Forecast: Full On Surreality

okra playing cards
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

For a day that began at the Buncombe County courthouse, it's not going too badly. We got out of the courthouse around 11 and when we got home my friend Adam was already here, mudding the walls in the part of the basement that I was hoping, someday, to turn into a studio apartment but that in the meantime is going to turn into another living room so Audrey can live upstairs and still have all her stuff, which we must move into the house soon. Sometimes I think Adam is more like a force of nature than a human being and that would probably explain why while I was trying to have a lengthy and fairly serious conversation with my son on the phone there were hundreds of gallons of water sluicing off the roof while Audrey tried to put the ladder back in place in front of the front door. Adam didn't quite fall off, though, and it would have been quieter if didn't turn out that Perdita has a strong aversion to men on the roof. What with the barking and shouting and all it was kind of hard to explain my parental point of view.

Then my brother showed up with 700 feet of Christmas lights, since they were throwing them away at his work and while I was thinking about that Adam brought out the chainsaw, which makes it difficult to think anyway, I find.

Then Adam and my brother left and Audrey and I settled into playing some Yahtzee and having a bloody mary to make up for our morning. That was peaceful, or as peaceful as it ever gets around here, what with the dogs and Okra and all, or at least it would have been except that then they came back.

They did not come back alone either: they brought friends. Piscine friends: specifically, the fishtank I got Annie for Christmas. She's returning it. The fish wouldn't stand still, she said, and they made her nervous. It came in a train with my brother and Adam all carrying bits and pieces and a tin bowl of water with two fish in it, now resting on the kitchen table. There are bits of aquarium here and there and Audrey is taking down the Christmas tree so we can rearrange the living room to accommodate this fishtank.

We're not going to think about the fact that Annie had eight fish four days ago and now there are only the two - god, I really hope she was kidding about taking them into the bathtub with her. But one never knows and sometimes it's best that way. Merry New Year! Put on your helmets and prepare for good times ahead!