If we were having coffee, I’d talk about the weather. Not merely as a conversation starter, or to avoid politics, religious and financial topics. But because I’m in the process of painting the exterior of my house. By hand. With a brush. Because I want to.

So I want the weather to be dry, which is asking a lot in the Pacific Northwest in springtime. I want it to be not too hot and not too cold. Kind of like Goldilocks’ porridge.

I’d tell you that, even though I used an online calculator to figure out how much paint I would need, I overshot by a huge margin. An expensive error, and one that is going to leave me with a whole lotta “dark pewter” paint on my hands. Literally and figuratively.

And so, I’d suggest that if you had anything outdoors that needed painting, you might consider the color “dark pewter,” and I could probably get you a really good deal on a few gallons.

If we were having coffee, I’d note that April seems like a good time for house painting around here because, despite having to work around rain squalls, I’m running into very few creepy crawling, buzzing, multi-legged creatures. Which suits me fine. They certainly have their place in the ecosystem and balance of life, but I’d prefer that their “place” not be overly close to me.

I’d tell you that I spent a lot of time and energy in the early hours of this morning, lying in bed and debating whether I should paint the garage door the main dark pewter color (for which I have ample paint; very ample; mega-ample). Or whether I should paint the garage door the trim color, which is “rain forest” green.

I’m toying with the idea of painting the front door a crimson red. Good feng shui, isn’t it? And maybe finding subtle ways to tie the red into other parts of the house. But I don’t want my house to look like a year round Christmas display, all red and green. Maybe crimson and rain forest wouldn’t have that effect.

Are any of you good with color? I’d rather not lose more sleep over this. Although I am thankful that garage door colors seem to be my only major concern at the moment. That, and the fact that I’ve run out of coffee.

Okay, I’m off to paint some more. Feel free to offer your color scheme ideas. And thanks for stopping by for coffee.