Hey! There’s A Man On My Roof!

Oh, that’s just Ben, our roofer. Ben was recommended by Roger, whom we trust like we trust, well, no one else in the world since John died a few years ago. John and Roger brought our barn back from the brink, when everyone else said tear it down and start over. It’s now snug and dry and holds our car and everything else that ends up in a barn on land that is no longer dedicated to agriculture. John and Roger also built our cupola. From the time I was four, until I was in my twenties and my Mom and Dad sold our house, my Dad had a Christmas routine that never varied. I would ask him: “Dad, what would you like for Christmas?” and he would reply: “A Cupola.” I would groan and say that I couldn’t get him one of those and off I would go to make him something or buy him something which would never, ever be a cupola.

I don’t know why Dad never bought a cupola nor why I never ponied up and got one installed for him. But many years and life experiences later I designed a cupola for our barn. John and Roger built it and Chuck helped them install it, from cutting the hole in the roof to lifting the two sections up onto each other like a clapboard and glass wedding cake. I climbed a crazy-scary ladder up to the roof, with a photo of my Dad in a fanny pack. I clung to my new cupola and snaked out the framed photo of Dad and had a moment I will never forget. Trying to shimmy back down that roof to the waiting ladder was something else I shall never forget, but for very different reasons!

So when we knew our borrowed time on our house roof was just about expired, we called Roger. He said call Ben. That’s how a pleasant young man, with no fear of heights, but a healthy respect for the risks of his job, came to be walking around on our roof. Ben patched a little spot, whose time had completely run out and scheduled the big roofing job for the spring. When Chuck checked the attic during today’s rainstorm, he was pleased to report it was dry as a bone. Phew!

I wonder if Ben ever brings a fiddle to work? I guess we’ll find out next spring...



: : Red Sox Update - October 28th, 1:00 a.m. :
The Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 10 - 5 in Game Three of The World Series!
So good, so good so good!!!

For those of you not obsessed with the Red Sox, the “ So good, so good so good!!!” is a refrain from the classic Neil Diamond song “Sweet Caroline”. The song is always played in Fenway Park during the eighth inning. It is also played at wedding receptions for members of Red Sox Nation - right Kate and Phil? ;o)

Here’s a link to an NPR radio report on the tradition.