The end?

The Aristocats! By Disney

Well, it might be, but it might not be!!! Some things won’t be finished, others have been. Life is like that. Never ending circles (ooooh!!! Another Disney movie!!!!).

Here in EO, the sound of illegal fireworks are causing dogs to bark and car alarms to go off. (or is that the neighbor’s high powered car with the missing muffler) The circle of life in the rural bits of America!!!

Meanwhile, the babies are growing. In just days they’ve gotten fur and are sooooo cute! (for being fuzzy animated jelly beans with legs!) Future food has never been so adorable!! Little Bear is being so responsible! He’s measuring food and making sure the adults are eating properly and purchasing things to help the bunnies become the best brood bunnies ever.

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Made delightful garlic cheese rolls again and we’ll have the rest for dinner in a couple of days. Tonight was a stir fry that took way too much time and hilarious personal ring cakes. Those are a dessert from Norway and well, the molds for the rings are not in my cupboards and the size of the cake was a bit daunting. So, made itty bitty donuts using a keto recipe and coconut flour. Not sure what I did wrong, but they were not exactly right. Which worked!! Ring cakes are a tad flat and since the donuts were a tad flat, they stacked very well!! The low sugar inside the donut was overshadowed by the powdered sugar glaze outside. Not photos of those, but they were not too bad at all!!! They were supposed to have mini chocolate chips in them. Alas, the batter was thin and when I poured it out into the donut wells in my donut baking pan, the chips stayed in the bottom of the bowl!! So, the last few I made were THICK with chocolate chips. Those were VERY good!!! lol (I‘ll see if I can still take a couple of photos and add them to my next post.)

Something VERY cool happened, too. Mum had a task she’d not finished. With a lot of help, it was completed. Let me ‘splain. She had a doll she was going to mend and never got around to it. The owner was one of mom’s handicapped friends and she called mom every week for years. In each call, she’d ask mom about the doll. Well, a friend up north kept the doll I’d mended and found how to get it to the girl/lady. Was sent a photo and it made me cry. So thankful that is done!!

To end the year, talked to a financial person who suggested using the cash from mom’s house to pay bills and put into investments. So, today, paid off a large bill for an MRI and am paying for therapy sessions. The therapist is going to teach my body how to move again. Absolutely looking forward to that!!! In the paper she gave me with questions to answer, there were many that made me realise how often shortcuts are taken so hurt is avoided.

Also read a couple of anthologies with GREAT illustrations. OK, the anthologies were hit or miss with greatness, but some were very good. The illustrations made up for it. One is about cats and the other fun fairy tale like stories. The images would make good tats, probably!!!

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So, I reckon it is now the end!! Thank you to all my wonderful friends in here. You, once again, have helped make a year of being alone less lonely!!! May your next months be full of beauty and goodness and when those hard bits happen, may they eventually burst out into lovely.

Dec 29, 2017 Cook Inlet AK

Rock on!

I was able to snag a moment of magic this week. We had that full moon and the same night we were supposed to have active northerns. So, since rain was expected, I went out on the lake for almost an hour from 1130 pm to 1220 am. (I honestly thought it was longer than an hour, so much wonder made it seem longer!) It was so beautiful. The water was incredibly still, but above, the clouds were moving fast. They obscured the moon, so I didn’t see it. Yet, it shone through the clouds. Up here, and I thought I had a picture of some and don’t, we have a rock. I think it is a form of granite, but it is fairly fragile. It is full of shiny obsidian specks, sparkles, white, and what we call fool’s gold. When you break it, it can shatter and looks splendid all over the dark sand of the beach. That was what the sky looked like. In between the fluffy white clouds you could spy stars. I waited til Venus was obscured and turned to paddle back to the house, but my eyes caught a ripple. Like moving silk. Like the edge of a silk sheet under the coverlet of cloud. Yup, it was a glimpse of the northerns as they traveled under the clouds and on the horizon. I grinned the entire time I was out. I’d also gone out earlier, when it was daylight and then visited the inlet as well. I was pretty tired when I finally went to sleep!!!

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I found some odd things in boxes. (I’m also sneezing a lot and my eyes are really runny, I might just toss most of the last box. So much must!) There was an envelope of coins from all over the world. I am going to assume some are from France and Denmark because the wording on them suggests it. The others, though, are beyond me. They date from the 50’s to the 60’s. I also found an extremely tarnished half dollar dated 1964 from my uncle when I was born in 65. He wasn’t very old when I was born, so it is pretty special.

I found some papers I’d been looking for, too. Although, I didn’t know I’d not typed them into the computer. It appears my uncle was going to marry Petula Clark. He’d also sit on the floor and cry while Ray Peterson’s song ‘Tell Laura I love Her’ was playing. (thank you YouTube!)

When I was born my parents had a Studebaker Hawk. It didn’t start and they had to walk several blocks in a snowstorm to get to the bus stop so they could reach the hospital. No wonder I love winter so much!!! The funniest story was of one of my ‘Aunts’. She’s my real dad’s step sister, I think. Anyway, she had a hairdo called a beehive and her younger brother got sick and threw up in it. Mom had to help wash Sandee’s hair!

Mom also learned to party when she was 18 or 19. She learned she couldn’t dance in heels, she danced so much she actually lost her shoes! It was a Polish Polka party that lasted two nights and she attended both. She said she ‘was drug around the floor at 98 ponds like a piece of popcorn.’ I also learned she and her college mates would sit on a ledge, I’m assuming over a road, and distract the driver’s with their legs. (And I thought I was a moderate rebel!!)

I’ve set online a sale date for Monday. The guys will be here and they can help me organize the heavy stuff in the garage this weekend. (The Craftsman’s Covid test came back negative, so that is good. Still haven’t heard from Little Bear.) I’m making little ‘You Rock’ thank you and gifts for people who have done so much for me and for fun. I’m hoping the hot glue stays together for at least a week! Lol The one I found in the basement that I’m keeping is absolutely my favorite dust catcher. It has painted eyes and a large group of similar sized rocks. Mine are more varied and some will have the googly eyes and the others will be painted. I should give every single one of my followers one!!! (the glue annoys me.)

Toys! Cat Nips

“Life is more fun if you play games.”
― Roald Dahl

When I left Alaska, I had found Mittens absolute favorite green mouse toy under a throw rug. It was fairly flat, but smooshed back into mouse shape moderately well. I was going to give it to her, but then decided she might like it in her new home. I dropped it into a box I was having mailed and promptly forgot about it.

A week after our traumatic journey, Mittens was bored and playing with all sorts of things. I was cleaning and tossed her a couple of cat toys, which she treated with indifference. Then, I tossed her an army man (this is intriguing. My youngest is 24 years old and army men litter the house!). Oh my! She tossed that little green man around like Sid on Toy Story Later, Little Bear brought home a box from the PO and I told him what Mittens had done, he said Moses loves to toss them around, too. ! I could see a whole new scene with cats and toy soldiers!

When I opened the broken box, I discovered the mouse I’d packed. Mittens was thrilled! Eventually, she lost it. Little Bear later found it in his blankets. I think it was a very good idea I packed her toy and I believe it is helping her feel more comfortable in her new home.

Familiarity is a positive thing when big changes occur.

Midweek

Wednesday held a rather good afternoon. Til I went shopping for new shoes. Ugh. I do NOT like shopping. I finally bought a pair of Nike shoes. (I think I’ve only had one other pair in my life. I always wanted the white ones with the red swoosh, but not being a cheerleader or having enough pennies, I ordered my shoes from Sears!) I was a bit nervous to pay so much for sneakers, but I had two gift cards and now they are gone! Earlier in the afternoon, I had the chance to see Deadpool 2 and laughed and almost cried because of sad bits and laughed more. I even got to attend the movie with someone else! My friend from Kindergarten, Sir E, met me for lunch and then we went to see the movie. I discovered something, too. Watching a movie with someone is much better than going alone. (although, I will go by myself if no one else is able to go with me. I still need to see Solo. Probably an evening show instead of afternoon.) I was very impressed my friend didn’t mind my laughing so much. (Sometimes I can bother people.) I also bought a book of Alaskan cartoons for my friend who retired from being a youth pastor. The strip is published in the local paper in Eastern Oregon, but a whole book is nice to have around. I realized anew that buying books is way more interesting than shoes. (although, this is a fun shoe post!!!!!)

I’ve been thinking on and off about a post Ray not Bradbury wrote about sharing a new author.  (I can’t find the particular post, I know she shared it. I’m pretty sure it was her. Probably!) I stumbled upon a new to me author I really like and I’m not even sure why! This author writes about people in a time of magic, but not entirely. Magic is used for making fireworks and healing as well as other more well, magical stuff. But, by and large, it is a minute part of the two books in this couplet. I don’t know much about her, I am confused in a good way by her writing. I had an idea of what might happen and now she’s making the very bad bad guy into someone who seems like he’s not as bad as he really is or was. (But, he has to be!) She tosses random bits in the paragraphs that seem like they could have been edited out. For instance, when the main characters were running from another bad guy a woman who was pregnant was with them. At one point the horses were stopped and the woman, out of nowhere, mentions that since they are stopped she’s going to pee. And then there was an odd five or six paragraph scene with one of the good female characters who is possessed (sort of) and is talking and walking with a ghul. In the conversation about power, the woman (who is also pregnant!) says, ‘And yet we bind these ancient powers.” The response was this ‘Another silence followed, not so long this time. At the end of it, the ghul simply sighed, and said: “Do we?”  The horrible creature is showing humanity. One of the quotes I shared on FB from the first novel I really liked, “It wasn’t actually the differences between tribes that caused wars. It was the ways in which all people were alike.” This is, I think, why I keep reading. The author knows people and the twists and turns in life and survival. Elizabeth Bear and ‘Range of Ghosts’ and ‘Shattered Pillars.’

 

One of the odd things this week was a ‘test’ the nurse gave mum. It was called SLUMS. I took it and it was very hard. Mostly because math hurts my brain and I could not visualize numbers backwards. (I mean really, most of them are backwards already! How can I remember to say them from back to front if I have trouble with them from front to back?????) I also wasn’t exactly sure where Chicago was. I know it is in the Midwest, yet I grew up in Alaska and anything not in Alaska wasn’t important! So, yeah, I scored ok, but not entirely as well as I should have. Mum, however, scored a 21. Thankfully, today was a good day for her and I’m pretty sure that is why her score was higher than we thought it might be. Although, the nurse is concerned. (If you look at the link, you will see the test and scoring)

The pain doctor changed mom’s meds a bit. Instead of mum taking 2 of 5-325’s every 4 hours, now she has mom taking 1 of 10 every 6 hours. The dosage in her pump was also increased in both the amount she’s getting constantly as well as the stuff she can give herself. Next week should be interesting. The pump will be refilled with a stronger concentration of the meds and we were told there might be some difficulties for about 24 hours til the pump lines catch up with the new increase. While at the office I noticed some cute condoms. (I’d have taken one if mom hadn’t been next to me!)

 

Mum wanted to go to a community baseball game Thursday night. It was sunny and breezy. She made it through almost 5 innings before she got up to leave. She said she had a charley horse and headed to the car (the keys were in my pocket!). She was in a great deal of pain from her abdominal tumor, too. I got the car unlocked and turned on, gave her a pain pill and dashed off for a few  minutes to talk to  a son of one of mom’s best friends. (He had stopped earlier and spoke to us, I wanted to update him a bit more.)  When the son hugged mom, he was surprised at how frail she felt. But, he did say she was pretty alert. (I agreed, but he didn’t talk to her for very long.)

The craziest thing was one of those ‘on this day so many years ago you posted this’ on FB. In 2014 mom and I went on a cruise to look at whales (didn’t see very many) and glaciers. This photo came up on my newsfeed. I wanted to take one of the two of us at the game Thursday evening to compare, but didn’t. I do think she is right that I’ve gained all she’s lost!

Haven’t talked to The Craftsman for a few days. Usually I get the solitary night time texts. I usually ramble on in texts after he sends his goodnight. I reckon he reads them in the morning! I mentioned a couple of times how I hoped to talk to him, I really wanted to go to the dentist next week. But, I need to make sure there is money in the account before I make an appointment.  And hope the card doesn’t freeze if I take too much at once! He usually makes sure to call on the weekend, so I will talk to him then. (I don’t call often because I don’t want to bother him when he’s so busy. You may recall, I hate being a bother!) The eldest sent me a video of him releasing baby ground hogs back into the wild. He was dropping posts into holes and stopped just in time. In the steep and deep hole were two baby ground hogs! (they are ‘vermin’ in VA) He had no idea how they got into the hole, but sent them back out into the world the next day. He mentioned he saw parents lurking, but it was still rather cute. (I recall when he was in HS, he helped a wildlife rehab person catch a lame and blind bobcat that was in the neighborhood. I love my boys!) Little Bear often finds bugs to adopt, Strider brings home critters with fur and feathers.

I’ve also run into other encouraging lights along the way. Rhapsody is once again having ME as her person of interest this week. I’m floored and honored. That happens on Friday. (Or Thursday as she’s across the world from Alaska, yup. It’s up! I need tissues.) G has shared some fascinating thoughts with me and dropped a seed for a post on conflict. TnT is laid up, but has brought me laughter and help via our technology. Podman ALWAYS makes me smile and think when he sends random and not so random notes of interest. One of the mallards has finally showed her babies. I think she’s smarter than she was last year. This time she brought up larger toddler babies to snack on cracked corn, instead of the itty bitty balls of yellow. (Although, that means they are bigger bites for the eagle.) They are still incredibly cute!

Have I mentioned, it is a wonderful world out there? (photo by Little Bear, of course!)

Overflowing

I know it is a sort of 70’s, but I feel like these last two days have been inside a Barry Manilow song. Sure, there were some truly mucked up bits. I offended a friend badly and mum’s car’s brake light came on suddenly (that was scary. Turned out it I somehow depressed the emergency brake. I had no idea where the darn thing WAS on a Pacifica, much less that it was the problem! The squire for Sir Wrench fixed it right up.). Mum’s going thru fittings as fast as Trump shuffles thru White House personnel and trying to get the paperwork sorted so she can have her pain pump filled closer to home is driving me bonkers!

However, the days have been crowded with many delightful people. The lady who was assisting me with the paperwork was kind and friendly and extremely helpful. Even though I need to go back on Monday, she made it seem like it wasn’t a horrible inconvenience. I was able to communicate with KK (Kurt, from the header photo) for quite a while, something we’ve not done in months! I talked to SSC for a very long time, I’ve not done that in ages, either. Friday, I had lunch with a good friend who helped me look at where I might be headed in a different way. (I honestly thought I was without skills of any kind, useless, and a dead end. She showed me I might not be.) I also spoke to one of my favorite people in the world just before she went to sleep prior to her flight back to China, where she lives and works as a librarian. (I’ve not seen or spoken to her in years!) One of my favorite people from my older school days texted me, I was glad she was home. I had thought she was still on vacation in a much too sunny clime. (Cabo??)  We texted for a long time. I had trouble sleeping, as usual, and in the wee hours of the new day, was fortunate enough to message TnT for more than several minutes. Completely rested me. I slept for almost 5 hours, straight thru alarms and the dog and mum! I woke, took a fast shower, and dashed out the door to get fittings and the paperwork sorted as best I could. (I had wanted to wear a skirt, but opted for a shapeless favorite black sweater, tan jeans, black boots, and my black and brown chiming earrings. It wasn’t my Sunday clothes, but I felt on top of the world anyway. A good rest will do that.) Those errands were done before noon, when I was hoping to meet with a friend from days gone by. He showed up almost an hour later, which was ok. I was texting Podman and reading PG Wodehouse. (That author can make me laugh at the turn of a phrase. BEST line today: “Archibald, mark you, whose golf was a kind of blend of hockey, Swedish drill, and buck and wing dancing.” I wish I knew more about golf, I bet this story would have had me giggling even harder than I was!) BeZen finally arrived and the next hours were golden. We last saw each other when we were probably 8 years old, it didn’t matter. We may have been over 50 today, but his eyes were still a penetrating blue and dimples peeked out fairly often as we talked, showing glimpses of that boy I knew decades ago. (I didn’t ask if there was anything about me he reconised….too scared. The last person I spoke to from when I was a kid remembered me as tall and thin!!) It was fun to reminisce about the days when Homer was a fishing town and still new. The spit was a playground and not full of reserve habitat and shops and people. (The spit is a speck of land jutting out into Cook Inlet. I’ll find a photo and add it below!) The big lake was where kids learned to ice skate and grownups hung onto bumpers of cars, skating at tremendous speeds, while their silver blades sparkled on the ice in moonlight or sunshine. Then, I discovered something that surprised me. BeZen’s dad was the only doctor for miles back then, now, this long time family doctor man specializes in working with aging and sick adults. (I’m sure there is more than that, but I didn’t google him much.) I’d love to have mom visit with him, but when I told her about my afternoon, she didn’t seem all that impressed. Piffle!

I arrived home with mom’s second favorite bread from a particular bakery (if I had brought home the other kind, she’d probably want this one!) and she was too tired to got to the funeral service she had been hoping to attend. She said she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her and she was sure she’d probably get sick because it was going to be a very full service with a lot of germs. She also was hurting, had taken a pain pill, and wanted to watch Duluth hockey. Thankfully, they won!

Rounded out the day with pizza. I’d had pizza with BeZen and then part of a giant apple fritter. I got home and sailed back into the fritter because I was moving it and it smelled soooo good! Then mom decided she wanted pizza! I went with it. She’s not really hungry, even though she’s eating. She looks so much frailer today than she did when I left. I think she’s wasting away. But, I’m just the daughter. What do I know?

A most wonderful time of the year-

Winter is my natal season. I love spring, summer is lovely, and fall is magical, but I’ll always cheer for winter. January is not all that grand, unless there is a lot of snow. February, however, is amazing! I don’t get how people can look at winter and not see the beautiful world encapsulated by snow. The skies are stunning, the snow is rarely just white, and the trees write calligraphy on a crisp parchment of blue or white.  Even grey days are not a boring dull grey. They are pearly and tinged with mauve.

 

Snow has many names in the Native Alaskan Yupik and Inuit languages. Most of the time, on the Peninsula, we get dry fluffy white flakes. Sometimes they are wet and good for snowmen. One winter eons ago, the volcano Augustine blew up, coating the snow. Back then, we didn’t know volcanoes made nasty horrible toxic stuff. We made black snowmen and tramped around in it and had a grand old time. (in the spring, the fine ash made excellent spices for mud pies) There are so many colors in snow, it irks me that people can only see white. The crystals reflect and shattered prisms are broadcast over the ground. Snow talks, too. Sometimes it can be a muffling silence and others it squeaks as you step down the drive. When you hear it fall off a limb, the sound is gentle and startling. (when you are under a limb when snow falls off, it is also startling!!) A thread of snow on a dark branch or on bark is a work of art which won’t last. The filigrees of crystalline lace are brushed away in an instant, replaced, or vanish and never seen again.

 

Snow machines and skiing and dog sledding are just three of the popular winter sports up here. (Snow machines are also called ‘sleds’ or snow mobiles or snow go’s) Hockey used to be always played outside on a rink, (today there are indoor arenas) cross country isn’t just a fall running sport (Kikkan Randall is one of Alaska’s most famous of fourteen 2018’s Winter Olympic athletes), and some enjoy surfing in the winter waves (follow link!).

My fervent wish for my birthday is always to have new snow. Living in Oregon, it’s generally just a dream. Even up here, the last couple of years, it hasn’t happened. This weekend, my niece is celebrating a birthday and she got snow! A very good time of the month to have it appear. This weekend is also the start of a winter celebration in ANC called Fur Rendezvous. It culminates with the beginning of the Iditarod (sled dog race not entirely accurately portrayed in Disney movie Balto). Now, I’ve never been able to go to the big city for this festival (My dad said I was too young as a kid and I was still too young as a college kid, go figure!!), but I know it is full of many kinds of fun things to do for all ages. (I took the photos as screenshots a while back, hope they are ok to use!)

 

Another one of the best things about February (besides all the most awesome people born in this month.), is the lengthening of days. I really don’t like June 21. I hate knowing the days are going to get shorter and shorter. But, winter solstice is a day to celebrate! It is as if the building of hours starts slow on December 21 and then in February, they are almost rushing to stuff daylight into each minute of the short month. Eventually, the hours even out and settle down before June, when they shorten again.

There are many quotes about winter and February. A good many of them are negative and annoy me. Like this one, “February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so the appearance of green shoots two months hence seem preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long.” Anna Quindlen

In Alaska, we get longer days and snow and sunshine and sunsets and awesome holidays and birthdays and snow (I already said that, huh???) and uncertain temps and it really is a wonderful time of the year to be alive! What isn’t to like????

Saturday…

in the snow, it’s definitely NOT the fourth of July!!! (the fourth has less darkness and more mosquitoes.) The above truck is out near where I get pizza. I’m thinking it may stay put til July!

My first errand today sidetracked all the rest of them. Sir Wrench had finished mum’s car early! I called the SC (by rights, he was a knight first so I’ll remember that in the future. Damsels can knight anyone they want!) and was once again rescued. He waited at the airport for me while I filled the car with not even a gallon of gas (mum’s car needs a lot more, I forgot to fill it….) and dropped it off. I am going to miss this car more than I thought. Of all the rentals I have had, this Subaru Outback is my favorite vehicle. I parked it next to a car which had been rented to a woman with a small child. (I overheard her telling the gal at the counter that her son ate in the backseat and it might need scrubbing….) I did eat the ice cream in mine, but it is still very tidy and the only ice cream dropped was on me. (of course)

After I got mum’s car, I drove back into town and looked for two things I didn’t find yesterday. Glucose tablets for me and medicated soap for mom. I finally opted to get some stronger than usual anti-bacterial hand soap. (you’d think the hospital might send a script or at least tell me where to find the stuff they wanted her to use before her surgery. I’m going to assume this is ok.) The glucose tablets I got were in tubes of 10 or so. They are hard to open and I’m going to transfer them to older tubes. (when a low blood sugar happens, the last thing I want to do is drop glucose tablets. I did that once, it was not amusing.) I also these soft, squishy toys and decided to add a comment to the photo.

A best part of today was this:

It’s not summer at the moment, but I consumed part of a glass of it and brought some home. For real, I drank a wine that reminded me of kayaking on sparkling lake water in the summer sunshine. I can’t remember the name of it. It was a white wine from France. I don’t know what it actually tasted like as to distinct flavors. I do remember I closed my eyes as it balanced on my tongue and saw and heard lake water and felt a breeze and sunshine. I really liked it!

Two other photos are of my new cape and the two flamingos I was able to bring home. The pink one looks to be a bit of a coquette. The purple bird seems a bit more responsible and appears to be larger than the pink one. I reckon that is the male. They don’t have names yet.

In other news, one of my yahoo mail addresses told me via the iPad that it had ‘expired’ (thankfully, it is NOT the one connected to WP), I can’t get google chrome to pop up on my laptop in less than 10 minutes, and my camera chip won’t work the laptop properly. Mum is going back and forth in pain and glucose levels, I’m toying with the idea of some piercings, and learning stressful experiences can cause one to gain weight as easily as ice cream. (Guess which of the two I tend to have more of? I wonder if I can get chocolate caramel flavored stress.)

A Delicious Gift 💝

I’m always amused when various holidays choose to hallmark a box of chocolates as a great gift. I’m all for a meal out (preferably something not in the faster food range) or perhaps a nice walk alone somewhere. (Alone as in two people, minus tourists!) I’m fond of flowers and can never have too many in my space (not plants, cut ones which are already dead and can’t be killed). However, I am of the mind one of the best gifts in the entire world are words. Those hand made coupons are cute, but never used (making them takes time, using them takes even more time). Cards are nice and silly expensive. If someone wants to spend 5 dollars on me, I’d suggest adding a couple more and getting me a book from the list of “Books Mom Wants” affixed to the fridge with the library magnet! (I also have a few on Amazon..)

Call me unromantic or whatever, books are my chocolate, my oxygen, and my kryptonite. They fill my soul, comfort me, amuse me, teach, and give to me over and over. When I meet an author, I’m in awe. (There are so many on WP! It’s exciting to read them) Wordsmiths fill me with wonder as they craft phrases into paragraphs and then into stories for me to devour. I was even lucky enough to be written into a book once! (I know, I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s pretty darn cool! Oregon Detective Kelly Lowe)

The individual morsels of words as they roll on your tongue are better than nougat (definitely better than coconut!) and caramel. Here is a fun one I recently found in a children’s book I’ve read dozens of times, “chrysoprase”. (I believe it is the color ‘apple green’) A string of words can thrill me to my toes, no matter how often I hear it. I’m a sucker for book quotes of all kinds, because they are words threaded together to warm my thoughts. Truman Capote said this about writing, but it fits reading, too. “To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.”

One of my favorite good friends, the SSC, (who took me out for dinner last February, marking that outing as one of the top 6 most wonderful experiences of 2017) found and gave me a book by Anais Nin, Delta of Venus. He offhandedly wished me a Happy Valentine’s Day when he told me about it. I picked it up on the 13th and am very happy! I’ve already been ‘sung to’ in the preface, I can’t wait to see what’s next! (Did you know she had this particular set of stories published because they showed “the beginning efforts of a woman in a world that had been the domain of men.” She and her friends were paid a dollar a page for their erotica, and every dollar was needed desperately).

I’m know going to enjoy each tantalizing bit in this delicious read! (Have I told you how much I love books?)

But, first I need to re-read a book a friend and I read every Valentine’s Day. It’s by L.M. Montgomery and is called The Blue Castle. We used to fight over it at the library (she’s a kindergarten teacher) and when I finally bought the worn used copy, I bought her a newer one of her own. Even though we are far apart and have been for years, we always read this together. Or close to together!

Happy Valentine’s Day and may you curl up with a good book as you while away the day.

Pointless…not really!

Sunday it snowed. A lot. Fluffy soft white glittery snow pushed to and fro by wind. It snowed for most of the day, about 12 hours of snow and wind. It wasn’t a strong wind, just enough to make things drift completely. Sunday means a newspaper of a formidable size and mum was wanting it. I had swept off the walk once and less than an hour later, it looked as if I hadn’t done much at all. I went out later, when it was light, and shoveled my way to the end of the drive. I didn’t see a paper in the box or wheel tracks to mark where the driver may have gone. (I learned later, it might have been tossed in the snow and covered.) Wending my way back to the house, I opted to go out after chatting to the person who was coming to plow. (Or the boss of the person plowing!) I assumed the man would arrive in the latter part of the afternoon and so spent mine outside moving snow. Every time I checked my glucose, it read good numbers. Moving snow is good exercise! I made many paths and piled up mounds and had a great time. While I was out, our neighbors passed and offered to ‘punch a hole’ in the drive before the plow got there after he was done with his drive. (I was a bit nervous about mum today. She was coffing and didn’t sound very good when not on the phone. If I needed to get her help, I wanted the ambulance to be able to get to us. She was  ‘fine’.) I felt the punch was a great idea and we continued on our ways. (It didn’t happen at this time, but next snow!)  Strider called and I talked to him for a while, I moved more snow, and finally decided it was close to time for dinner.

Yup, just as I got my plate to take it to the basement (There isn’t room to eat upstairs anymore, mum has quite a bit of fabric and yarn and clothing she plans on getting rid of in various piles), he arrived. I stopped him and helped him see where the road was and where the new drain field and septic were (the yellow tires I painted and stuck on end were a very good idea!). After about an hour, the whole place was plowed clean as a whistle and all my work had been obliterated by the man with the plow.

I laughed to myself. It is so normal for me to do something and have someone else come thru and erase everything in a better way. Yet, it wasn’t entirely pointless. I got lots of exercise and my glucose was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. OK, not the times when I slipped and fell (the last time kind of hurt!) or when the dog kept trying to grab the shovel in his teeth so he could run with it (playing is well and good, but not when it is time to work!). The rest of the time was grand, though. I do love snow!!!!

Sniff

When a person starts a blog and then followers appear, the blogger wonders. At least, I do. I didn’t really mind if anyone ever followed me, it wasn’t important. (I didn’t realise how silly that was!) For me, I embrace a few of my followers and hope the rest don’t mind my trips thru the net. (I even follow some who don’t follow me.) I started this particular blog because I needed a place to scream visually, to be myself, and to cry. I’m pretty sure there are a great many wet shoulders out there! I call this my unfiltered facebook, because I can’t tell these things to most of the people who really know me…because 90% of this stuff is ‘OMG!!! You can’t be thinking/doing/believing/ that!” They’d like the cat parts I’ve added……..

Which is funny, those people I’ve lived with and/or known for years and years and they do NOT know me. You do. You blessed lights of people who share love and give advice and care and seem to like my mental wanderings. We are in each other’s living rooms, bedrooms, cars, work places and we belong.

Thank  you so much. I need you, each and every one. You are more than people I follow or people who follow me. You are friends.