Forget It?

           Forget it?

          Should I just forget it?

          I like my rut. I like my sameness. I like tinkering the days away. I don’t like going out so much but realize without the rain there would be no flowers.

          My Aunt Wallie died. 

         She was 97 years old. She was an aunt by marriage, married to my mother’s handsome older brother, Uncle Clarence. The viewing was Friday night, and the Mass and interment were the next day. I thought about not going. My family moved pretty far away when I was young and as a result, I never spent much time with the extended family. That part makes me sad. The viewing was so late on Friday that we had three choices. Don’t go. Go and drive home after dark. Go and then get a motel room. I ran the choices past Mike, and he was happy with whatever I decided to do.

          If we go, I get to visit with cousins I hardly ever get to see. That was a plus. Driving after dark is a minus. Motels are expensive and so is eating out. That’s a minus. I’ll miss my blog day, that’s a minus, too. You know how much I look forward to spending time with you. The chance to take lots of road pictures is a plus and between that and seeing kin, was ultimately the reason I chose to go up for the viewing, spend the night, attend the Mass and interment the next day, and come home.

          “What would you do with Bondi?” you ask.

          That was another consideration. Most motels are pet friendly these days, but they charge a pet deposit. My beautiful cousin Rosemary gave me the names of some places we could stay, and Mike started making calls. We chose the cheaper of the two motels he called and when he started inquiring about pets and king size beds, he found the two were mutually exclusive. No king size beds in rooms where they allow pets.

          “Let’s see if the Kipps’ll keep her,” I suggested. “Besides, it won’t be any fun for Bondi to spend so much time in the car when we’re at the viewing and the funeral — and you know how much she loves Miss Rosie!” She really does. When I tell her ‘Rosie’s here’ she’s all wiggles and excited barks and pee dribbles as she runs to the front door. Once Miss Rosie has her car in park, I open the door and let Bondi out. Rosie scoops her up and loves on her the whole time we’re getting ready to exercise then I put Bondi outside the studio door. She doesn’t like being away from Rosie and used to bark at the French door and stare at us with pitiful eyes. She’s getting used to it and now she’ll leave until it’s almost time for us to be done. It’s like she has an internal clock. Then she’ll come to the door and wait for me to let her in.

          “I’d love to keep her,” Miss Rosie said when I asked.

          So, the plan was made.

          We’d drive up Friday afternoon, check in at the motel, attend the viewing Friday night, Mass and interment the next day, and come home Saturday afternoon. The Kipps would keep Bondi.

          Now here’s the conundrum.

          By the time we got home Saturday, unloaded the car, unpacked and put stuff away, it was time for my evening chores, then recliner and TV time. I didn’t get a thing done on my weekly letter blog.

          I was derailed! Out of my rut! A day behind! Discombobulated!

Sunday, I started. I downloaded my camera. I took sooo many pictures! More than five hundred! I spent the rest of the day sorting pictures and even got a start on editing and reducing their size. I didn’t get it done.

Should I forget about the early part of the week and just tell them about the service? I wondered.

Forget about showing you Sewing Dreams, my newest book box?

“You showed us that last time,” you say.

I did, but it wasn’t done. It’s not done here yet either but I wanted to show you that I used real thread and real needles. I did make a mold of needles, but they’re so thin I can’t get the clay out of the mold in one piece. Maybe I should try and freeze it first?

Then I painted it.

          He’s kinda rough and antiquing looking, but since I was just playing, I didn’t take a lot of care. I thought he’d just live his days out here at my house, up on a shelf, collecting dust. I never expected anyone else to love him.

          I was wrong.

          Without even being finished, my cousin Rosemary fell in love with it. I’m like, “Are you sure you want this one?” All I see are the flaws and mistakes I’ve made. “I could make you another one and make it whatever color you want,” I offered.

          “Oh, I’m not fussy about color,” she said.

          Unless she lets me know otherwise, this guy has been adopted!

          Should I forget about showing you Whiskers? I guess he healed up from whatever wound he had because he’s sitting next to the weed line, looking healthy, as Mike and I backed out of the garage on our way to do a little shopping.

           Should I forget about showing you the awesome clouds I took a picture of?

          Should I forget about the Collie hanging out of the window of the truck in front of us at a red light?

       

          Bondi saw Lassie and barked. Lassie barked back. I laughed.

      

          Should I forget about showing you the awesome iron fence I took a picture of. This guy is fancy-schmancy!

          Should I forget about telling you we stopped on the way home and picked up a pizza from Meshoppen Pizza?

          We are in love! The crust was thin and crispy. Les (the owner) has a good sauce, and Mike thinks he’s got a good sausage. Me? I’m not crazy about sausage but love Mike enough to let him get it on our pizza.

          It’s our new favorite place when we want a take-out pizza.

          How about our haircuts — and a beard trim for my handsome mountain man? Should I forget about telling you that story?

          This beautiful lady is the owner. Mike and I really like Paula and I recommend her to anyone who asks.

          All the beautiful people in my life! I am so blessed!

          My beautiful friend Jody gets her hair done by Paula, too. I so liked Jody’s hair the last time Paula cut it that I asked, “Would it bother you if I asked her to cut my hair the same way?”

          “Not at all,” Jody said.

          Paula sees a lot of clients and couldn’t remember exactly how she cut Jody’s hair. Lucky for me I had Jody send me a picture. I like my new haircut.

          Mike went to church with me on Sunday, so I asked him to take a picture.

          “Are we twins?” I asked.

          Jody laughed and put her arm around me.

          “Not exactly,” both Mike and my Miss Rosie said.

          Close enough for me and the guys I go with.

           Should I forget telling you about a branch hanging over one lane of our little dirt road?

          The first time Mike saw it we were out for a walk.

          “Don’t walk under it,” he warned, pointing it out to me. “If it falls it could kill you.”

          The chances of it falling at the exact same time I’m under it are about the same odds as winning the lottery, I thought but didn’t say. I didn’t want to argue, and I wasn’t worried about it.

          The next time we drove out Mike said, “Don’t drive under it. Drive on the other side of the road. It could really do some damage if it falls on the car.”

          Mike worried about this branch and Mike fretted about this branch and Mike worried some more. “Maybe we should get the golf cart when we get home and that long tree trimming pole with the saw on the end of it and see if we can’t knock it down.”

          I’d had about enough of hearing about this stupid branch! “Go for it!” I told him. “I’m not helping.”

          I didn’t and he didn’t.

          That branch hung there for many trips in and out of our road and I bet I heard about it each and every time. “It’ll come down in the next big wind,” I predicted.

          We’ve had lots of winds since then but nothing strong enough to bring it down.

          This whole branch saga was getting ridiculous and I finally decided to take a picture of it so I could share the story with you.

          Should I forget telling you about the awful deluge that fell from the sky?

          It rained so hard! It sounded like a herd of elephants running across the roof! 

         A torrent of water shot from the valley and the yard flooded in no time. 

         Bondi and I put an order in for a gutter on our kitchen patio. 

          And the wind!

          Trees came down and the power was out for six or seven hours. I didn’t take note of exactly when it went out because we have a whole-house generator. Having the electric go down was just a hiccup until the generator kicked on. It barely affects us at all. But I did notice when it came back on because I was laying in bed reading and heard it shut off.

          Knowing I was going to talk about it, I asked two of my neighbors when the power went out. Both of them have generators, too, and the power went out a couple of times before it stayed out. I got two different answers.

          Then it dawned on me to ask our other neighbor, the one without a generator.

          “I’m writing. Do you know how long the power was out?” I asked that beautiful Steph Robinson.

          “I do, as a matter of fact! It went out at 4:34 and came back on at 10:52.”

          She knew it right down to the minute. I had to smile.

          And the sunset after the rain? Should I forget about showing that to you? I should’ve gone out earlier, but by the time I realized it was going to be beautiful, I’d already missed the best part.

          C’est la vie.

          The next time we went out, we could see evidence of trees that had fallen across roads and the branch was gone. I don’t know what Mike will worry about now!

           Should I just forget talking about my next try at mold making?

          I’ve discovered that not all kinds of silicone will give you good results. If you buy GE 100% silicone, you have to make sure it says number one on it. The number two won’t work, I read on the internet. And guess what I had used in my first try?

          If you said GE number two, you’d be right. I was anxious to try again so on our shopping trip we swung past the hardware store and I picked up the cheapest tube of 100% silicone I could find.

          I only made a few green ones, wanting to test it first and it worked just fine. I oiled my items before pressing them and they popped out with no sticking. I finished off the tube making the orange ones. The only complaint I have, besides the smell, is it didn’t seem to pick up the details as well as I would’ve liked. The quarter came out as just a circle with barely any detail at all. I made all these molds for less than six buck-a-roos — counting the corn starch!

          Since I wasn’t sure where the cheapest place to buy silicone was, I picked up a tube at Walmart, too. It was a different brand and more money, but I bought it in case the really cheap stuff didn’t work. I’m anxious to try it and see if it picks up the details any better. I think it would be cool to have molds of coins.

          Lastly, should I forget telling you how much Bondi loves nail clippings? It’s weird, I know, but even Ginger liked nail clippings.

          Mike did his toenails and Bondi Hoover’ed ’em up as quick as he clipped ‘em off. When he moved on to his fingernails, he clipped them over the trash can.

          Can you hear Bondi?

          What would she be saying?

         

          How much of that should I have just skipped altogether? You tell me.

          I’ll spend the rest of this day, Monday, working on pictures and hopefully getting another story put together for you, the story of going to Aunt Wallie’s funeral and tons of road pictures.

 

          Let’s call this one done!