The Snow Leopard

Folk Art Treasures From The Garage


I just recently completed a project in our garage. We had a shift of power in our home and I have given up control of one of the rooms for 'total' control of our detached garage and its attached dark-room / laundry room. My wife and I do this sort of power shifting all the time. Control over certain rooms and household chores is a sort of bartering thing we do.

One of the road blocks to getting many of the projects around our house completed has been the state of the garage. It was cluttered and unorganized. So I took control over it and started to remake it into the 'guy-zone'. Cool, neat, lean and functional. No 'girlie' stuff in MY garage. So I emptied out the whole garage and started throwing things away. It was a monumental task.

To see a narrative of the deconstruction of the garage and its rebirth, head over to "My Project Blog" for words and text of the undertaking.

So it was a bit of a shock the following week, when I got a call in the middle of the day at my office from my wife. I could see it was her on the caller ID and picked up the phone.

"Hi Sweetie, what up?", I asked.

"I can't believe you gave my cat picture to Goodwill!", she growled.

"Excuse me? Cat picture?"

"The jigsaw puzzle of the big cat that was framed and stored in the garage. I just saw it on my lunch hour at Goodwill. You donated it to them!!!?"

"That big jigsaw picture of a leopard? I didn't donate that to Goodwill....I know exactly where that is, leaning up against your tool chest on the back porch. I haven't been to Goodwill in ages.", was my cool reply.

"Well then, there are two jigsaw puzzles that look exactly the same and are framed.", she responded.

Needless to say that when she got home from work, I had 'her' jigsaw picture hanging in the living room so she could see it when she walked in the front door.

"You mean THIS jigsaw puzzle picture of a snow leopard?", as I pointed to the picture.

"I swear honey, there was one just like it at Goodwill......really, they were identical.", she laughed.

"You know I am never going to let you forget this, don't you?", I said in a very serious voice.

"Yes, I'm screwed....but I still love you honey."

...and then we kissed each other.....and I haven't let her forget it since....I am going to ride this wave for as long as it lasts.