A friend at the knitting group meeting, a couple of weeks ago, asked what the Tall Painting from Fun with Friends looked like, when it was all finished. “Oh,” I said. “I should do a follow-up. Like The Rest of the Story.”
She looked a little confused. So I explained (because she is somewhat younger than I am, and I couldn’t remember how many years earlier Paul Harvey had been on the radio). “There used to be a radio commentator, named Paul Harvey. And he would share news items, and sometimes, he’d talk about the first part, and then, after a commercial break, he’d say, ‘And now: The Rest of the Story.’ He was kind of a folksy guy. Like Garrison Keillor, on ‘Prairie Home Companion?” And I began to wonder if anything I was saying made any sense.
“I didn’t grow up in this country,” she reminded me. Oh, yeah. Well, she’s at least heard of Garrison Keillor.
Anyway, here’s some catching up, filling in, and more story:
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- Real, professional, Tall Painting, done in a real artist’s studio, will be completely symmetrical. Here’s what it looks like (the birds’-eye view), when five- and six-year-olds do it.
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- After Fun with Friends, I had lots of cash register receipts to turn in, for reimbursement. They’d been all wadded up in my purse and in bags, so I spread them all out on the ironing board, to press them flat (are you laughing yet?).
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- This is the first one I ironed. The cute little pattern on the paper is from the pattern of the steam holes on the bottom of the iron.
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- I guess that today’s cash register receipts are heat-generated. I gently applied the iron to the edges of a few more, and, yes, the heat made the paper turn black. So I just smoothed them all out, best I could, and turned them in.
I haven’t talked about the charming children in Sunday School lately.
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- A couple of weeks ago, a teacher brought ingredients for making biscuits. Two interested little boys worked together, just the two of them, and mixed and rolled all the biscuit dough.
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- Then they sprinkled on some cinnamon sugar.
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- While the biscuits baked, the two little friends decided to paint together at the easel. Too sweet!
And, the most important news:
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- There was a hang-tag from the Oncor people, telling us that there would be an interruption of service. Before I left the house that morning, in case the electricity was off when I returned, and the garage door wouldn’t go up, I made sure that I had fastened the right lock. (Lock on doorknob cannot be opened from the outside with a key. Deadbolt CAN be opened from the outside with a key. I learned this, of course, the hard way.)
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- When I returned, the garage door DID go up, and when I went into the house, I saw that the clocks were flashing, but obviously, the power was back on. And I’d only been away a couple of hours. I went out to check, and sure enough, the wires were on the new pole.
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- The broken parts of the old pole had been removed. The workers said they would take those parts, and then the other guys would come back later and take down the rest of the old pole.
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- “Actually,” I said. “I’d like to keep these old parts.” And they just did not know what to say. It’s a request they’ve not heard before. Ever. “This is my childhood home,” I said. “This is the telephone pole of my childhood. And my children’s childhood, when they came to visit their grandparents. I want to keep these pieces.” “We’ll have to ask our supervisor,” they said. (And they never, ever appeared to WANT to say, “Are you nuts!”) And after they were gone, I went out, and TA-DAH, the telephone pole parts of my childhood were still at the back of my yard. YAY!
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- Part of the pecan tree that the Oncor guys trimmed, back in the spring. And the top of the broken utility pole. (That plant looks a little precarious, doesn’t it. I put a plastic-potted plant on it, just in case.)
Oh, yes. You see it, don’t you. God’s plan for growing things that do not know when to quit.
Recently, I drove out to the cemetery. I hadn’t been in ages, and I wondered how the things we’d planted over the years were faring. The liriope is doing well, and some purple-flowered thing I put in is still growing. The grass in encroaching in the flower bed part and needs to be cleaned up, but that’s a job for October, not now. When Daddy passed away, they asked if we wanted a military stone, because the government provides those to veterans at no charge. “Well, I suppose so,” I said. When it came, the cemetery called and said where did I want it, and I didn’t know what to say. There’s a headstone with both Mother’s and Daddy’s names and information. “I don’t know,” I said. And they suggested it could be a footstone, which sounded fine to me. It’s been there for several years, but here’s what I photographed just a couple of weeks ago. Yes, there’s a PECAN TREE growing next to it. Not surprising, as there’s a pecan tree right above them. But, it’s got to come out. Another job for October.
So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.
Galatians 6:9 (Good News Translation)
There are all kinds of ways that we do good and do well, for our families, our churches, our friends, and even ourselves. And there are all kinds of results for our good work. I’m grateful for the smaller things and the larger things, and all the things in between. God is good to me.
Thanks for the update on the Tall Painting! 🙂
You’re quite welcome. You should try it yourself! With, maybe, layers of yarn in between the layers of paint. Hmmmmm.
Jim & I went to Chili’s to celebrate our 36th anniversary a couple of nights ago and to use the gift card “hostess gift” from Amy & Collin. When we were done, we got to use the cool new “pay at your table” device to complete our purchase. (It IS the place where the young folks go according to Russell.) You can also play games on it while you’re waiting. (We did not.) However, when the receipt scrolled out, it was blank. We checked with the waitress since we wanted to make sure that we’d done it right, and she would get her tip. She said “The paper’s probably in there upside down.” Yes, it was. Jim said “Oh, you know, that’s heat sensitive tape. It’s been around since before you were born.” So I did know exactly what would happen when you ironed your receipt!
Yes, Kevin said, after reading it, pre-publication, last night. He *was* laughing. Apparently *everyone* knows about it. Well, maybe not Peter. But April is probably explaining it to him today, so he won’t make the same mistake, when he gets old enough to use an iron. Or goes to Chili’s.
Surprised the poles were cut level and would stand on their own but I love the look of the poles with plants on them! A bit of memorabilia for generations to come. Lovely!
They’re not *exactly* level. Just *rather* level. Level enough. They do stand on their own, but, I did use plants in plastic pots, just in case. And we have several extra pieces, of both poles, for Peter to hammer nails into. In a few more months.
When Laura was a nanny, her boss asked her to help the children make place mats from tickets, receipts, etc. from their trip to Paris, and then take them to a teacher-type store to have them laminated. They had great fun creating their Paris Place Mats, but you can imagine what happened to the receipts. We live and learn. I’ve never known anyone who ironed their receipts, but I love you anyway.