All Things Come To Those Who Wait

"All things come to he who waits." Who said that? Violet Fane (1843-1905) used the idea in her poem Tout vient ß qui sait attendre, but did not coin the phrase.
'Ah, all things come to those who wait,'
(I say these words to make me glad),
But something answers soft and sad,
'They come, but often come too late.'



I am happy to report that one of the things on our "someday" list got done before it was too late for me to see and enjoy it.
The A-frame cabin Daddy built was finished on his 60th birthday, in 1984. He died a little over two years later and ownership was transferred to his children. We made some improvements over the years; the most major one being remodeling the dressing room. That included putting new vinyl on the floor and sheeting the walls with a washable wall board. The greatest improvement was a shower.
We got the idea how to make that shower when we were visiting Leroy's uncle in Belize in 2002. Since our cabin has no running water (unless you run up from the spring with the water bucket) the shower is a pipeless bucket-and-rope version. A bucket with a shower head attached to the bottom is tied to a rope that runs over an overhead pulley. To use the shower, you must lower the bucket, fill it with water, hoist it back up, and flip the valve to let the water come through the shower head. But you better pick a short song to sing in the shower because when the bucket is empty your shower is over.
Anyway, one of the things we often talked about (but never did) was finishing the inside walls and ceiling. The walls were still bare stud walls---which made it easy to string up new lights or receptacles but cleaning more difficult. Finally, on Labor Day last year we spent the long weekend putting insulation in the two end walls (one in the living room and the other in the kitchen) and installing drywall. It did not stay warm long enough to get the spackling all done last fall, so we let it go until this spring.
We spent this weekend at the cabin with my two sisters and the job was finally finished by applying a coat of soft beige paint. It looks wonderful! Now I am dreaming of finishing the side walls. But the men who would have to do the work are not as enthused as I am.
Oh well. All things come to those who wait.