Beautiful day, the lake and ruining a sweater even more

On the dock testing the water's temperature, shall we go in? 

Decided that is wasn't too freezing after getting used to it , Maddy took the snorkel  , waded in and dove down to get a crayfish, because they are cute.  

Very Cute!

 Friendly enough until he realized that he had been interrupted going about his little cray  life and brought ashore. That realization made him a little bit cranky so back he went to the very spot where Maddy found him. 

My arms are full of holes from the wellness visit to the doctor. She burned off five nubs and gave me a flu jab. Grateful for that and pleased to get a Tweety bandaid so that blood did not drip all over .

My arms look diseased as a result of the freezer zapper. They heal quickly  but in the meantime I look poxed , infected, contagious.  My skin is a mess- it looks like old battered luggage.

Beautiful day today, one cloud in the sky the rest is blue as blue can be. I am trying to mend the cashmere  sweater,found in a bin,  using a jagged rock as a base, I bought two dollar wool yarn that is not remotely weave-able.  If I tug on it gently it comes apart. Get what you pay for, they say. 

But the colors are good aren't they?

 

garden brought to life, and old friends

Every year my friend has an "Old Friends " party and for a few hours on one night we all catch up with one another, hear about future trips around the globe, business ventures, books read, and we may talk politics, as we are all on the same page. 

This year, however, it truly was sobering. 

Our main favorite has died, another is nearly bed ridden, some have vanished replaced by others whom I do not know...Surgeries, ill health, strokes and heart issues have compromised a few. WOW, having not seen these folks for about two years , maybe three, "the walls come tumbling down."

Certainly a bit of decrepitness is bound to occur as we inch  toward our exits ...words escaping ,( a "green house" becomes a "glass plant structure thing " ,substitution, which i find myself doing frequently)  slow moving-  off balance, more deaf, less vision, incessant chatter about what ails ya ...Just kill me NOW. It is difficult to measure ,

having  not seen one another in a couple of  years.  Startling   gathering of "OLD" friends for one evening.

Some roll over and play dead or actually BE dead. Some, the most health challenged of the lot, carry on- booking fights and boat trips from here and there- from  Bergen to British  islands , Wales and beyond to the far north. Taken in "stride", so to speak,  inability to walk well  or to  talk or hear- with dignity they venture out and about,  slower, adjusting to  the complexity of travel after having stroke, crippled knees, heart issues, breathing trouble and - hearing loss

  Kudos to them, I say!  "I will get by"...

Which really sorts me out about dismissing a trip across the Atlantic, solo - to stay in England for a bit- revisit favorite haunts and see friends living there.  It will just be a different  sort of challenge without eye sight behaving as it used to . Anyway, Shook me out of my "can't do" attitude. 

The garden is lovely.Bill has brought it into lush bloom  and structure. He is a nurturing soul!  When they first moved there about 30 years ago the  yard was dry dirt, rocks and twigs with  an abrupt dropping slope into the alleyway of more dry dirt. There was no life at all.  

Giant cup hostas, as big as a dinner plate. 

Above is a volunteer tree that towers above the two story house. Brought in by a Japanese squirrel, they reckon. It is a Japanese walnut tree that appeared one spring already well established before being noticed and has grown like it bought the property. It is beautiful. Smooth white bark, delicate branches   with five inch leaves growing in pairs sharing  the same node. Like a dogwood but more elegant.

Two other trees, fir and a maple  I think, were volunteers and luckily landed in a good position to add to the garden's geometric balance. 

Sobering yet encouraging evening spent. The only annoyance was being in the company of people shouting at high volume , hollering  "what?' too frequently. Another good reason for ASL to be taught in schools. How much more pleasant humans could be when  shouting is subdued. Maybe Americans have this special problem due to being a very loud shouty population anyway (?)  My hearing is acute, so it is painful and bothersome to me. Generally I excuse myself and go outside, which I did do. 

Ok,  on to the next thing- going out to the lake to see grandchildren and son and DIL , eat a weenee, a chip and watch them turn blue  in the chilly lake. 

This morning the air is AUTUMN.
 

 

 

 
 

a second cup of coffee, crowded chaos on the deck and first day of school

A second cup of coffee, gazing out the window  this is what I see. I am going to miss the deck garden as winter rolls in. There are still flowers blooming and bees doing their work, there is a change in the air , though subtle, we feel it. 

Finch on a tattered twig from the plum tree, high in the sky, and the chaos of the deck flower pots- I am partial to disarray. Neat and tidy is not one of my virtues.

Weather looks promising- I might make it past cups of coffee out into the world. Yesterday I had to pick up provisions to make onigiri for a party this coming week end. 

When Erik was little this was our favorite shop. Especially the alter at the back where big bags of whatever are kept. After Erik left home,  I stopped shopping at the market due to Dennis's inability to eat anything  with a single carb in it,  and also due to his dislike of unfamiliar foods. 

Mochi/red bean/sesame treat for the road! Yummiest treat ever! 

I came away with the basics - will use salmon for filling. Spam is the usual fave but - ewww, I can not tolerate spam, which is One of Dennis's favorite so called "foods". He has the weirdest diet of anyone on the planet ( his father was the champion but he is no longer on this planet)...so Dennis comes by it naturally , is now the champion, and it is keeping him alive and well.  Also his Dad lived to be very nearly 100, eating the weirdest diet invented by himself...so there is that! Dennis will outlive us all.

I went in for an annual wellness check and labs yesterday after buying goods from the Asian shop- All is well,  no meds , no gadgets, blood looks great and blood pressure is way normal! I have been worried about that since every time I go get an eye jab my blood pressure tells them to call an ambulance. 

My doctor just rolled her eyes and said "tell them that your DOCTOR said your blood pressure is low if anything"....

Flora Jane  started big kid school! She is pumped and she will of course be the star student of the universe. Check her boots! Style master.

TIME is scooting isn't it? Our generation of amazing folks are leaving. At 92 living with a terrible condition, Gloria takes the cake. 

 “My experience with trigeminal neuralgia certainly made me realize how little the health care system knows about many things,” Steinem pointed out at the time. “With this ailment, 5 percent are due to brain tumors, 5 percent are due to multiple sclerosis, and for most, they have no idea. It manifests itself as an excruciating, worst-kind-of-tooth-pain, somewhere in the face, usually in the jaw. … And because of the costs of searching out different specialists, it was very clear to me that if I hadn’t had the resources and insurance both, I would probably have done what most poor people with this disease do, which is end up having all of their teeth out and then discovering it’s not their teeth.”

RIP Gloria, my favorite of all time.  Remember when I crashed the high rent party held for her in the posh neighborhood -with my paper camera? I can't find the photo but I blogged it  before- that was one of the most memorable moments in this life. Gloria changed/improved  our lives , our champion, and MS magazine , our shield! Damn, makes me sadder than any other recent departure. We could never thank Gloria enough, moved mountains yet still more to shift! 

Smash the patriarchy, y'all, we owe it to ourselves, our women children, our sons,  and to Gloria.

By the way, Bloggers "comment" thing is broken so, for now, comments will not publish.
 

 

pink cheeked sky , Love Thy Neighbor week end of INK

Rosy cheeked  Sunday evening. Temporate and cozy wearing a layer and a half of clothing. It has been a low key week end, as usual, for me.

Tattoo parlors  organized a fund raiser on Saturday. Downtown businesses of the cool and hip  sort donated proceeds of the day to Planned parenthood.  Over $125,000.00 was raised and donated! 

People stepping up to take care of their loved ones, their bodies, their right to choose. 

The queue around the block began at 4:00 A M. Saturday's clock ran out before everyone could be inked. Honoring their customers they will extend the process of jabbing arms and butts ,injecting ink as they go, for  as long as it takes. "Love Thy Neighbor" has become a  rallying theme. Homeless housing has taken off as well....finally. some accept, some don't but at least a few are off the streets and secured under a roof.
 

There were old people in the queue as well! Bellingham community does have priorities- Planned parenthood is at the top of the list. 

"Don't let the Bastards grind you down"

 

 

Sally and Anna are driving down to Burning Man tomorrow, van well packed (we hope) first time for both of them - should be more than interesting for those two. Sally printed a photo of Douglas , our friend who died in the spring. He went to Burning man several times - LOVED dressing up  and being girlie- loved pearls and lipstick. Sally will leave the photo and our inscriptions in the temple.

I asked Dougie Wougie to haunt me, please- I would love to see him again!

Sally and Paul just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! WOW, says I! Seems like five minutes ago we were at their wedding- I was in the bedroom with Sally getting her dress over her head and laughing uncontrollably  - there may have been cocaine involved, not sure..(liar) Anyway, Sally got this card for Paul which totally hits the mark because SALLY is the mark hitter. !!!

Burning man at our age...it just ain't right! 

So that was the week end - a good one here in the Ham, our little  bubble of sanity. Feeling lucky- it is a good little community.
 

 

 

 

crawling into seasonal change.

Autumn color, Dennis's tomatoes grown in the hottest place by the garage wall, always do their best there. The zucchini on the deck fizzled this year, zucchini - a dime a dozen in the fall so no big loss,   flowers have been rewarding! Dennis grew seven cucumbers, also by the garage, a few marigolds to ward off pests. Rabbits don't seem to like them.This is the rabbit that the neighbor threw a plate at, We call her Mrs. Farmer McGregor- anyway the rabbit scooted through the critter proof fence that she had put up a few years ago, and sat in our yard until I got too close and ZIP! back through the fence into Mrs. McGregor's yard.  The rabbit's suits blend so well with  brown end- of- summer grass, that I nearly step on them before I know they are there.

A crow left one of its feather sticking straight up like a flag. With my poor vision I thought it was an entire bird. 

Out of the corner of my compromised vision , the cosmos  were acting crazy. There was no wind , and no earth quake- with my camera I zoomed in on a charm of goldfinches bouncing around on the cosmos, eating their middle and tearing the petals off. Wild!  We have a bird feeder but I guess the cosmos are more enticing.

Flurry of  frantic activity and then they were gone. 

Weather is creeping in - temperate , mild, damp-ish. Refreshing I find, but am forewarned of the interminable darkness that comes with winter. That is the one thing , other than high cost of living here, that drives folks back to sky country. Darkness.

Daughter in law and son are now living in sunny Portugal. Her mail is being forwarded to us. She had been an interior designer in Seattle and receives that sort of magazine frequently. They are uninspiring - back to beige/brown/ muted green.- yawn-

When Austin comes here after working on the island- I am so pleased to see his car pull up- seeing him as well as his spiffy automobile , not influenced by his mom's designer influence- His car is cheerful  - visible!

Lil Stumpy came back this morning her family, all together.  happily being little raccoons in the rain. Amputation healing nicely. 

Lovely having Austin staying with us for a while. He will eat anything  that I cook, especially having worked all day, being very hungry,   having to commute so far- Up at 5:30 AM, returning around 8:45 pm...YOUTH can do anything! Anyway I have been cooking for a change, since Dennis can not eat anything I have let any so called cooking skills take a back seat. I have forgotten how. 

Today - dark, cool, rainy, restful....no plans, a snooze maybe. The shift in weather takes some adjustment. 55 degrees at the moment, 86% humidity, dark and drippy but not a cats and dogs day. A gentle nudge into seasonal change.  It feels a little like jet lag.