For the first time in more decades than I care to admit, the inside of our house is being repainted. When you're dealing with an old house like ours, "repainted" is a catch-all phrase. We're lucky to have a master carpenter, plasterer and do-everything kind of fellow named Tom Sape tackling this job. I say "lucky" because he's also steamed wallpaper off the walls, rebuilt the holes in the wall that he found there, sanded/stained and polyurethaned the hardwood stair treads, filled in and leveled out serious cracks in the walls, repasted peeling wallpaper, AND repainted the walls and woodwork. Tom started several weeks ago in the upstairs and will work his way down. Except for a few weeks off here and there, we expect him to be with us all summer.

So summerime livin' is definitely NOT easy for Tom, but it IS easy for me because I'm doing my best to stay away from the house and its fumes while the work is going on. That includes daily lap swims with my husband Ed at our lakeside community park, a grilled veggie burger from the concession stand for lunch every day, watching the kids build sand castles on the beach, sitting out on the dock contemplating sky and sea (well, lake), and hours spent reading & napping in a wicker rocking chair in front of the community center. Poor me!