What a Saturday! In the morning we painted a little bit and then Marie called and invited Noah and Maxim to go to Stow and visit Gwen. They gladly accepted and Marcela and I took the opportunity to go out for breakfast and choose the final colors for the house. We had a lovely walk through downtown Hudson, one of the hidden treasures of metro west Massachusetts. Maxim did not want to leave Gwen's house, but Gwen's grandmother was there and Marcela wanted to give her time to visit Gwen, so we all jumped into the car and returned to Maynard. The kids ate and napped and then Gwen came to visit us. She brought her pink bicyle and red tricyle and red helmet. She rode the tricyle, Maxim used the bicyle, and Noah drove his car. Maxim and Gwen play very well together; they discuss and pretend and negotiate and arrange in a seamless dialogue that sometimes lasts hours. About an hour after Gwen arrived, Catherine came by and played a little bit with Noah. "I think he has a thing for girls," Catherine said to me as Noah chased her around in his car. "I think he has a thing for you," I teased her. She seemed delighted. The whole time, from when we got home until after Catherine arrived, we painted. Marcela worked on details, window frames. I painted the walls. We finished the back wall and almost finished the south wall. Only the front remains, and the trim. You can see on the bottom half of the pantry window the final color for the trim. It is called Chestnut Beige by the company that makes it. Marcela likes it (and I agree) because it has a subtle hint of red, the compliment of green, and so it matches the basement color (a rich burgundy) and pulls out the green in the body paint. I think it will take two coats to cover things. We are closing in on the last stages of this summer's painting. It has been a good, growing summer for all of us here. Maynard has been a fertile place to land.