Cheapo Chalkboard for the Kitchen

Inspired by all the chalk paint projects on Pinterest, I decided we needed to have a blackboard in the kitchen for lists and notes and stuff.  So I picked up a cardboard-backed picture at a Salvation Army thrift store for $4.99 and lugged it home. After giving it a good clean -- and it was very dusty -- I took apart the picture from the frame, pulling out the very old and rusty nails that held the picture to the frame. After re-gluing the frame corners with E6000 super glue as they too were on the old and rickety side,  I then sprayed several coats of some left-over green paint on the frame, letting them dry overnight. Then using the spray chalkboard black paint I coated the picture over several times, during the course of several days, letting them dry overnight. All of this I did outside as the fumes were plentiful. I then re-glued and tacked the image back into the frame and hung it up in the kitchen for our use. The hardest part of this project was hanging this at the right height so we could easily write on it without it wobbling about!  It's great to have a chalkboard in the kitchen for shopping lists, notes, etc.

Back in the City after Visit to Greener Virginia

Driving back into the city today after visiting family members in Virginia I noticed all the tourists in town and how they were enjoying themselves looking at all the spectacular monuments and buildings that there are to see. In particular, I seemed to get stuck behind at least three open air double decker red buses loaded with lolly-goggling out-of-towners looking at all the sights. I'm not sure if these buses give an audio tour for them but judging from the number of times I got stuck behind one of these red former London city buses, it would seem like the tour goes all over the Mall area, where most of the critical sights are located. Even though it was past sunset the tourists were on the bus, cameras flashing from the bus upper deck, at the views of Congress and the Korean war monument nearby. I just don't see how they got a picture at all! Earlier in the day, on my way out to Virginia, I'd seen crowds of tourist groups all over the Mall. One group of 12 year old girls, all dressed in lime green T-shirts (so they could find each other?) crossed Constitution Avenue in unison while there were also families pushing children and babies in strollers in the 90 degree heat, standing at intersections, wondering which way to go next. I marveled at their willingness and persistence in clambering up all the steps at the Archives building and the Lincoln Memorial, both of which seemed to attract many visitors today. After spending most of the day in the green rolling fields and suburbs of Virginia, I thought how interesting and pleasant and historic Washington, DC looked in comparison. I'm so glad to live in this city sometimes!

Rear Window View during a Tea Break

A look out of the three windows from my downtown office is all about reflections. Real reflections, not my rambling thoughts, that is. I'm on a corner and look into a courtyard at the backs and sides of half a dozen buildings. Since reflective glass is now the norm every window stares back at me with a picture of yet another building or roof or satellite dish or antenna or air conditioning unit or balcony or brick wall or light fixture or flags or some kind of building equipment. In some cases it's a reflection of someone working on the roof of the building I'm in; he's walking about talking on his cell phone, arm akimbo, possibly concerned about the air conditioning unit he's standing beside. Occasionally some birds nose-dive through the space and are reflected multiple times, tripling their number. Of course, I can look upward and see a beautiful June blue sky with puffy white and grey clouds scudding westward. I get to see them twice too, as they are also reflected in all the upper story windows on the buildings around the courtyard. It's a mistake to think that a rear window has no views. And I haven't even started to try and think about this from a theological perspective.