Back In The World

Monday passed in a whirlwind of chores and humidity, sweat and crankiness.  I ended the crap day by drinking a large glass of wine and diving into another new book.  I should have been working on the serial, writing the blog, taking photos, but I was still off the grid in escape mode.

In an attempt to get back on track, I went to Lowe's this morning and accomplished two major things, then had an unexpected thing happen that made me smile at the kindness of strangers.

The first thing I had to do at Lowe's was get spare keys made for all the doors.  Overkill, no doubt, but after the aggro of Friday night, I don't care.  The second item on the list was figuring out how to replace the bent and broken screen.

I get the keys made, then wander down the "screen hardware" aisle (who knew?)  I bought the screen frame repair kit and the screening material, but the tool that joins the mesh to the frame is sold out.  I ask one of the clerks what this tool looks like as I might be able to use something I already have.  He's not too clear in his description, so I try to pin him down starting with flathead screwdriver and work my way to pizza cutter.  There's another person in the aisle looking at screening.  He interrupts and says the tool does look like a pizza cutter, but has a groove in the center of the wheel, to fit the beading that will hold the screen in place, then tells me he has several in his truck and will just give me one.

What?  Just...give me one?

I smile and say no, I couldn't possibly take one of his tools, but how kind of him to offer.  He tells me he's a door and window man--by occupation--and has just stopped into Lowe's on his way to a window job.  He assures me he has several of these screen tools and insists on giving me one.

I'm still a bit leery as I follow him to his truck, but sure enough, he digs around in the ginormous tool box in the back of his rig, then hands me the tool.  I thank him profusely and offered to pay, but he gruffly refused, climbed into the truck and drove off.  What a very nice thing for someone to do.

My new screening tool...

Building a totally new frame should be interesting.  I have four 60" lengths of metal that I have to cut (with a hack saw) into the right dimensions and assemble, then cut the mesh and install it with the tool.  And hope when I'm finished it will actually fit into my window.

Oh, the margin for error.  It boggles the mind, doesn't it?

With that thought swirling, I procrastinated put off the screen project for another day, and decided to tackle something else instead...

I have many plants in my house; to my mind, plants make a house into a home.  In light of that, I've spent the better part of the afternoon watering, aerating, feeding, pruning and moving my plants to different areas around the house.  It's my version of Summer vacation for them: new sights and sounds and sun and space.

In the process, I discovered my Bromeliad, which I've had since it was a little sproutling, has bloomed!  This miraculous flower wasn't there last week when I watered and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  I've never had a Bromeliad actually flower in captivity...so to speak.  It's not flashy, in fact the bloom is very understated, but still, how cool. 

My first ever Bromeliad flower:

A bunch of keys made, screen kit purchased, a new tool from a very kind man, and an unexpected floral gift.  All things considered?  A really good day to be back in the world...