odd optimism, home journey, Mrs. Plum is dying

 Spring forward. Not especially fond of daylight saving time. Just as one gets in the rhythm of light and dark- or, in our case, dark and darker, the invention of cutting off the bottom of the blanket to sew to the top comes around, and adjustments must be made. Not that it much matters when we don't have a job to go to, or anything else that depends on the clock. It is just annoying. Clocks around the house must be changed , one involves a ladder .

 

Old people on ladders might be comical if they bounced , but that is not the case. You know how it goes,  Fall, Broken hip, pneumonia sets in, and there you have the last gasp. Knowing this, the clock that is high up on the wall will just have to wait until autumn to be correct again.

Painted on an old LP record this clock has been correct in fall and winter consistently.

Nothing going on here just that I feel strangely optimistic . Perhaps because we have already hit bottom and there is no further down that  we can go . The only option is to go up (?) Plus the sun visited this afternoon. Energizer. 

 I watched nearly every video of Wyoming that I could find on you tube. Sentimental journey. Glad to have been raised there in the harshest, loneliest, weirdest place in the USA. Instills character , fortitude and a willing  can do spirit. Also   a runway model's attitude. You know the one. Don't ever ask a Wyoming gal to smile!

I looked up the house where I was born, It has changed ownership a few times and been trashed- de-charmed- broken and  machete sliced. Zillow took  me through the rooms and around the street. My Dad would be heartbroken. 

His carefully manured , planted , nurtured trees, lawn , abundance of flowers surrounding the yard- his hand made picket fence and raspberry patch behind the garage  built when I was about three years old-  taken over by hay fever weeds and high desert dirt. It looks like King Leopold  11 bought the place -  "My Congo", yep, we know how that went!  Brutish. Anyway, it was a good  visit for the soul, but, as you know, "you can never go home again", grateful to Zillow for doing the work for me. 

The  tulips are opening and by tomorrow will be  scattered  petal pieces. Not long lived are they. I reckon they were grown in a greenhouse, stems are weak,  pale and floppy. They do not snap like tulips grown in the field. Poor things.  

A for effort. 

Plum blossoms in the afternoon. They are being tricked. It's OK, though, they have not made fruit for several years now. Brief spring  decor. Mrs. Plum is dying.

 

 

 

 

 

Spider mites , The littles, and hiding neighbors.

 Benjamin by the window was a stick when brought home- It has been through  a lot and lost many branches. It was infected with spider mites three years ago. Every year  since,I  have put it in the middle of the room on a blanket  sprayed NEEM , washed every leaf and branch , and stuck it back on its perch. The spider mites are back...I can't lift  it  to get it in the wash and rinse station. This morning It looks even worse. Dropped nearly all of its leaves. Maybe I should load my rifle and take it out to the gravel pit.  Spider mites are the worst!

I brought the Ginkgo in from the freeze , it is doing well. It wants to go into the ground in springtime but Dennis has decided to stick with his Only-native-plan. Shame, it is a lovely little tree. 

I will give it to Kim. I have given her a few trees that Dennis does not want planted here so at least they will have a good home.

Yesterday Kim and I spent the day with the littles. We painted, played, ate cinnamon toast, read books, the usual.

Kim took this on her phone from the kitchen - the lumps on the sofa watching Paw Patrol.

Weather outside - buckets of rain. 

The general mood over the land - disgust, sorrow, hood winked-  slapped silly- implausibility , though we have been prepped for disaster, not of our choosing, unless you voted for the cooked brain Orange thing. Taking a break from it all.  The littles are good medicine. Still the air feels heavy, nerves are frayed and tempers are short. I am beginning to understand why my neighbor Katya, has not been out of the house for ten years, curtains drawn. The more she stays in...the more she stays in. 

Perhaps she sensed this coming in her bones (?) feeling  acutely , the horror of  the Yugoslavian crisis back in the 1980's,  traveling by night , small boat, carrying two toddlers , pregnant with a third.  Leaving family and friends for a better life in a land of  a different language ( which she never did acquire fully)  A land of promise.    OOPS! Think again, it was rather dependable until trumpster idiocracy took the reigns. As we all are aware. What to do- hide under the covers, leave the country, do a murder? 

My other neighbor called and left a message- She is from Belize, her son is traveling to England at the moment, she ,too afraid to go out and about, wonders if her son will be OK in England. Safer there than here, I reckon, but she has become afraid of life. 

We are not afraid but we are getting mighty cranky!

Tulips in the shops look like they don't have a care in the world. I bought  a few home, they promptly wilted. 

 Seems early for the plum to be blossoming. Old dear Mrs. Plum- no longer bears fruit, just  a bit of optimism for springtime pleasure.  AND the sky is blue at the moment!  We should be glad....

All is not lost in the natural world. 

 

 I trust that we will all be OK. We will get the Orange derangement sorted , swat the flies , and pick up where we left off.  

The walls, at the moment  though ,are tumbling down. Perhaps things will turn around when  Micky D's Happy Meals are no longer available  as sustenance  for the Orange toddler . 

In the meantime, take care of yourselves- do not go mad, do not despair as I am doing- it gets you nowhere but grumpy AF. 

Morning birds are back! Singing without effort, trying to impress the ladies  and make more singing birds.   Must focus on that renewal of life force. It is more welcome to my heart than the other. 

"Cheep cheep, chirp chirp, cheer up cheer up  cheer up". Another lesson from Sesame Street and the littles. 

Go well about your business , dear ones.  

 

 

 

A day out with Stella of the best ideas!

Look at what happens when the clouds part! Beautiful  green growing things. Stella and I went to Camano Island to see  art  and to just get out of the damned house!

 

 Annual Women's art  show. We went last year and it was especially inspiring, this year not so much.  

We did not go around the "park"  this time, as we had other points of interest in mind. 

 Here are a few clay art works and what ever else-

On the way back  we went to a few antique shops, bought very little but enjoyed meandering through the weirdo overpriced stuff.

 Stella's answering service...so many calls  from so many phones!

Really, I  think that we find better stuff in thrift shops and for le$$.

It is always curious to look around  , compare this and that and prices of what we think things are worth.  

Didn't  check the price of Linda as anything over a fifty cents would have been too much, though I probably could have used her eyes.  We grabbed some free  fresh popped corn and a free record and moseyed on down the road.

This guy's house is even more bizarre than last year . Every inch is covered with something, yet he has a sign out the front asking for cool junk, please.

The day flew by. It was so good to get out and about with Stella, as usual. She is the most fun friend in the entire world. As we drove closer to home , having sorted out the whole Iran and Epstein thing, (talk of murder involved) we decided to stop in Burlington for a bite.

Burlington is a small town in between here and there and has a few reasonable places to get good food. Stella had been to a place a couple of weeks ago that I had no idea existed, nor do many! The outside is nondescript,   no sign or anything to indicate that it is anything other than a  brick wall at the  back end of a dull black building. 
 

Stella confidently opened the door  and we entered a vintage barber shop- empty  except for the usual barber equipment , a cigarette machine and an old dial phone. 

A packet of Camel cigarettes was left on top of the machine.

Indicator of how to find the secret door to the Speakeasy.

Pull the lever for Camels.

The mystery door opens and -voila! You are in the Speakeasy. 

 

 

 

 

It used to be the back room of a paint store where Stella bought house paint for years. The guy finally sold his paint store and this little miracle happened. How clever it is , too. The food is good and the cocktails superb! 

Fabulous ending to a day with Stella, of the best ideas! My life would be shite without her! Plus, who else can sort the world's BS better than she? 

Came home and thanked her for a fantastic day and for driving because..... my eyes . I may have been OK, since it is getting dark later now but I would trust Stella more. 

Wee dolls and a wee dog- maybe for cigar box shrines (?) 

The moon will be eaten by  shadow tonight, rather at 3:00 A M. I might get up for that as it will be spectacular- Rare clear sky! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

A daffodil duck coat, thrift shoping, the Orange shite

I went out this morning to retrieve my coat from social fabric, where Renee altered it to fit better.

She did an amazing job- took 7 inches off and by looking at this coat inside and out , one would never guess that anything had been done. Invisible accurate work, Renee is a star! 

I met her long ago when she was arting around town. she drove a tea cup car. tea cups/saucers covering the entire car. She made a gorgeous  dress entirely of different sorts of pasta- an elegant ball gown  and one entirely of bras.

I stopped several places on my way home . Four people stopped me to compliment the coat  . Some wanted to touch it because it is water resistant but very soft. Waxed. One woman said I looked like a daffodil and one said I looked like a duck, one remarked that her granny had a coat very like this one - she remembers the soft feel of it. Anyway, success on the coat. It is very very YELLOW.

I went to the "shops" - here are some photos of stuff I did not buy:

These were  mini- about 8" tall. 

Dear John...I regret not buying him.

I then went grocery getting- always shocked at the small bag full of maybe five items costing what I used to spend in a month!  Came home , unloaded the items from thrift shops: 

-wall eyed back bear. 

tiny paper mache slippers.

Pine needle may basket

terracotta Russian woman with dings in her head dress- to be used in a cigar box shrine, I reckon. 

And then I listened to  the news. Illegal, Epstein war on Iran, the murder of over 100 little girls as their school  USA bombed. After which I had an Eat-all - of -the -groceries attack. Now I feel ill. Physically, mentally and emotionally.  I have a black bear to snuggle , while I hide under the covers . Nap will make it all right.  Why has no one taken that Orange POS to the cleaners??? 

Iran will not change overnight though Ali Khamenei  bit the dust, there are many to take his place and could be even more brutal. No one knows anything, just that the USA started an unprovoked war ( as usual)... and murdered over 100 little girls so far. 

Nap time. Can not handle this obscene shite. 

 

LIGHT in the sky and on the hill, a festival and a Lil Loafer.

Light at the end of the day has returned for one moment.  Southhill  from the deck.

Buds are plumping, robin plumping, the raccoons are pregnant.

So begets another spring. It is false spring, as usual. there will be another few months of winter trying to stick around as long as possible. I enjoyed the cool crisp air yesterday Just the right temperature.  One coat weather.

On the calendar there is one day marked off in March to go to a dermatologist just for an overall look. I have had a bad feeling about the appointment since I made it in January. I cancelled it altogether  and feel so much weight lifted. I also cancelled my yearly check up with general physician - waste of time and money. But then Dennis informed me that medicare insists that yearly check ups are done to be able to receive medicare. If true, I have medicare advantage through expensive insurance out of pocket so maybe that rule dies not apply.

I checked with Dr. Eye Jab to see how long I could be out of the country before my eye exploded without the jab. He had no answer.

On the back burner, in my fantasy , I am thinking to go to London- take a train  and  for a bit  stay somewhere else, London within reach but not hectic. I should do a trip solo to Portland or somewhere nearer to see if I can  navigate my way through a station and a city.

Just a thought.

Friends just came back from northern Italy, the back roads and villages. Had a wonderful time - people were welcoming in spite of America under trump. They were sympathetic ,having been though  their own crazy national history.  

My friend's unintentionally meandered to   Ivrea during the festival of orange battle.
HERE 

 

 

They were not destroyed  or injured ,  but astonished!

 They hit a flea market where everything was wonderful. Amy was "good" and only came away with this:

I am thinking to use the 35 cigar boxes that Bill gave me to make shrines for objects. I would love to go to a good flea market to pick up oddities. I may end up doing shrines for things found here- sticks? a rock?  baby pine cones?  Dryer lint?I don't know. anything can be worthy of a shrine.

Keeka is selling her Lil Loafer Aristocrat trailer after putting it together for a trip that she will not do. She is going to Australia and points beyond so has to sell it. 

 So cute and livable. Anyway there went that idea. No news here, just riding it out, as we do.