TheBanyanTree: The Week in Review

[Margaret R. Kramer]

We saw the movie “A Prairie Home Companion” last Sunday.  It was a
delightful movie, which didn’t make a lot of sense, but the show is like
that, too, and it had wonderful music.  Watching the movie was like being at
the show.  Most of us gave the movie a good round of applause at the end.

The weather got warmer as the week went on until it was stinking hot on
Friday.  The heat and humidity were on full blast.  I, who really dislikes
air conditioning, actually turned it on in the house and in my car.  It’s a
very rare thing for me to use the air in my car, but to keep my sanity while
driving amidst the people who feel the road is all about them and to prevent
a major road rage incident from happening, I had it blasting.

What is the best thing anyone can do when it’s stinking hot and humid?  Why,
paint the smallest and darkest room of the house, of course!!!  Ray started
painting my office yesterday.  I don’t how he did it, because I didn’t turn
on the air conditioning until I got home from work.  We picked out a nice
light coral color for this dark room and even with just a couple of walls
painted, the room looks much brighter.  We’re also going to rip out the
carpet in this room and expose its lovely wood floors.

Asher had a show last night and Susan was working, so we watched the boys
for a short period of time.  While the sky grew darker and the clouds began
to open up and let loose with torrential rain, we ate pizza.  After dinner
the boys were bouncing off the walls and Ray began to look like a volcano
ready to erupt, we went down into the very cool basement.

That’s why basements were invented, you see, to have a place for rowdy
little children to go.  Our last house was totally finished, so we had no
“junk” area.  I love this basement, because it’s what a basement should be.
Half of it is finished with the white ceiling panels and recessed
fluorescent lights and that cheesy, old-fashioned paneling covers the walls.
The previous owner laid a nice white carpet on the floor, which helps keep
our feet warm.  I have our “family room” couches and tables in this area,
along with the boys’ toys and my scrapbooking stuff.  One wall has the
shelves which display all of my books.

The rest of the basement is divided into a laundry area and a work shop
(complete with a work bench and shelves).  There is a shower stall and a
small bathroom tucked under the heating vents.  We have lots of storage in
the basement.  I love its funny damp smell and the cobwebs hanging from the
rafters.

After the boys ran around throwing a football back and forth for a while,
they settled down.  The older one got out some of my scrapbooking stuff and
began to make his dad a Father’s Day card.  It became a book of three poems
he quickly wrote before his mother took him home.  The little one got the
book Dinotopia, which is much better than the movie, and began to “read.”  I
got a Clifford, the Big Red Dog coloring book and began to color.  It’s
amazing of how much gets accomplished and how much conversation we have
without the TV on.  No, the TV in our basement was NOT turned on.
Wonderful.

Ray got up early this morning, probably to begin painting, but I’m in my
office, using my computer while I still can before he unplugs the whole
operation.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.
~Bern Williams