Woke up this morning and the ice had formed on the INSIDE of our bedroom windows. The heater was making “I’m going to fire off any second now…really…no, really…I think I can, I think I can…” noises which never actually turned into the heater coming on in reality noises. My weather app said it was 0 degrees in Boise, outside. Inside it was 51 degrees, and dropping.
I keep thinking about Little Women as I type these words wearing my fingerless gloves. Apple needs to come up with an app which warms your hands while you write. And maybe wafts the aroma of hot coffee every time you hit the return key.
Anyway, Mike called the heater guys who are VERY BUSY because the entire city has been frozen inside a giant snow globe.
And in spite of the fact that today is Sunday (yes, I know you are reading this on a Monday which means I am ahead of the game for once –ho ho ho!) we had a really nice heater guy here within an hour. “Cool house.” he said when he walked in. He wasn’t referring to the temperature.
(This is where I mention again that in Boise there is never more than one degree of separation between any of us. I might also add that is just so like Boise to have a moment like that highlighted on a day when the temperature has warmed up to…wait for it…1 degree.)
Turns our our heater guy is married to a very fine artist whom we know, and he is sympathetic to the (shall we call it a “down-side”?) practicalities of an artist’s life. He charged us zippity do dah beyond the cost of a Sunday/Off Hours/Emergency call. This is all coincidental mind you. Boise serendipity. Thank you heater guy! You’re my Heater Hero!!
As I am now getting the sensation back in my fingers I can share my Frosty Cup and Saucer with you, which was after all the original plan for today….
This is a Second Helpings cup and saucer which I painted and SOLD a few years ago before we moved to Chicago where we lived for two years.
One day after we had moved back to Boise…
(this is Chicago in April in case you are wondering why we might have left such an artistically dynamic city) I was shopping at my favorite secondhand store and there was this cup and saucer on the shelf with the other misfit cups and saucers.
Of course I bought it! And no, I didn’t mention to the cashier that it was my work originally. I’m working on humility.
But who could resist that little face?
I won’t lie. It was very weird to find my work back in the same secondhand store where I had found the original black glazed cup and saucer. At first I was miffed that whoever had been given my cup had put it out with their charity donation. Then I was impressed at how much more they expected me to pay for my misfit cup and saucer than for any of the others on the shelf. Then I was miffed again that I was going to have to pay for something I had painted. Then I was embarrassed that I was going to pay for something that I had painted. Then I just bought the damn cup and went home and had a big ass cup of coffee in it. Hot coffee. And it was good.
I guess the message is heater guys can be heroes, and misfit snowmen can melt your pride, and in Boise, the lower the degree of separation the warmer the connection!