running down Main Street the other day and cut in behind a house located just west of us. And a strange sight; two people dressed as dinosaurs came walking down the same street one day. Turns out they were dressed for a photo shoot at the local bank located a few blocks to the east of us. And, of course, the Mennonite carriages roll past every now and then. The clip-clopping of the horse hooves is quite a relaxing sound (except for the dogs…).
I have previously mentioned the number and variety of birds in the area but we also have rabbits and both grey and black squirrels in residence.
Still another example of small-town life came from the City. Officials secured a small bulk tank of hand sanitizer; bring your own container (spray bottle recommended) and fill it up for free. This information was provided to us by another neighbor who was driving by, saw us in the yard, and stopped to pass along the details.
As you may have gathered, we have been spending time outside as the weather improves. In addition to trimming trees and shrubs, I put down some grass seed and started filling in some low spots in the lawn.
After the foundation seal had cured I had to reattach the gutter downspouts I had removed from the house. Most had to be reworked as the foundation is now about 2 inches thicker than before. This meant the downspouts had to be rebuilt to clear the new insulation. The job took several hours and I was able to use parts and pieces of gutter that were on hand and left by the previous owner(s).
In addition to reworking the downspouts, I had to reinstall the porch boards I had removed to gain access to the main foundation. This photo shows the front porch (and I had to do the east/side porch as well).
Inside the house, Pam continues the parlor bedroom painting and upgrading. Here she is working on the west wall of the room at about ten foot height:
Note the previous “mustard” color that the new paint is covering. The new two-tone paint job, combined with a ribbon border and fabric header, looks terrific on the completed sections of the room.
Pam’s attention to detail extends to the strip of ribbon, seen in the lower right corner of the above photo, which features fabric moths cut from the header fabric. Pam glued the figures to tagboard to give them some depth, then mounted them where the ribbon pieces meet or end.
This photo shows off the ribbon strip and fabric figures a bit better:
In addition to working on the bedroom, Pam and I took a few minutes to mount a floating shelf under the upper stairwell angle. (This shelf would be visible upon entering the door from the front porch into the house.) The shelf displays two of Pam’s cameras and her mother’s Brownie box. Notice the 110 complete with original case, flash cube and flash cube extender. Can anyone say Antiques Roadshow?
As I write this it is raining so there will be little outside activity today. The rain will be beneficial for the grass seed I just sprinkled here and there on the lawn, as well as Pam’s new rhubarb plant. It will be a good time to catch up on other “inside” projects. There is always something to do!
From the Photo Archive
This week’s photo is from 2000 and shows the Fields Family at the Grand Canyon.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents:
No, the parlor bedroom is not PINK. It is “rose” (bottom color) and “blush” (top color). I had to do a bit of paint mixing myself to get the “blush” just the right shade. The accent ribbon is “deep mauve.” There will be plenty of cream and mauve + cranberry accents in the room — eventually.
One of my overall decorating goals here at 702 Main is to get things out of boxes and on display or in use, hopefully in artsy and interesting places. Hence the cameras on the shelf.
Happy Trails.