Eliza’s Neighborhood

I e-mailed the yoga studio yesterday and it sounds like a lovely place, they are also interested in showing local artists and having art shows as well. Hmmm. This also may be a possibility for me as well. I will wait for a couple shows to see if I fit in or not. Maybe! She is also going to purchase a bike rack for my lovely Red Clementine and hopefully others who choose to ride a bike to class. Next weekend they open. Sounds like a great place, I have high hopes. I almost cry when I think of going to this class, I just know this will be an answer to one or two of my problems. I am open to the change it will bring into my life and I also am open to whatever blessings yoga may bring into my life, even if it is not what I want or expect. My only concern is that is is right next door to :
1. The cupcake bakery
2. my fave pizza joint
3. an antique mall
4. a dive bar
three I will have to work to not spend too much money at and one I will have to walk by with yoga pants on and I hope the leering will be a minimal thing.

My walk yesterday was no less interesting. I walked by Joan's house, snapped a few more shots of those amazing zinnia of hers and handed her a thank you card for the flowers she cut for me. Her daughter was there so she did not speak to me too long, that is okay I was out for a long time and wanted to go home. But that was not the plan, an old co-worker of mine, Pam, was driving by on her way back to work. She stopped and picked me up and was driving me home when she said I needed to see Catherine (another gal I worked with). She has something she needs to tell me. So I told her, just bring me to work with you. She did, I saw Catherine, her head was in one of those scarves, covering a newly shaved head. She has breast cancer. My heart sank in my chest. She is seriously one of the most passionate people I have ever met, she can describe a food dish with so much joy, I swear, Bon Appetite magazine is her pornography. Haha! She showed me her two scars, they hopefully got it all out (lumpectomy) She has just started her chemo treatment and is still strong as an ox. I hope that continues. She is thinking nothing but positive thoughts and I believe she is strong enough to beat this like so many of my brave neighbors here, you know who you are people.

I have been a slack ass about my home cleaning. I swear I can drag my feet better than anyone ever! I get up to do it, and my body gets so heavy and tired. I could lay down and nap after unloading the dishwasher!
When I was a kid, I lived in a house that should have been condemned. CPS should have swooped in and taken us out of there. Mother would tell me "clean the house" and that was my daily chore. But I had been raised with no tools to do this. She never kept the house clean, she never showed me a routine, she never showed me how to do a little at a time, she never showed me, just expected me to do it. When it was not done, each day she would yell and then spank me. I don't think she did this every day, but often enough that it seemed that way. I would look at the house, dirty dishes in the couch cushions, endless clutter, dust, papers, fleas, crust, broken, junk, mold, stinky stuff. I would see it all, lay down and actually sleep. Overwhelmed has always been my monster in the closet, my monkey on my back, my shadow through life. It is really really hard to shake it.

All that said, here is my to do list for the day
1. 15 minutes in kitchen-dishes-counters-floor
2. 15 minutes in dining room-table-chairs-sweep
3. 15 minutes in the living room-vacuum-tables
4. 15 minutes of folding and putting laundry away
5. 15 minutes in the bedroom- sewing machine area
6. 15 minutes in the bathroom-sink-toilet-floor-litterbox
7. walk after these are done okay, so I did it first
8. make sauce for dinner

only an hour and a half

I turned most of the photos black and white because the lighting was so poor. This was before I had my giant flash. I just started using Picassa rather than the kodak easyshare editing software too. Picassa is so much better.
My father in law plays piano beautifully and he was playing just after the ceremony while we were waiting for the bride and groom to come back for photos.
The rest are of the bride and groom, except for the last one. I have to say that is one of my faves. That is Grandpa dancing with the bride. Telling her something, we will never know.

So My things on Tuesday.
Icky Stuff
1. no motivation to do anything, there is not enough coffee in the world
2. my sinuses feeling like my cat has stuffed it full of her floof while I was asleep
3. gained back the weight I had lost
4. need to go for a walk.....NOW, but it is cold outside and the computer chair is so toasty
5. husbands family is camping this weekend and we are not. We cannot stand three days of camping with meathead (SIL's "boyfriend" who is closer to nieces age than her own, they both have a thing for him and that is gross). I would kill someone.

Great stuff
1. done with editing the wedding photos finally
2. the yoga studio close to my home is opening next weekend with free classes on saturday and sunday!
3. the warm coziness of my sweatshirt and sweatpants
4. coupon for free panties from Victoria's secret, who does not need panties? wait, don't answer that, I may not want to know the answer.
5. the sun is out right now, YAY! No Rain!
6. new tea from republic of tea called Pomegranite vanilla red tea, it is really yummy
7. tonight I am making a fresh veggie chowder for dinner
8. I am wearing a pair of sweat pants that are too long for me (my legs are rather long, 36"inseam, and it is a very rare thing to find pants long enough, let alone sweat pants!) sure they are ugly as sin with button and zipper waist, and pockets in the back, like they are a regular pair of pants. But they were $14 and go way beyond my ankle
9. I do not have a job and that is okay
10. listened to Michelle Obama speak last night on TV, I want the America she sees, but I find myself a bit cynical in believeing  it could actually happen.



My Dad and my step mom are making the divorce final in a few weeks. I wanted to throw a happy divorce party but my dad said NO. I wanted to have the whole family come together and celebrate what was good about the union, leave all the negative stuff at my front door and only share good stuff. But Dad said no. ;-( I would have thrown the best divorce party ever! Banners balloons and all. I know my step mom would be game. My siblings would be too, as well as step grandma, Granny would not, she is a bitter little thing, but the rest of us would have loved it!

I went for a walk on Friday and Friday offered as many friendly faces as Thursday did. I was walking by an old home that I have admired for most of my life when an older man came up to me from the front yard and asked about Ruby (my camera for those who don't know I am a kook who named her Ruby) I said I did it for fun and relaxation. He said he used to do the same. Then I proceeded to ask about his house, I told him I have always admired it. He told me it was built in 1910, he bought it from the son of the original owner in the 1960's. He then asked if I would like to come inside to see the rest of the house. His daughter now owns the home and intends to pass it to one of her children. He showed me photos from the renovation in the 60's, and showed me all the original woodwork. A picture of the home taken in the early teens shows that it sits alone in a large plot of land with raspberry plants all around. Now it has other houses blocking it in. What a nice day of history, learning about my town through his experience of growing up here and raising his own kids here as well. I went to high school with his daughter, but she was 2 years older so we never met. His grand daughter goes to school with my nephew, she knows him well and was very polite when she did not say what she wanted to say about him to me. Haha! He is a bit obnoxious, even for 13 year old boy standards.

I went on my way and bought a bottle of water from the little store, and had a very drunk construction worker begging me to take his picture. I did not, I did not want to make a scene inside of the little store. Haha! Then on I went walking through streets and alleys, and was stopped by yet another cocky fellow wanting me to take his picture. I was shocked and told him he was not the first to ask this of me. Bu that time traffic was moving and he drove away. That is right, he was calling to me from the car. ;-)

Saturday was the funeral for Marie. I was surprised to see her lovely bearded husband get up and speak. He told of her love of being a teacher and anonymously buying shoes for students who come to school without fit shoes, and just genuinely loving her students. When he was finished, he returned to his seat in between his two daughters and granddaughter. They all fell into him, on shoulders and chest, his arms pulling them closer. I cried. I caught him a few times during the service looking into the blown up photo of her lovely face. I cried some more. That night my sister and her girlfriends from high school all went out with the daughter. They had a lovely time lifting the daughters spirit.

I played with my nieces and my dad's new girlfriends God Son who is aged right in between my nieces. They play together so very well. We had a good time.

Sunday I finished editing my SIL wedding photos, Thank Goodness! I switched editing software, from the kodak easyshare that is absolute crap to Picassa, which is very nice to work with. It will take me a while to get used to it, but it offers me more options. It is also so much faster! I will hopefully post some pictures from her wedding soon, I have not put them on flickr yet.

I spent my morning in a tug of war,
Nap vs. Photowalk.
I finally decided I needed a cupcake and went for a walk. I stepped out my front door and closed my eyes and breathed in deep to smell the sweetness of summer blooms, to smell the freshness of the morning rain, to smell which direction I should go.
(I should say that when I go on my walks, I use all of my senses, except taste, nobody should lick the railroad tracks, right? I smell every flower, I touch every surface, I see every shape and color, I hear every leaf blowing in a breeze.)
I was surprised when my feet started the opposite direction of the cupcake shop, but I did not question my decision too much. I just followed my internal direction. Something I have ignored a lot lately, bad me.
I saw a super fat cat with no tail, she was so friendly and walked with a waddle. Poor thing needs a diet. But she was a joyful kitten. Meowing a gravley meow, pushing her head on my knee. I pet her for a bit, then moved on.
I was drawn to my neighbors house with tall yellow daisies, sunflowers, and brightly colored zinnia. Her gardens are amazing. I saw that down the sidewalk she had placed bunches of pots of zinnia. LOVELY! I went an started taking photos of a big fat fuzzy bumble bee on a pink zinnia when I hear a small voice call to me saying "so you like my flowers!" I said looking up to see a beautiful woman a little younger than my father's age maybe "Yes! I do! I always have!" We talked about the zinnia and how she seeds them every year by placing the dead blooms in a paper bag and in the winter shakes the bag up to retrieve the seeds. Then she sprinkles them all over in the spring. Pointing to all the large patches of zinnia saying "free!" meaning she did not buy the seeds. She asked if I wanted to see her back yard, I exclaimed "YES!" it was even more stunning than the front. Her name is Joan and she is a freelance writer for a local paper. She got some scissors and left me with a bundle of fresh cut flowers from her gardens. My hand could barely hold them all. Enough to fill 3 small vases. What a lovely person. I wished I was bold enough to ask to photograph her cutting her blooms. She was beautiful.
I went home, put these flowers in water and went on. Walked along the railroad tracks and saw a couple of chairs. They reminded me of the dining chairs in my grandparents home. Even the cracked plastic covers and the sticky foam exposed. They had a peaceful feeling about them, so I took their photo as well.
I made my way to my favorite antique store. A lovely couple I really enjoy chatting with. I think after my sale (I don't quite know when I am going to do it) I am going to tell them to come back after the sale is over with boxes and take whatever they want. They gift me with fun things all the time. A customer they knew came in and I made my way to the tiny back room where they have a giant hat box full of buttons surrounded by hanging linens and embroidered cloths. I began to dig in the buttons, what a soothing thing. All the glass, shell, metal, and plastic buttons from well over 100 years of age hitting each other, swirling around my fingers. Cool and dusty. I grabbed an old platter to try and find some matches. 20 for $1. I heard a group of giggling women on the sidewalk outside, they got louder and louder, then entered the building. It was a local group of older women who are in the Red Hat society. They were a joyful bunch of women, about three of them were gravitated to the buttons as well. They were drawn by the sound of them and the desire to run their wrinkled hands through them. We chatted and laughed, they told me of button jars and tins they have at home from their mothers and grandmothers. We chatted about what we were using them for, one lady makes big snowmen and wanted big black buttons, we helped her find the ones she wanted, another wanted a different type of black button for her crafts, and another just wanted to feel the buttons on her fingers, palms and wrist. She was the last one out of the room, she told me upon her parting that she was going to get out her grandmothers buttons tonight and look at them. I told her how nice that sounded. I paid for my buttons and a couple of embroidered pot holders. My phone began to ring, I am so unused to the phone ringing I thought it was the antique dealers phone, they told me "That is you Dear" Haha! It was my Dad. He told me I was not at home, and I said Nope, I was out for a walk downtown and was headed for the cupcake store. He laughed at me and said he will meet me there. I walked over and met Dad, bought 4 cupcakes for husband and I, then he gavbe me a ride home. We chatted a bit about his new girlfriend, family and the upcoming funeral for Sweet Marie on Saturday. We decided that we were going to have a family night that day.

I felt like the day just rolled out the yellow brick road and I followed. I am so glad I went out. It was a very nice walk. ;-)

Okay, so they really were not frolicking in my forest, but they were playing in my mailbox!!!!
A little while ago, while trying to de-clutter my home, I sent a box of fabric I had collected to a lovely young artist in a faraway land. She sent me some of her native creatures my way. Let me just say.....
I want to live in SnuggleMuffins World!

She will send you things too if you visit her Etsy Store! It is a great way to fill your home with sweetness and joy!
If you just want to see her art, I mean world, here is her Flickr site too.
This is such a reward for thinning out my fabric stash!
I will take better photos of them, I think one will accompany me while I am out and about, I will take them on field trips. ;-)

Snugglemuffin,
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Mr. Lavender and I are Delighted to be a home for these magnificent creatures and drawings. The bookmark is holding my place in a new photography book, The prints are going to be framed an put up in my home, The heart hangs next to another heart on the knobs of my kitchen cabinets, the cabinet holding cookies and candy of course, The card is in my box of keep sakes, the stickers found their way onto my 3 year old niece's body, and the dolls are all around my home, on bookcases, couches, and tables. They add such a playful joyful energy to my home. I THANK you so much!!!!!
XO,
Lavender

This was at my favorite park, Point Defiance, in Tacoma. Many childhood memories are held here. I am sure the ghost of me when I was a kid still searches the beach for agates and indian arrowheads (my uncle found an arrowhead here when we were kids).
Mr. Lavender and I go here to walk in the woods, to smell the roses in the garden, to play on the beach, to watch the sunset. In a month we will be going to a wedding here.
As I was snapping away at the sunset, I had the feeling we were not alone, and looked down on the other side of the fence I was leaning on for stability, and there were three raccoons churring at us. So CUTE!!!! It was a Mom and her two kits, who were almost full grown. The Mom was holding the most curious back from us with both arms held around the waist of the young one. She knew humans are an animal not to be trusted, you cannot tell when or who will harm or have a hand out. This is a problem even for us humans.
It was a lovely evening, cool, wind blowing, sky glowing, raccoons churring. Who could ask for more in that moment?

Good news: I have some pictures of CUTE native animals today! Enjoy Friends! This is from when Mr. Lavender and I visited Northwest Trek. An animal park I have visited many times on field trips as a child. I always loved this park. it is HUGE. Very few animals in small cages