"IMAGINATION SETS IN, PRETTY SOON I'M SINGIN'"

Late Monday afternoon, I was sitting on my deck in the sunshine with my little tot of gin and thoroughly enjoying everything my eyes could see and my ears could hear. I know I’ve mentioned more than once how much I’d love to sell my house and move someplace that’s smaller with a small yard. I know I’ve said that I feel like this is way too big for me to keep up for much longer.

As I sat there, sipping my gin, the lyrics from Credence Clearwater Revival's song, "Lookin' Out My Back Door" began to play. It was written by John Fogarty and I’ve always loved the song and the ideas it presents, especially the part about imagination setting in.

  Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
                Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch
                Imagination sets in, pretty soon I'm singin'
               Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

There's a giant doin' cartwheels, a statue wearin' high heels
Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn
Dinosaur Victrola, listenin' to Buck Owens
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Tambourines and elephants are playin' in the band
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon? Dood-n-doo-doo
Wonderous apparition provided by magician
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Tambourines and elephants are playin' in the band
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon? Dood-n-doo-doo
Bother me tomorrow, today I'll buy no sorrows
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn
Bother me tomorrow, today I'll buy no sorrows

Well, I don’t have giants or statues wearing high heels or tambourines and elephants playing in a band, out my back door or even in my garden, but I like the idea of using my imagination and not being bothered or buying any sorrows.

As I sat there, still humming the song after it stopped playing, I got to thinking about what I’d be giving up should I sell and move. I can look around my almost private yard and see so many memories that bring me joy and comfort. How could I possibly leave those behind. I know the memories would move with me, but somehow it’s not the same as sitting in the sunshine and watching my memories play among the grass and flowerbeds.

And, those memories. Well, I could write for pages and pages and not cover every single memory I see in my back yard. There’s the boys playing on the grass, working in the garden to help me, wrestling with each other and their friends, family time barbeques, lunches, dinners…I think it and it’s happened there.

What about all the wildlife we harbored, if you could call them wildlife. We had chickens, rabbits, ducks, and even a goose that didn’t like anyone but John. Buford the rooster didn’t like anyone, even John, and had his neck rung after he attacked our nephew and almost put his eye out…I don’t think my nephew likes chicken some forty years later.

Chickens and ducks lay eggs and those had to be the best eggs I’ve ever had, no matter how they were prepared. And, I can’t forget all the birds and hummers that came to visit the feeders, the moles no matter how hard I tried to eradicate, rats and mice. We even put up a bat house, but as far as I know, we’ve never had one move in.

At one point when the boys were young, we put in a largish garden encircled by a fence to keep the chickens out. All the quarts of string beans we harvested and I canned. The lettuce, radishes, green onions, broccoli and tomatoes we grew and harvested. And this was long before growing your own food became popular. The apple tree that gave the best apples for so many years that ended up in pies in the freezer. The way the boys groaned when apple-peeling time came round.

We never grew much in the way of berries aside from the raspberry patch. John tried with strawberries in one of those tire enclosures, and I can still see him holding his harvest…two strawberries. One was very small and the other was kind of medium. I have a photo of him with his crop. We laughed a lot about that.

The water feature I decided to build without any idea of how to go about it. Still, I managed to dig a hole, line it with a black piece of plastic, go to the mountains and bring home buckets of rocks with which to finish my masterpiece. I remember how in the process of building this, Thor came home and had to take me to emergency. I’d done something to my toe and it really hurt. Somehow, I’d managed to dislocate one of my toes. The relief when the doctor injected a numbing drug was unbelievable. Initially, I thought I’d been stung by a bee.

That water feature continues to provide me with the sound of water as the little pump pushes the water up and out. Recently I added a little sun-driven fountain that pushes water up into the air, but only if the sun shines on the solar panels.  I thought I could discontinue my little pump, but the fountain doesn’t make much noise at all so I’ll keep the pump going.

Of course, there are all the plants that inhabit my garden. So many of them were gifts from family and friends and as I gaze at each one, I’m reminded of the provider. There’s also the various yard art pieces, some of which I made myself, others that I’ve purchased or that have been gifted by family and friends.

Sitting there in the sunshine, my little tot of gin at hand, I came to the conclusion that there are only two choices left to me when it comes to leaving this oasis. My first choice would be the coroner pulling into the driveway because the energy that makes me me has abandoned my body. The second and least favorite choice would be my sons informing me the time has come for me to be situated someplace else.

Regardless of which choice comes to fruition, I’m going to continue to sit on my deck, enjoy my little tot of gin and relish all the memories this little garden/ yard provides and hope and pray that at some point in the distant future, it's he coroner that arrives first.

NORTHWEST DRIFTWOOD ARTISTS' SHOW...I WON

 

The Northwest Driftwood Artists’ show in Maltby on May 11^th was terrific and the number of beautiful sculptures amazing. How artists can take a rough piece of wood that looks as though it might be too big and/or ugly for even a fireplace or campfire and turn it into a beautiful sculpture is astonishing.

The sculptures are not judged, but the people attending were given a ballot on which there were six choices, i.e., tiny, small, medium, large, extra-large and hanging, and encouraged to vote for their favorite in each category. All the sculptures were numbered and the title and artist identified on a colored paper tent in front of the sculpture. Attendees were also provided with a program and information about where the show will be held next year…Brightwater in Woodinville.

There was a raffle for several driftwood sculptures, a silent auction of finished pieces as well as one huge unfinished piece, a donation jar, tables of raw wood for sale ranging from tiny to huge, and a table where artists were demonstrating our craft.

I don’t yet know how many people attended, but the woman who bought the huge unfinished piece of wood really really wanted it because she paid $300.00 for the privilege of taking it home. And, my eldest son won one of the raffle pieces. I don’t have a lot of other information about the show and probably won’t until the May newsletter is published, but I do have information about the two pieces I entered into the show.

I WON SECOND PLACE FOR OTT THE OTTER AND THIRD PLACE FOR PERCY THE PORPOISE in the small category. I can hardly believe the attendees liked both my pieces that much. It couldn’t have been because I had a huge number of family and friends attending…only five of those invited came. I believe it was actually the names of my pieces that caught the public’s fancy.

I know I voted for a small sculpture that was a seal on a rock. The seal was perfectly formed and the wood striations of black/dark brown/light brown followed the seal’s shape…beautiful. Maybe that sculpture won first place. I’ll have to wait to find out. I also liked a classmate’s sculpture entitled Vortex. She found the wood in a stream and it was full of pitch. I saw how hard she worked to create that perfect piece and think hers was far better than mine.

The show and the people I’m getting to know through NWDA, much more than winning, has inspired me to get busy with the various pieces of wood in my garage. I do have one that’s almost finished, “Escape from the Primordial Ooze.” All it needs is a base that resembles ooze and I’m on the lookout for that. I’m sure it will be ready for the 2025 show…if I knew the date, you could mark your calendars now so you could save the date and come view our outstanding work.

BACK PAIN UPDATE/DIAGNOSIS

         

          Finally, an update about my back pain even though the results cannot be considered a favorite. I had the MRI on May 10^th, got the results on May 12^th (which were as clear to me as mud), and talked to my doctor on May 14^th. 

          The results weren’t too terribly different from what the x-rays showed. I have severe arthritis in my lower back but my spine is in alignment, there is no nerve impingement and no terribly bulging disks. All good news except there isn’t a lot that can be done…spine replacements are still in the distant future.

          Surgery isn’t an option (thank heaven because that sounds really scary to me), but I could have a corticosteroid injection which might eliminate the pain. I’ve decided to go with acupuncture before I go to the needle. I have an appointment with a acupuncturist/naturopath in Lynnwood for May 21^st…fingers crossed that acupuncture works and/or the doctor has some additional information to share or suggestions to make that will improve the pain.

Meanwhile, I’m moving on with my life. Now that I know I can’t seriously damage myself by moving around, I can return to my fitness classes, walking and my home PT/exercise program…just need to ease back in to it so I don’t suffer an injury. Those weeds in the garden had best be on notice…I’m coming for them.

         I do have to admit, however, that I’m going to really miss getting up, having a latte and going back to bed for another hour or two of sleep every single morning. I’ll still be able to manage this wonderful habit a few days a week, but seven days a week will become a favorite memory. 

BUSY DAY

 

Today is going to be a very busy day. I have my MRI at 6:00 am in Bellevue and have to be there by 5:30 am. Later that morning I have to be in Maltby to deliver my driftwood sculptures and assist with set-up for the show. And, it’s supposed to be HOT. I’ve a feeling by the day’s end, I’m going to be exhausted.

On my return from Maltby, Kuma will expect some attention. The asphalt is going to be too hot to play bally-ball on the street in front of the house. That means we’ll need to take a short drive to a grassy location where he can run free and chase the ball to his heart’s content. I’ll have to make sure I take water for his bowl I keep in the car.

As for lunch and dinner, it depends on when I get back from Maltby. If I’m starving before that, I’ll have to pick up something…maybe a double ice cream from the Snoqualmie Ice Cream Parlor…especially if they have both Kentucky Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey. If I get back home for lunch, maybe I’ll bring dinner in. Right now a MOD pizza or salad sounds great.

Meanwhile, that old 286 I spoke of is grinding away attempting to bring forth more memories of those years. Makes me wonder if smoking all that marijuana and hash oil caused some of those files to simply drift completely away. I’m going to have to think about all that during my travels and experiences today.

SCARY MOVIE

 

Boy, it’s amazing how my mind works and manages to retrieve memories that had long been filed away prior to computers. I like to think those memories reside in my old 286 and that’s why they don’t reach the forefront very often…takes too long and the 286 was so slow.

Anyway, when I started thinking about Goofy’s and the gang that hung out there, another memory surfaced. It’s also amazing how some of the names are right there and others are just a shadowy figure in the background. These were men and women who occupied a large portion of my life way back then.

Anyway, the movie The Exorcist came out and was discussed by everyone. I had read the book and it scared the shit out of me. I almost wanted to sleep with the lights on. Anyway, one late afternoon the Goofy’s gang decided it would be a good thing to go down to the Cinerama and see The Exorcist.

We carpooled down in a couple of cars and found we’d have to wait for the next showing. We bought tickets and retired to a nearby bar, had drinks and played pool. When the time came, we returned to the Cinerama and found our seats. I don’t remember any of us purchasing drinks or popcorn.

Like I said, I had read the movie so I knew what was coming. John sat ono one side of me and Dennis on the other. Whenever I knew things were getting a little scary, I’d rock my seat…the seats rocked back then. Dennis would put his hand on my knee and whisper, “Stop.”

The movie was just as scary as the book. When it was over, we returned to Goofy’s. There wasn’t much discussion about the movie in the car I was in and when we got to Goofy’s, none of the guys had a lot to say. In fact, I don’t think any of them had more than a beer if that before deciding it was time to call it a night…it wasn’t even midnight.

Some of the guys may have been raised Catholic, but even so, I think the movie either scared them or gave them something to think or not think about. I don’t remember any of them discussing the movie even later on.

STRAWBERRY HILL

 

My brain is still working in the background to figure out the next steps for Maddie and Spence, but at the forefront are a couple of experiences from my misbegotten (actually wasn’t) youth which jumped from the depths just yesterday.

I was talking to a couple of people at the Senior Center and one of them told me to go home and have three margaritas. I responded that I couldn’t drink tequila because I once got sick on it. I also can’t drink rum or strawberry hill. Once of the women knew what strawberry hill was and laughed. This led me to regale them with the following experience.

Long ago when John and I were separated, he took to hanging out at Goofy’s which was a tavern on Ballinger Way. When we reconnected, I automatically became one of the gang which consisted of other males and now and then a female or two were included. The guys always treated me well.

One summer we all went camping in eastern Washington. Our campsite was at the corner where two roads intersected. John and one of the other guys, Brad, got seriously drunk Friday night and made a horrendous amount of noise. I cannot now remember if the ranger came to our campsite that night or if he just let us know the following morning he received a lot of complaints.

John and Brad were both very hung-over the next morning and I demanded Brad give me equal time no matter how he felt. So, he walked me into town to the local bar and I began to drink strawberry hill. I was a cheap and easy drunk so it didn’t take much. By the time I was verging on drunk, a young cowboy came into the tavern. It was obvious he was a cowboy because he was wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and one of those belt buckles.

Well, I was just drunk enough to make an ass out of myself. I, fortunately, don’t remember everything I said and did, but I know I made the very young man uncomfortable. I do remember saying things like, “Is your horse outside? I want to ride your horse.”

Brad was eventually able to drag me away from the cowboy and the tavern. I was seriously drunk. He managed to get me back to the campsite to my sleeping bag and I passed out.

I don’t remember this part either, but there were a couple of other females with us that weekend. They thanked me (sarcastically) later for driving away an entire truckload of men. They’d stopped at the stop sign and were flirting with the women when I suddenly sat up, vomited up all that strawberry hill and passed out again. The truckload of men immediately left.

I didn’t feel so good the remainder of that day, but John was PISSED. He was so pissed, he barely talked to me the rest of the weekend. I was his wife and as such, he expected a certain type of behavior and I had really crossed the line. I have to admit that hurt my feelings, but it also made me angry.

The rest of the crew could tell how pissed John was and Brad was kind enough to take me aside when John wasn’t looking and tell me more or less that what’s good for the gander is good for the goose. The gang didn’t think any less of me for my little escapade but I think they might have thought John was a bit of an ass.

NEW EROTIC NOVEL???

 

Yesterday I didn’t prepare a blog post and I’m having trouble getting one done today. I don’t have an excuse for today (yet), but I have a good one for yesterday.

Instead of writing, I spent the time reading the six (thought I only had four) chapters I’d written last year for my next erotic romance novel. I was pleasantly surprised by finding two extra chapters plus how well they all tied together. Now, I have to figure out where my protagonists (Madeline and Spencer) go from here. I think I’ve written them into a corner which may be why I stopped, so I need to find a way to yank them back to the center so they can move on.

In a few words, Maddie applies for an EA job at Spence’s company. His current EA made inappropriate advances toward Spence after working for him for eight years and he can no longer work with her. With the first handshake, both Maddie and Spence feel a “zing” which only increases when Maddie has to attend a dress-up function with her boss the first weekend they know each other. The outgoing EA has told Maddie why she’s lost a job she loves, so how can Maddie react to the electricity between her and Spence. And Spence, how can he continue to ignore how he feels and his body’s response to Maddie when it’s totally against his conviction about dating/sex in the workplace.

So, any ideas on how to get them back to the center and having wild, crazy sex would be most appreciated. Meanwhile, I’ll think about them as I go to sleep and perhaps dream the next chapter.

And, just as an aside, I looked for "Erotic Novel Clipart" on the internet and had to choose to turn off a "safe" button. OMG, the clipart images that appeared on my screen after that weren't exactly erotic, or at least my definition of erotic, more like pornography. Won't be asking for those clipart images again.

NOT MY FAVORITES

           Today I’m writing about a couple of things…plants…that are not my favorites

There are alliums and there are alliums. I’ve always loved those huge ones that look like big purple balls while blooming and then look sort of stiff balls of stars when the blooms die off. What I don’t like, in fact, what I absolutely hate are the little tiny alliums. It’s been decades since I first ordered those bulbs. The fact they sent me ten or twenty for almost nothing, or maybe even free, should have been a clue, but I was a new gardener then and had no idea that each of those bulbs would produce what seems like thousands of other little bulbs.

          It was either last year or the year before, but I think last year, I decided I was going to sit there and sift those damn things out of the dirt so they wouldn’t come up the following year. I have no idea how much time I spent doing this, but a lot. I ended up with enough of those things to fill a three-pound coffee can. I didn’t throw them away, but buried them in another location where if they grow and reproduce, I simply won’t care. I just checked that area and there are a few spindly shoots, but it's apparent not every single one of those bulbs survived which makes me wonder…

          how does the garden look this spring with all those pesky bulbs gone? Like I didn’t spend any time at all cleaning them out last year. If anything, there are even more than before although the new growth has skinny stems as opposed to thicker ones. I’m also not sure they’ll produce any blooms this year which will be just fine. Apparently, missing even a tiny bulb the size of a grain of sand doesn’t eliminate those little alliums from your garden. Which makes me wonder why that pile of much larger bulbs I stuffed in the ground has barely produced anything.

          So far, I’ve either pulled the leaves/stems out of the ground or cut them off. They’re preventing plants I want to grow from growing. Perhaps doing this will kill them off…at least I can hope.

         Another plant that is problematic is the bluebell. I swear the moles must move the bulbs from place to place. I also swear that every single blossom produces a seed which then falls to the ground and produces another plant the following spring. As far as my memory goes, I do not remember ever purchasing these bulbs, receiving them as a gift or planting them in my yard. 

And, okay, unlike those little alliums, they do produce a beautiful stalk of blue blossoms, and sometimes even pink or white, but after that, nothing very lovely at all. Over the years, I’ve pulled them out here and there, but it’s almost a waste of time. Like the alliums, there always seems to be something left behind to spring up the following year.

I've lived in this house for fifty-five years and gardened more or less seriously for at least forty-five of those years. My garden has gone through various stages from being a huge vegetable garden in my hippy days to lots of lilies in the past few years. What I'd love is to hire a landscape architect and have both the front and back gardens totally redone. Of course, that's not in the budget and never has been, so I'll just keep mucking about on my own. It's not the perfect garden I've always envisioned, but its  mine and does bring me lots of enjoyment. I even enjoy yanking those alliums and bluebells out of the ground. 

MEA CULPA

 

Well, my face is red but I’m extremely pleased I was totally wrong. I don’t remember quite when I bought the ThePhotoStick Omni, but I was exceedingly disappointed in the product. I even gave it a scathing review on Facebook. It’s been sitting in the organizer on my desk since then.

Lately, I’ve had a bit of trouble with my computer plus I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose any data from my FitBit files on my phone so I pulled it out and plugged it in. I was totally AMAZED.

I don’t know how I missed all the available information the first time I plugged it into my computer, but I certainly did. This time I found a prompt on my screen, clicked on it and an entire program came up. I followed the instructions; and, while it took a while, every single file on my computer is now backed up on ThePhotoStick Omni.

There was even a ninety-four-page instruction manual available and I printed it out so I could figure out how to back up my phone information. I did that as well, so now I can return my FitBit to its factory settings and not lose all the data it had acquired during the time I’ve worn it.

And I guess the next time I see a post on FaceBook about ThePhotoStick Omni, I’ll have to plead mea culpa and say nice things about this excellent product.

THE APPLE I-PAD...

 

is an amazing piece of equipment; however, I really hadn’t given it much thought or looked at it as one of my favorite things. That all changed yesterday.

I was maybe a chapter from finishing a book on my I-pad and I knew the battery was low. Still, I persevered, hoping to reach THE END. Instead, the screen suddenly turned black, an indication the battery was dead. Okay, fine, I’ll just plug it in and get back to the end of the book by the end of the day. HAH.

Late evening, I went to get my I-pad. I had checked to be sure it was charging when I plugged it in, but now, the screen remained black. Nothing I tried would bring that damn thing to life. I was a bit distraught.

Now, I’m the kind of person who always said I HAD to read the book by holding the actual book in my hands. Ten years ago, when I went on a trip by myself, I downloaded books to my I-pad and took it with me. Traveling by myself, it was the best companion possible when it came to the end of the day and I was in my room alone.

My original I-pad died in 2020 and I bought a new I-pad Air. It has so many different utilization possibilities, I haven’t even begun to figure the majority of them out. I can do my email, go on the internet, and, best of all, read books I download from the library. I keep telling myself I’m going to spend some time figuring out how to use the various programs and apps on this I-pad, but I haven’t yet.

Anyway, this morning I went online to see if I could figure out what was wrong with my I-pad, all to no avail. I did find out there’s a program that will help me learn how to use this I-pad and I’m going to check back at some point and see what it can help me with. Now, the only alternative was a trip to Alderwood to the Apple store.

I arrived a bit before 11:00 am, was signed in and told I would have to wait thirty minutes at the most for assistance. I sat out in front of the store in the sunshine and played with my phone. When I went back in, it was maybe another five minutes before one of the store managers came to help. He used a different cord to plug my I-pad in and then did something magical…at least it seemed magical to me because suddenly the black screen was filled with my stuff. YAY.

He then turned me over to a young woman and told her to run a diagnostic. She did so and found absolutely nothing wrong. She told me that sometimes when an update is being installed, the I-pad will hiccup and freeze. Then she asked if the manager had told me how to do a hard start. He hadn’t, so she told me what to do. Press the up volume button, then the down volume button, then hold the on button for about sixty seconds. The magic the manager had performed wasn’t magic at all.

Anyway, back home, I made my lunch and settled down to finish the book. It was more than a few pages, but all-in-all very good. I just wish the protagonist would stop smoking cigarettes.

I CHOSE...

 

to pull up my big-girl panties after my pity-party yesterday and spent some time making an effort to look nice. That was because I had a date to have lunch with my eldest son. On the way to pick him up, I stopped at business Costco and bought gas…hadn’t even put that on my to-do list.

AJ directed me to a Mexican restaurant called Avacados which is on Hiway 99 in south Everett. We had a very good lunch and the prices were more in accordance with what they used to be prior covid…all the other restaurants I’ve been to before this one ran me close to $24 for one entrée without a tip. Not ony did we have a good lunch, but AJ ordered deep-fried ice cream with strawberry topping. I was going to have one bite just to see how it tasted because I’d never had it before…let’s just say there wasn’t much left when we put our spoons down.

After dropping AJ at his house, I stopped at the store for milk and yogurt and went to the pet store for more yummy frozen bones. That’s two more errands that were not on my list.

At home, I took Kuma out front and we played bally-ball until he was almost too tired to chase the ball one more time. I swear, he’d keep chasing until he fell over if I didn’t call a halt.

Then I changed into gardening clothes, got Kuma a frozen boney-bone and we went out to the back yard. I worked for a while, sitting on my little stool so I don’t have to bend a lot, pulling weeds out of my flowerbeds. Kuma licked and gnawed his boney-bone. I didn’t work long or hard, but stopped feeling as though I’d made some progress.

That’s what happened when I CHOSE to pull up my big girl panties and get on with my day. It ended with me feeling quite good plus I have yummy left-overs for lunch today.

I CHOOSE...

 

to not hum, “My Favorite Things” today, but that’s okay since I managed to blog positively for the last twelve days. I’m giving myself permission to hum a dirge (if I could think of one) instead.

In the process of thinking about today’s blog, I went back and looked at the various comments that have been made since I began this blog in 2020. In particular, I read the one I posted that was entitled, “I’m depressed.” Even though it’s been over a year and a half and Kuma has been added to my life, so many things I wrote than are still quite applicable today, maybe more so because of the back pain and Percocet.

So, for today, and just for today, I’m giving myself permission to be depressed and look at the darker side of my life. Tomorrow will be a new day and I’ll CHOOSE to adopt a positive attitude regardless of pain or depressive medication.

Meanwhile, rather than just sit around in a funk, I’d best look for projects to occupy my hands and mind, always a good way to CHOOSE to feel better…and I will.