Leannderthal

Interesting variety of feet, no?  Four of these feet belong to a couple of wedding heads, Kari and Patrick.  They finally tied the knot on Thursday!  Kari and Patrick threw this wedding together in three weeks, and it could not have been more perfect if they had spent a year planning it.

I knew they were planning on a small wedding, mostly family with a few close friends, so I figured inviting the landlords was probably not high on the list.  But then, Kari and Patrick did me a huge honor.  They asked me to officiate!!  Kari had done her research,  and with her help I became a minister in the Universal Life Church.  Kari got to know the very kind gentleman behind the counter at the local branch of the county clerk’s office, and everything is official, Patrick and Kari are married!

Don’t they look elegant?  Fortunately, I already owned the robe.  It was a beautiful day, and every detail went off without a hitch.  Can you say “without a hitch” when two people get hitched?

We did the ceremony beside the Detroit River.  Don’t you just love this photo?

Everyone who knows Kari and Patrick knows they belong together, and they figured out the most perfect way to do it!

Afterwords, a beautiful reception at Le Petit Zinc, a lovely and very small restaurant in Detroit.  If you ever get a chance, check out this tiny restaurant, the food is wonderful!

Congratulations, Kari and Patrick!!

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

Party shoes meet work shoes.

Mark and I rototilled a space behind one of our houses to make a community garden for the tenants.   A garage and workshop used to stand in this space, so there was lots of rubble under the ground.  Even after running the rototiller, I couldn’t put a shovel in the earth without hitting rock.

This is the pile of bricks and rubble pulled out of the garden.

And this is the garden.  I put in a few plants, but to my delight the residents immediately planted the rest.

It will be a happy garden.  That was the work, Wednesday night was play, we saw Shemekia Copeland at the ark.  What a great show for blues lovers, Shemekia’s voice is amazing and she’s got a great band.   Last night we watched a lot of local bands take the stage at the Power Center in tribute to the Beatles.  It was part of Summerfest in Ann Arbor, a great night.  Lots of work, lots of play.  Maybe I’ll go back to bed now.

It has been a long week.  I’ve started mowing the lawns, Mark and I are assessing all the work we need to get done over the next few months, add a couple of funerals, it can be wearing.  Yesterday was our big yard sale.  It was cold, even saw a few snowflakes.  It took Mark and I most the evening to warm up.  Our techniques included a nap under an electric blanket, a hot shower, a hot dinner and a fire in the fireplace, we finally got warm.   My feet are not standing today, they are propped up as I watch TV.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

Remember this?

Well, the cleaning and painting is all done!  Know anyone who needs an apartment?  We’ve got a couple for rent right now!

The drop cloth is down, we’re ready to paint!  Another apartment needs work, it’s gonna take some real effort.

The bathroom tiles have a small issue.

A little scraping before we paint.

But life does have its rewards.  Like my fancy new growler?  Here, I’ll give you a close up:

Pretty cool!

I know, it isn’t much.  That is making me happy this morning.  Much of the country has been blanketed in snow, and we are due to get some tonight, along with lots of wind, but every day that I wake up and I don’t have to shovel yet is a good day.

We’ve got the containers of ice melt at all the tenant doorways, we’ve got snow shovels at all the properties, I think we’re as ready as we can get.  It is already the ninth of December and I haven’t had to deal with the white crud yet, I’m delighted.  Here’s hoping for an easy winter.

I haven’t got any new art to show off, due to a great need to clean and fix up apartments that have gone vacant, and get it done before new tenants move in.  Of course, we generally stick to neutral colors, and try to make them clean and pretty, with no personality, so people will rent them.  But I would so much rather make them look like this place in Detroit:

Wouldn’t you love to live in a place that looks like this?

This is a lot of pink in one wall, but I think even Lynn might like this pink!

There is always a mirror nearby to check your makeup.

Aren’t these wires wonderful?

It just makes me smile.

I’ve been thinking about fun lately.  I have discovered while having fun can be easy, figuring out what is fun is not.  My trick, now, is to figure out at different times during the day if I’m having fun or not.  It’s simple to say that if I’m making art I’m having fun, if I’m painting trim I am not, but it turns out that isn’t true.  Even if I’m feeling rushed, art is usually fun, unless I’ve reached a point where I’ve run into a wall, then it is agony.  I can be caught in total panic, sure I can’t go any farther, and until a breakthrough comes along I’ll just obsess and grumble, and that is not the fun part.

Now as far as painting goes, it turns out that can be a lot of fun.  I can feel productive and Velvet Underground songs run through my head.  The world leaves me alone, and I am free to think what I want and move along at my own pace.  It gets to be a whole lot less fun if I’m cold or if I have to make decisions.

The more I analyze, though, the more I realize the outside forces don’t have that much to do with whether it is fun or not.  Fun has so much more to do with what is going on in my head.  So today, I’m not going to be telling myself I’m doing things wrong, not doing them quickly enough, or that I should be doing something else.  It is my attitude that has the greatest effect on my capacity for fun, and I can control that.  I’m going to listen to good music, make sure I keep my self as comfortable as possible and keep myself moving.   I’m going to remember that there is no reason to panic when I hit setbacks, I will figure things out.  I’ll get the last of the trim painting and some more raking done.  It will be fun.

Did you miss me?  My site was down, and I can’t believe how much it upset me.  I didn’t realize how much I need this outlet.  It’s back, due to the genius of my IT person, my tenant, and my friend Kari.  (She has to be all three, she’s very busy.)

I stand in front of my Chuck Taylor’s, it’s getting too cold for them.  I hate that!  I wore them tree planting the other day, and got them filthy and soaked, gotta wear better shoes for tree planting.

I also stand in front of a bush I planted with Mark.  Mark is going bush and tree crazy.  He’s finding stuff on sale cheap, so now we are planting trees and bushes all over our properties and the rest of Old Village.

Our big van with all the supplies Tony and Mark use to go around the city planting trees.  I thought Mark wanted beautiful trees in our city to increase property values and make it a beautiful place.  Now I’m starting to wonder if he won’t be happy until Old Village is a forest!

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

Yesterday Mark and I were trying to find a certain color paint.  We have a paint room deep in the bowels of our basement.  Mark was looking at the paint on the top shelf, he was standing on a five gallon bucket of paint so he could reach the shelf.  Well, the lid of the paint bucket gave out, and Mark’s shoe was immediately covered in a pale blue-grey.  After uttering a not very nice word, Mark stood with his one foot above the paint bucket while I ran to get rags and tried not to laugh too much.  I managed to sponge off a lot of paint, get his shoe off, and then wash the shoe thoroughly.  We sponged off the little bit of paint he got on his shorts, and he found different, paintless socks and shoes to wear.  Later, when Mark and I were walking the neighborhood, I realized I had quite a bit of paint on my legs, though I wasn’t near the bucket when it happened.  I came to realize that I am an empath.  I take on other people’s paint.