The New Folks

I painted the inside of the cabinet that will go over the stove today, which is a job that never needs to be done again, as far as I’m concerned, if I have anything to say about it. It does look much nicer in white, although it is a rather drippy, patchy white, but that is one boring job! I didn’t get the kids’ bedrooms put together, but we did take time to walk to the corner store for ice cream, and after dinner we went across the street to the park and stayed late since there were some nice kids to play with.

The little grocery store at the corner, which we walk to by going through our backyard and the Baptist church playground and parking lot, and across the street, is really a neat little place. It is in an old stone house, and is, appropriately, named the Stone House Grocery. The owners live upstairs, and the rooms downstairs are the various sections of the store – the refrigerated “deli” and ice cream area, the produce area, etc. Each section has only a very modest selection, and the prices are what you’d find at a convenience store (or one of the high priced Food Lions around here), but the kids get a kick out of being able to walk over for an ice cream or candy bar and sit on the front porch to eat their treats. The owners are friendly, and today the husband was sitting out front with an older gentleman who is another newcomer from Florida. I asked him how long he’s been here, and he told me it’s been twenty-four years. I guess we’ll always be the new people who bought the old _____ place!

Another fellow stopped by the house today to introduce himself, and told us that he had watched the place being built. He said the man who’d had it built had used good materials and that once we fix what went wrong through the house being vacant for so many years, we should have a fine house. Ed told him about the well, and he seemed almost offended that we thought the water supply might not be adequate. It had always been enough for the people who lived here before, so why shouldn’t it be good enough for us? I think Ed might have learned to be a bit more circumspect in the future about criticizing our well known house – we don’t want people thinking we’re uppity Floridians!

*Frank, our fellow Floridian, offered to take our picture in front of the Stone House Grocery. Not a very flattering picture of me, but the kids are smiling! The town is apparently getting ready to make some improvements to the park across the street, thus the dirt moving machine.