Siete de Mayo

As mentioned earlier, our dinner tonight was courtesy of our neighbor Elizabeth's Annual Cinco de Mayo BBQ. Grilled carne asada from the mercado up Wilson Blvd, plenty of rice + beans, chocolate cake/brownies, strawberries, guacamole, mojitos, maragritas, fun, people.

But first, there was the painting. Five years ago, when we moved in, we painted the living room, dining room and the hallway. At that time we also bought a can of white semi-gloss to touch up a few spots/dings on the doors and moulding. Well, it didn't match the white that was already there (more grey, oddly) and we've just lived with it ever since.

Well, I decided that the trim looked absolutely sucky and needed to be repainted for our renters. Started at 8:00 am, finishing the masking off, and by 2:00 pm, I was using the full-size roller on the hall door trim, while singing "If You Cut Every Corner" from the Shary Bobbins episode of then Simpsons. By 4:00pm I was incoherent, and more than ready for one of Elizabeth's margaritas (Bram went for the mojitos, and — bless him — did all the crappy, actual, non-delusional cleaning that really needed to be done, like scrubbing the toilet, and emptying and cleaning out the fridge.)

So, the BBQ.

It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone and head in (Bram is shampooing the carpets as I type this). Gave out our forwarding address and caught up with friends/neighbors (one and the same, really). Which is really what made it hard to say good night/bye. Colonial Village was built to encourage community and interaction between its residents. It's worked for 70 years. Bram said it more eloquently in his previous post. But tonight was great and gatherings like this are just one of the reasons I'm really, really, going to miss this place.