california trip day 7 room progress

the room is coming along nicely. first a coat of primer which maybe we should have tinted, but it worked out okay. the ceilings are so tall that you have to stand on a regular ladder and not just the kitchen step stool to get to the ceiling for edging. standing i can get within a foot of the ceiling with a roller that has a short extension.

one room is done except for the accent wall which will be chocolate. (chocolate curl!) since the paint is flat, not semi-gloss or eggshell, it looks beautiful. just will have to be careful. i had a time getting the paint stirred. i had to wait until my daughter got home to get the drill to accept the paint stirrer. i didn't want to break it. not mine! it was supposed to have been shaken at the store, but they were really busy so i think they just did it the shortest time possible. if it is really shaken right it doesn't separate after a few days.

the other big problem in the room is the fan. i am sure the blades will come off. there is another fan just like it in the other room. ideally they should be able to take the blades off and then spray paint them.

california trip - family

one thing very nice about this trip is that i get to see both my son and wife and my daughter and husband. before this year i had to go southwest to see my daughter and east to see my son. although both places were interesting-- the place east had an old men's coffee shop--it is nice to have both children in the same place. both of the families live in gated communities. it must be the thing out here. both of my kids are working at la sierra. my daughter is close enough to walk, but my son has to drive, but not to far, which is good. gas prices and all. surprisingly, both families only have one car. they live a short distance from each other so shop for basics at the same shopping area. the walmart is fairly large but not a super walmart. it is the first one i have been inside of that doesn't have the same layout as all the other ones i have been in. usually, once you are inside, you could be in any city--there being no clue to the local area. you could be teleported from store to store and never know where you were except inside a walmart.

california trip day 3-6 the ROOMS!

the reason i was flown out to california was to change these two rooms. one was pink with these bright stripes on the wall and the other was lavender with butterflies painted on all four walls. my daughter is not a frilly fussy sort of person, so pink and lavender with butterflies do not fit into her decorating vocabulary.

the walls have to be primed and then painted. the one with stripes has to be sanded because where the stripes change color there are little ridges in some places. so, a word to the wise, if you like stripes but think you might like to change them later, be prepared for some work. so far all the wall plugs are off, the trim is taped, plastic is on the floor, nails removed and patched, and primer is on half of one room. i managed to figure out how to get the blinds off the window so it will be easier to paint the window surround.

the wall will be painted a warm adobe sand color. one room will have an accent wall of brick-rust-copper color and the other room will have an accent wall of chocolate.

california trip day 3-6 inside

there was a little wind whipping down from the hills, so my son-in-law took me to the library. (i keep forgetting it is just april, after all; it seems like summer after belle.

in the middle of the library is an atrium open to the sky. it is covered with netting to keep out the birds, though. the atrium has a concrete floor and patio furniture because, of course, it can get rained on. there are plants that those of us who live in the interior of the nation think of as house plants, lining the rim of the square. in the middle are larger plants reaching up to the netting.

one of the plants has flowers that look suspiciously like bird of paradise flowers, but the plant is 12 or 18 feet tall.

a couple of the plants have christmas lights around the trunks giving the place a festive atmosphere. i really do like those little white lights. there are also little statues water features spaced around the edge. my son-in-law is standing by a statue of a bird that suspiciously looks like a flamingo. it is metal sculpted around a rock. the bird is balanced on the legs in such a manner that the bird can rock back and forth.

there are also works of art on the hallway wall just outside of the atrium. outside the atrium, the magazine section is on one side -- it is nice to sit there and read. on the opposite side (outside the atrium which is really inside the building) are table for students to use for study. of course there are outlets in the atrium and in the building for students to plug in their laptops.

california trip day 3-6 outside

my daughter had a meeting wednesday evening on campus, so we ate ate at the cafeteria. i was supprised by a former student of mine. he had been in an English class and is now majoring in writing. i was also supprised to meet the daughter of an old friend of mine. i was a member of her wedding party in texas.

while my daughter was in meeting, my son-in-law took me around campus. the one tree with purple-lavender flowers is an orchid tree. it is covered with flowers right now...i assume after it is down flowering it will sprout leaves, similar to our mid-western redbud. the fountain must have been around for a long time. it is covered with layers of moss. flower petals blow in and stick making it look like a altar to nature. finally the tree with flowers growing on its trunk. yeah, well...if you look closely someone covered the trunks with dabs of mud and stuck flowers to it. i think the bark had been whitewashed. so what is the story behind that? it was a lot of work. maybe an art project or maybe someone set it up as a background as a setting for a proposal of marriage. it slightly looks like a heart.

california trip day 1-2

my daugter flew me out to california to help clean and paint some rooms in the new house. i am totally jealous of all the green. there is a fluffy green hedge in front of her porch and a hibiscus and some sort of frilly tree out in front. also there is a jasmine that climbs up the porch piller and covers the under side of the porch roof.

sunday evening we went to la sierra's campus for the food festival they were having to raise money for various clubs and missions. the campus is very pretty with lots of greens and where we were, a statue of the prodigal's son and some fountains. but i like the palm trees that look like they are sitting on top of a pinapple best. they actually trim the trunk of the tree vertically with a chain saw to keep it looking neat.