On Decorating An Auto Repair Place For Christmas

     Page One Hundred Seventy-Two.
     So... about ten or twelve years ago, my mechanic began decorating his garage for Christmas. This garage is on busy Mayfield Road here in Cleveland Heights and possibly thousands of cars drive by every day. A & A Auto is located in an old (1920's) three bay garage somewhat close to the street. The interior is very drabby and oily. The personality of this garage is old-school dirt but the craftmanship level is high quality. It's the type of place where Fonzie would have worked. There's only room in the parking lot for less than a dozen parked cars. It's a small, reputable operation and it's visibility is tremendous.
     So when Tom began decorating his place for the holidays, I was charmed. But the decorating stunk. It was just awful. There are three very large picture windows in front and two on the side. I think he put one measly string of lights around one window and that was it. The following year, he did something similar but it was even worse 'cause he only went up 1/2 way around the window. It was terrible. Year three he put one string of lights across the tops of all three front windows and then let the ends hang. At that point I was finished. I won't take up space in today's blog to talk about the fact that I was a professional Christmas decorator for nearly twenty years. But, I was. I'll tell that story another time when I have nothing else to write about. All you need to know for the sake of today's blog though, is that I'm good at Christmas decorating.
     So, the following year, about six, seven  or eight years ago, I marched into Tom's place long about early November and announced that I was taking over the Christmas decorating of his shop. For free. Just as a favor to the citizens of Cleveland Heights. He was happy as a bug in a rug.
     It's not really a big project. Just takes me a couple of hours to hang multiple strings of lights around each of the five windows. Every year I decide what color to go with. The lights are typically dead by the time I take them down 'cause they're plugged in 24/7 once I install them. So I'm not usually able to re-use them too much during the ensuing years. But lights aren't really expensive any more anyhow.The last couple of years I've really been into the old-fashioned multi-colored look. So that's what Mayfield Road drivers see when they're stuck at the light in front of Tom's place. It seriously isn't a big or complicated project for me. But it makes Tom happy and it really does improve the streetscape a little. 
     When I was finished the first year, Tom exclaimed, "Jeremy, this looks F%#@ing awesome!" Then, as I was leaving, he told me that my next oil change was on the house. I didn't say no to that. Nowadays, it's rare that he ever charges me for an oil change. He's just so thrilled to have me do the lights each year. I'm also quite friendly with all his mechanics and they like the way I dress the place up for Christmas too.
     I've mentioned before that I've filmed a number of cooking videos for YouTube. I have about 15 completed but haven't yet posted any. Three very short ones were filmed in A & A last spring just for the fun of it. One of these days I really need to start posting those things.

Still Life. Entitled: "Auto Repair Garage With Purple '73 Dodge Charger"

It's not much... but it's home

The Summer Lay-Off

     Page Ninety-Four.
     Next week is the last week of school for the Shaker Heights schools. So, that means that next week will be my last week nannying the boys until the end of August. Though this will be my third summer working for them, it'll be my first one with a summer lay-off.
     For many years, the children, including the much older sister, went to a horsey day camp where they rode, swam, created arts & crafts and enjoyed other such summer camp activities. That camp was right on Lake Erie and had been owned by one family for a few generations with the current deed-holder a very old man whom everybody loved. Well, he died last winter and his children were fully intending on continuing the camp until they discovered that he'd taken out a reverse mortgage against it. I know nothing about reverse mortgages except for the fact that they don't have good reputations. In this case, the family lost the camp. And closer to home, the boys lost their beloved horseys.
     According to Mom, the boys are "getting older" anyhow, so it's just as well. Only the youngest, Fauntleroy, (aged 9 come July) was still enamored with days filled with horseys. The other two, Zok (13) and Billy-Bob-Joe (11), were beginning to stir, what with more varied and mature interests. Subsequently, Mom and Dad have spent the last few months finding sleep-a-way camps for all three.
     So, this boy will be going to this camp for this summer segment and that boy will be going to that camp for that summer segment and so forth. Plus the fact, the entire crew, except for Grandma, will be going to California for a couple of weeks in August, it only makes sense to lay Jeremy off for the summer.
     I understand. They were kind enough to offer a modest unemployment compensation; I have my second part-time job as a beauty salon manager; and many, many people know me and they know that I'll be available for any odd jobs, so I'll be fine. But I'll miss the boys... mostly.
     Fauntleroy has been really obnoxious lately and I think we need some time apart. He ADORES me, don't get me wrong. But he's going through a phase, and I'm sick of it. I've talked with Mom about it and she thinks I need to come down harder on him. Eight year-old boys are tough, though. They're walking a fine line between devoted little boys and independent young men. Therefore, I have chosen to give him a piece of my mind only a few times 'cause I don't want to run the risk of over-complaining. If I bitch too much then I loose credibility. So I pick and choose when I'm going to come down hard. There's something to the old saying, "pick your battles". I did tell Mom last week that he won't have me to "kick around" for ten weeks so I think he'll appreciate me more come next fall. And if he isn't less of a snot, well... I have ways of dealing with that too. Don't forget, I was a live-in nanny to three teen-aged boys for eight years. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve.
     And this isn't to say that I won't see them at all this summer. I'm still preparing my cooking instructional videos and occasionally I film in their kitchen. I anticipate making a few new videos this summer so I'll probably run into the family occasionally, in their home. (I currently have twelve videos completed with two more in post-production. One of these days I'll start posting them to Youtube. Perhaps that might be a nice summer project.)