best little house in brooklyn: neighbor dave

A few weeks before we closed, mama Kennedy and niece Quinn came to visit. Everyone liked the little park in front of the new place.

Luckily, we had no keys yet and so were, um, unable to show them what some might fairly call the appalling interior of our little dream house. However, as the ladies were taking in the handsome exterior from the sidewalk, their scrutiny and admiration did not pass unnoticed. Even a slightly dazed next door neighbor, Dave, thought they might have more than passing interest in the place and introduced himself. The daze, he explained, was because his second baby had arrived only the day before. Whew!

Even delirious, Dave was extremely friendly and offered up his business card with the name of his documentary film company. His day job, though, he explained, is as an electrician.

An electrician! What could be luckier for a couple whose new fuse box – yes, actual glass fuse box – looked, well, like this...

eek!

Well, it turned out that what could be even luckier was that Dave and his family moved into their place about three years ago and did the exact kind of renovations that Mary Beth and I are doing now! He invited me over to see some of the improvements.

For instance, where we have a concrete slab with weeds in the cracks...