Classic Game Pieces - Part 2

How many thousands of times have little hand held these markers by their heads, and walked them around a board?

Classic Game Pieces - Part 1

In going through our game closet to decide which games to keep and which were past their prime, I found quite a number of classic game pieces. They are like little works of art. So I'm treating them as such and will highlight them over the coming weeks.

Let's start out with dice.

Sunrise

Our home in Post Falls has a hill to the east in the back yard that blocks the sun rising on the horizon. We don't feel the sun's rays until the orb crests the tall pine trees.

Our home in Eugene is situated in a way that we can see the sun rise and set every day. Watching these events is a lovely way to bookend our day.

The Two Biggest Goals Yet

Recall how I said I'm an overachiever? Well here are two more of my 19 in 2019 Goals that have been met. And these are doozies.

Goal #15: Purge and organize storage shelves in exercise (storage) room.

This was a goal I wanted to complete for years. I thought it was going to be a horrendous job. Four levels of storage that are 25 inches deep and about 12 feet wide.

There were decorations for every season, boxes and boxes of mementos, more picture frames than I care to admit (I have a sickness: buying used picture frames at thrift stores), many rolls of wrapping paper and gift boxes and gift bags, and sentimental items that belonged to my parents. I went through every box, every item.

It was not as difficult as I imagined it would be. Look what I accomplished!

While I was in the mood, I cleared out my Studio, too. I gave away a lot of materials I wasn't using to make additional space for more current interests. I figured I could rearrange the entire room and start from scratch.  So it went from here ...

to here.

OK ... but where is the furniture that was in the meditation room / photo studio? Oh, that went into the library.

Hold it!

H - O - L - D  IT!

Something suspicious is going on. I saw a suitcase in that last photo. Now you have furniture stacked and lined up like soldiers on the march.

Well, now!

Yes, this is happening!

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Alternate Goal #28: Move to Oregon

Dale and I bought a cute little place in west Eugene. We're having the interior of the house painted from stem to stern this week, and will have all new flooring installed soon. We're mostly packed, have moved in a few essentials, and will be living in Oregon full time before Thanksgiving.

It's official!

(Our home as seen through a bug-laden windshield the day before we officially became owners)

Maple Leaf Week - Day 5

Among the green

Maple Leaf Week - Day 4

At the root of it all

Frozen in Bud

This little gal never got a chance to show the beauty within.
#flowersforfriday

Maple Leaf Week - Day 3

This time of year? Golden!

Maple Leaf Week - Day 2

In nature, the evergreens and the deciduous trees all get along together.

They even complement one another.

Maple Leaf Week - Day 1

It seems like overnight the leaves of the maple trees in our neighborhood turned a bright yellow. The the breezes blew and they rained down all day.

I'll share some of what I saw during the week.

Click for larger image.

More Than Accolades

Yesterday I made reference to working through a big job with many steps. One of today's steps was to sift through five boxes of memorabilia. I found a box that had awards and plaques and county fair ribbons and my high school diploma and college degree.

Unfortunately, all of the items are ruined beyond repair, full of mold and mildew, spotted, stinky. They're likely health hazards.

Way back in 1987, in the midst of separation and divorce from my first husband, there was a house fire while my then-husband was packing up the house to move. When the fire happened, I was living in a women's shelter with our two babies. Apparently, the box with these tangible objects of my successes got soaked as the firefighters put out the fire.

That whole period of my life was extraordinarily chaotic. Much of the "stuff" was packed away as is. When the items were finally returned to me, I stored them before going through them. I moved on with my life. I built new memories.

Through all these years, every time I'd peek into those boxes, I'd feel sick inside, and just close them up again and push them to the back and "bury" them to deal with later.

"Later" has finally arrived. Today I began dealing with those five boxes. Let's just say, "I'm feeling all the feels."

I'm reminded of what J.K. Rowling wrote in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 

Ron Weasley had been attacked by brains in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. Tentacles of the brains had attached to Ron, leaving deep injuries. Later, Madam Pomfrey treated Ron as he was healing, but the healing was slow in coming.

According to Madam Pomfrey, 

thoughts could leave deeper scars 

than almost anything else.

Tonight, I can attest to this.

This Weekend's Motto

"One evolution at a time."

I've got a big job ahead of me. It's a process with many, many steps. Looking at the big picture is too overwhelming. I'm not going ring the bell three times. I refuse to quit. So to do the job, I need to concentrate on the current step.

Admiral William McRaven's words have been my motto this weekend, and will continue over the coming weeks.

One evolution at a time.

Leaf It Alone

Couldn't help myself. Bad pun.

Sorry, not sorry.

The Burning Bush

This plant has a piece of my heart. Until I moved to Coeur d'Alene in 1983, I'd never encountered this plant up close. One day it is green and unassuming. Whole hedges are formed from lines of them.

Then overnight, they change. A frost descends and shocks the leaves into revealing their vibrant color. They glow all over town.

I caught the bush in our front yard the day after the frost crawled up its branches. Some of the interior leaves were caught with their pants down, in the midst of change.

The outer leaves were already showing off.




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Burning bushes always remind me of my friend Tim. He came to visit me that first difficult autumn. I sent him a single red leaf and a one phrase question. (The contents of that note remain a secret between us). The kindness he showered on me during that visit remains one of my fondest memories.

The Final Rose

Our rose bush has two more flowers growing. They've been trying to bloom for days, but the weather has been just cold enough that it's as likely that they'll freeze on the stem as it is that they'll bloom.

One of them started opening yesterday.

Thank you, Beautiful Rose, for gracing our front yard this October day.

:: sigh ::
Summer's really over.

On Fire

Autumn in Post Falls, Idaho

'Sup?

Morty the 6 foot giraffe is giving me the side eye.

No idea why.

Well, Hello!

You're looking fresh and snappy.

On your way in

and on your way out

Another of my 19 in 2019 goals has been met! The front door has a fresh coat of paint, inside and out. As does the sidelight.

Score!

The Sky is Falling!

Well, the pine needles are falling, anyway. We had a big wind storm last week. Time for the annual raking of the pine needles. So far, we've got four huge 60 gallon contractor's bags full. But this is only the first wave we'll need to rake. Much more wind is sure to come before the end of autumn, and many, many more pine needles will blow onto the grass.

While gathering the pine needles into piles, I saw this unusual clump.



On closer inspection, I realized it was a bird's nest. But it was quite flattened, either by the fall, or by one of our cars running over it.

Rather than built from twigs, this nest is primarily made of grasses, with a few pine needles woven in for good measure. But there were some odd white bits, too.



The big surprise was turning the nest over to see that the entire interior was lined in soft white fibers.



Feathers? No.

Dryer lint? No.

On closer inspection, it appears to be some type of polyester fiberfill! Dale and I surmised that it may have come from our next door neighbor's yard. He has a number of autos in his yard in various stages of repair -- some with windows open and the car seats exposed.

It's very possible that our clever bird friends helped themselves to some seat stuffing to pad their nest.

Six Months

Annalee will be six months old by the end of the week. She's pushing up well; has good core strength. She can scoot backwards and around in circles. Now and again, she makes it into crawling position and has even been known to scoot forward.

This is what was on the other side of the Skype screen when I was grinning so broadly yesterday. Annie was cooing and smiling and singing for the entire 45 minutes we were online. I even heard a "Mama."

I can't wait to hold her again.

Reaction Shot

How do I feel about my granddaughters?

It's written all over my face.

snapshot captured with the Skype program

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I had the chance to Skype with them today. I'm completely charmed.

Throwback Thursday: King Coke Coeur d'Alene

The one and only time I went scuba diving in "open water" was in about 1985. My first husband wanted me to learn to dive so we could have that activity to do together. I took the classes. To get the certificate, I needed to do an open water dive.

Our class did the dive near the marina at Hayden Lake, Idaho. My favorite part then -- much like it is when geocaching -- is finding the swag! Among a few other things, I collected these two coke bottles.

I've kept them all these years because of what the bottom reveals

It's labeled locally: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!

Well, Now

This is totally unnecessary.

It's not even mid-October. Our porch furniture is still set up. The trees are just beginning to change color.

Snow that's sticking. Really?

Ah, Honey, Ahhhhm So Tiiiiiirrrrrrrrrred

I had trouble falling asleep last night. Today ... Kermit is my hero.

But then, there is this ...

So ... go me?

Playing with Texture - Part 7

I found this texture by our front porch. What is it?

Here it is in context

Who guessed it was the seed pod of a grape hyacinth?

These are some of my favorite flowers to photograph. The very first macro photos of flowers I took were of this plant. Seeing all the flecks of pollen through my lens enraptured me.

They glow in the twilight

And sometimes whisper secrets to one another

My Kind of Competition

Competing with myself

So sayith Mary Lou Retton

Ta Da!

And then there were none.

As of this morning, I've completed all 19 of my goals for 2019!

Our giant treadmill found a new home with a woman who needs it for rehab. It couldn't have gone to nicer people. Dale and I are so happy to be able to help them. They helped us at the same time.

Now I get to go into full-on overachiever mode. Because ... let's say it all together, class ...

"Why achieve when you can over-achieve?"

I Sewed a Thing

Actually, two things.

A while back I found this tutorial online on Gabriel's Good Tidings blog. It's called Men's Dress Shirt Repurposed to Apron. That looked like fun. And it just so happened that Dale had a couple shirts he'd put in the charity box. I pulled them out ... and there they sat in my Studio for months. It appears that I often need "incubation time" before an idea becomes reality. It's my process.

Front of first apron

So this week I pulled the shirts out, and refashioned them into aprons I can wear while working in my Studio. After all, I wouldn't want to mess up that ratty t-shirt and my grey sweatpants!

Back of first apron

I followed the instructions fairly closely. It was an easy pattern. I did do some extra reinforcing of the seam around the neck.

Side of first apron

When I tried the apron on, there was quite a bit of gapiosis around the bustline. So I added in darts that allowed the apron to fit better around my chest.

The model forgot to brush her hair

The first apron was so easy last night, that I decided to go ahead and make a second apron this morning.

She's pretty proud of herself, don't you think?

After my sewing project, I tidied up my Studio in hope that I can do a painting project next. That will be an ideal excuse to use my new cover-ups.