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Bring on Winter!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on November 21, 2010| 3 Comments »

I’m ready now. I stopped at Les Schwab’s yesterday and picked up a set of chains for my car. Today I picked up extra chain tighteners. I have an extra pair of jeans, my Sorel boots and extra blankets in my car.

In short, I am ready in case we get snow.

Which means, of course, that it won’t snow. It’s the Law of Preparedness. If you aren’t prepared, you get snow. And lots of it with ice and people who don’t know how to drive on it.

If you are prepared and the whole of Portland is prepared with gravel trucks and the two snow plows they own and Tri-Met is ready to chain-up, then we will not have snow.

Why is this important? because Portland is not only a city of hills, it is a city of drivers who have never driven on snow before. Witness this from a couple years ago:

Had one of these people had the sense to just park it, some of this would not have happened. If one of these drivers had removed his foot from the brake (braking is actually the worst thing you can do in a slide) and tapped the gas, it is possible some of this would not have happened. If Portland actually owned more than two snow plows, probably none of this would have happened.

For the record, I drove to and from work every day that the office was open during that snow storm. I borrowed the 4×4 and my husband went to work with a friend in his 4×4. It wasn’t too bad if you allowed an extra half hour for the commute (due to the number of people driving with chains on who had to slow down and due to the number of people who don’t know they are supposed to slow down and spin out on the roadways).

Last year I got caught in the Big Snow Storm. It actually snowed less than 3 inches, but everyone panicked, got out on it and pounded it down into ice in less than an hour. Cars that slid off to the side of the road or floundered in the powder were simply abandoned – right where they were parked, even if it was in the lane of traffic. For whatever bizarre reason, I actually drove my husband’s big 4×4 in to work that day instead of my little red truck. If I had driven my little red truck, I would have left work at the first snow flake and probably would have been home in 40 minutes before the snow actually hit.

But I drove the Explorer and I figured I was safe. I didn’t count on Other Drivers.

It took me over 6 hours to get home. So much fun.

If I am ever stuck on Lower Boones’ Ferry Road for 2 hours again, I am stopping at a motel and spending the night. End of story.

Anyway, this year I ditched the truck for a four-wheel drive car of my own. But I still don’t know how it will handle in the snow being both a compact car and a very light weight one. I do know it only has rain tires on (which is great since it rains here 10 months out of 12).

So I decided to be proactive and get everything in my trunk that I will potentially need: warm clothes, blankets & the chains. And yes, I know how to put the chains on (the new chains are SO much easier to deal with than the old ones).

I’m ready.

Now it won’t snow. Which is too bad because I am rather looking forward to snow.

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A Few of my Book Friends

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on November 20, 2010| 3 Comments »

Some of these are really OLD friend and some are fairly “new” like Sherlock Homes there on the left and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. That’s a new book, not a new story. I’ve probably read it three times. Right next to it is my first “reader”: “Cubby in Wonderland” by Frances Joyce Farnsworth, published in 1932. It was my dad’s and he gave it to me when I was just learning to read. I treasure that book! It’s about the adventures of a black bear cub in Yellowstone Park.

“Of Mice & Men” by John Steinbeck – not his best but certainly his weirdest. That’s a sad story. Next to it rests “The Three Musketeers” by Dumas and I can’t even say I’ve ever actually read it. I’ve seen the movie several times. Time to put it on my “read” list!

Several Zane Grey novels: “Knights of the Range”, “Raiders of Spanish Peaks”, “Wilderness Trek”, “Stairs of Sand” and “Western Union”. Hmmm: there’s a gap there and “Riders of the Purple Sage is missing. ARWEN!

“The Book of Dog Stories” is next and I can’t say as I’ve ever read much of it, either (it is also upside-down in the book case).

The dog-eared collection of C.S. Lewis’ “chronicles of Narnia” belongs to Arwen. I’ve only actually read the first one: “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”.

More goodies: “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran. “100 American Poems” (which includes “The Whore in the Snow Bank” and many poems by that great American poet, Anonymous). “Selected Poems” by Whittier and “The Courtship of Miles Standish” by Longfellow. “Poetic Meter & Form”. “Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverly”.  I confess I have only read part of the latter book.

Those are followed by a treasured pair of books, also from my dad’s library: Robert Service’s “Ballads of a Chechako” and “The Spell of the Yukon”. That’s some true American poetry that should be memorized by all good boys and girls in the school system. Who can forget immortal words like:

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.

It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm –

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”

I love Robert Service.

Next to those two lies “The Book of Courtly Love” which is mostly Shakespearean love sonnets, a gift from my husband on some long-ago wedding anniversary.

“Norton’s Anthology of Poetry” from my one year in college, 1974-75. It is dog-eared and tattered but I treasure it.

“A Farmer’s Heaven” is a self-published book by Myron Burrell Bybee who was a friend of my father’s. It, too, is a collection of poem, all by Myron.

Why is “Remembrances from a Mother’s Heart” on this shelf? Hm. that’s one of those fill-in-the-blanks journals for your kids to look at after you die. I probably have it 2/3’s finished then shelved it and forgot about it! But it is in good company because the one right next to it: “On Being A Mother” is the very same thing but a different format.

“Winged Arrow’s Medicine” by Castlemon has a publication date of 1901. I’ve never read it. I just picked it up at a yard sale because of the condition and age of the book. It’s a YA novel for boys.

“The Second Jungle Book” by Kipling was my favorite book in the 4th grade. I loved anything by Rudyard Kipling that year.

“The Adventures of Arnold Adair, American Ace” by Laurence Driggs (1918) and “Bob, Son of Battle” by Alfred Ollivam (1898) are on my shelf for the same reason as”Winged Arrow’s medicine is: age and quality of the book. I’m a sucker for good quality antique books. I haven’t actually read them (yet).

And last:

The leather mini-books that belonged to my grandmother Sylvia Cusick Wilcox. A random sampling of titles includes “Poems – Burns”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Speeches of Washington”, “A Christmas Carol”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Merry Wives of Windsor”, “Julius Caesar”, and “Arabian Nights”. They are in their original box and the little pieces of paper tucked in there are carbon-copies of a typed list that my grandmother made of all the books in her collection.

I could not have picked a better book shelf to photograph than this one. Some of these books are old, old favorites and provide a true picture into my heart.

How many of them have you read? Do you collect old books? And does anyone(Arwen! <ahem>) know where my copy of “Riders of the Purple Sage” is?

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A Not Very “Deep” Blog Post

Posted in Uncategorized on November 16, 2010| 11 Comments »

I was thinking about my blog today (because I have a big announcement) and I got to feeling guilty that mine is not a very “deep” blog, but I keep to the surface of things. I put on my “public” face when I blog. That means I don’t delve into the real heart issues of my faith, politics, and my personal world-view (while I am a conservationist and try to be “green”, I am not an environmentalist). I try to stay with safe subjects like plants, birds, bugs, grandchildren, books and Harvey.

In short, I am not here to offend anyone but by not offending anyone am I compromising my own deep-seated beliefs?

I hope not. I just learned long ago that the only people who really care about some of those deep-seated beliefs are the people who agree 100% with you and you never reach the people who don’t agree with you. In fact, you can outright alienate the people who don’t agree with you.

And that is one thing I feel very strongly about: I was not put on this earth to alienate people. Now, that could just be the Middle Child speaking. You know: the kid who is always trying to be the peacemaker? I’m a Classic Middle Child.

Another reason I tread that ground softly is this: my children do not agree with me nor do they hold the same ethics as I do. And I want to keep my children as my friends and allies and maybe someday, I hope to win them over to some of my deep-held convictions. I sure am not going to do that by taking a rigid stance on some of the subjects I really, really feel strongly about.

Want to know some of the things I really feel strongly about?

Please look up that Internet Urban Legend BEFORE you carelessly hit “send”. And clean it up, too, by removing all the “FWD” and email addresses of people I don’t know. Because if you don’t, I will look it up on Snopes for you and I will email it back to you and everyone else you just sent it to with the link that says FALSE.

If you are going to pretend to be a photographer and post photos of wildlife on the Internet, please use a wildlife field guide before you: identify an elk as a moose; a Tiger Swallowtail as a Monarch butterfly; a Columbine as a “shooting star” flower. When in doubt put a “?” and be open to the correction of people who KNOW what that darn thing is. Or just ask because Jodi (Living Life with Chemo Brain) will email her sister, Linda, and Linda will send a link to the proper plant ID for you. (I really, really appreciate every time Jodi has done that for me!! 🙂 )

Turn your headlights on in the rain. Yeppers, it is winter in the Pacific Northwest and we have a whole new crop of morons who get up and drive in the dusky light and heavy rain without headlights on. And then they wonder why someone changed lanes into them. Because they are invisible to the rest of the people on the road.

I love the Sound of Music. It is the ONLY musical I like.

I don’t know where that came from except I just got the refrain from “My Favorite Things” stuck in my head.

All of this to say, I am sorry if I am not deep and searching and transparent to the world. I am not transparent even to those closest to me. That’s just how I am. I close up and keep a lot of stuff to myself.

I vow to keep my blog shallow. You can count on that. I will occasionally drift onto the subjects of Idiot Drivers, Wildlife Identification, and Snopes. com, but for the most part – I will stick to shallow subjects like how absolutely adorable my grandchildren are. All five grandsons.

Zephaniah (aka Kilroy)

Javan (“Can you say Grandma?” “Yes.”)

Eliran (the Wild Hair Boy)

Justin (Too far away Boy)

and Micah.  November 16, 2010. 7 pounds, five ounces and 20 inches long.

(Congrats to my son & his lovely wife, Kaci!)

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Thank You, Harvey

Posted in Uncategorized on November 15, 2010| 2 Comments »

Today was my six-month check up for my blood pressure meds. Six months ago I went to see my doctor because I felt like something funny was going on with my blood pressure. I had been monitoring it at home and it seemed like it was not just getting higher – it was staying high.

The doctor gave me his standard “You need to schedule a coloscopy” lecture, commented on the extra 15# I was sitting on and checked my blood pressure which was Very High. My doctor put me on a very low dose of Lisinopril (10mg) and said we’d check it in 30 days. After 30 days, he declared we could wait until 6 months were up because the meds seemed to be working.

In the meantime, I adopted Harvey.

Harvey who just farted. Thank you, Harvey. Excuse me while I go get a gas mask…

Anyway, I got Harvey.

I didn’t go on a diet because, well, I go up 15# and I go down 15#. Just this time it was taking a little longer to lose the 15#.

Anyway, I went to the doctor today for that six month check-up knowing I’d lost some pounds and knowing that my BP was holding steady.

I was unprepared for what happened.

First, the doctor’s scales showed a loss of nine pounds. You know you’ve lost weight when the doctor’s scales confirm it. Doctor’s scales always make you fatter than you really are but today the scales made me normal.

Second, my blood pressure was 112/70.

My doctor came in and brought up the colonoscopy thing again. I told him I would schedule it when I turn 55 which is a year from now.

Then he asked what lifestyle changes have I made? Dieting?

“I got a dog.”

Okayyyyy. So he wasn’t real impressed. But he was impressed with the weight loss & the low blood pressure. He was almost concerned about the low blood pressure but I assured him that until my little episode of high blood pressure earlier this year, I have always had low BP.

His conclusion after our interview is that my high blood pressure stemmed from something external happening in my life, not something hereditary like heart disease. He then cut my prescription in half and told me to try it at half dose for 2 weeks, monitoring it twice a week. If it stays low, then I am to call him and let him know I am going OFF of the meds. Then I just need to monitor it.

My conclusion? Well, for two years I have been without a cat. Don had a dog and Chrystal had Nimrod the Cat, but I really had no warm, fuzzy pet (parakeets don’t count).  And a year ago I ended up without even a parakeet or Chrystal’s cat. They say pet owners live longer and have lower blood pressure.

Short of a miracle of God, I conclude that adopting Harvey lowered my blood pressure.

Thank you, Harvey.

(Now, if I can figure out a way to avoid the colonoscopy…)

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Clutter and Books Galore

Posted in Uncategorized on November 14, 2010| 6 Comments »

Hi, my name is Jaci and I have too much clutter. But I don’t have enough books. And I really don’t have enough room.

I allowed the loft to get really cluttered this summer and today I decided to do something about it. For one thing, I moved several storage boxes back into the attic (which is about 6′ wide by 10′ long by 4′ tall (but only right in the center). I have to crawl in and out of it on my hands and knees.

I was going to put some more boxes in there but I realized there were photos and negatives in all of them and the attic is the one room in the house that gets really really warm in the summer. They’d be OK through the winter but if I forgot they were in there come summer… I don’t even want to think about it. So I still have four boxes of old journals, photos & negatives sitting in the loft with no place to go.

I dusted and swept and moved some things around to make a little more room in the loft. One thing we have way too much of is knick-knacks and old bottles and rocks. We probably have way too many books, too, but I can rarely bring myself to part with a book. I might give it up and toss all those rocks outside into my garden but give away my books?

books, books, books (the little green curtain is what covers my attic doorway).

This photo is a bit redundant but shows another book shelf full of books (and yes, that is a real antique lava lamp there – and it still works).

And a whole other wall of books.

Trying for another angle on the wall of books.

I even have books in the little corner (that’s a whole collection of Zane Grey in the red covers). On top of those crates is a box of little leather-bound classics that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Sylvia Cusick Wilcox. I think there’s 50 or 75 of the little books & they range from Edgar Allen Poe to William Shakespeare to Longfellow to…

This is just our book collection in the loft. There are more books in the living room, our bedroom, my studio and even the kitchen (if you count my cookbooks. I can’t cook a lick but I collect cookbooks).

While I was doing this I had a brilliant idea. I have resisted trying to catalog the books because I would have to kneel in from of those cabinets and write down the authors, titles & classification (Fiction, non-Fiction and then sub-classification: botany, biology, gardening, self-help, wood working, weather, sci-fi, fantasy, young adults, childrens’, biography…). My knees rebel at the thought! But I could take a photo of each shelf and write down the author & title from the photo using my computer… Hmmmm.

Then there’s this corner:

That’s my yard sale corner and Stuff That Doesn’t Have A Place corner. The photo albums & old journals… a filing cabinet… costumes… Grand baby toys… trunk of extra blankets.

Note to self: next time we buy a house, make sure it has more closets. Or get rid of a bunch of stuff.

I could still toss all those rocks out into the garden.

And there’s the Man Corner:

That’s mostly maps, “N”-scale train parts (he plans on building a whole track & village some day) and a couple boxes of old magazines that I swear could just disappear and he would never, ever know. I could toss those pine cones out, too.

I should toss those pine cones out. But I think he would notice they were gone…

So that is my story. I’m a hoarder of books, bottles, weird knick-knacks and rocks. the rocks could go out in the garden.

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More things I Can’t Leave Home Without

Posted in Uncategorized on November 11, 2010| 5 Comments »

Just when you think life is going to get easier… your orthodontist informs you that you “get to” wear a retainer all the time. Not just at night, but all the time (except when eating) until the teeth remember where they are supposed to stay.

<sigh>

I already have this list of accessories I can’t leave home without.

There’s my glasses. I’m near-sighted so I can run around the house without having to wear them but I have to have them on to drive. Or to watch the TV. OK, the near vision is going and  I need them to read with now, too.

Two inhalers: the inhaled steroid I use twice a day to strengthen my lungs and prevent asthma attacks and the emergency inhaler I have to carry at all times in case I have an asthma attack. I hate the emergency inhaler. Albuterol makes me shaky and cranky. Fortunately because of the first inhaler, I rarely ever actually need the second inhaler. But I have to carry it around, anyway.

The eye drops to treat and prevent glaucoma. The pressure in my eyes has been creeping up there. I don’t want to forget the eye drops. I only have the one vial; many glaucoma sufferers have to use two vials twice a day. I count myself fortunate that it’s once a day. But I can’t leave home without it.

Blood pressure meds. Well, isn’t that a fun one? I have hyper-tension. I don’t even look at risk but it runs in the family and I’m the one who inherited it. I’m so excited about that. Can’t leave home without it.

The SAMe. I could probably leave home without it. I was on Zoloft for years after my little sister died but I weaned off of it about 2 years ago and started looking into herbal remedies. I discovered SAMe on my own and started with half a dose. It makes a difference, especially in the dark winter months. If I go three or four days without it, I can feel myself tipping over the edge. (And, yes, my doctor knows I am using it. he knows I quit taking Zoloft.) Clinical depression not only sucks, it hurts. So while I could probably leave home without it, I don’t want to leave home without it. I’m not pretty when I’m sad.

And now the retainers. Expensive little suckers that I have to keep away from inquiring noses. Expensive suckers that I do not dare toss away with a napkin after eating lunch out. I probably should include a travel toothbrush and toothpaste and floss in my photo because I’m not going to want to put retainers back on after eating without brushing & flossing my teeth. That just sounds gross.

I count myself lucky that I don’t have one of those little pill cases with several compartments with the days on each cap and a load of pills inside each cap specific to the day. I don’t take vitamin supplements (other than the SAMe). I do carry a vial of Arnica pills, however. I bruise easily.

Yep, the things I can’t leave the house without.

Me, Mom. You can’t leave the house without ME. Love, Harvey Albert.

What can I say?

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One of “Those” Days!

Posted in Uncategorized on November 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

Today started out pretty nice: I got to sleep in half an hour because I had an orthodontist appointment. After the appointment, I went on in to work.

I thought work would be a piece of cake because I got a head start on today’s work yesterday. And the first two hours of work today left me with that false impression.

Then came one o’clock. My day went downhill rapidly. You ever have “one of those days”? Well, this was two of them rolled into one. I’m thankful I have a CFO with a sense of humor and a boss with a sense of humor because today was one of those “I think I’ll just cry and go home. Or go home and cry. Or cry and go home and cry.”

A little background: I am in charge of printing the checks that pay real estate agents. It is a daily job and one that has to be done on a deadline: I have to be finished before the mail run.

We have a new printer and I’ve had a bit of a learning curve with the new printer. That means I’ve had to void and reprint a couple batches of checks through my own error. Yesterday I had to void and reprint a batch of checks because someone else sent a print job through while I was running checks. It wasn’t anyone’s fault: they had their door closed & didn’t know I was printing checks and we (my boss & I) assumed they wouldn’t print. Wrong.

Today I had something I needed to print before I  tried printing checks (this is probably a good thing because that was how I discovered the new printer was no longer connected to the internet. My computer couldn’t communicate with the printer. I sent out an SOS to out IT people but all I got was the standard reply email that my call would be handled in the order it came in.

Um, NO – my call needs to go to the TOP of the list, people. Paying people has a little bit of priority. So I resent my call out with more information and a deadline on it. Hello? I HAVE TO PRINT CHECKS. No answer.

My first deadline passed. We put in a personal call to one of the IT guys (we aren’t supposed to do that) and he hurried over to fix it for us. He was ticked (not at us) that the first message had not been handled as a priority message and I foresee there will be changes in that.

But that wasn’t the end of my problems. Now I was closing in on my second deadline and I grabbed a new box of checks. Printed away. On the wrong number sequence. UGH. I had to void and reprint 20 checks. By the time I was just getting around to the reprint, my last deadline passed.

We made the mail courier wait while I reprinted checks. After all, there were real estate agents who were waiting to be paid! I think one was waiting at the front counter…

I’m fortunate that we all made jokes about my bad luck. I told my boss and the CFO that I was done for the day and I was going home. They laughed and said good luck with that. As much as I wanted to curl up and cry, they made me laugh. Who else could this happen to? At least I know how to void checks real well now. I’m getting in a lot of practice at it.

I left at 4:45 to make the deposit and head home. As I left I told my boss that I was going to drink the bottle of wine my orthodontist gave me ALL BY MYSELF tonight. I figured I deserved it after my day. (I won’t, don’t worry. Probably won’t even touch it until the weekend.)

Oh. You’re probably wondering WHY my orthodontist would give me a bottle of wine. Well, to celebrate with, of course.

So the day wasn’t a total loss.

ttfn!

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A Beautiful End

Posted in Uncategorized on November 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I’m not sure how I am going to wrap this post up so bear with me.

I uploaded several photos from my camera and they are all about the end of this beautiful autumn weather we have been having. But what has been on my heart to blog about is a different kind of ending.

I attended a “leadership training” seminar on Friday. Actually, it was a mandatory training meeting but the venue was the beautiful Waverly Country Club in Sellwood, Oregon, so no one was complaining. And it turned out to be a great training session by Allison Clarke Consulting.

The subject of her training was how do you want your life to look after you are gone? What do you want people to say about you? Were you passionate in what you did? Did you touch a lot of lives for the better? Did you live your dream(s) to the fullest?

There was a lot of food for thought and I have my little notes sitting on my desk where they are saying: You need a ‘bucket list’, Jaci.

I don’t want to climb the highest mountain or bungee jump or do something daredevil. That isn’t me. I’ve always been somewhat cautious and I expect to go on being somewhat cautious because that suits me just fine. But there are things I want to do.

Learn to play the piano, for instance.

Take part in one of those early morning photo shoots of a wild horse round-up. Or just plain hike in to some place where the wild horses are and get my own photos, unstaged.

Hike all the way to the top of Pike Creek Canyon, not peter out at the two mile mark like I do every single time.

Publish a book. Not any book, but a novel. Sci-fi fantasy or something… Well, I have two that I am working on & I hope to someday publish one of them. At least one of them.

The training session was interesting in a lot of different ways. I had to share some of my goals with a partner who is a real estate broker and is also a manager of our entire central Oregon division. He had to share his goals with me in turn. And guess what? Our first goal was the very same goal: to be the best parent/grandparent we could be. To make the phone calls, to make the trips to see the grands, to host the big Holiday dinner, to keep the family connected through the generations. Instead of feeling intimidated by his lofty goals, I found myself inspired to achieve my own: because being a connected grandparent is a wonderful, lofty goal.

I have friends who are connected to their community and live a life of giving. They run in races, organize charity events, and their life is about making a difference.

I haven’t done anything for my immediate community since I pulled my kids out of public school and quit the PTA. I was president of the PTA when they closed our little school. But when they closed the school, I lost all sense of community. I’ve floundered a little.

I have issues I feel passionate about but beyond donating items or money, I have done nothing to improve the world I live in. I feel bad about that – another item to add to my bucket list: Do something for the greater good of my community, even if it is as small as volunteering at our local library’s used book store. I do feel passionate about our local library.

Of course I want to make an impact on the art community with my weird faerie scupltures. Another item for my list: get serious about spending time in the studio and creating.

I have some travel goals. I’d like to go to Ireland and Scotland on a geneaological trek. I want to see New Zealand, especially the diversity of animal life there and the steep mountains. I want to see the Grand Canyon. And there’s so many rabbit trails right here in Oregon/Nevada/Idaho that I still haven’t wandered down.

Some of the goals I had when I was younger have been set aside but I think I should put them back on my bucket list even if they seem unattainable now: ride in a 50-mile endurance race on my own horse. I used to think that Whisper would be that horse, but time – and Whisper – slipped through my fingers.

The speaker who spoke on Friday also talked about engaging people: keeping friendships alive and gaining new ones, making people smile, and touching individual lives. So many people walk down the street and never make eye contact with a stranger or speak to anyone in a store. We rely on email and three-second status updates on social network. We never call people on the phone.

Well, I’m not going to change the phone habit. I hate phones. It kills me to pick up a receiver and talk for any length of time. I can’t think of anything to say. And I am not so certain that writing letters is not communicating well: in the ages past, letters were all there were. But I could write more letters more often and send little cards out.

And I could go out for coffee with my girlfriends once in awhile.

There’s so much to consider when you think about how you want to be remembered. If I want to be remembered well, I need to make a shift in how I approach life and quit holing up inside myself.

I’m not sure how it will all pan out, but I’m going to make an effort to write more, remember birthdays earlier, and call my girlfriends to go out for coffee once in awhile. Picking up the phone to achieve that last one may kill me and you’ll be reminiscing about it at my funeral…

Seriously, though. Life is pretty short. We need to embrace it. The winter winds will be here soon enough and will strip all the leaves from the trees.

Carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.

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A Perfect Autumn Day

Posted in Uncategorized on November 3, 2010| 2 Comments »

WOW is all I can say. November has started out beautifully. The rain has been almost nil and the sun has come out to play every single day. Yesterday and today were simply gorgeous (and tomorrow promises to be). Today edged up into the low 70’s (Fahrenheit) setting new records for the warmest November days ever recorded in the Portland metro area.

The trees are just now edging past their full autumn glory and the sidewalks are covered with fallen leaves.

Too soon we will enter the long grey days of winter, but for now the world is full of light and color.

Normally, the landscapers would be out with leaf-blowers, trying to make the business park “presentable” but because of the strong east winds today, they didn’t come out to play. Which is fine by me because I hate leaf-blowers. Categorically hate them: the noise pollution and the artificial “neatness” that is left behind. My theory is that one should let the all the leaves fall from the trees before raking them up (but I suppose cities & storm drains & business park owners do not hold with the same theory).

Since I beat the leaf-blowers (for once), I thought I’d lighten up and show you the beauty of Oregon on a sunlit autumn day. (Some photos were taken with my phone, but the blurry edges seem to work for them.)

ttfn –

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Something Deeper

Posted in Uncategorized on November 1, 2010| 3 Comments »

Yesterday I posted all the fun photos from the weekend but the weekend was not all fun and games. We had some serious drama going on.

My youngest has been living on her own (with her boyfriend) for a year and a half now. That relationship came to a screeching halt over the past few days. I have only heard one side of the story and it is all I am ever likely to hear: the ex-boyfriend is permanently estranged. What happened, happened. My girl acted in anger and the consequences run deep.

She was not unjustified and in the same place, I would have made the same call. But the decision put her in harm’s way and she can no longer live in the same apartment – or even allow the ex-boyfriend to know where she is living.

I put all of this to my son-in-law on Friday when he came to pick up the boys. He agreed to leave his Saturday open to help the girl move, and I am so thankful he was there.

The ex-boyfriend did show up. Sam was able to calmly disarm the situation (mind you, he picked up a good sized board and struck a threatening pose and he is over 6′ tall). Sam also made certain Chrystal’s name was removed from the apartment lease so she would not be liable for any damages. In short, he was a knight in shining armor and I feel especially blessed to have him as a member of this family.

Thank you, Sam.

Chrystal is in a safe place now and can start life out on her own – truly on her own, this time.

There was drama in yet another part of my life, too, but of a very different kind. My daughter-in-law is pregnant with her second child. And this child wants to come early. Too early by two weeks.

Kaci has been stuck in a hospital taking anti-labor drugs since late last week. They’ve taken her off of the stop-labor IVs, but she’s on muscle relaxers and strict bed rest for the next two weeks. At least that is what I have gleaned from the couple phone calls and many FaceBook status posts.

Two weeks in a hospital waiting for a baby to come. UGH. I can’t imagine. I’d go stark raving mad with boredom, not to mention not being warm enough or being able to sleep or…

Tonight I put together a little Care package of books from Dover Publication for her and sent it off. Too bad I didn’t know sooner that she was going to be stuck there on her birthday or I could have ordered the books in time for her birthday.

Did I mention she’s stuck in the hospital for her birthday? She missed Hallowe’en with her son, Justin. She’s spending her birthday – well, you get the picture. She’s not a happy camper.

As I understand it, if labor progresses despite all the measures, they will no longer attempt to stop it. But they are actively trying to keep her from going back into labor until the baby is at least 36 weeks along.

Talk about depressing.

So if you happen to think of it, send some prayers up for my girls. I’m thinking they need it right now.

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