February 26, 2020 - 166 - "Mexican Casa - 9 - El Pozo de Dinero (The Money Pit-Mexico)"

Peaceful Morning

     Michael and I were sitting in the living room a couple of mornings ago.  We were just hanging out, drinking coffee, and talking.  I kept thinking:  "Ahhhh...this is great.  What a peaceful morning!."

     And then it occurred to me that, perhaps, our construction project had gone on too long.  My definition of peaceful has changed dramatically.

     When I actually paid attention to my surroundings 'peaceful' probably wasn't the most accurate description.  We'd been answering the door buzzer since right at 8 a.m. , one of the worker's bicycles was leaning against the wall in our entry, there were at least four workers i the house, and the door was left slightly ajar so they could come and go without us getting up to let them back in every time. 

     I probably wouldn't have called this peaceful a year ago.  

Sometimes It's Better to Do Nothing

     At the beginning of the project I wouldn't have been able to just sit there and drink coffee while a passing parade of people came and went.  But, after a year, I know that mainly I gum up the works if I try to work on something while there are crews around.  Partly because there are people working everywhere I want to be, and partly because anytime I start to do something, they feel the need to help me. 

     It's best for me to get any project I want to do done in the evenings or on a weekend when they're not around so they can focus on their own projects.

World's Sweetest Crews

    Part of the reason it feels peaceful, even with people in the house, is that the crews we have working on the house are just so low-key.

    They are happy to come to work, take pride in what they're doing, and go about their jobs in a very unobtrusive way.  There's always a friendly greeting, and then they go right to work.  At the end of the day there's another pleasant exchange and they go.  We barely notice they're around if the job they're doing isn't noisy.

    We'll almost (but, no, not quite) be sad to see them go.  The good news is:  most houses are pretty much containers for endless projects so we'll probably get to keep seeing them.  Several of the guys working on our new house, first worked on the old one.  

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"Although he's slight, he has that wiry strength that seems to come more from will than muscle."

-Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun 

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"Life offers you a thousand chances...all you have to do is take one."
-Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun

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