20190421_112758

a female  Wind

 


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20190421_132158

 


20190421_132152

I met Alyssia and the kids at the Storage Place at noon.   She had decided that she can use the futon couch,  two chairs the dresser and my beloved stove Sabine at her house.   For now.    All the two days of loading things in New Mex,  i kept saying,  i don't need to take this.  I don't need to take this.  She kept saying,  take it.  Decide once you are there.  Alyssia is a keeper.   we were there 4 hours.    Now the bankers boxes and some things line the walls in a U shape.  I can get to each box.  Look.  Think.  

The plan had been for Alyssia to clean the Attic at her rented house and Julian would have that as a bedroom.  He was  thrilled.  But it's warming up now and has become totally clear that it would be intensely HOT up there,  even with some kind of air conditioner running all the time.  So…plan B or F,  whatever.   The attic will be used for Storage.  To see how it goes.  Her house is 15 min from here.  There's a lot of room up there.

These bankers boxes.   Books.  Kitchen stuff,  like all the sizes of pyrex casserole dishes anyone might imagine needing.  Pyrex pie plates.  I think  there are 4.  Pots and pans.  Bowls.  all kinds.  Things like that.    The books…includes the full set of 10 volumes of the Books of Knowledge and 10 volumes of Lands and Peoples….the 30's editions.  My childhood.    Some magazines that i love.  Old ones.    Before i left i took boxes of books to the Library for their sale.  All the dishes are packed wrapped in linens.  Sheets and towels.  A lot.  There are the two wooden toy boxes.  There are the bankers boxes with Treasures written on the masking tape.  She kept looking through them,  lifting one thing up after another,  delighting in them,  many things familiar to her from her own babyhood.  These…i can now go back by my self and look.  Think.  I can get to each box now.  I have no idea what to do with all those treasures.  I'll take pics of that process.  Easier than trying to word it here.

I brought back  7 books.    5 of those under the bed storage tubs,  one large garbage bag of textiles.  One of the storage tubs of clothes.  Summer ones.  3 large pillows with covers i love.  that i made.   A large box of Jars.  my JARS!!!   from the Smiths  Grocery in Socorro,  pasta sauce jars with plain black lids,  no writing.  I would just buy the sauce because i wanted another jar.  Them.  Perfect for dying cloth.  Aesthetically so satisfying.  Yes.  And some large glass jars.  Them too.  

There's that black wooden chair of the Old Cowboy's.  shored up with baling wire on the legs.   I'll bring it here,  in,  it will be totally awkward at the end of this kitchen table. it probably won't work,    But,  maybe it's worth the discomfort.  It was his mothers.  Flossie.  What else?  oh the wooden dragon wind chime that's out in the Morning Tree and already the humming birds have checked it out.  

That's it for now.  OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  NO!!!!  i had resigned self to having somehow left my copper pot behind.  Given up.  But in one of the bankers boxes marked Treasures,  Alyssia poking through,  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee!  there it WAS!

After all the angst about the Shed…..maybe we don't even need a shed.  Wouldn't that be Interesting?????

 

 

 

 

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11 responses to “how it can go”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) this is going to seem really nosy but I have to ask, why aren’t you building your little wooden house, you have the stumps and bearers all ready to go …

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  2. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    So some go searching for Easter eggs on Easter Sunday, you go searching for treasures in your storage unit and hit the mother lode – your great copper pot. This just made me so happy. Plus you brought back some of your books, textiles, beloved pillow covers and JARS. I too save jars of all kinds, pasta sauce, pickles, iced tea, larger jam jars, any and all to use in solar dyeing…what a fine treasure hunt you all had!

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  3. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Being in the middle of the unknown .. it gives me so much comfort reading how if we just keep going things work themselves out. I desperately needed to be reminded of that this morning. Don’t ever doubt that what you give here is lost .. for me today what I got was a big warm hug and a shout out that all will be well.

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  4. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    I am so happy for you, Grace. Your copper pot! I hear the joy all the way over here on the east. Yay!

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  5. grace Forrest Avatar

    no such thing as nosy.
    the building codes. California in general and then specifically, county codes. There are incredibly stringent code requirements for EVERYTHING. Which is great and also
    not so great. They are lagging. For as much as California likes to present itself as so progressive, so much is an obstacle to progress. For instance “grey water”. Not allowed. Composting toilets. even the one i bought for $900 and some dollars. Not allowed. If you want to run public electricity, there must be a dwelling in place first. it goes on and on. For all things, permits are required. You apply. they are approved or denied. If denied, you pay for the permit to apply anyway and then pay for another one to apply in a different way. They are a LOT of money.
    Once you have applied for a permit, a county inspector comes to do a walk through of your “property” ( i really dislike that term). Now, he’s “on it”. Can come to look around
    any time. Even “out buildings”, say for instance, what appears to be a permanent wooden shelter for Goats, ie the one the doe Goats have, just 2×4 frame with wood panels and a tarp roof…this would be considered a permanent outbuilding. the corner posts are sunk into the Earth.
    This requires a permit.
    All these things became obvious Catch 22s after the fact.
    Alyssia and Jenny had gone in such optimism and Good Faith,
    ready to comply. the answer has been, that’s interesting, that’s good, but not good enough. It’s figuring out how
    to play the game. Being patient. Not pushing people who don’t like being pushed.
    There is still Intention for the little wooden house. It would be so EASY. except for the above. It would never be permitted as a living space. Might be as a work shop or something.
    all this has been hard to live with. Especially for Jenny
    who is a pragmatic get it done person. There’s sadness.
    disappointment. But no one has given up.
    my feeling right now is that I am Here. I live Here. It’s
    very adequate and enough. I can’t really waste a day wanting something more. This i have and i want to Just Go. With what i have. Ta Da.

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. Today feels very different. I have that Stuff.

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  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh, beloved Tina…thank you for saying this. I think
    sometimes, like yesterday, that i go too far in talking about things. That it’s a burden to listen to, but i find self just doing it because it’s what’s happening and what’s happening is what lays the Ground for everything, including Cloth making
    Thank You, dear and best You

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    YES…the JOY a clunky old pot brings…I washed it today like i would wash a new born baby.

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  9. Mo Crow Avatar

    ah this 21st C world is so full of rules and regulations, x fingers everything can get approved in the not too faraway!

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  10. Deb Avatar

    As I read this and you listed the beloved things, my smile just went wider. Was the smell still there. Did the cushions still carry the dessert air, I wonder.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. and Julian notices as he sleeps on the futon.

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