A year of seasons

Here's that little maple tree from a different angle.  This photo was taken on the one sunny day we saw last week.  Look - the sky is blue!!  Today, the sky is a monochrome in shades of gray.  The puddle at the end of the driveway is deep enough to raise trout, and the rain ranges from persistent drizzle to pestilential downpour.  Many of the local rivers are over their banks, though I have seen worse.  And I'm DAMN glad we live at the top of a rise.  If we get flooded out, the entire downtown of Portland will be under water.

I posted the last of the old family photos on facebook - including my grandpa in full beard when he was working on the Al-Can highway in Alaska. Quite the picturesque cheechako.  

Dave suggested I have a virtual garage sale on the stuff I cleared out of my head.  For starters, I'm donating all the squooshy, ornate, and extravagant furniture to the Elves in Amy Lane's Green's Hill.  And the gwdaful lamps, too.  Especially the five foot tall golden plaster off-center Grecian maiden with the amphora on her shoulder and the light fixture coming out of her head. And the porcelain lady with the huge hoop skirt that concealed a radio, the tall white wig with the rhinestones in it, and the light fixture coming out of the top.  The shade on that was pink, with tassles, finge AND beading.  Nothing succeeds like excess.  I figure the sprites and elves will have a grand time with those.  Though, there was a time, the third time I moved that damn Grecian maiden, that I thought I might like to stick it out in the field at the cabin and blast away with a shotgun. that sucker was HEAVY!

As for the cookbooks and romances, the china chipped and faded from being sent through the dishwasher, the pieces of carpet left over from the last remodel in the 70s, the pastel-colored cigarettes with the gold-paper filter-tips, the moth-eaten furs and the gaudy costume jewelry - have at it, folks!  MJ already has the old dining-room table and china cabinet, and is giving it a whole new set of vibes. Thank you, MJ!

 I got the intangibles and those are the things that count.

The cats and I are moving in a big pile of yellow pillows and some fuzzy blankies, and we will nest in here when we need to think.  You're welcome to visit any time you want.  I can sit with you, or you can have the room all to yourself. Sort of.  You'll have to share with the cats.

Many people have mentioned that they have a room like this, too.  When you are ready to clean it out, give me a hollar.  It's SO much easier working with a friend!

Hugs and love and warmth to all hearts this weekend.