“Listen, and you will realize that we are made not from cells or from atoms. We are made from stories.”

Mia Couto

Photo Friday today begins with images of the Courthouse Square and our church on a stormy afternoon, and ends with a reflecting pool in our front yard.

I captured the stormy day photographs on my way back from the Barclay House Tuesday after lunch. The good folk there had been kind enough to invite me to speak at the community men’s luncheon event, so I got to share some of my story with twenty-five or so residents.

I hung around talking with a number of the guys after lunch and almost stayed long enough to get caught in the afternoon storm as I walked home. The sky made for a dramatic backdrop to the town.

Meanwhile, weather permitting, Rebekah is making good progress with several of her refinishing projects.

The chairs – contemporaneous to the house – are really starting to come together. Then the tea-trolly is well on the way but still needs to be reassembled.

Finally, the garden. Other than the day lilies refusing to admit defeat, things are not looking good at all!

Rebekah and I are still committed to making this house everything it can be, as an encouragement to Saint Patrick Street and our gift to the entire historic district.

However, more than nine weeks after landscaping work launched we are once again at a standstill, and the front yard looks like anything but the inviting and inspirational garden we imagined we would be tending this summer.

So I did what I could to help straighten things a little, and we will just have to wait and see. Sigh….

But at least, for now, we have our own reflecting pool when it rains – I hear they’re all the rage!

And that’s all the news from Tarboro for this week’s Photo Friday. Life is good – even when things can be frustrating – and I am grateful.

– DEREK