Day 3256 Smoke and mirrors.

16th July 2026

The air quality was pretty bad, there were health warnings on all platforms, all due to forest fires in Canada. You could almost feel the smoke in the air, and smell the slight hint of burning wood.

This was not the day to work outside, but I had to finish the job at Elaine’s.

I had to cut strips of timber to mount these old shutters so they fitted inside the window frames of her house. I made a series of different thickness pieces to get the perfect fit.

I loaded all the parts in Kelli’s mums van, which we are borrowing until we get our fixed.

I got to Elaine’s house and rang the door bell, no answer, rang it again, same. I then pushed it a number of times in quick succession, still no answer. Had she fallen asleep? Did she have her hearing aid turned off?

I walked around to see if she was down by her small lake, but no she wasn’t there.

Rang the bell a few more times, still nothing.

I loaded everything back into the van and drove home, slightly peeved. I should have brought my phone, but typically I forgot it.

When I told Kelli about my wasted journey, she messaged her.

“ she was upstairs all the time” Kelli informed me, “ you better go back”.

Stuffing a bit of food down my neck, I did the same trip down.

This time she opened the door on the first push of the bell, I bit my lip, I could have made a sarky remark, but I thought better of it.

I got down to the job of fitting the shutters.

Somehow both the frames were slightly different, but with the combination of wooden strip I managed to get them fitted. One was a little tight, but I will run one through the planer, then go back on a different day.

That job done, I returned home. Kelli had finished painting a small storage box, so I took some pictures and Kelli posted it on Marketplace.

The humidity, the haze from Canada still lingered well into the evening, hopefully wind direction will change and carry it back from where it came from.