Sunday Workday and a Surprise Visit

May 25, 2014

On Sunday, Bob came over and helped us work on the kitchen some more. Liz spent her time cleaning up our ~~apartment~~

Sorry about that. Muscle memory.

Liz spent her time cleaning up our house, and getting our upstairs bathroom and office/closet in better shape. While Bob was working on pulling up more of the floor, I spent my time outside trying to clean up a lot of excess debris from all our prior work days.

Pictured above: the first step into the kitchen. The gray area there is actually the top of the small alcove in the basement, where the water heater sits.

More floor work. Or, more accurately: less floor.

Walking from the dining room to the backyard now requires some serious commitment, and a little balance. I am still terrible at this. I can walk no problem, but stopping and balancing and doing work requires a lot more concentration… and has me moving at a much slower pace.

Late in the afternoon, we got a surprise visit from Jake and Anais, along with Tus and a new friend named Logan (who was delightful to meet). Jake and Anais had been biking all day, and trekked down to Hyde Park from Rogers Park – quite the impressive distance!

On top of that Jake had two crates set up for Tus and Logan, and basically hauled them around on his bike as well!

You can’t see it in this picture, but Bob, Liz, and I are all smiling like crazy watching the dogs on Jake’s bike. We heard some great stories about how other people (pedestrians, other bicyclists, and even cars) reacted when seeing these guys go down the street.

After everyone took off, Liz headed out to the laundromat while I continued to work on clearing out some of our excess wood. Around 8:30 or so, I ended up plopping on the front porch and waited for Liz to get home.

I’ve been on pager duty for the past week, and it was surprisingly quiet all day (save for some excitement early in the morning).

This was an odd moment, but one worth capturing: I was sitting on the porch, looking out on the street, and resting from the day. The sensation I had was that this was a porch I was sitting on, and not that it was my porch. This place felt like a place where Liz and I sleep, and where we do a lot of work. But this evening, I had momentarily forgotten that it was my house.

I guess these moments come and go. I remember when I was shoveling snow for the first time here, and I was slowly discovering the walkway from the steps to the sidewalk with each movement. I felt very much like a homeowner then, and actually enjoyed nearly every time I had to go and shovel the snow out in front.

Everything inside is still incredibly utilitarian, as it should be given where things are at now. And we’re making really good progress, as I realized when Liz and I were recapping what all we’d done with Jake and Anais.

But tonight, ever so briefly – I forgot that this was my place. An odd transition, moving back and forth, realizing/remembering we own a house. I expect this will go on while we are in our working phase, and will drop off as we finish off each room.

It was nice out on the porch, though. Ending the day out there, watching people and cars drift by. Out on the porch. Out on my porch.