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Just jotting this quickly. I'm going to walk up to the bead store before they close, if they're open, as I want more twisted wire needles. I'm actually getting used to the blasted things.
I went to visit my parents. Scott did the laundry, bless his heart, while I drove out to Newberg with the camera. I got to say hi to Basta (full name: Basta Ya! - That's enough! - and yes, she earns it, and did so even more when younger). She's a beautiful cat, all-black (though actually there's some brown highlights now - sun and age get through, I guess). And she drools. All over everything. Whenever she is remotely happy.
I got very, very wet. I got claw-holes in my legs (not quite, but I felt 'em!). I picked her up and petted her, and by the way she played it up, the shameless thing, you'd think my parents never paid her a bit of attention. Hah!
My parents seem to be doing pretty well, despite having such a possessive cat possessing them. ;) Went out on the back porch and met the six little hellions, aka Dagwood's children. They didn't really prove to be very active; apparently, they'd gotten all tired out before I showed up, and most of them were doing their best impression of 'limp bundle of fur' for me. I held a couple, petting them; and I got hissed at by one of the more-awake ones.
All in all,. not bad. I also got pictures. :)
I got to see Curious, one of the kittens from her first batch (of four) this year, too. Curious...lives up to his/her name. Shy, but happy to stare when certain of not being within easy reach.... (Curious, unlike Dagwood and the little ones, is an outdoor cat - her first litter of kittens this year was raised outdoors and they are varying degrees of feral.)
Watched a bit of news coverage of the WTC disaster and the Pentagon. I'd thought, when I asked Dad to make that tape (because I don't have a TV right now), that if I wanted, I could keep it, or not. I don't want it. The images are powerful; but in many ways they're less important to me than the sounds, the words, the print which have come out of this. I'm glad I asked; I'm glad he made it, and I got to see what it looked like when it wasn't being stuttered by a busy internet. But I don't really want to watch it repeatedly, or even have it around for memory's sake.
There are so many things that matter more.
Mom and I went out to pick blackberries, but the blackberries weren't cooperating (overripe or under-ripe, but never 'just right'). It was hot, and there was grass everywhere, and I'm afraid I got restless and wanted to stop. But my parents also have a petite plum tree and we did pick a goodly number of plums, so I have a small bag of blackberries and a much larger bag of plums.
There's an apple tree that's just a stitch, in their garden. The blackberries have grown up one side of it, almost into the crown; and the grape has grown up the other side of it, into the crown. You can see clusters of grapes dangling from the higher tree branches. It's really hysterical. I tried to get pictures, but the sun was behind it, so I don't know if any of them will have come out. I'll see later when I transfer them to my computer, I guess (or use the preview window, but I didn't bother then, so why would I now? that'd be too easy...).
I took some other pictures, just - the barn, the woodshed, the view off into the hills. I didn't take any pictures of the house, which amuses me now, but I do have some of those already. On the way home, I stopped at Ewing Young School (where I attended kindergarten and first grades) and took some photos of the area. On my way through Newberg, I took some more photos - this time of Highway 99 where it is also main street.
These don't look so much like the Newberg I remember. Oh, the buildings are mostly the same - some have changed color as they were repainted, but they're basically the same. But the businesses and signs are all wrong, imagine that. :) There's an appliance store where once there was a dry-goods store that sold candy and candles and clothes; pots and pans and recipes, towels and hot pads; stationery and stickers and pens and pencils (oh how I loved that section - even when I was little I loved that section - I got my first 'silver with color around it' dual-color pen in that store!).... And of course, the street was marked with flag after flag after flag. It was very touching, but different from how it would have been any other week, now or when I was young.
Then I stopped at the self-wash car wash and washed my car. Sometimes, you just get so grimy an automatic car wash won't do it. And we're not allowed to wash in our driveway, the soap and whatnot, you know. Which is fine; there are also very few handy out-front faucets for hoses. So I paid to blast my car with high-powered water and soap, scrub with a foaming brush, and vacuum it out. (Vacuuming I could have done at home, but might as well get the whole run-down in one place.)
It looks a lot better. I wish I'd thought to take a before picture so I could do before-and-after. Of course, just as I pulled out onto the highway again from the street where the car was is, I splatted a bug on my nice clean windshield.
Isn't that how it always works?
I went to visit my parents. Scott did the laundry, bless his heart, while I drove out to Newberg with the camera. I got to say hi to Basta (full name: Basta Ya! - That's enough! - and yes, she earns it, and did so even more when younger). She's a beautiful cat, all-black (though actually there's some brown highlights now - sun and age get through, I guess). And she drools. All over everything. Whenever she is remotely happy.
I got very, very wet. I got claw-holes in my legs (not quite, but I felt 'em!). I picked her up and petted her, and by the way she played it up, the shameless thing, you'd think my parents never paid her a bit of attention. Hah!
My parents seem to be doing pretty well, despite having such a possessive cat possessing them. ;) Went out on the back porch and met the six little hellions, aka Dagwood's children. They didn't really prove to be very active; apparently, they'd gotten all tired out before I showed up, and most of them were doing their best impression of 'limp bundle of fur' for me. I held a couple, petting them; and I got hissed at by one of the more-awake ones.
All in all,. not bad. I also got pictures. :)
I got to see Curious, one of the kittens from her first batch (of four) this year, too. Curious...lives up to his/her name. Shy, but happy to stare when certain of not being within easy reach.... (Curious, unlike Dagwood and the little ones, is an outdoor cat - her first litter of kittens this year was raised outdoors and they are varying degrees of feral.)
Watched a bit of news coverage of the WTC disaster and the Pentagon. I'd thought, when I asked Dad to make that tape (because I don't have a TV right now), that if I wanted, I could keep it, or not. I don't want it. The images are powerful; but in many ways they're less important to me than the sounds, the words, the print which have come out of this. I'm glad I asked; I'm glad he made it, and I got to see what it looked like when it wasn't being stuttered by a busy internet. But I don't really want to watch it repeatedly, or even have it around for memory's sake.
There are so many things that matter more.
Mom and I went out to pick blackberries, but the blackberries weren't cooperating (overripe or under-ripe, but never 'just right'). It was hot, and there was grass everywhere, and I'm afraid I got restless and wanted to stop. But my parents also have a petite plum tree and we did pick a goodly number of plums, so I have a small bag of blackberries and a much larger bag of plums.
There's an apple tree that's just a stitch, in their garden. The blackberries have grown up one side of it, almost into the crown; and the grape has grown up the other side of it, into the crown. You can see clusters of grapes dangling from the higher tree branches. It's really hysterical. I tried to get pictures, but the sun was behind it, so I don't know if any of them will have come out. I'll see later when I transfer them to my computer, I guess (or use the preview window, but I didn't bother then, so why would I now? that'd be too easy...).
I took some other pictures, just - the barn, the woodshed, the view off into the hills. I didn't take any pictures of the house, which amuses me now, but I do have some of those already. On the way home, I stopped at Ewing Young School (where I attended kindergarten and first grades) and took some photos of the area. On my way through Newberg, I took some more photos - this time of Highway 99 where it is also main street.
These don't look so much like the Newberg I remember. Oh, the buildings are mostly the same - some have changed color as they were repainted, but they're basically the same. But the businesses and signs are all wrong, imagine that. :) There's an appliance store where once there was a dry-goods store that sold candy and candles and clothes; pots and pans and recipes, towels and hot pads; stationery and stickers and pens and pencils (oh how I loved that section - even when I was little I loved that section - I got my first 'silver with color around it' dual-color pen in that store!).... And of course, the street was marked with flag after flag after flag. It was very touching, but different from how it would have been any other week, now or when I was young.
Then I stopped at the self-wash car wash and washed my car. Sometimes, you just get so grimy an automatic car wash won't do it. And we're not allowed to wash in our driveway, the soap and whatnot, you know. Which is fine; there are also very few handy out-front faucets for hoses. So I paid to blast my car with high-powered water and soap, scrub with a foaming brush, and vacuum it out. (Vacuuming I could have done at home, but might as well get the whole run-down in one place.)
It looks a lot better. I wish I'd thought to take a before picture so I could do before-and-after. Of course, just as I pulled out onto the highway again from the street where the car was is, I splatted a bug on my nice clean windshield.
Isn't that how it always works?
