Dreaded Gray Descending

Updates in no order of importance:

I have to get a mumps & measels shot, $85, to finish my admissions requirements for PSU. I think LBJ was still in office, the last immunization I received.

I may be cleaning houses for money, is that better or worse than---never mind.

We are out of crunchies, and two furry people are getting really crabby about it.

The wind storm was violent and blessedly brief here in Southeast, now I have a good reason to call Comcast to tell them the cable line came loose from the tree again (fourth time this year).

The arctic air mass got as far south as Palm Beach County last week and Betty finally could turn off the AC and open her windows, for the first time since March. (The Gray Ascends now in FLA).

I found another pic for my absurd food collection, perfect for today----

Late Afternoon Walk in the Neighborhood

These were actually taken last week, between 4 and 5:30pm. They've changed a lot since.

Nostalgic Autumn Projects

Autumn Childhood Fun Ideas:


Iron beautiful leaf specimens between sheets of waxed paper (low to med heat setting on iron)

Add grated or shaved crayon bits to it for a stained glass effect

Collect glossy horse chestnuts and pile in a bowl or fill a vase---add branches of sumac, mountain ash or bittersweet

Drill holes in chestnuts and make big strings to hang up on fences using shoe laces or twine

Caramel apples with wrapper caramel (easy) or microwaved caramel cubes (still easy)

Rice Crispie treats with some melted caramel cubes stirred into the marshmallow goop, a dust of cinnamon and some chopped dried apples stirred in, too

Dip pretzel rods in white chocolate for skeleton snacks

Make dried gourd monsters (or luminarias) with sandpaper and a Dremel tool, paint and tea light inside

Thread sunflower heads together and hang along with the chestnut strings on your fence posts for the birds and squirrels (peanut butter is optional)

Make a giant Trick-or-Treat loot bag out of a white pillow case and, with a black marker, draw the mask from "Scream" on it so the open side is at the top

Make more "Scream" masks from white pillow cases, open side down, for your shrubs near the front door to pull over the bushes on Halloween Night.

Fill an old (clean) milk carton with ice cubes and a candle wick, then pour melted max over it to make ghost candles

Designate once and for all that Candy Corn is purely ornamental and not really edible by gluing a bunch to some white pillar candles

Save some egg shell halves to use as bug-eyes for your Jack-o-Lanterns---carve the round eye holes the same size as the eggshells, and have the bloodshot eyes already drawn on with a pinhole poked through when you put them in the pumpkin--scary!

Turn your homey porch "Harvest" hay bale and corn stalk display into the "Children of the Corn" theme for Halloween with a big plastic scythe and ax, some fake blood, some zombie dolls
and rubber masks peeking out with red glowing eyeballs--or Amityville Horror, depending on your style of porch

Remind your mom that the "Elvira Mistress of the Dark" costume is not appropriate to drop off the cupcakes for the lunchroom Halloween party---besides, you're wearing it to school

Falling Water

Five pm and it's dark, blowing, rainy and cold.

Sorry to state the obvious, but I just needed more time to bid summer good-bye, and I'm not going to get it. There's some leaves stuck to the street, anything yellow glows supernaturally, and everyone is wearing their shoulders in the "up" position, total defense. I begin hearing the sawing of the strings in Vivaldi's Four Seasons, audio shadows, abandoned porches.

The grass looks great, as do the remaining dahlias, chrysanthemums, and the tawny gold hydrangeas. How about some snapping fresh-crop apples and a few caramels? That's much better.

The last two days I have spent in the belly of the bureaucratic beast, three hours one day and almost three the next, remembering a time when people grew or traded for most of their food and material needs, and wondering how to get closer to that myself. By the second day I was almost in a trance from the noise and frustrated hostility of the workers and their customers, and watching so many toddlers running around with circles under their eyes and gray skin. There were five people I saw reading the Jon Krakauer book "Into the Wild" which is a new Sean Penn film also, and the irony of it made me smile. Surreal bureaucracy and eccentric survivalist meet in the Oregon Job Search offices. Unexpectedly my caretaker instinct rose up, and I wanted to sit all those little kids down to a good hot nutritious home-cooked from scratch meal. No nuggets of any kind. There's my Mid-west again...

The change in weather has brought an abrupt end to the "outside on the porch" season, and for the distraction I find such weather to be, and it's all scrub-a-dub-dub indoors. Sewing, posting items on my online site, writing, going to the booth with more stuff, putting on a pot of rice and beans, start some soup. 'Portland Rain' is a scent you can find at 'Escentuals' on Hawthorne and also on NW 23rd, and it has that subtle fresh smell with a hint of spice and wet leaves, not too heavy, and perfect for this early Autumn time of year. What they don't (and can't) manage to capture in the scent's complexity is the occasional wave of thai wok from down the street and the chimeria in my neighbor's back yard, and the wet mulch from the garden. Or whatever else you smell in your part of Portland---pizza, headshop and fried chicken? Bio-diesel, burnt toast and coffee roasting? I'm not going to go into what the waiting room at Job Search smelled like.

House of Vintage Rocks!

Rainy, chilly weekend. October arrived early and started sulking immediately.

*sigh*

I went down to House of Vintage right after it opened to see how my big weekend discount sale was going, and to make the Big Decision---close it or stay open and hang tough.

Number crunching until my teeth hurt, I knew it was bad business to pull out right before the pre-holiday sales ramping started, but I thought about just cashing it out and starting something new, paying the bills and relegating the booth to the summer period.

You know what's next: Get a real job. But I have to say, I spent three hours there, going through each booth, checking out the new vendors, new merchandise at the usual vendors, seeing the shoppers and post-hangover-breakfasters moseying, buying, and marveling at the place, then going to get more coffee then coming back to look some more. And the big TA-DAH moment descended upon my shoulders---I need to stay here. This will continue to pay off more and more and supplement whatever other income I manage to free-lance upon, and be an outlet for me to sell what I make and/or accumulate for re-sale. And it leaves me free enough to do something like a (gulp) job and it upholds a huge slice of my personal values of artsy-crafting, and reduce/reuse/recycle/repurpose/resell. This was a big TA-DAH I'm talking about here.
And I found a $3 oil-cloth bag from Harrods Knightsbridge in perfect condition, perfect waterproof satchel for the next two seasons. So happy.