This was a tough one, and I thought we had done very badly. But it turned out that we got our usual 120 points and were smack in the middle.
Fun names this round:
Garlic as Good as 10 Things I Hate About You Bridget Jones’ Diary of a Mad Black Woman The Rambo Connection Edwoodington Eddington in Peru The OG Cast of Lady and the Tramp
We each had hand-lettered place cards, and got to take home a coaster. The cats on the coaster are smitten kittens, which is what Cheyenne’s daughter called Cheyenne and Renee.
As we went to our table Matt said, “Look, it’s that drawing thing you do!”
Cheyenne and Renee met at the Rosetown Ramblers square dancing club, and they invited Matt and me to their wedding. It was held at the Nordic House, which was a lovely venue.
The brides:
The Nordic House, of course is also the home of the Ole Bolle Troll, which Matt and I went to say hi to.
There was a delicious dinner, and then there was strawberry shortcake.
But also with a small cake for cake cutting.
Cheyenne and Renee invited 16 Ramblers, enough to fill two tables, and we had a grand time.
Jason and gerry
Jeff mugs for the camera.
Susan and John talk.
Jim, Eileen, and Matt made up the rest of our table.
As was befitting a couple who met while square dancing, there was a community square dance.
The whirling nature of the pictures had to do with the light (the sun had set) but also probably reflects the three glasses of wine I had drunk.
Matt attended another protest, with this new sign: If there’s money for raids, there’s money for Medicaid
He found out that using the dollar sign for money and the numeral four in succession caused confusion. People read it as four dollars rather than money for.
This sign was from a previous protest, but you don’t want to leave a blank side.
It’s been almost 15 years since Chris and I panted the walls blue. It wasn’t my favorite color, but it was my favorite color of the Metro Paint colors. Rereading that post, I was reminded that I once had an idea of installing shelving so the cats could hang out up top. I have no memory of that plan, though I do remember the plan to stencil Hungarian stars on the wall.
Anyhoo! I’ve grown very tired of this blue and am very excited for a new era. Here’s a corner by corner view.
To prepare for painting, I pushed my desk into the middle of the room, put my bedframe in the back yard, and my mattress in the front room.
To prep, I spackled over holes that I wouldn’t be using, and removed all of the extraneous things like switch plates and shelving.
In this picture, you can see that the second mirror on the wall was installed before the room got painted, and we didn’t bother to remove it when we painted it. It won’t be coming back, so I spackled and texturized those holes.
The big texture spot on this wall was where the folding desk was. That desk only lasted two years; I have other desk plans for the new room. The person on Buy Nothing who came to get it was thrilled. And also named Patricia. And was younger than me. Weird!
Both the postcard display and the drying racks on this wall will be coming back.
All the shelves are down from the desk area, but they will be back.
And here’s an interior of my very empty closet. The front room is stacked with all the many things I efficiently stored in my closet. It’s kind of a lot.
Friends Burt and Laurie have been getting together once-ish a month to do 90 minutes of some sort of project at one of our houses. It’s been pretty fun, and it’s also motiving. When there will be four people working, those backburner projects tend to come to the forefront.
This month, I had a variety of things ready. Laurie dug out our old worm bin while Burt drilled holes in a trash can that will become our new worm bin.
Burt put in two-by-fours that Matt and I cut to size. These will be used to hold hangers for all the yard tools.
Matt, Laurie, and I put together an object. The three of us assembled the wood that Matt and I cut into a box, and then Laurie and Matt added dowels while Burt and I measured the yard.
The final yard object. It’s main use is to keep me from tripping over the pole for the clothesline. It’s removable, and I can set it to the side while the cloths are drying.
I was over near the window and spied something odd: inflated figures. There were two of them, attached to two white trucks.
When I craned my head I saw their purpose: it was a protest by construction workers.
A well-timed protest, as a media tour for the new Albina Library was happening in the next 30 minutes.
The protest seemed to be about one of the contractors for the library using non-union subcontractors. Hence the rat (I think it was a rat, I didn’t see it from the front) squeezing the neck of the construction worker.
After a few hours, they deflated the figures and drove away.