On this day five years ago, I was painting kitchen cupboards in an empty house. St. Germaine was playing on a small cd player. The painting took much longer than I'd expected, and the blackout brought a welcome surprise. As a non-essential Ontario government employee, I was required to stay away from work. Oh, the hardship. That week let me finish painting the kitchen cupboards before we moved in. Sugar D still had to work, so I worked completely alone, and I enjoyed the rhythm and the solitude.

When I discovered the extra painting needed at the new house yesterday, I decided to take today off. With Swee'pea in daycare and Sugar D in California, I had visions of the same scene. Brush up brush down, dip in white paint... Too bad we've already packed the St. Germain cd. I loaded supplies into the car: some old tapes, a few cds still unpacked, a drink, a cup, a chair, a ladder, and all the painting stuff. My lawyer told me I'd probably be able to get the key at noon, so I duly called at noon. But apparently I chose the mortgage provider who's slower than everyone else, and suddenly my peaceful afternoon of painting has disappeared.

So now I'm sitting in the same house, only this time it's full of furniture, boxes, and cluttered lives, and my hands are on a keyboard instead of a paint brush. I'm listening to "Abrakadabra," and desperately trying to find some St. Germain. And my imagination is full of another house, all square corners and rectangles to this one's curvy trim and wonky dips.