Chivalry Lives!

I'm happy to report chivalry is alive and well...at least in my neck of the woods. After several hours of power shopping, my husband and I paused for a much needed pit stop at the public restroom.

I went my way, he went his and that's when things got a little interesting. While my husband stood attending to business, an elderly woman, bent and clutching her purse to her chest ambled in behind him, entered the stall and locked the door.

Anyone who knows my husband would laugh out loud right now. I'm not sure what the Kentucky equivalent of the Blarney Stone is but I’m sure my husband has kissed it several times. In Ireland, it’s claimed to bestow the gift of eloquence. Here we call it the art of BS. My husband is a grand master. He's also a prankster and if he likes you, he'll aggravate you to no end. On the other hand, if he doesn't like you, there'll be no doubt left in your mind about that either. But I know that old bear to be a truly soft-hearted man even though he’d be the last to admit it.

Since he was the only male in the restroom, he finished up, washed his hands and rushed to block the door. Soon another man approached and the scene unfolded something like this.

"You can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"There's a lady in there."

"You’re kidding."

"No. She's just a little confused. She'll be out in a minute."

"Oh. Okay. I guess I’ll wait."

By the time I finished up and made my way out of the women’s restroom, my husband and two other men stood waiting outside the door.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“We can’t go yet,” he replied and explained the situation.

At that moment, the door swung open. She excused herself as she toddled between us and shuffled her way down the hall.

I hope when I’m older and a bit confused there’s someone to watch the door for me.

A muse with multiple interests...

Does your muse ever wander? Does she (mine happens to be a she, her voice gets quite shrill at times), does she ever grab you by the sleeve and say, “Psst! Let’s go do something different for a bit. I’m bored with this writing gig.”

Today, I thought I’d share a few photos of the times when my muse and I wandered away from the world of words.

I guess you could say this first group of pictures is the biggest project my muse and I ever attempted. This room belonged to my youngest daughter and she begged me to turn it into a jungle paradise. This is the result. She’s now grown and has blessed me with a daughter of her own and the room has remained. The paint’s getting a little faded in spots but I’ve been threatened within an inch of my life if I redecorate the jungle of her childhood.

Here’s a wall sculpture I pieced together from tiles my mother scavenged from a church bizarre. I couldn’t find just the right color grout to match the barn wood frame until it snowed one night and they used cinders on our road to keep them from being so slick. The gray-black cinders rendered the perfect shade and my muse smiled.
Then I decided to redecorate our tiny bathroom. I didn’t have a lot of options and I really wanted something different. Here’s the result of the painted tiles.

The only place my muse and I no longer explore is the kitchen, not since the pecan pie incident. That place is wicked and treacherous ground. Who knew that keeping baking soda and baking powder straight could be so important?

Does your muse ever wander?