Forest of Trees

I was thinking of a quote from Tom Althouse, " 
“There is beauty all around us,  
and the light finds us when we realize,  
we are all part of that beauty and worth the cherishing."
This rings true so much in today's world, when so much of the youngest generations psyche is so heavily influenced by the constant stream of electronic social and marketing criticism, either active, passive, positive and negative. It's hard for kids to be able to filter through what is real and not real, important and not important, genuine and self serving. As parents in today's world, we are charged with helping to guide our kids through the tumultuous social/digital world which is a task that feels like trying to find your car keys in a dark room.  Michelle and I have found through trial and error that coming back to the simple things in life is likely the best way to keep our kids, and ourselves grounded. Simple things like a meal together at the kitchen table, or a simple walk outside to simply  breathe the air and see the real beauty.
The obvious analogy is that a walk in the woods is fraught with challenges, each tree or bush could be considered  an obstacle, but if you change your point of view those "obstacles" are what make up our world. When you look at the big picture all those obstacles together help shape your world into a thing of beauty.

Keeping that in mind, I tripped on another "obstacle". I was making a trip into the city to pick up Jeff and his cronies from the pool. I stopped in at the paint store and handed them the previous can and said...."I'd like another please bartender!" The helpful sales person said " Sure!...let's see Advance paint, in Chantilly Lace and a semi-gloss" and she went into the back to mix.

Now I distinctly remember buying the paint and discussing with the sales rep at that time, that my goal was a super smooth and shiny finish, she help up the product and said "this is it!".....and I trusted. Now that I was in another Benjamin Moore dealer, the sales rep had made a point of reading that the can was a semi gloss....it took a few seconds but I quickly made my way to the back of the store and said...." This will sound stupid, but is there a high gloss in this product?"
I think you know where I'm going here. My point is NOT that you should trust no one, my point is that you can always ask the obvious clarification question without sounding confrontational. I did not, and it cost me time more than anything....but I'm going to do it all again......

Now that the temp has dropped outside I can no longer spray in the driveway. And the open spray in the garage was too messy. So I have created a temporary spray booth.....yes I asked permission and YES I have a very UNDERSTANDING AND PATIENT WIFE!

But I mean look at this, one top coat.....

And this is dry!!