[jdviole2]

Before I go on today I forgot yesterday to mention one of the motels we stayed at that Helena really got a kick out of. We were at Lake Powell to see Rainbow Bridge. We had made reservations based on reviews we read in the AAA travel guide book. The motel we selected (a Best Western if I remember correctly) among other amenities boasted a lake view. Now Lake Powell is a huge lake, for those who don't know. And it is surrounded by motels. We got to Page Arizona and turned on the correct road (according to the guide book) to take us to our motel. We drove past at least 20 different motels but did not see ours. We kept driving. (NOTE: be sure to check distances when refering to the guidebook). We soon left the populated area and were driving in a semi desert area. Sand, scrub brush, no trees, just flat FLAT land. We drove for another 5 minutes or so when Helena noticed a building on the horizon surrounded by absolutely nothing else. It was all alone. With a perfect movie reference (she loved movies probably more than any thing else) Helena said "Oh look the Bates Motel". You guessed it, as we got closer we saw the sign that proclaimed this was our motel. To be fair it was an excellent motel, clean, fairly newly built and well maintained. The usual procedure for us was that Helena would stay in the car while I checked in and then we would go to our room. In this case though as soon as I stepped into the office I turned right around and got her to come in with me. The reason was that the office area was filled with cats, 2 dogs and about 15 parakeets flying loose. I know you're thinking 15 loose birds, tons of bird crap. Wrong. The manager kept the place spotlessly clean. Helena was enchanted. While she played with the cats she had two birds on her shoulders. Normally she did not like birds but you just couldn't not like these. We got our room assigned (on the second floor) and went up. Like Ruby's that I mentioned yesterday, the entrance to the room was from a walkway outside of the building. Unlike Ruby's this walkway was stable and sturdy. The only thing was that no matter how hard we looked we couldn't see the lake. There was a range of low hills on the horizon that blocked our view. I let Helena into the room and went back to the office. The manager laughed when I asked about the lake view. She gave me directions. I went back to the room and had Helena follow me. Turns out that if you walked to the very end of the second floor walkway and leaned WAY out over the rail you could just peer between two of the hills in the distance and see a small patch of blue water. So they didn't lie, it did have a lake view. When we were at the motel Helena spent a lot of time in the office playing with all the animals. Moving on for today just a few words about painting. Like I said a long time ago experts say you should never do any painting project with your spouse. Causes nothing but trouble. In our case that was not true. We loved working on things together and probably painting most of all. When we were growing up neither of us got to do any of the actual painting ourselves. We were both delegated to the cleanup and fetch and carry details. So actually getting to do the fun stuff was heaven to us both. Helena was a joy to work with. Anything that needed doing she could do and do well. Whether it was masking the woodwork, mixing the paint, or cleaning up afterward. A couple of todays pictures involve our painting. The only problem with us working on projects together was that there might be occasional interruptions. (A word of advice. Making love on the floor surrounded by open cans of paint and paint filled trays and wet brushes is a logistical nightmare. We never did spill anything but I did end up with a uniquely colored body part. She thought she was so funny.). We painted both inside and outside both our houses. Anything that needed doing she was game to try. In a lot of ways she was braver than I ever will be. OK on to the pictures. The first picture is of Helena and the 40th birthday decorations that she tried to avoid by vacationing. This was in 1991. The next two pictures are of Helena in the midst of painting our second house. The first she is masking the bedroom window and in the second she is standing on a built in desk in the spare bedroom doing the actual painting. Both are from 1990. The fourth is Helena in Arches National Park in the late 80's. Another of the outfits I really like, those "short" striped shorts and the blue top. I always thought she look great in blue. The fifth picture is a proud Helena in her brand new car, just before her 40th birthday in 1991. The last shot is an unusual, for Helena, try at an artsy portrait. I don't know when this was taken, but most probably in the early 90's.