On the left, sage. At the top, two rosemary plants. And at the right, mojito mint. They were babies when I planted them, and they've really grown since then. Soon they'll be moody teenagers, who will answer merely with grunts to my questions about how they're doing. When that happens, I'll start using them in my recipes.
Additionally, I planted a rose in the whiskey barrel a couple months ago and fed it some beer, as per instructions from my rose-growing neighbors. I guess roses love a can of beer on their roots every once in a while. Something about the hops. The neighbors were also kind enough to supply us with a couple cans of beer they couldn't stand, which had been brought over by a friend, and which the male neighbor had kept refrigerated in preparation for when that friend came over again so he could make the guy drink it in front of them as a form of retaliation for the gift of such terrible beer. The specific word our neighbors used was "swill."
But the rose bush loves swill! Look how drunk it is on life!
In other, only slightly less plant-focused news, Husband and I and the boys saddled up and took our posse deep into The Big City yesterday to help out Elannah.
Elannah is, as you know, a dental assistant, and her dentists recently bought a third practice, which is located in The Big City. They bought the practice from a retiring dentist who had been operating since the 1970s. The dentists tasked Elannah with getting the new building set up in preparation for patient appointments, which started today. Elannah was happy to do it because she needs the hours, but she had no idea what she'd gotten herself into. She worked all weekend on her own, but Saturday night, exhausted and out of her depth, she pleaded with us to come in and help her the next day, as she was never going to finish otherwise. She'd bitten off way more than she could chew.
I was quite enchanted with the building in which the dental offices are located. It was built around 1970, and it is a lovely, well-maintained homage to the open, airy theme of many '70s designs. The lobby, stairs, and hallways are all wide and tall and filled with light from large, two-story windows.
We climbed the broad, open stairway to the second floor and entered the dental office. From the door of the dental office, directly to your left as you walk in, there is a railing surrounding a two-story atrium, which is fed by sunlight from a skylight high above in the ceiling. The plants and trees are all alive, happy, and tidy, which is the key to a good atrium.
Next, I was thrilled about the offices themselves. As someone who is putting together a renovation/decor plan for my brother's late mid-century modern house, everything I saw was inspiration.
The photo below is from the doorway looking at the receptionist's desk. To the right, you can just barely see the opening to the hallway leading to the patient rooms. To the left is the waiting area, populated by my brother, Aaron.
You can see how high the ceilings are, which is why it feels so airy. There is a loft above the reception desk and records room, which includes a lounge/tv watching area for staff, two open offices, and a supply closet under the eaves where we found patient invoices dating back to the earliest days of the previous practice, in 1971.
There is another door off the lobby (which, as you can see in the photo below, is to the right of the potted tree) leading to another back hallway and the patient rooms. I should have taken more pictures, as even the patient rooms were bright and airy. The office also includes a deck at the back of the building that looks out onto manicured lawns and shrubbery.
With all of this inspiration, I had to call my brother, Aaron, to come and hang out with us. I especially wanted to show him the shiplap wall covering, as that was something I wanted to do in his entryway. He really liked it. He said, "What's that renovation show where they're always doing shiplap?" I said, "Fixer Upper, with Chip and Joanna Gaines?" He said, "Yeah, they always paint the shiplap. I don't like painted shiplap. But this I like. I like the wood."
So it is written, so shall it be done.
Beyond me waxing rhapsodic about the space, we really did spend a lot of time assisting Elannah. Hours. The previous dentist had been operating right up until last Thursday, so nothing was dirty or disgusting, but Elannah's dentists bought the practice with everything included, so there was a lot of old equipment and supplies to move in order to make way for the more current technology Elannah's dentists are bringing in. We emptied out cupboards and drawers, washed and sanitized everything, and Elannah organized the supplies the way she likes them. We also removed a lot of dusty old silk plants that Elannah wanted to get rid of. I'll clean those up and use them in my own office, which needs a sharp injection of greenery to make it less bland and boring.
We were all very tired and hungry by the time we left. Little Gary, in particular, was a deep shade of hangry, so we broke our rules about shopping on Sunday and went through the drive-through at a nearby McDonald's to feed the boys before the long drive back home.
Elannah stayed behind for a couple more hours setting up one of the patient rooms in preparation for today's patients before she followed us home. There wasn't a lot we could help her with in that regard--as we are all woefully ignorant when it comes to dentistry and dentistry accessories--but she felt a lot better about the situation now that we'd helped her with all the cleaning and sorting. I told her to make sure she charges her dentists for every minute she put into that project, including the driving time. Too bad she won't get paid for the hours the rest of us put in, as well; but it was fun helping out and relieving her stress, and I got a good, solid architecture/decor fix, which I feel is a fair trade for my efforts.
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