A Whole New Wall

Something is missing. No one is more distressed about this than Mister Washburn Foo, because all his life there has been a massive screen at this end of the living room, not for movies and entertainment, but for him to scale, and hide behind, and make his sweet Ninja moves from. Now it's gone, and he's a bit traumatized.

Mister Foo wasn't even a fur ball when we put our plans into action and built our big screen. Having our own theater, outside, had long been a dream of ours, and after less than one year in our own home, we made the dream come true, and started having our first movie nights in the carport. Episodes of Planet Earth were our early favorites to screen outside. And then we had our first big screening, when we celebrated Alex's birthday... it had to be Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow! What a blast! We were spread across the lawn and under the stars. It was perfect. Almost. For some horrid reason our yard is a mosquito sanctuary, and by the second, or third, movie night friends were begging us to move the party indoors. We tried all the citronella in the world, and of course, removing all standing water, but in the end, the mosquitos won. We "temporarily" moved the massive screen indoors, and believe me there were many assurances that this was a "temporary" solution. It was odd, at first, and lots of fun, too, when we filled our home with friends and watched favorite movies. After awhile, I even forgot that we had a wall, windows, a fireplace! Those movie nights were such a pleasure... whether for a winter party, or family time at home, we enjoyed our screen a lot.

Last night the entire screen keeled forward, slowed down, and torn a bit, by a chair. But that thing is massive, and we were so relieved that Max and Maria weren't in their usual spot, doing homework on the living room floor. Mister Foo was out of harm's way too. Actually, I looked at him suspiciously, but I don't think it was his doing. Now the screen is down. Our living room looks odd. Bigger, too. We will get around to repairing the screen, and we have other movie night ideas up our sleeves. And we do have a movie barn, don't forget! One way, or another, the Bird House will still be a movie house... But I don't think I'll be such an easy sucker for "temporary" installations in the living room, again!

Now, if only we had the kind of weather that inspires a nice, cozy fire...