Hard Labor and My Favorite Dress in Everyday Ramblings

Although we had some complicated gray skies with layers and layers of clouds on part of the trip up to Seattle, the trip home was spectacular. The most beautiful trip down that I-5 corridor I have ever taken. Mt. Rainier was very visible and looked like she was floating on this bank of clouds at her base. It was ethereal and breathtaking. Not really possible to get a shot from the car I am sorry to say. Then the sunset over the fields…

Our mountains are so different. Mt. Rainier has this rounded soft looking top whereas our Mt. Hood has sharp edges and a sexy slope on one side. It is still unusual to see either of them, and very rare to see them in February. Today the sun is out and it is dry and Mt. Hood is visible in glimpses all over the place.

I used to be in love with Mt. Rainier. When I would come to Seattle from California I would get all misty eyed when I saw her and then the Seattle skyline with the Smith Tower, which I made endless pictures of when I was a kid.

Miss T. had a file of my sister’s that had a bunch of stuff in it from my brother’s childhood. There was a newspaper article about Halloween and a picture of about five kids and we were looking at it trying to figure out why it was in there and then all of a sudden, wham, this memory of his homemade robot costume came back. Spray painting the boxes silver and wrapping his legs in tin foil! We were very creative kids and he was an adorable (if a little boxy) robot.

My job as laborer was to assist with taking apart furniture, which went very smoothly, mostly it was this Ikea bunk bed Miss E. has been sleeping in for the last ten years, assembling boxes and packing books. I packed boxes and boxes of books.

All my sister’s books.

Some of the books were books we had as kids.

I brought one of those home, A History of Unitarianism in Transylvania, England and America. I know this sounds weird but this is a perfect source for poems. I am sure it is full of stories. A group of young people from our church went to Transylvania last summer. Maybe now I will figure out why.

When we got there, although Miss E. and Miss T. has done quite a bit of sorting and decision making in the last three weeks, the apartment pretty much looked the same as it always has but it sure didn’t look like that when we left.

They have a daunting amount to do before next Sunday when they move. Kes is going up Friday and will be there with her SUV to run errands and clean and pack and get them in.

A poignant example of what a big change this will be for them is that they have a nice compact washer and dryer where they are now and in the new place they will be using shared coin-operated machines in the basement.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

You can see sadness in Miss E.’s eyes that wasn’t there before. We only got to see her briefly because she had school competition forensics all day. She was the lead defense attorney and a witness in the main competition against the state champions. She went down to Berkeley California week before last for a competition. (Kes and I paid for that.) She is, of course, best at the dramatic monologues and if she goes to state, it will be in that this year. One needs appropriate clothes for these things…

They do have a lot of support. My sister was admired and appreciated and folks are appearing out of thin air offering to take things and help with things and even with in the case of some close family friends, leaving money so for just right now they are doing okay. Exhausted, as I was exhausted but ever more so, but okay.

It was emotionally a very hard day. It was great to share it with Most Honorable. I will admit that we got about 10 minutes out of town on the freeway coming home when I remembered we had left our jackets there. We ended up making our way back on surface streets including a trek through Chinatown smack in the middle of about a gazillion folks out celebrating both the temperate weather and the year of the sheep. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Nimrod is taking the week off, but called me twice this morning from Idaho. So much for him getting a much needed break…

At least I get to teach tonight.

Oh and on the Oscars? I liked Cate Blanchett’s dress best. :)

Last updated February 23, 2015