Yet Another Week

Today is a day to celebrate: all the moving boxes are emptied and broken down and stacked in the garage. What the hell I do with them now is anybody's guess. The house is still in decorating anarchy, but I now have access to the vacuum cleaner and will be giving the downstairs a good going over.

I've told myself that I'm going to live with the carpet for a year before I decide to tear it up. It is very vexing though, as once you drop anything onto it, you're lucky if you'll ever find it again. I spent two weeks looking for my glasses once they dropped just under the couch—in full view—but camouflaged by the hideous roses.

I was watching a special on Lincoln's assassination on the History Channel yesterday and caught a glimpse of the carpeting in the presidential box. I was a little taken aback. Check it out:

Ford's Theater's presidential box on the left, the carpet on the main floor of my house on the right.

Not exactly the same pattern, but pretty damned close. I just wonder if it's historically accurate, (in either case).

This really is the quintessential grandma’s house, with the laundry chute and the phone stand on the stair landing and all the glass doorknobs and the love-it-hate-it carpeting. When the grandfather clock arrives, that will cinch it. It is currently at Pam and Steve’s, where it resides in a corner of the living room, still in swaddling bubble wrap from its original journey east from Mom’s house in Arroyo Grande. Last time I was in Ettrick, I took a really good look at the clock and noted its ornate case and movement.

Xmas Gingerbread Conversion?

Driving home from Pizza Night in Ettrick, I was thinking what a hoot it would be to decorate my place like a giant gingerbread house for Christmas. All I have to do is find a place that makes gum drops a foot in diameter. That light up. Six-foot gingerbread men (not plywood cutouts, but 3D and textured, down to the icing), a giant peppermint swirl at each roof point and eight-foot candy canes on each corner. How many thousands would that cost? (But think of the publicity!)

Emily and Jim were planning on bringing the clock into La Crosse last Saturday, but Jim got called into work at the last minute (he's the one with the truck), so Emily came in and helped me put up some lighting. I say some, because we spent an inordinate amount of time putting up the two sconces over the fireplace. They look great, but getting them up was a real trial (trial and error was more like it). Now, however, we know what screw goes where, and we're planning on making the clock move and doing more lightings installation this Friday, since everyone has the day off. They are going to take the green recliner back to Ettrick and replace Steve's incredibly old and broken down easy chair.

Natalie reviews pix with her aunt
from her Godfather photo shoot.

So after Emily and I struggled with the sconces, it was time to part, as we both had to get ready for Natalie's fifth birthday party. It was held at Godfather's Pizza in Winona. The place is right on the river with beautiful views, none of which I photographed, of course. I did get a picture of the birthday girl reviewing photos her aunt had taken.

After eating pizza and playing with the claw games (everyone got some type of stuffed toy), we retired to Amanda's place, where an extremely pink cake was waiting. Natalie got the five candles blown out in due course, and Amanda sent me home with leftover cake and ham sandwiches (which her mother had sent home with her).

Striking a pose with her pink pink Rapunzel cake.

On Sunday I had a housewarming party to go to, but I just didn't feel up to a houseful of people I didn't know, so I called up and gave my regrets. They didn't sound too put out by the news, which was a relief. I'm planning on taking them out to dinner later this month, which will be more effective, since I want to get to know them better, and that's difficult in a houseful of people. Beth is a professor in the Theater Department at UW-La Crosse, so I'm hoping she'll have some valuable insight into the stage companies in the area. And, of course, I'm not above having them fix me up on a few blind dates once they get to know me.

The weather is so changeable. I get to deal with hot and muggy (but so far never all day; sometimes for only 15 or 20 minutes). The weather always changes, moment to moment. You can go into the grocery store to do some shopping and you’re dripping with sweat from the horrible, muggy weather. Then, when you emerge with your perishables, the mugginess is gone, and the day is warm and pleasant. Then a stiff breeze blows up and clouds will roll through. Then a thunderstorm will rumble by, spewing electromagnetic prowess on down the river, then things become clear and still, and a cool damp settles over the evening as the clouds part to reveal a starry night sky.

Sunrise over the roofs and trees of my neighborhood.

So far, I’m liking it here. I’m certainly not pining for Pasadena, but I do miss parts of the Central Coast. But even there, the pretense of Southern California is slowly slipping into their world view, as Opra’s Happiest Town on Earth gets more narcissistic and exclusive (no matter how inclusively it behaves). My SLO friends will take exception with that view, but SLO isn't the place I fell in love with 30 years ago. La Crosse has much more the vibe of the SLO I remember from years past.

So one finds new adventures. I was told as a young lad that Old Age was a time when you could stop moving, stop fretting, relax and enjoy vegetation as a sort of sedentary senior sport. But no such luck. I, once again, have to reinvent myself in a new place and time. L.A. was like that for me when I first arrived: I was moving out in new directions as a designer, and I was willing to reinvent myself for that adventure. I feel a pride in the fact that I met my goal of designing for an international publication; that is an achievement I'm proud of, but it's the past. 

One more time around won’t be so bad, and at least I’m well funded and solvent for the time being. Come October, it will be two years since Steve died, and I'm ready to expand back out into the world, hopefully meet someone special and get love and togetherness back into my life. That is the one thing I truly miss about being married.