The Art of Nature and the Nature of Art
  • Musings on Life and Work in Progress
  • Find my gallery
  • Contact Me Directly

Marriage Tip #936

27/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Once in a while, I am reminded of how much work we have poured into this old house.  It goes without saying that every surface, inside and out, bears the stamp of a one project or another.  We are only the second owners, even though it had well over fifty years under its belt when we took it on, but the house was amazingly unspoiled thanks to decades of benign neglect.  The exterior trim was both original and intact, although a regretful colour, and thankfully no one had painted the woodwork.  We upgraded the heating and electrical systems and proceeded to make the old girl ours.  People say that the test of a marriage is hanging grass cloth together.  Yes it is.  So was sanding and staining an entire oak floor, while living in the cellar. Over the years this place has become as comfortable as an old shoe.  We do stairs in the dark, automatically counting them off.  Either of us can find the bathroom at 3 A.M. in any phase of the moon.  I thought the house and I were compadres.  You think you know somebody.

So it came as something of a surprise on Saturday morning when I stood up after cleaning the bathtub and rotated right into the end of the bathroom door.  We’ve been living here for over a third of a century and cleaning the tub is something I have done before.  But that cursed door has been playing the long game, patiently waiting decades for me to drop my guard.  I slammed into it so hard that my first thought was about teeth — my original and very expensive teeth.  Use them every day, as a matter of fact.  They were fine but my forehead was another matter.

Naturally I had screamed bloody murder.  Windows cracked and the dishes rattled.   I sat down on the bathroom floor to wait for Jon, who would certainly thunder up the stairs and comfort me.  Nothing.  Holding a rapidly swelling goose egg, I staggered down, whimpering.  Nothing.  Finally the hum in the TV room led me to find my beloved, who was wearing his new noise-cancelling headphones and cheerfully peddling away on his Tacx bike trainer.  Boy, those suckers really work.   He eventually noticed me. 

So a word of advice if you are in the market:  if you are buying noise-cancelling earphones for yourself, do so by all means.  I understand they reduce stress.  

But you might want to rethink their suitability as a gift item.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archive

    July 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    ALLA PRIMA PAINTING
    ANIMALS
    ART SHOWS
    BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
    CHRISTMAS
    COLOUR THEORY
    COMPOSITION
    GARDENING
    GLAZE OIL PAINTING
    HOW SHAPE MATTERS
    INSPIRATION
    OUTDOOR LIFE
    PALETTE
    PHOTOGRAPIC REFS
    PORTRAITS OF CHILDREN
    PORTRAITURE
    SEASONS
    STILL LIFE
    SUBJECT MATTER
    THE FUNCTION OF TITLES
    THE HUMAN COMEDY
    THE ISSUE OF SIZE
    THIS OLD HOUSE
    TREES
    UNDERPAINTING
    YouTubes

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.