My musical companion recently is Billy Bragg’s song “Mid-Century Modern”.

“Lewd fellows of a baser sort”, emerges from the fragments of my mind as a humorous descriptor of some group under discussion. Two long time sufferers of my humour came independently of one another to say they burst out laughing when they discovered it in the King James Version of a story in the Book of Acts. I’m a veritable compendium of fragments of songs, poems, lyrics, quotes, old jokes, and bits of alleged wisdom. They are old friends, collected over the years to provide humorous conversational ammunition – the humour sometimes questioned.

Lots of happy kids held out bags for me to fill with chocolate goodies last evening. Halloween is a fun time and it’s good to have them back; as the kids’ “Thank you” rang out, the next cohort arrived. Scary costumes, neighbours’ homes decorated like graveyards and lots of laughter – an odd juxtaposition.

He is a faithful paintbrush, and when I pulled him from his storage place, he was ready to cut around trim and paint edges. I bought this brush many years ago and with care he still fits my hand and his purpose beautifully. I gave thanks for the ache in my old hands from painting as I wrote in my journal and for a good paintbrush.

The other day I stripped old and ugly wallpaper in our downstairs bathroom. It was an ugly inheritance when we moved in thirteen years ago. I’m going to have to do some plaster touch up before I paint but the light colour of the paint beneath has improved the look already – light reflects warmly rather than the ugly archaic paper design.