Monday, March 22, 2010

When Life Gives You A Blank Wall...

So the deserted building next to me that was gutted last fall has sprung to life again. Well, with the warm, spring weather it is possible for the owners of this eyesore to begin work anew. They left a giant hole in the backyard in fall (a planned extension of the house) which took on alife of its own and began checking out the neighbors. Slowly but surely the big hole started coming into my yard and my patio started to fall into the encroaching pit. Last week with a major rain storm, the hole claimed more of my patio and part of my tomato bed. Then fence began to do a lean that way as well. Fortunately we had excellent weather all week and the workers dug more as well as fortify the earth a wee bit to stop the sink hole from getting bigger. What they also did while I was away at work, but a necessity I suppose, was cut down the fence, take down my pergola and put up a giant plywood wall on my property. That I wasn’t expecting but when it was all done, there wasn’t much I could say. They do promise to put it back the way it was and I have a signed note to prove it.
What does one do when life throws a giant blank wall into their life? Well I know what I do—I paint it. Last Saturday I pulled out the paints and went to work to relieve some stress by painting giant cats sitting in a garden of big, red flowers on a sunny day. That’s all I did for now but who knows, more cats might go up along the the plywood. Lights were hung too so we have some sort of festive illumination out back to take away from the dirt and shabbiness. Who knows how long the fence will be up but if I have to look at it, I might as well look at something I enjoy, right?

1 comment:

Tamara R. said...

Oh my god, Tom. What a horrible story. Kitty mural or not, I am absolutely mortified.