Photo courtesy of the Ledyard Historical Society

I started out wondering what witty title I could come up with to say that I’d let time get away from me again. The old, “How Time Flies” is about all that was coming to mind. I decided that I needed to dig deep so I started thinking about what I’ve been doing lately and hoping that the title would come from my explanation of being busy. The surprising thing is that the strategy worked.

The picture at the top of this post is of the Bill Library in Ledyard, Connecticut. I probably should say that it is a picture of how the library use to look. The library was built in the late 1800s and went pretty much unchanged until some time in the early 1980s when the town decided it needed a bigger library. Rather than tear down the old library or build on a new site, they added on to this one. They added on so much that the charming old library is now little more than a memory.

That memory was an important one to me. My sister and I had worked part time in that library as teenagers. Back in those days there were few books in the small library and even fewer people who stopped by in the evenings to check them out. We spent a lot of time alone with the books and formal portraits that lined the tops of the walls. I often felt that the paintings were watching me. That creeped me out a little but not quite as much as the mysterious footsteps I would often hear in the attic. I felt very attached to that building and it broke a bit of my heart when they modernized it. Although the addition of a bathroom was a good idea in my book.

I’ve spent years looking for a picture of the original building without luck. I searched the internet and sent emails to the library and several individuals. For the longest time there was nothing, and then one day an email arrived to change all that. Kit Foster, the Ledyard Town Historian sent me the black and white photo. I was jumping for joy. Just like a kid in front of a black and white TV screen I could”see” the comforting red of the dear little building and for a moment it felt like everything was right with the world.

Well, part of what I have been doing while away from the blog is working on that photo in an attempt to hold on to a bit of the times I remember in it.

I used the computer to give the photo a watercolor look and add color to it. Then I printed it onto canvas paper to give it even more of an authentic painting feel.

Do you see those photo envelopes and green envelopes in the background? Those have been another of my projects to hold onto time. In my search for the balloon boobs and wig photo I have spent time going through all my old photos. Because I don’t have enough things to keep me busy I decided to pull photos out of those old sticky albums and sort all of them into envelops by date. Eventually I’ll scan all the photos, create a directory with detailed information and cross reference them to the mountain of negatives I have. But that is for another day. For now I am just happy to have them out of the bad albums and have a goal of getting them all sorted into the envelopes. I’m almost to that goal.

I’ve also started work on updating my Grandmother’s dining chairs. This will be the third time that I’ve reupholstered them. In the past I’ve just added new fabric but this time I am taking them down to the bones and replacing the worn out padding. Look how much puffier the seat on the right looks. I know some tired butts that are going to appreciate that.

This is the fabric I’ll be using on the chairs.

My search for the boobs and wig also has me sorting though closets and corners, sifting through old papers and mementos. Good grief we have a lot of them! That aspect of the search has morphed into a major clean out and reorganization project. I’ve hauled out lots of trash, filed a bunch of things, and found new homes for others. Today I built two small shelving units to fit into a corner and tame what was once a forgotten pile.

If I were a completely different person I would take on these projects one at a time, actually get some of them completed, and have time for a daily update on the blog. But I’m me, and that isn’t the way I roll. I actually do better work if I am working on several things at once. Of course, the finish line is a lot further away when doing it this way, but it works for me. Some day I hope to be named the official poster child for ADD. Can a 52 year old be a poster child? Don’t answer that, I need to keep my dreams alive.

I’d love to hang around and chat with you some more but I have to run to the kitchen a make a cheesecake. Tomorrow is Pay Day Pizza Day and my part time son is expecting his payment for helping fix the car.

Oh! The car! I can’t leave without telling you what happened with it. Let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I drove it to the repair shop and dropped the problem in their lap. When I dropped it off they told me I would have to pay a diagnostic fee. Oh the smart ass comments I could insert here.. but I won’t… So the next day I wait till 3pm and still haven’t heard from them. I called the garage and they told me that they had been starting the car all day without trouble and that they couldn’t find a problem with it. It was 112 degrees out, you know I am only telling you that because I’m about to tell you I walked over there again, right? So I walked over to pick up my car. On my way through the back parking lot I passed two of their tow trucks and noticed one had it’s engine running… doesn’t sound important now but wait… When I get inside to pick up the car the guy starts to walk me out to it and I said, “Don’t I have to pay?” He told me there was no charge and little bells went off in my head but I was too hot and tired to care so I just went with the flow. The car started up fine and I headed home. As I was leaving the parking lot I passed the tow truck with the engine running. Sitting up in the cab, leaning forward and waving at me, was my new BFF, Mr. Tow Truck Driver! He was probably sitting there with the engine running just waiting for me to call again. Must have broke his heart to see me driving the thing.

The Boy came up with an idea that makes a lot of sense to me. He made note of the facts that the starting problems started AFTER the garage had worked on the car replacing the radiator, and that they didn’t charge me the diagnostic fee that I was to owe no matter what they found. His idea is that they discovered they had done something wrong that caused the problem and were taking this opportunity to quietly fix it and disavow any knowledge. I just love it when I can work “disavow” into a sentence. It reminds me of Mission Impossible on the old black and white TV set when I was young. Peter Graves and Martin Landau, great TV. Anyhoo… the car has been starting fine ever since then.

OK, next post will be a quick little project I had the girls working on last week. It’s a sweet little book made from 3 x 5 recipe cards. Anybody want to place bets on when I’ll be back here to write that post? HAHAHA!