Oh, the things I obsess over.....

It has taken 2 1/2 months to find the elusive napkin holder.  From the photo it looks sort of thrashed, something that would need to be replaced because it's obviously been used.  While we have replaced several things that we couldn't find (and unearthed them exactly after we had used the replacements so they couldn't be returned), I was adamantly unwilling to purchase a replacement for my napkin holder.  It would simply be wrong and I put my foot down...hard.

My brother made this in high school wood shop.  Shortly after he gave it to my mother, he died in a terrible accident.  Chuck and I shared one class together that year, one of the few that had both juniors and seniors, Chemistry.  It was a difficult class for me and when I returned to school after the funeral I was terrified of going to Chemistry class because his seat would be empty and we had been lab partners.

Chuck and I had always been close; both of us were shy and didn't make friends easily.  This was a new school and neither of us were "joiners", most of the kids had grown up in the Claremont school system.  We were new.

I remember walking into the class and was surprised because Lorna was sitting in Chuck's seat.  She was one of the outcasts in the school, I didn't know her but I knew that she was an outcast.  She had been assigned to the other side of the room but moved her seat before I got to class.  I think she saved my sanity that year as I struggled to find my footing after loosing my best friend.  We had moved to Claremont during the summer of 1967; this was February 1968.  I never went to a HS reunion after graduation and have lost track of Lorna, but I have never forgotten her or her incredible kindness.  She taught me a valuable lesson that day.

At some point one of my other brothers made the same napkin holder and gave it to Mom.  I asked for Chuck's and have had it ever since.  It doesn't look like something I'd obsess over, but it is.  February 12th will be the 50th anniversary of his death.  I miss him still.

Remembering the past

Back in the early 1920's my Grandfather, Walter J, was attending Princeton to earn his Master's degree (he eventually earned his PhD and taught at George Washington University, but that was later).  While at Princeton he joined a fraternity (I don't know which one, my daughter probably does). 

At any rate, he and his frat brothers all had girlfriends.  Walter was in love with Marie.  He loved her deeply.  I happen to know this because he saved everything that he felt was important.  So did Marie.  I have all their love letters while they were courting.  They are so very proper and sweet.

We always referred to Walter as Granddaddy and Marie as Rea.  While still in college his close frat brothers all decided to purchase candlestick holders.  They kept one and gave the mate to their girlfriends.  After all had married, only Walter J had a pair of candlesticks.

My mother ended up with the pair.  She only ever displayed one so I didn't find out the story until just a few years before she passed.  I was cleaning out some closets upstairs and found the mate!  I remember bringing it downstairs to match it up with the one on display and asked Mom about the significance.  She told me the story.  She had never liked the pair but thought the single one was more interesting.  After she passed and my brothers and I were splitting up the estate, I took one and my brother took the mate.  I have loved having mine in the living room in a place of honor.  Makes me remember my grandparents and my Mom. 

A week ago my daughter, Lori, texted me this picture with the caption:  Look what I found!

While it's not a twin (there are slight differences), I was thrilled!  "How much?" I demanded.  "Buy it now!" when she replied.

It was nasty when she arrived, but a bit of brass polish and elbow grease and it looks great!  The new one will be displayed in the downstairs great room.  They are clearly from the same foundry with different cups and slightly different base, all else is identical. 

I love family history.  I wonder how the second one came to be in an antique shop in Eureka, CA.  My grandparents lived in New York, Washington DC and Maine. 

Gary is recovering from the plague which he got 5 days ago and Lori is coming down with it.  It will be a quiet Christmas tomorrow, but I'm happy to have my family close by -- but not too close :)  Merry Christmas!

Getting to Know Prescott

I've only ever lived in one small town (I'm not including the many Air Force Bases growing up because those are very transitory places, even though I loved it).  I've always thought of  small towns as straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  My one experience was Garberville, California.  It was such an interesting experience living there for 18 years (but I'm pretty certain that Mr. Rockwell would not have visited).  It was full of small town charm and drama, generosity and drugs, philanthropy and villainy.  If you were looking for it you could find it, it has a bit of everything.  It is also home to our many wonderful friends that we both dearly miss.

We left Garberville for Prescott at the end of October.  Other than facing the mountain of boxes we still have, we have been busy learning about our new home and community.  I think we are going to love living here regardless of how much we miss our friends in the redwoods.

Let me tell you just a tiny bit about Prescott (I'm only beginning to learn about this amazing community.  A week ago Friday (December 1st) was the lighting of the Courthouse Square.  The square is in the center of "old town", about two blocks square with the old Courthouse in the center, lots of trees, well kept lawn, seating, a bandstand near the front and completely surrounded by interesting shops, bars (one street is called Whiskey Row), a post office and City Hall.  It's a lovely piece of property, typically bustling with locals and tourists enjoying this beautiful square.  They are sitting on picnic blankets, walking dogs, chatting with friends and neighbors and generally enjoying the atmosphere. 

They usually have 5-6 thousand attendees, this year the paper estimates that 10,000 people came to watch.  We read about it the next day.  Gary and I haven't ventured out at night except once to attend a Welcome to the Neighborhood party in our neighborhood.  It was amazing and fun and friendly, but I'll get to that.  We will definitely try to get there next year.

Last Friday was Acker Night.  Now this is what I wanted to get to.  Again we didn't attend but will next year.  

Let me tell you about Acker Night:  THIS is what a small town should be all about!  It's an evening of music.  EVERY business is open and every business has some sort of live music going.  From a single guitar player to a band, to choirs, to bands of every size and style.  Why have they been enjoying this evening for 29 years?  To raise money for scholarships for music in the schools!  Seriously, the entire community (with with guests who visit annually over this specific weekend so that they can attend).  Many of the performers are giving back because they were lucky enough to be a recipient of scholarship funds when they were in school.  This is a hugely anticipated event, my chiropractors receptionist just bubbled as she was telling me how important this evening would be.

We are looking forward to next year when we feel a bit more comfortable.

We continue to tackle boxes, emptying one, filling another.  Why do we wait until we get here to decide what to get rid of?  We've taken two trucks full of "stuff" to the D.A.V. (Disabled American Vets) for donation.  

Still haven't found the napkin holder!  Gary said, "Oh, for heaven sake, buy a new one!"

No, my brother made it in high school in wood shop.  I want THAT one.

Well, it's time to get into the garage and help Gary deal with yet another set of racks.  We moved from a spectacular and enormous custom kitchen to a very small one that is awkwardly set up.  I have three gorilla racks in the garage full of kitchen stuff (including our small refrigerator and thank goodness for that as our Viking refrigerator blew up two weeks ago and the home warranty people have been slow getting the necessary parts).  Moving isn't for the faint of heart!  More later!

I love Prescott!

Welcome to Prescott

So we got this nice invitation dropped on our front porch a week ago.  "Welcome to the Neighborhood" party on Saturday the 25th.  We got home from Sharon's on Friday and were so anxious to attend the following day.

Saturday morning dawned and we were at our chores -- Gary installing more handles on cabinets and Shon dealing with laundry and things that have not yet found a home.  We go to the local Safeway to purchase Brie, home to make puff pastry -- which is stupidly simple -- and I have a lovely appetizer to take to said party.

We get there about 30 minutes after its start and it is in full swing.  Let me tell you, our neighborhood is SO friendly and inviting -- we are thrilled!  Turns out that Kitt & Phil throw this party about once a year for the newbys and all the oldbys come to help make them feel welcome.  That's what happened to us!

Met many of the neighbors, have a date to have lunch with our next door neighbors on Wednesday and will do something fun with the neighbors who bought the house we didn't at the end of the street -- they are pretty special as well.

So we are settling in, meeting the locals, asking questions, and meeting new friends.  I think we are going to love it here!

Happy Thanksgiving, happy holidays, hold your loved ones closely!

The Trucks Arrive with 208 Boxes and Everything else!

Did I mention that we have a great deal of stuff?  When the packers were packing us up, Sergio, the lead, commented that there was zero wasted space in the house -- and we had loaded up every available spot with "stuff".  Yup!  I mean really, how many tubs of Christmas ornaments does anyone need?  As I find them all over the house they are being moved to the LL (lower level) workout room.  Before they go into storage (the dirt area connected to the workout room) we need to purchase a sheet of plywood or a large tarp or something, so for now they are just getting stacked.  Nine tubs so far plus the tree stand and an enormous plastic bag containing the tree. 

I had been pondering that dilemma:  how are we going to bring all that heavy decorations upstairs?  Problem solved:  Christmas tree will be located in the LL great room.  Done!  Whew!

Turns out Sergio parked his 53 foot van in the Home Depot parking lot and rented TWO 29 foot trucks and unloaded into them.  One was completely full, the other was about 80% full.  And he brought his crack team of four from Phoenix.  Again, a highly professional bunch who were more than polite,  I finally had to say, "Please, don't Ma'am me, makes my skin crawl; my name is Shon, please feel free to use it as often as necessary."  Kevin attempted to explain that it was a term used with great respect (he was such a sweety), which I politely responded with "Thank you, but call me Shon, I don't respond to Ma'am.  I'd never make it in the South!"

First we went on "walk about" so they could know to which room I was directing them, and then the most amazing case of controlled chaos ensued.  They arrived around 10:30am (took them close to two hours to unload the van into the trucks) and left around 4:30.  Wow, just wow!

For the first 4 or 5 days the cats slept only a little during the day, choosing instead to follow me around the house softly mewing and wanting to know why they had been transported against their will and now all their stuff was coming out of boxes and it was a hot mess and it was a strange house with their stuff.  That conversation was non-stop -- you think I've been complaining and grumbling, you should have to be subjected to Harvey (the Siamese) and Tommy (the red rescue).  Yesterday (Friday) Harvey curled up on our bed and slept from the moment Gary vacated until about 5pm.  He's settling in nicely. 

This is the living room, odd nook (which I'll figure out after I've finished with the boxes) and I'm standing in the dining room, the kitchen is to the right.  Stuff everywhere.  

This was the office before Gary rearranged stuff and set up our PCs.  His desk came easily, mine was too big to get through the door so it has been relegated to the garage and will be donated to some needy home some time in the future.  It's way not on my important list.  Some college student will be pleased not to be working on a card table like I am. 

The master bath.  It is an enormous tub which will be beautiful once the boxes get unloaded.  My master bath in the Humboldt house was enormous with tons of storage, this one has none except what is under the two sink areas.  Then I knew I had a large master closet, but good grief, I guess it was larger than I thought (plus there were eight large drawers), so as I'm unloading boxes I have no idea where this stuff is going to go.  Perhaps it's time to downsize?  Horrors!

As we unload, unwrap, each piece of paper gets flattened, stacked, folded and then loaded into the truck along with the flattened boxes for a trip to the transfer station which is about 15 minutes away.  The bed of the truck is stuffed full of flat boxes and the back seat it half way up the window with folded paper.  Several times a day I use Lori's magic wax goop that she makes to moisturize and heal my hands -- it is dry at 5800 feet and smoothing out packing paper doesn't help.  

Just one last grumble (for today).  We've been in our home for a week and in possession of our "stuff" for five full days.  WHERE oh where are our utensils?  Every box marked utensils is full of kitchen stuff, but not a real fork to be found.  And our plates?  Where the heck are they?  Mostly we've been eating leftovers (we actually picked apart a Safeway hot chicken one night -- just used our fingers, no sides, just too tired to care).  I found one baking dish and a few items from our pantry.  I'm going to bake chicken breasts, I have one small pot for rice and two glass pans to nuke veggies.  We're good.

And some really awesome news (besides the amazing sunsets):  I've been slowly but steadily loosing weight since I retired.  As of this morning I'm down 26 pounds and two dress sizes! 

Progress pictures will be coming.  We saw Only the Brave the first weekend we were here.  It's the story of the Yarnell Fire and the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished in that horrific fire storm.  You should put that on your "Must See" list, it was very well done.  Today we saw Goodbye Christopher Robin, true story about the little boy and his Winnie the Pooh.  The truth behind the fairy tale is often harder to listen to, this movie takes you though so many emotions.  More tomorrow.......

Arriving in Prescott

We arrived Friday.  Big empty house.  Sounds bouncing off the walls.  We brought two folding chairs, a big table from Costco and two camp chairs.  We set up the table open the chairs and wonder what to do with ourselves.  Oh yes, we let the cats out.  Much crying and "chatting" and running from one room to another smelling the corners.

 We also brought two twin guest beds, one unfolds and the other blows up.

 The office, upstairs.  So much potential.

 The weekend was spent shopping at Lowes, Home Depot, Safeway, Target and other stores, my debit card was in pain.  The sellers (let's not bad rap them too much -- but I just can't help it) took everything...including the hooks on the walls of the closet!  We had really settled into our Humboldt house and spent years making it just exactly what I wanted with storage for EVERYTHING I could ever want.  This master bath has almost zero storage.  A nice size closet, but no where to put linens or towels except on ONE small towel rack.

The guest bath (connected to the office) has a small cupboard where we will store the extra rolls of TP.  There is one coat closet by the front door.  Lots of awkward cupboards in the laundry room -- oh yes, they left their washer and dryer when they said they would not.  After wondering what in the heck we were going to do with them, we did laundry and decided to worry about that another day (problem solved, one of the movers was thrilled to get a new to him W&D).

The downstairs master has a ton of storage space?????  Haven't decided how I'm going to solve that.  I was just telling my friend, Barbie, that I have to live in a space for awhile before I hang pictures (I think we were in the Humboldt house for 4 months before I hung any pictures and once up I never moved them around).

We spent the weekend comforting the cats, looking around Prescott, wondering how our new lives would pan out, and sitting on the deck taking in the view.  For all the things I've been grumbling about .... do we have a view!  Boy howdy, do we ever!

I'm exhausted by the end of the day and have been going to bed quite early (for me) so I'm up around 5am, into the kitchen to make coffee and look at my phone and await the sun rise.  While my view is to the West, the sky begins to mellow, then it turns a lovely pink with yellow tones, then it brightens up and I watch the sun shine down on the mountain rim and forest below.  I tell you it's breathtaking!  Then it's off for chores, checking out the house some more, trying to decide where things will go and waiting for wine thirty.  Onto the deck to watch the sunset.  It's magical.  We'll figure out the small stuff.......

Leaving Humboldt

Where to start?  How about ... Goodbye Humboldt

It all started innocently enough, Gary came home and announced that he was ready to leave Humboldt.  I’d been harboring this thought for some time and replied simply, “I can make that happen!”

You know the rest, we bought a house in Prescott, AZ

We were very lucky to find the perfect people to rent our Garberville home to and made our plans to move.  Pretty certain my liver would not survive one more farewell party -- they were sure fun ... and painful ... and a poignant reminder that in the nearly 18 years we lived in Humboldt we enjoyed a cornucopia of wonderful friends from all walks. I loved getting to know them and left a huge part of my heart (including our daughter 😔) as we chose to move on.

Lori noted that she had accomplished nothing at home the last week as she chose to hang with us every possible evening; "no worries," I said, "bring your laundry here!"  We already have a flight and car rental back to Humboldt as we are looking forward to celebrating Jerry & Nancy Wilson's 60th wedding anniversary on November 19th; our dear friend, Bea has agreed to put us up, I'm looking forward to reconnecting.

Back to the move:  Sergio (our driver) and his hand picked crew of three (Wren, Brian and Blake) spent Monday and part of Tuesday packing.  The estimator wholly under-estimated the number of boxes we would need so on Tuesday they brought the 26 ft "shuttle" truck loaded with more boxes and paper and blankets.  Shuttle, you ask, let me explain.  Our driveway in Garberville was long, steep with a tight curve in it.  Our moving van couldn't make it up when we arrived (it was a 45 ft van).  Sergio's van is 53 feet.  Not gunna happen!  And, of course, we bought a home with an impossible hill and a too tight turn, so we needed to shuttle on both ends.  At least this time we knew it ahead of time.

Wren was packing my sewing room when he came out searching for me with a picture in his hands.  It was me with my two brothers one Christmas at Mom's.  Bill was wearing a San Bernardino City Fire Department shirt.  Wren pointed to Bill and asked if his shirt was from SBCFD.  "Why yes, he just retired from the department."  Wren was all animated, exclaiming that his fiance's father just retired from the same FD!  He immediately pulled out his phone and made a call as I texted my brother.  Yes, his soon to be father-in-law announced, I know Bill well, we're having lunch on Thursday!  We are all just six degrees from Kevin Bacon, or Bill Beaumont!

We pulled out of town on Wednesday at about 1:30 with such mixed emotions and two neurotic cats.  I was wondering how they were going to do once we captured them and loaded them into my car.  They were loaded up on Wednesday at about noon and not released until we arrived at our house around 3pm on Friday -- it was hard on them but they were true troopers, crying from time to time, but mostly just pouting and drawing strength from each other.  Twice a day I carefully removed the litter box, replacing it with kibble and water for about 30 minutes, then reversing it.  They have always been self feeders, so that was especially difficult.  They appear to be settled in now, Harvey slept the entire day today instead of following me around all day and chatting.  They seem to love having a downstairs and chase each other up and down the steps constantly.

More soon.......