It’s All Fun and Games Until …

These are our cats, Maybel and Kaya. They are Caroline’s cats, really, but they tolerate me — and even grace me with the occasional purr when I give them a piece or two of dog kibble when I feed the dogs. 

Kaya has an itchy skin condition that has flared up, resulting in Caroline’s handmade stuffed donut improvement on  the traditional cone.  Kaya is trying as hard as she can to retain her dignity, in between bursts of squeezing herself through tight spaces to try to scrape it off. Maybel looks rather smug and seems to be enjoying the situation. Kaya makes me laugh every time I see her, which I suspect does not enhance her mood.

 

This weekend has been a mixed bag getting things ticked off my to-do list, changing course from planned activities, and a bit of much-needed creative playtime. As I wrote that, I realize that I sound like I expect to proceed happily and straight-forwardly (yes, spellcheck, I know  that is not a real word) through my To Do list… and of course that never happens. It’s all about the recalculating along the way. 

Yesterday, I woke up to the strong smell of smoke in the air, an eerie orange glow in the sky, and bits of ash floating down like creepy snowflakes. What a trigger for this former Sonoma County resident! I checked to see where the fires were that were creating this effect, and was relieved to find that they were (still are, actually) quite far away in eastern Washington. (You can see where I circled Whidbey Island on the map up there.) So it was a relief that the smoke here did not mean the resulting process of grabbing the Go bags, packing, putting pet food and gear and other things by the back door, or loading the car just in case. It did make me sad to know that somewhere easterly people WERE having to do those things.  So all of that kind of shifted my mood all day.

When the air is full of smoke and ash, one does not want to be outside at all. I closed up the house and thought sadly of the farmers’ market vendors I am coming to know. I’m sure attendance was low, and it was probably pretty unpleasant out there. 

On a “step forward” note, my handyman guy installed medicine cabinets in our bathrooms. I’ve mentioned that this house has odd and somewhat minimal storage. I chose very basic cabinets like this, but it makes me happy - and frees up a lot of space — to be able to put things in a medicine cabinet. 

While I was emptying a few more boxes in search of things I still cannot find (my Susan Branch cookbooks! My lap desk! My glitter cardstock!), I came across some things that made me smile… little surprise gifts.

For example, this childhood bedtime storybook with ownership clearly written by my sister Laura. Or wait, maybe she wrote her name, and I added the “+ DIANE”? We used to play library a lot and many of our old books have library check-out cards drawn rather primitively on the inside covers. This one did not, though. 

And then there was this photo from a Hawaiian cruise my family took together somewhere around 1985 or it. This is me, my brother Gregg, and his wife Kari. Gregg has been gone for 5 years now, and I miss him every day. I do not, however, miss the perms that I tried for years as I battled my stick-straight hair. 

After that burst of unpacking a few more boxes, which also involved lugging books upstairs, rearranging a bookshelf, and stomping down the boxes for next week's recycling center run, I decided to play a bit with paper and glue. Cutting and gluing can be very therapeutic.

 

Before I moved, I started working on an altered book journal about the process of selling my old house and finding this one. I thought I would need a small portable craft project while I listed the Healdsburg house and until I found a Whidbey Island home. As it happened, I found this house before I even left Healdsburg so I had pretty much zero creative time (or energy) during that crazy moving time. I’m enjoying working in it now, though. I have a small plastic bin on my desk where I throw things I might want to use in it — receipts, tags, pamphlets — and when time  allows and the mood strikes, I go and journal with it all. 

If you are curious about this kind of journaling, there are zillions of inspirational videos on YouTube. I go watch Johanna Clough videos when I want inspiration. 

Usually, I work in journals that I have made myself, like this one: 

I really enjoy collecting papers and other goodies on some sort of theme and turning it all up into a book.  There is something about pockets and flaps and bits tucked into little places that just makes me happy. They are very fun to use. 

But I had packed up all of my handmade books when I decided I needed a moving journal, so I went the “altered book” route. In the book up there, I am working straight into a dollar store discard book out of which I have ripped a bunch of pages to make up for the extra stuff I’m gluing in. There are altered book videos on Youtube that show you how to do that. There’s a great series by 49dragonflies that walks you through every step. It is a whole out of fun, and very liberating to just cut and paste.

I’m off to see if I can empty another box or two. Maybe I’ll find those cookbooks!