Painted lady or painted teenager?

Well, I’ve taken a few days off. I recently bought a house that was built in 1880 and we’re in the process of moving in. If you’re an “old house person” I probably don’t need to say anything more, but for those who live in the ‘burbs allow me.

A house that was built in 1880 definitely has “character”, one all it’s own. This house is one of “the painted ladies” in the historic district of our city so we have a lot of “tourists” so we keep the houses looking nice. The color palette I see out my window is better than a Caribbean rainbow. Now typically when you hear “painted lady” you think of the huge Victorians with lots of gingerbread and colors. Many of the houses in our neighborhood are “Folk Victorian” (painted teenagers?). When you look at the color on the houses you can’t help but wonder how much fun the people who live in them must be. There’s a lot of whimsy in the color palette here. The houses are tucked into the hillside and have a view of the river. Many sit on stone foundations, but that’s a story for another day.

A house that is over 100 years old always offers you a project or two and that’s what I have been doing. What does this have to do with our kayak trip? Before I can go , I have to restore the bathroom. It has a bear claw tub and an older pedestal sink and a stained glass window, painted or rusted shut. Need I say more? I did get a break to make our reservations. We’re going to go to Daniel Boone National Forrest The kayak lesson I hope will be on Cave Run Lake. We decided that camping was in order as it is Spring and our camping gear is one of the boxes we have managed to unpack. We’ll be dining on camp food, pondering the sequential paddling instructions we’ll receive and one of us might be playing tiddly winks, or reading Watership Down