Post Eleven: Madrone Haus

So, just when we started getting things nice an tidy and homey..... we've decided to go ahead and do a bit more home improvement. We got a good bid from Brad the Tile guy, so up comes the floor in the kitchen, office, pantry, "powder room", and upstairs master bathroom and dressing area. We were able to pick out tile we both agreed on in one afternoon, choosing a light warm brown 12 x 18 for the kitchen/office/pantry, and a lovely greenish-grey 12x12 tile, color name "Nevada", for the bathrooms.
Which is all very exciting, but we are reminded of the old adage of "you have to break some eggs to make an omlette." Furniture dismantled and moved into the wrong rooms. Piles of carpet out in the yard waiting to be loaded up to take home to the dump. Where there had been laminate, now there is linoleum. Where there had been carpet, now there is subfloor. Dust, tiny pieces of white something, bits of carpet yarn, everywhere.
But it's still good to be here, and working on these updates. Even though I really only have one day here.... came up late yesterday, and will leave mid morning tomorrow. It's pleasant weather, cold enough in the evening for a fire, but warm enough in the day time to leave the deck door open, giving the feeling of opening up the main room to the outdoors.
And, the whole process of slowly making all these cosmetic changes, planning the furniture, what to do with the residential infrastructure of the place, is very enjoyable.
I called up here yesterday, twice, as I was leaving my previous activity and heading up to the house. Barry answers - "Madrone Haus" - which has been developed and approved by the in-house marketing an PR people (i.e. Neil and Barry.) So, that is now the official name, but I'm sure I'll still be lapsing back to calling it just "Pasquale", and on occasion "La Casita." But that is still just the name; it was the happy and relaxed sound of his voice when he answered that way was what let me know Barry is feeling at home here.