blue tarp emblem

This morning I woke up about 7:30. I came downstairs to feed the animals and realised that this is the first day since the beginning of the week that I have been home during daylight hours. I have been up and out the door before daylight, and home after dark, and it took me until Saturday to really see that our whole living room window is blocked by a tarp.

Mike, the carpenter, is building us a new deck. Mike does fine work, and the deck will be sturdy and gorgeous, but the weather has been on and off rainy, and Mike works short and intermittent days. Today I realise the impact of having a partially completed structure, tarped off to protect it from the elements just outside the main light-admitting portal to the main floor of our house. It is very blue in here! I have stayed out in the un-tarped dining room so far, enjoying the light and the view. I will have to go into the living room by daylight because I plan to clean the house today. I may have to bring in extra light sources to see what I am doing.

By night, the effect is much less noticeable. Sure, the twinkling lights of the city at the bottom of our hill are missing, but the atmosphere in the room is pretty much the way it is all of the time. By day, the change is dramatic.

Outside of our blue-tarped house, it has been a bright and busy week. I've done two shelter mornings, driven Fi and her friends to and from performances, worked 5 days, including a one-day coaching course that about knocked my socks off, attended the Burnaby Writers' Society Awards Night with Irene (who took second prize), attended the Shoreline Writers' Society AGM, and enjoyed a lovely birthday supper with Kathy and Michele at Michele's house. In fact, I have hardly noticed the blue tarp until today.

My contribution to the blue tarp has been my early morning flashlight dog poo patrol. Before I leave for work (in the dark) each morning, I walk the dog, then I go out to the back yard with a flashlight and find any dog poo that has been deposited there when family members let the dog out the back door. I pick it up and dispose of it, so that Mike the carpenter will not step in it.

Luckily, I do not mind the dark. In fact, I am energized by it. I also do not mind dog poo. I have a big dog who I love, and we possess a very effective scooper, and a good flashlight.

I am crossing my fingers that the blue tarp will be gone by next weekend. In the meantime, my eyes have been opened to a new dimension of perception.

question - have you ever resided behind a tarp?

mompoet - melb me