1/31/10 Two large planters, given awayToday marks the official midway point in the Downsizing Challenge. I'm halfway through the year. Making progress and feeling good. Oh, yeah!
(I've also totally forgotten yesterday's little snafu, and I've moved on from it. Really.)
In addition to the 183-day milestone, I had another first to mark this monumental day. For the first time, I had a downsize request. Joanna's sister, Amanda, came to visit and -- perhaps more importantly -- arrived with a challenge for me.
"I've got a downsize for you," she said. "I need something to save my parking space when it snows."
Amanda lives in Charlestown, outside of Boston, on a narrow cobblestone street. The unspoken wintertime parking rules -- which are enforced with a vengeance -- may seem a little odd to us rural folks, but down there they help maintain order in a chaotic world.
Obviously, when the snow piles up, street parking in her neighborhood becomes even more limited, and a type of Gentleman's Protocol takes effect. When a resident digs her car out and leaves her space, she may leave some cast-off household item to mark her place. An old folding chair, for example, placed in the spot, officially reserves it for that person until she returns.
In the winter it's quite a sight driving down her narrow street, with random bits of household debris marking parking spaces. Remarkably, it works. Probably because if you were to move someone's marker and slide into their space, your car might not be in such great shape when you returned to it.
At any rate, Amanda needed something to mark her space that was also small enough to be stored, when not in use, in her Honda Civic's trunk.
Ah, a Downsizing Mission! I love it. And this was an easy one.
I fished two large planter buckets out of the shed, simultaneously solving Amanda's problem and saying goodbye to my dream of forcing palm tree bulbs this winter. Small sacrifice, I suppose, to ensure my sister-in-law has a fighting chance of parking within a quarter mile of her home.
Anyone else out there need some Downsizing assistance? I'm here to help. At least for the next 182 days.
Better that Amanda has good use for the planters, since you would have had a difficult time finding palm tree bulbs to force; they propagate by seed.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the image of forcing palm tree bulbs is much funnier. I go for the cheap laughs, remember.
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