Random Musings

Only two large pieces of artwork yet to get ready for the move. Artwork and the mirrors are the worst! That’s what I thought until I started on the book cases. It took twelve milk carton square boxes to just do one set of shelves. And even that is hard to pick up and stack!

I went back to the store to get more of those boxes and had my first ever “collision” accident. Both of us backing out at the same time. He was in a very low old car that had no horn and no passenger window. Now he has no usable passenger door. I have very few scratches and no dents. Since I had no idea what to do and remembered we were supposed to exchange insurance information, I asked the kid to show me his and found mine. We photographed each others papers and went on our way. He had to get to work, I had to meet a friend for lunch and see the builder.

After that I stopped at my insurance company and got their advice. Then to a body shop for an estimate and before the day was over, I had a claim sent into the insurance company. The bumper will get the next available opening in early October. Much simpler than I thought it would be.

So today another workout at the gym and a walk over to look at the new house.

and found all the interior doors have been delivered.

And all rooms painted.

Speaking of painting, the new owners here brought more things to store in the studio and showed me their paint samples for the walls here in the big open space. Their choices are simply gorgeous….all my old patched up white will be the colors of a lovely French chateau….even the natural wood cupboards will be painted with an over wash. And perhaps one of her quilts hanging in the foyer where my Australian aboriginal work hung. I will love seeing the new incarnation.

Today I had to take over the mantel that Patrick made from a piece of yellow pine that Lee had left over from making the long bench in the foyer. It will sit above the stone work and the young chap who unloaded it was pleased with Patrick’s finish and rounded corners. It will be nice to see it hung and even more fun to place artwork on the wall above and the River Lethe sculpture on the mantel.

Passengers climb down the ladder to store their baggage and go below to take a seat. They flow through their losing memories because they have drunk the water from the river. Little pieces of past tense text hang onto threads of waves. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your outlook, the ferry man also had a drink along the way taking the passengers to the River Styx, and he forgot where he was going so just tied the boat up until someone who has a memory of where to go next comes along and gets them all going again. I believe the destiny was Hades…but I forgot.

Today I took the day off packing…which is a pain when doing it alone….and just sketched in the two books, Meadow Book and House book.

A fairy ring of toadstools I saw last week and some other fragile ones this morning.

Love this low wheely chair found in the house. I would like to see who uses it and why. I think it is perfect for scrubbing baseboards.

I think it is time to post this and pour something into a glass.

Early tomorrow it will be laundry and filling boxes.

Til later…

Now Sadie has packed herself up. We are getting so tired of piling up boxes and waiting for the new house to get finished. The new owners dropped by the other day to put some things in the shop to store. I am wondering if I need to get some place to put all my things if the house gets even further behind. But will cross that bridge when it comes. I took a walk on the dam and then stopped by the house Friday morning. All the taping of drywall was finished and I suppose next comes the painting. I will check tomorrow morning to see if anything new happened since.

There was a walk through the meadow and some drawing in the book.

Lots of rabbit sightings in the clover along the path from gym to house site.

And at the house interesting things to draw in the book about its construction.

This morning I hauled five more bags to the trash.  Yesterday packed a few more boxes of teapots, cups, candles and candle holders. So much pottery from the dining room cupboards. I will miss all these built in cupboards but have found out once something gets stuffed back in….it is simply not used. So many things I saw, liked, bought, and put away to use someday. Silly. There are days I think of taking one plate, one place setting of cutlery, one cup, one bowl and letting them sit on the kitchen counter waiting for the next meal to be ready to eat. But maybe someone will visit and I will need more, so more gets packed and I am hoping there is enough cupboard space for them to come out of those boxes.

In the meantime I enjoy the little pleasures of what stays behind.

Tomorrow I will call and see if a rug cleaning place can come and roll up three or four area rugs to take away, clean and return all rolled up for the movers. Two of them have been in every house we’ve had since ’93 when we moved here and never had a professional cleaning. If I can’t find a local cleaner then I roll them myself and they go as they are.

There are still paintings and other things on the walls. And two framed documents are making me wonder if I should take them in their frames. One is my undergraduate degree and the larger one is my Masters of Fine Art degree. I had them framed when I received them because no one in my family ever went to college, some did not graduate high school. I hung them over my computer desk in the office downstairs and thought of how my parents died before either of these degrees were earned.

When I was trying to pay my way to a two year Associates degree after high school, my father took me aside and slipped me a $100 bill. I had never seen one before, and knew he had not seen many. He told me it was for my tuition and a couple of books the following semester. Tuition was $70 and used books about $10 each. That was almost sixty years ago and I still remember his wanting to help me out.

The degrees only mean something to me personally. I was the only one who needed to see them and remember the struggles of achievement.  Maybe I can hang them side by side in my new walk in closet over my massage bed, or behind the ironing board in the laundry room, somewhere, I think. I will let you know where they end up.

Last night I fixed myself a Turbo Tonic. It was a good idea but unlike a gin and tonic, there was not a desire to have a second.

Til later….

It has only been three days but here goes…

I go to bed early and rarely go anywhere in the evening but the night of the third I awoke to a neighbor’s fireworks. It was quite the sight from my porch. But so was the sunset just before heading off to bed.

Wasn’t that fun!

The new house now has drywall all up in every room.

That last image is the dining area looking out to what will be a small screened porch. So more drawing in the house book….

and yesterday while checking out the drywall, I found this hanging tool still in the garage.

With this tool the tall (6ft 8in) installer can and did work alone. I just love the look of the thing…so drew it in the book.

Because I am bored stiff with packing boxes, I dug out my watercolors again to work on the Meadow Book.

These are some of the plants I either bring home or photograph so I can draw them at home. I don’t think I am quite ready to drag a chair out there and sit while balancing my paints, pencils, water and brushes.

This morning I went to the dam before checking in with the builder.

He seems to be waffling on my plan to move in mid August. And, of course he can. It was only my idea, not his. The problem now is not supplies for my house, all those are here. It is shortage of labor. The good thing is he has no problems putting extra topsoil in the back of the house for my landscaper to fit in a Japanese-type garden. There will be a small pond with trickling water, Japanese shrubbery/trees and all my round stones collected here in the yard with my outdoor stone sculptures. Thank heaven he (the landscaper) is moving all of that so I don’t have to ask the movers.

Speaking of movers, I need to stop stalling by painting in books and get the rest of what goes north packed up. Family will be here in less than a week to load it all up. I defrosted the chest freezer in the garage for them to take. Now I need to eat some of what I found in there before movers take my refrigerator along with everything else. The cleaning lady will not be back until near the end of the month and will help me scour cupboards.

I am running short of boxes so will stop by the grocery store again tomorrow for those nice strong egg loading ones. They used to be half the size and great for filling with books and still be able to lift. Now they are twice the size and perfect for anything but books. I need to ask the movers if they move dressers with clothes in them or prefer them empty.

I will ask Patrick and Marla if they can get on a ladder to pull nails I can’t reach and touch up the walls. I want to leave this house ready to move into. I want the new owners to get on with enjoying this house right away and not sigh at having to do much before they can.

Okay, that is all from here in a sea of boxes…filled with the things I somehow justified worthy of coming along.

Til later…..