Today was busy. We left at 6:15 this morning to work at the homeless breakfast and returned at 6:30 tonight after spending the majority of the day in Pasadena. We were visiting with a friend there who is involved in several housing renovation projects and since we are also old house renovators, we were happy to see what he was doing.
Our friend has accomplished much over the past 15 years of doing this. He has moved in and/or renovated at least four houses on one street in Pasadena, plus built a big barn on that same property. He is also working on another house near his primary property. He also has two houses he’s renovating in Hollywood. He is doing a great job on all of them, so that’s something that we support wholeheartedly.
Ray and I have several projects of our own: three in Texas, our house here in LA, and our orange grove in Ojai. These keep us hopping as well. Our goal is to pick architecturally significant houses and buildings for renovation. We figure we can help out our community by doing this, plus it gives us places we’re excited to work on.
So, spending time with someone who loves the same things we love was fun and gratifying and familiar. He showed us one house that is in major disrepair and was apologizing for its condition. We both looked at him and said, “We can both already see it when it’s done, so don’t worry about it.” His face showed that sign of recognition that said, “Ah, you can do that, too.”
The answer is yes. After this many years, Ray and I can look at the most rundown house or building and see instantly what it will look like with work. A great bond between us and a skill that is helpful when doing this sort of thing.
So, today was good. We fed the homeless and then we feed our own creative spirits with time with our friend.
Yes, a good day, indeed.
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