Who Knew?

This awesome painting is quite a surprise. It was done by my landlord. In my angst over a request made by my landlord, a very pleasant surprise came out of it all. She (the landlord) had written me an email and asked if she could
store " a bunch of books" in our basement. After just having felt violated by Edie Bouvier Beale (if you don't know anything about Grey Gardens then I apologize but you should do a little research) Bob nor I were in any mood to have a bunch of old books taking up space in our already full basement. Bob has just finished converting one room into a scrapbook/craft extravaganza showroom for me and he has his own room for his hobbies too. Besides, I have been on Bob's butt for years to get rid of his old moldy dumb college books, so why would I want someone else's crap? I emailed her back and politely told her no. We didn't want the responsibility of it, make a habit of it, we rent the whole house not just parts of it, etc. all good arguments if you ask me. I feel good about practicing what I preach. Say no the first time and have no regrets later. I promptly receive a phone call as I knew I would. She apologized for the lack of information on her part. She went on to tell me that her husband is an artist and has had a book published with his works. Her storage unit, garage and spare rooms are full of cases of these books. She has one pallet of books that need a home for just a little while. She also adds that we will be compensated for our inconvenience. I am dumbfounded by her confession and quickly regroup. I tell her that I think it will be fine and that I will get back to her. I call Bob at work and he agrees with me that this is all well and good. I do a little internet research and find out some stuff. These books sell at art galleries and at his showings. He is kind of a big deal in the art world. His paintings go for 14,000 to 23,000 dollars each. I HAD NO CLUE. I LOVE the paintings too which was a pleasant surprise. He is Chinese and doesn't speak a lick of English. He has always been this really smiley Chinese guy with big glasses. I have said a total of three words to him, ever. I fight the urge to say the three words really loudly, knowing he is Chinese and not deaf. His wife does all of the talking. She really is a nice lady and we have gotten along easily. I have seen his work in galleries before and had no idea.
I email her and tell her I am an admirer and she tells me she will make sure I get a book( a 60.00 dollar value!)so I am feeling pretty good about it all.

Again, I tell Bob, you just never know about people. Kind of reminds me of our Craigs List table adventure.