A step up

The porch and steps are refreshed. My brother, recently retired and looking for a project, provided the motivation – and expertise – to finally address the repairs needed.

Felix gained his freedom this afternoon. He sniffed the wind, peered into the old places, disappeared into the neighbourhood for a while, came home and … walked on the second coat of paint.

We had added non-slip grit to the concrete steps. It was while we were cleaning up the brushes that Felix arrived, leaving little, but barely discernible, paw prints in the paint. My brother pointed out that Felix had approached the steps from the far side and probably didn’t see the ‘Wet Paint’ sign.

As we worked, we had been noticing the character of the timber and of the concrete steps – marks and scars from nearly a hundred years of use. Paw prints add character too.