The ties that bind

I took this picture Tuesday when the dust was settling around noon.

Brantley and Kurt, who'd already done the front-facing wall just around the corner to the left, had just begun a quick lunch break after starting up the loft ceiling.

Arnold and Frank were off ordering doors.

Franklin had finished the upstairs drywall and was moving his stuff downstairs so he could tackle the water-heater cubbyhole.

And there I was alone again at eye level with my beloved collar ties.

Five months ago, when I first spent some time up close and personal with them, I said, "I think the contrast between the new wood ceilings and the old wood ties will be just wonderful."

I think I was right, and of course they're even older than I'd thought then -- from the early 1880s.

Today I got a piece of sandpaper and buffed off a bit of the oxidation on a side you wouldn't see from the door. Sure enough, the old hand sawing marks stood out smartly.

"Oh my goodness," said Franklin, who'd come back upstairs for a sawhorse. "It really makes you think about how they built these places." It does indeed.