This thing is huge! There is also a red one.

Yesterday was my last official work day before vacation. I had conveniently left my laptop at my other job, so I went there and did a few things, then off to Cameron I went. When I arrived, I was delighted to see lovely poinsettias from family members to welcome us to the new office (they are now at my vacation house). There were also sweet gifts from our contractor friends, Kim and David. All that put me into rather intense Christmas spirit.

This is the before picture. Note how the light only hits the first shelf. (All my after pictures are blurry; it’s still dark in this office.)

Speaking of Christmas, Mandi was very creative in her gift for us, and it was a great surprise. She had nice glass shelves made for the china cabinet we keep in the office! It was originally Lee’s, and had sat in our garage getting sadder and sadder looking. Now it is all clean and the strange pegboard shelves are in the dumpster. Combined with the fact that I figured out that the inside light does work after all, this thing now is a fancy addition to our venue ambiance!

Lee Does His Civic Duty

Lee updates the Rotarians on the Hermit Haus activities.

The other thing I got to do that I normally would not, because I am usually in Austin on Wednesdays, was accompany Lee to the Cameron Rotary meeting. It was especially good, because Lee ended up being the speaker, and he updated the group on what our company is up to in Milam County. As Lee said, he didn’t realize how much we have going on until he summarized it!

I got to meet even more city officials, and hang out with friends I already know, so it was a useful way to network and get my face known to more in the community.

Hermits?

Two different styles of Hermann. He’s like Santa, looking different to different artists, I guess.

Oh yes, the title of this post is about hermits. I figured we had better get down with the Hermit Haus theme, so when our friends at Amazon recommended a garden gnome to me, I went to look at what wa available. I found two that were way more like Hermann than like garden gnomes. One even has the lamp that the Hermit tarot card carries, plus he lights up at night (at least I hope he will, I’ll have to check when I’m home). The other one reminds me of Lee, the real-life hermit of Hermit Haus. He is all dignified and holding a staff.

Stop staring at us, Hermits!

These guys will go at each entrance of the building, eventually. Before that, though, they were sort of creeping Anita and me out by staring at us whenever we went into the kitchen at the Bobcat Lair. So, we turned them around and made them look the other way. (Astute readers will realize that they then were looking at the living room, but that’s okay, because we later locked them in the trunk of the car. HA!)

My promise to you, dear readers, is that we will NOT make the building’s decor an entirely hermit-themed thing. I believe we have already come very close to the reasoable limits for hermit kitsch items. What do you think?