Day 350 (Frame)

I finally did it: I got a frame for the painting I bought in Tzfat. Here it is as-purchased:

Very pretty, but not ready to hang. So I did a quick Google search to find a framer (I vaguely remembered seeing a store in Pisgat Ze'ev), and went over there today. The experience was soooo Israeli. First of all, even though I went when the store was supposed to be open, the door was locked. It was cool, though: the guy left his cell phone number taped to the door. So I called him, and we agreed to meet in half an hour.

In the past, I've gotten a few things framed at Michael's. There, the clerk is happy to let me take as long as I want, and is completely sympathetic to and validating of my musings, while simultaneously trying to upsell me. Here, the guy had zero patience for existential musings. He does this for a living and knows what's perfect for this picture, while I don't seem to know exactly what I want and am working by odd hunches: what was with me? He was perfectly nice about it; he just seemed genuinely confused by my entire approach.

We settled on a frame reasonably quickly (not the first one he had picked out, but one very, very similar) and then he convinced me to do what no Michael's employee ever has: I ordered the matte glass instead of the regular glass. Tip to Michael's: I will buy the clearly superior but more expensive product as long as my finished order is still a reasonable price. Tip to Israeli framers: if you want your customers to think that your prices are reasonable, have them frame a thing or two at Michael's, first. With a 65% off coupon.

Then the guy asked me when I wanted it, and I got my second huge shock. He just framed it while I waited. We chatted about this and that: how awesome it is that I made aliyah, how my family should also make aliyah (HINT, HINT), where are good neighborhoods to live, how Israelis rely almost entirely on word-of-mouth ("מפה לאוזן" in Hebrew, "from mouth to ear"), how good it is that my little boy is in a Hebrew-speaking playgroup, how I should never trust any Israeli who is trying to sell me anything (I totally couldn't work up the guts to tell the guy he should maybe stop and think about what he's telling me right now), how the picture is now framed and it's now perfectly clear the guy was right when he said to go with dark green, have a great day.

When I got home, I did something truly shocking: I actually hung the newly-framed picture, without waiting to procrastinate. While I was at it, I hung two other pictures I've been putting off hanging, including The Caped Avenger's awesome giraffe. Husbinator admired the finished product and reacted perfectly when I told him I sprang for the fancier glass. He looked at the picture and asked in honest confusion, "What glass?"