The Kitchen Looks Funny
Without A Tree In It, And
The Living Room Just
Doesn't Look Right
Without The Refrigerator


I know I'm scandalously overdue for a blog update, but this is what I have been doing with my free time since my last post:
























No, the knobs aren't on the cabinets, and the new door needs a frame, and the cover plates aren't on the electric switches yet, and the wood trim isn't painted ... but the kitchen at Mom's house in New Orleans is painted, tiled, grouted, plugged in, hooked up and can be used. All the little things should be done by Thanksgiving -- electric cover plates first. Meanwhile, everything works, and Mom can cook dinner on her gas stove for the first time in more than a year.

And there are the refrigerator and the microwave, back in the kitchen where they belong. I'm really grateful for how well the repairs have come along on a shoestring, so far. This business of making a house in New Orleans livable again is tiresome, folks. And Mom was one of the lucky ones, with relatively minor damages.

Seeing things starting to go back into place after fourteen months makes me think of growing up during the Cold War. Among the few things we were allowed to learn about the people of the USSR was that they spent about half their lives waiting in various lines for bread, milk and basic supplies ... and that they displayed their appliances in their living rooms by way of bragging rights, because they were so hard to come by.

The people of New Orleans are doing exactly that right now. If you want Sheetrock, you'd better be in line at Home Depot whent he sun comes up.

I'm just glad Mom has a kitchen she can use.

You may have noticed that in my exuberance I am posting a photo of the kitchen before it's quite done, just as I often blog photos of completed knitted items prior to blocking.

I am nothing if not consistent.

We shall return to our normal knitting content presently.

--Mambocat