Friday Is Over....

Unfortunately there will be no yardsale-ing for me tomorrow. Not until I can collect some of the junk out of the house and have a yard sale of our own. Bummer. I really just like getting out with friends and finding cool bargains. It's really addictive. So what if the house is getting full?! LOL.

Anyways. Today was pretty un-eventful. I took my camera today and took the photos to work with for the cd cover project. We'll see how that goes. I had to leave work early this afternoon to get part two of the project shots. I got those shots from this old house which isn't too far off my normal drive home.

We drive by it several times a week on our way to church and I've always looked at it and thought....wow, that place looks like it's about ready to be condemned. It's a cool looking old place, but it looks abandoned. Well....except for the yard around it is always mowed (although I'm assuming it is just part of someone's property and they don't want it to get all grown up, so they keep it cleared). Well....

I drove up to it today to get these pictures. It's a little bit off the road, so I couldn't just stop on the road to get the pictures and since the little driveway (although faint) looked pretty clean, I pulled up into the yard and turned off the engine. As I'm pulling in, I'm thinking....hmm.....this doesn't look as abandoned as I thought from the quick glances in passing. Particularly since the front door is open and I can faintly hear voices.

Now I'm thinking. Um. I guess it would probably be a bad idea to just walk around the house and snap pictures without asking permission first, since evidently there are folks occupying it. My second thought is....uhhh....what kind of "folks" exactly would occupy a house like this. And you know, it was back off the road a bit, and there weren't really any houses close by and I'm all by my lonesome. But the picture opportunity won out and I grabbed my camera and hopped out of the car before I could lose my nerve.

I started to lock the car but then changed my mind and unlocked it in case I needed to make a quick escape. (LOL....yes, I'm a paranoid freak!)

So I march up to the front door and knock. As I'm standing there, I hear voices.....it sounds like a bunch of rough guys playing cards or something. I'm beginning to get concerned and wonder if I shouldn't just go ahead and leave when I hear shuffling getting closer to the door. I'm crossing my fingers that this is a sweet old lady watching some old western on tv. Well....I got the old part right....and probably the old western part right, too.

Anyways, this guy comes to the door and you can tell that he's not interested in whatever I'm selling (or handing out...LOL) and he just stands on the other side of the door without opening it. So I start in...."good afternoon! I'm a photographer and I really like the old wood siding on your house and I was wondering if you'd mind if I take a few pictures really quick?"

He cocks his head to the side and says (very gruffly), "EH? I can't understand you! What's that?" And then he opens the door a bit as I gesture with my camera and repeat myself a little louder (although with a bit less confidence as I stumble trying to get my words out). This time, to my relief, he understands. And while he wasn't exactly overly happy to oblige, he said he didn't care, to go ahead. So I thank him profusely and tell him I won't take very long and he disappears back inside the house.

I back away from the house and start framing it in my camera to find the best angle. As I'm taking a full shot of the house, he appears in the door again. I think he might have felt bad for being gruff b/c he is quite a bit more friendly (even if a little awkward) as he says that the siding should look old b/c the house is about 300 years old. So I compliment him on the beautiful house again (hey, I think old houses ARE beautiful!) and again he disappears.

I walk around the house and get a few shots of the siding (these two, I think, are the keepers)

and then I'm ready to leave. I start to walk to the car, and then decide that it would be courteous to go back to the door and let him know that I'm finished and leaving now. So I go back to the door and knock again, and I hear him trying to get up, so I just poke my head in the door so he won't have to get up.

Bless his heart. I told him that I was finished and I appreciated him letting me take some pictures, and you could just tell that he was so lonely. He was even less gruff and was attempting to make conversation like he didn't want me to leave. So I stood on the doorstep with my head poking in and chatted with him for a few minutes before leaving. Bless him. He asked me if I was going to make any money on the pictures and I told him I doubted it, they were just for a work project and he said, well maybe you'll get lucky. I said that would be nice. Then he told me that he was 90 years old.

I didn't know what else to say, so I said "Wow! Congratulations!"

Then he kinda got gruff again and said, (something to the effect of:) "Oh no, missy, it's no fun being 90. I'd give anything to be your age again. Nobody wants to stay with you, you cain't get around, cain't hear, cain't even walk, and there ain't nothin to do 'cept sit here and watch tv all day and there ain't nothin on that's any good, less'n you buy the tapes. You better appreciate being young."

Geesh....what do you say to that? So I said, "I'm sorry, sir, I bet that is rough." (Awkward silence) "So have you lived here your whole life?"

To which he responds with, "No, I'm from Avery county...I been down here fifty years." (Which is almost longer than my MOM has been alive.) "I've lived here for a long time."

So I say again (for lack of more appropriate words coming to mind), "Wow! That IS a long time!" (Another awkward silence) "Well, I appreciate you letting me take a few pictures. Would you like me to send you some copies of what I took?"

"NO......Well, my girls have loaded the walls with photographs, I don't need more pictures....but thank you."

I'm like....well, okay. Thank you again! I hope you have a good day. (Which in case anyone else reads that and bangs their head with the palm of their hand, don't worry, I knew that sounded stupid to say to someone who just told me that all they did was sit and watch tv and basically just wait for death and as I was saying it for lack of something better coming to mind, I was mentally doing the head banging thing. DUMB! DUMB! DUMB, Faith!!!!)

Anyways so then I left. And as I was leaving, I looked at this old building and thought while I was there, I'd just get a picture of it, too. It was pretty cool old wood, too! =)

It was a lovely and productive afternoon. So then I got the munchkin from daycare and got home and together we watered the flowers. Some flowers got more water than others. LOL.

And tonight we went up to the church for a girl at church's (who also happens to be my coworker that rides with me to work) graduation party. That was pretty fun....

Then we got home and put the munchkin to bed (which went smoother than the last few nights....thank God) and now.....well....here I am! =)

I considered doing a "journal jar" entry tonight but as it's 11:38, I think I'm going to pass. Anything I say at this point will probably not make much sense and could possibly be incriminating, since I'm too tired to care what I say right now. I do believe that the posts I made which included the hand drawn illustrations of my illegal driving habits was made after 11:30.

Alright. I'm already feeling like I'm just blathering now and I know it's probably b/c I am, so bye for now!