Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Buried Under Boxes ... But for the First Time in Weeks ~ Smiling!

Moved this week end.  It was hectic and messy.  Lady Blue swung between anger and tears (that is simply the two sides of a single coin).  Now we've said our good byes and she is moved to a "5 star" assisted living facility.  I'm living in a single wide mobile home in a mobile park in a place the locals call Ferntucky but formerly I'm living in Fernley, Nevada.  I live on the last street in the park and my street abuts the rail road tracks.  When I stroll with my lab Tye in the evening I can see the lights of the truck stop on the not to distant horizon.  My new neighborhood is a mixture of Latinos and whites....almost just like me....if we had a few homes for Navajo people it would be perfect. So several stars.  I feel certain that I am the only Jew here but that seems to be about right since leaving Reno in March.  

I just heard the rumble of a train rolling through.  I am awash in memories from Provo Canyon in my childhood and the trains I could hear from my bedroom when I lived in Sacramento and the MBTA rattling over the raised tracks when I lived in my first apartment (a three story walk up) on Beacon Hill. That rumble is a auditory comfort food, so to speak.  

The "house" is full of boxes.  Last night I excavated a living room, where I am now sitting.  Just being able to find a chair in which to sit is a giddy pleasure.  My landlords (two younger married women) use to live here.  Now they live next door.   They are both very nice except they root for the wrong football teams.  Both house holds are devoted dog people.  Both homes have fenced yards so the hounds can safely be outside.  What I don't have is central a/c.  This is the high desert and it will be in the 90s today ~ well, almost every day until October.  Hence the need to get up early before the sun is up in order to work before it is insufferable inside and out.  The front and back bedrooms have window a/c so sleep is pleasant but all these boxes must be opened, sorted through and items placed, given to the Good Will or thrown away.  That is the part of moving I hate...making it all fit in the "new place".  THE SORT is now happening in the living room and kitchen.  Both rooms emit the steady white noise of the hum of fans.  At about 3 pm it is nap time because the temperature inside is just slighty cooler than outside.

Alas it is time to get to work.  The master bed room needs to be unearthed today and tomorrow's project is the office...I can just barely open the office door because I have shoved everything in that is not immediately needed into that very small room.  Off to the salt mines I go.  Oh before signing off,  I took the Virago out for a spin at sundown.  What a sweet ride!  Kept the face shield up because it is just to hot to wear it down so got to really feel the evening breeze.  Another simple joy! ;)

Be safe and happy!  More later....


Sunday, July 21, 2013


The Yay and Boo of CHANGE!

"If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude." (!)
~ Maya Angelou

Times have been troubling here in the high desert.  A battle has been lost.  Lady Blue and I had hoped we would live together until she took her last breath.  We have been unable to over come family members with more clout, connection and legal know-how than either of us has or could afford.  Last week she was appointed a guardian (it was voluntary and we both agreed to it). Then the Tall Texan and I were both fired. 
BOO!

 Funny how life can turn upside down in a heart beat.  Lady Blue is being moved to assisted living and her house sold.  I found a rental home some 30 miles away.  And, yes, once again I am packing.  Lady Blue is blue indeed but she will survive this event, as will I.   We will remain close.  There has been far too much hard work to get to know one another, too forgive and to forget, to let go of it now!

YAY!

 The Tall Texan remains a dear friend to "his Ladies".

YAY!

Signed a six month lease to a neat rented home.  Six months to think.  The landlord allows two dogs and a kitten!

YAY

Then today the spirit was uplifted by finally finding a great deal on a beginner bike (Gotta love Craig's List and oh yes, the Tall Texan). 

YAY! 

When life is gray and feeling pretty dismal...there nothing like the open road to free up feelings and remind one that tomorrow truly is a new day.  Starting over at 65 is not the end of the world!

Yup, just a girl and her BIKE!  

YAY!


And one more time...thank you Tall Texan ~ you are my hero!
  YAY!


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Of Mothers and Daughters and Birthday ~ Oh No!


Motorcycle Vector Graphics

“Probably there is nothing in human nature more resonant with charges than the flow of energy between two biologically alike bodies, one of which has lain in amniotic bliss inside the other, one of which has labored to give birth to the other. The materials are here for the deepest mutuality and the most painful estrangement.” 

Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution

Last week Lady Blue and I joined the Tall Texan in a hunt for a good used 250 bike  for me.  She had to join us of necessity as she can no longer be left alone.  Over the weekend she told the Texan that if I got a bike she would never forgive him.  It was his fault, as far as she was concerned.  He used to have a bike after all.  She lectured long and hard about what kind of people use bikes.  All this polemic deeply rooted in the prejudices of her youth.  She called me white trash.  "Okay if you really are white; I'm of mixed race"... that undiplomatic moment bought me 10 minutes of peace in the 45 minute drive to Reno.  Once in Reno we met up with our friend the Tall Texan and he did the work of investigating bikes.  He examined them, listened to them, asked all the right questions about maintenance, dents and other suspect things.  I just mounted and dismounted...if I can't get on and off there will be no riding!  We didn't find the ONE.  I got back in to the car and she said "You look okay on a bike"  - it was a full pardon!  What a moment in time!

A  week later:  
"We wanted to put 65 candles on you cake but it would have to be the size of a coffin!"  ~Unknown

Today Lady Blue is silent.  She is giving me the evil eye and responding with one word answers.  She is angry because last night she told me to get my hair out of my eyes and I said "NO" albeit in a less than diplomatic tone.  This diplomacy is really hard!  I reckonned that a 64.999 year old can have her too curly bangs in her eyes if she wants (would that be a 2 or a 15 year old regression?).  She knows it is my birthday but then she has never really celebrated it with me.  So what the heck does she care.  I actually don't care about the birthday either but the silent routine is really getting annoying.  My son sent me roses!  It has worsened her mood.  She has memory loss.  How long do you suppose this can go on?

" 'Andie slammed the car door. "You know what I'd like for Christmas, Flo? Boundaries. You can gift me early if you'd like.' ” 
 Jennifer Crusie, Maybe This Time