Cold drizzle greeted us on Friday morning, and by 9:00 the heavens had opened in a fury. The plan had been to paint inside all day, but it was too cold even to do that for any length of time. By 10 Jim had declared the workday over, and with the exception of a handful of diehards everyone was back at BBM  by 11. The good news is that the major work at the house on 58th Avenue is essentially done.

It was only with supreme will that no one stashed Beethoven, the sad little dog, into one of the vans. For part of the day, anyway, he had a warm place to curl up.

Katharyn and the Sharons spent a long but fulfilling morning at Loaves and Fishes, working with Abe, the chef I cooked with last year.

     

  

After a civilized lunch at the mission (not eaten on a van bumper), we assembled for the final wrap-up meeting with Craig and Benji, who were extremely pleased with the project. Craig told us this house has been on the to-do list for two years, and he knew our group was the perfect one to tackle it.

Tonight’s dinner is mac and cheese, clean-out-the-walk-in-fridge nachos and  salad with all the veggies we have left. While they’re waiting, folks are playing cribbage, setback and Catchphrase, reading and watching TV. A couple of people have tackled a second 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle — will they finish by bedtime?

All that remains is to clean the mission house from top to bottom before we leave tomorrow. Snow is forecast for Charlotte, our intermediate stop, and Hartford as well. Wish us well!