turning the day around

Colin was standing out on the main deck (where I do all the dye stuff) when the boards settled under his feet just a bit, but suddenly. Alarmingly. This is a second-story deck. You've seen dozens of pictures. 

He went underneath and found this. This metal support post was part of the original deck, only six feet from the door. The house was built in 1971 by a penny-pinching contractor. 

We think this corrosion is due, in part, to my work with salt and chemicals spilling on the boards and below through the years. I haven't looked at the other posts yet, but when Jim enlarged the deck in 1998, when we got the pool, he used massive wooden supports. 

The deck is safe, but I'm uncomfortable working out there until the support is replaced and a good portion of the deck garden is relocated. The big, heavy table Jim built 30 years ago has given me its all, too. 

So, I wandered around Lowe's for an hour looking for lally columns, jack posts, and structural beams. I like lumberyards and hardware stores the way some women like shoe stores. Soul catnip. All I found was a plastic, 5-gallon pail to transport the frogs from the pool to the creek. 

And this - In a crowd of Brads, Liams, and Olivers, it was staring at me out of the cooler at checkout. After an hour of hot, fruitless shopping. 

Terrible for me. Wonderful. Yes.

Before Lowe's, I went to Van Adams Jewelers in Snellville and was delighted by the care and attention from the staff. All I wanted was to resurrect this watch. Jim gave it to me for Christmas sometime in the 90s, and I didn't have the heart to tell him he got me the men's and not the women's version. I got used to it. The strap broke ages ago, and I feared the battery might have leaked and ruined the works, which was the death of the Mickey Mouse watch I was planning to give Charlie. 

In short order, the young lady brought it back from the bench, working! She helped me pick out a band and put it on. I was set on matching the old brown leather one, but this grey nylon is a great match to the watch. 

The overall feeling of the day was one of closeness to Jim. They never leave us in spirit. 

The frosting on the cake of my day was cleaning out my threadnest and deciding which colors to keep for myself. 

I'm still looking for teal, rust, more golds, some deep leafy green, and a darker turn of the moon threads.