"before" photos
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| When I was kid, I remember my Dad showing me a photo of the house that he lived when he graduated high school... Before it was completely built. It fascinated me to see a "before" photo of the house that I came to know as Grandpa and Grandma Thompson's House in Trenton, MI. It had a laundry chute in the hallway on the second floor that went "all the way" to the basement. I loved to have my sisters stand in the basement and look up as I "accidentally" dropped my GI Joes down the chute on to their head ... (It seems to me that there were other accidental drops that involved Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys also ...) "Before Photos" are cool. They can remind us of how things have changed. So the week before New Years, the lot (1/8 acre postage stamp) next to our current home was cleared of trees. Not knowing that they were about to clear it, I didn't get a true-blue "before" photo. (Throw me a nostalgic bone, I know it's not my house, but it does make a difference in what the neighborhood looks like and what I have to look at every day when I'm brushing my teeth.) So I fired off an image of the cleared lot. This past Saturday, I leave early and come home around mid-morning and there is suddenly a first-floor framed out! (Construction amazes me because my greatest woodworking achievement was a bench I made in Cub Scouts in 1983. And those six pieces of wood took me four weeks to assemble, not counting the hinged lid ...) So I grab my camera and run up to our master bedroom to take a "secret" photo of the construction progress before they add the second floor framing. I slowly peel back the curtain in the bedroom and take a shot or two of the crew working away. I thought my clandestine operation was successful and "whammo". One of the guys looks right at me. We connected eyes and I jumped back and shut the curtain. I didn't know what to do! I was just busted for "spying". I felt like I was Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock's Rear Window!!! My body went numb. They must think I'm some weirdo watching their every move! I decided, that I should quickly acknowledge that I wasn't trying to capture their peculiar work habits for some future litigation. So I grabbed the curtain back again in dramatic fashion and startled the guy. And then I waved and smiled. And so did he. Hopefully, this put him at ease. I waved at him again this morning as I left for work. He didn't wave back. I could tell he was looking to see if I had my camera. All I had was my huge coffee that I would spill on my lap moments later as I backed out of the driveway and down the curb. "Before" photos. I hope this one was worth it..... Maybe there will be a cool laundry chute ... |
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