on the eve

The grandkids are gone back home and the house is quiet again.  And cold.  Those four additional bodies added a lot of heat to the house.  And noise.  And energy.  And germs.  The twins were sick and now I am getting it.  I can't remember the last time I was sick.  One of the benefits of being a hermit.

Sunday night all four of the grandkids arrived for the week. On Wednesday morning my sister brought over the little dogs.  She has gone to have Christmas with her elder daughter and her family.  Which means that I am working for her at the store while she is gone.  I worked Wednesday and Thursday and the kids were retrieved on Friday.

And the little dogs are very sad. We don't play with them like the kids do.

When my daughter and I were making plans for the kids to come, I told her that I would be working at the store those days.

"And Dad's OK with that?" she said.

"Well, he didn't say 'No, hell no'", I answered.

Later, telling Marc about my conversation, he said he didn't think he had a choice.

"You don't." 

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So, this is sort of entertaining, working at the store.  All sorts of people come in.  That is when people come in.  So far, I've had enough people come in on my days to break up the hours but my sister has had many days when not a single person has come in.

Thursday an older lady came in and looked around the store and as she was leaving she told me that we had two paintings in the other room that she had done many years ago and had sold them in a garage sale.

“I saw them the last time I was here and was wondering if anyone had bought them” she said. “They're the ones of the boats with houses behind them.”

“Well, you already got rid of them once” I told her when she mused about whether she should buy them.

After she left I was curious and went around the shop to see which ones they were.

They were 'paint by number' pictures.

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Well, it's christmas eve for those of you who celebrate this holiday. I'll be working at the store today handing out germs to anyone who ventures in. I don't really expect to see anyone though as it is cold and rainy.

I imagine everyone in this small town has already done all their shopping and they will be snug in their warm dry houses cooking and wrapping presents. As well they should be.

I wish them all a happy time and me a speedy recovery.

sniff, sniff, sneeze