Serendipity… it is one of my most favorite words! The most succinct definition I found is : “An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.” Oh, Yes!

I went to the hardware store yesterday for propane.

My local hardware is wonderful. The people that work there have been there forever, or at least as long as I’ve lived in the vicinity. They know me. This hardware allows “accounts” and you can “charge to your account”. A bill comes at the beginning of the month. They have computers and an electronic signing thing, but still….an ACCOUNT. And they KNOW me so I don’t EVEN take my purse inside … I go in and get what I need and they charge it to my account. And we kibbutz. Glen and I had our first meeting when I was getting some plywood cut to make a crate. He erroneously assumed that math and dimensions and crate construction (and this crate needed some piecing together) was not something I necessarily was adept at…changed his tune quickly and to his credit will repeat the story. Now he just gives me a hard time, but will also rustle up special help – say when I want propane in the motorhome and things are in the way AND it is almost Christmas and half the staff are hanging Christmas lights.

Debbie, Kathie, Tim and the rest, they know me. And not just me. It is the kind of place where you go with what you need to do and someone walks the aisles helping you find stuff and discussing options of how you might go about whatever it is that you are doing. Tim helped me take a different approach to removing the wall paper border in my living room and kitchen.

I LOVE going to the hardware!

Yesterday, I went to the hardware for propane for my grill. But early in the morning, after the sun was up, but while it was still cool, I took my coffee – not to the front porch – but to the area in the back of the house, outside of the sunroom slider. Karl goes to a spot near, where he can keep an eye on the game trail that runs down the small hill between our house and the neighbor’s. I took my coffee and sat on a piece of plywood which currently serves as a mini-deck.

As I sat there, I thought that I would really like to get a couple of the log adirondak-style chair/table combinations that I see around town. I thought that one would be nice about where I was and maybe one in the old garden area which gets shady in the afternoon. I thought that it would be nice to have other sitting and relaxing spots near the places Karl likes. But the current budget…there is a lot of stuff on the list ahead of log adirondak-style furniture…

Then, I went to the hardware…for propane, which I did get. But there in the garden section were these resin adirondak-style chairs in all sorts of colors. And they were inexpensive. So I bought one. I can carry it easily to the different spots I’m thinking about. And until the budget allows for the log chairs, this will be just fine. And I was ridiculously happy to have found this chair, at the hardware, where I went for propane.

Serendipity.