Almost Done

I have three more rounds to knit on Cast Sock #6 and it'll be done.  It was a good thing that I didn't knit on it today because I would have run out of knitting before I ran out of Friday Night Knitting time.  I wish you could see the sparkle in this yarn.  It's like a mylar thread running through it.  Very shiny.

Once again the only birds I saw at the feeder today were the pair of House Finches.  No squirrels, no Sparrows, no Juncos, just two House Finches sorting through the seeds.

All I did for most of the day was listen to an audiobook.  There are times when I feel like I should be doing something in addition to listening but then I think if I was reading a book book I'd be just sitting in a chair with a book in my hands and doing nothing else.  So I keep on listening, sometimes with a graham cracker to keep hunger at bay.

04 December--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

             With Silas and Iggy upstairs drilling and installing wiring, tossing the old, frayed stuff out the window to slide down into Mr. Carty's twice-emptied dumpster that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the back garden, Zeke nailing down the new roof, Luke and Stanley working their way around the building scraping the flaking paint and singing along with their blaring radio, and Edward and Mr. Gomez out back meticulously and scrupulously cataloging each and every bolt, washer, and paintbrush in the cargo container, I felt like the queen bee in the center of a very busy and noisy hive.  In four days Iggy and Silas had totally rewired the upstairs, worked their way down the stairs unrolling wires as they came, and started in on the lobby.

            Iggy said, "I decided to get every room done before the kitchen."  I opened my mouth to speak but he held up his hand.  "Yes, Mrs. Rose, yes, I know.  I consider the porches like rooms.  In fact, Silas just completed wiring the lights and two outlets on the second-floor gallery.  I will set him to work on the front porch tomorrow morning when the sun is on the other side of the hotel.  I do not relish frying my apprentice in the afternoon sun."

            Silas came downstairs and heard the last remark.  "I am very grateful for that, Uncle Iggy.  My mother and Johnno would not like it if you abused their youngest and most favorite son that way."

            Iggy burst out laughing.  "Most favorite son, eh?"  He turned to me.  "Mrs. Rose, did you know that Silas here is Johnno and Lobelia's only son?"  His hand brushed mine as he turned to walk into the kitchen still chuckling, "favorite son," and shaking his head.  I managed a shaky laugh as I rubbed away the goosebumps on my arm.

            I spent the rest of the morning sitting in a corner of the lobby watching out the window as Zeke’s pulley contraption raised roofing materials and sorting through the cans of nails that we had pulled from the wood we took out.  Some of them could be reused but many were too bent or too rusty so they needed to be tossed.  I carried in a few of the painted boards we had saved, made a sanding block and worked to expose a few layers of the old paint, trying to figure out a use for them.

            Iggy and Silas were wiring the breakfast bar across the room, Iggy directing Silas in a quiet voice.  I watched Iggy's graceful movements as he reached his long fingers up to tease the wire through the wall studs.  His muscles rippled as he pulled the wire towards himself and then stretched to thread it over to where he planned to put in a junction box.  I thought the sweat stains on his blue chambray shirt looked like a line of kisses down his spine.  He turned to wink at me and I felt the blush rising in my cheeks.

            Two weeks after starting, two weeks of seeing that little platform raise up and down from the roof as I sat sewing, Zeke came in just as I was putting my fabric and machine away.  “Done,” he said with a face-splitting grin.  

             I couldn’t believe my ears.  “You’re all done? So soon?” 

             He lightly tapped my shoulder with his fist. “I am the best roofer on Anguilla, I waste no time. Come look.”  We all trooped out the front door and down onto the sand to be able to see the bright metal panels on the roof.  Zeke had extended the overhang all around to keep the rain from blowing in the bedroom windows. “Keeps the wet off the walls so no rot happens,” he said.   

            “It looks great,” I said. “I can’t wait for the next rainstorm.” Just as the words left my lips drops began to fall from the sky and we all hurried inside and up the stairs to see how the roof held. 

           “No leaks,” Zeke said when the rain slacked off, “and I put vented metal over the eaves so the hot air will be drawn out, make your a/c work easier.” 

            I reached up to lightly punch his shoulder.  “What an idea.”

Today's toss was a bag of DVDs that have outstayed their welcome.  I think some were Mom's and some were Durwood's but I made the decision that I won't be watching them so into the bag and out to the car they went.

I meant to take a walk today but didn't manage to get out the door.  I did take down the wind chimes which don't really weather the winter winds well.  I'll hang them up again in spring.  Writing went pretty well today too.  I find if I write about going into the ocean to snorkel or dive I have less trouble so lately all my characters get wet.  I got wet today too but only in the shower.

And the last bud fell off the Christmas cactus today.  That makes two flowers bloomed and four buds dropped off.  I have no clue what kept the two on or what made the four fall off.  It's a mystery.

--Barbara