NOT DANCING WITH MYSELF TONIGHT 😉

Tonight, was jammin’ time 😊

I dolled myself up … and hit the road 😉

Green outfit, green eye accent, and green mascara …

I was about 15 minutes late in arriving at the session, because I ran into town to grab a flavored coffee. As soon as I walked through the open door, I could hear Corrina, singing with J – I’d met Corrina last weekend, and invited her to join us: I sensed she’d have a great voice … and she does!

I’d left home hoping to see her with us tonight; I’m really glad she showed. I’d take pictures, but everyone has not consented to that, so I’m being respectful and keeping the phone in my purse when there ☹

While I was watching/listening to the band tease Corrina by playing the old rock and roll ‘Corrine, Corrina’ song, CM came over and joined me on the sidelines. When she heard why I was late, she offered to gift me with an espresso maker she doesn’t use (she’s only used it 4 times, so it’s practically new 😉). I am glad for the gifting.

Ray Peterson – ‘Corrine Corrina’ song: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouanlAQ-QXg)

Then, a fella showed up that I’d not met yet – I’d heard members of the jam group talk of him, and he sounded intriguing (don’t get excited folks … Judah is about 24 years old – and I’m not interested in romantic intrigues: no matter what age). But it was fun to get to know him. He’s very personable, and keen to aid wherever he can be of service in the group. I could see that he's going to be a good asset if he keeps coming back.

I can’t tell yu’all how much I thoroughly enjoy these Thursday shindigs. I love music. I like live garage style bands. I like watching songs being created on the spot. I like that I am a permanent fixture with the Group. I like hearing, “Here’s comes the wild child now!” when I walk through the door. I like that I can be ME when I am with them 😊

I left around somewhere around 8 PM, because it was quite dark by then, and Ocean Beach Highway tends to fill with lunatic driver’s when the sun sets (I prefer being home before pitch-black-nightfall; that didn’t happen tonight) … and as I was nearing the end of Mill Creek Road, I happened to see a super-sized Cruise Ship, cruising up the Columbia River; so I turned onto Ocean Beach Highway – and quickly pulled over into the Oak Point turnout along, 2 shakes of a lamb’s tail away from where I’d caught sight of the hulking luxury liner.

Laughter and music echoing from the passing luxery liner, reached my ears in the Highlander, on the Oak Point turnout.

'American Harmony' Cruise Ship, heading up the Columbia River to Astoria-OR

I watched the huge ship pass, then I continued homeward – turning off at Germany Creek and driving over Eufaula Heights to Coal Creek, which ties into the small portion of Ocean Beach Highway very near my home. It’s a half hour longer that a straight drive from A to B … but I don’t have to deal with lunatic drivers, so it’s worth the extra distance, to me 😉

Germany Creek Rd. to Eufaula Heights Rd., via Stella Road - 16 mins.

Eufaula Heights Rd. to Coal Creek Rd.; 9 mins.

Coal Creek Road to Heron Pointe; 6 mins.

It was a funtastic night with friends.

It was great meeting Judah (interesting name for an interesting fella 😉).

I can’t wait until next Thursday!

ECCENTRICITY

Tonight, I drove to Kelso to visit with friends … and met a new friend 😊

But before actually getting to Kelso, I stopped at the Indy Diner for Supper. I’ve been very tired lately, so I decided to enrich my blood with a Liver & Onions supper – I like liver, and it’s a good source of iron.

I smiled when I saw my waitress: she had always waited on us, and her makeup was always so thick, it looked like she was wearing a halloween mask (and Bob said she looked like a girl in Bob’s high school class dubbed ‘scare’em’); that sounds cruel, I know, but seriously her makeup was so thick it seemed put on with a plastering spatula. But tonight, the makeup was not so thick … and I sent a mental message to Bob, of that fact, with a silent chuckle 😉

Supper here tonight.

The makeup has been scaled back.

Liver & Onions Meal - YUM!

Tonight, while visiting friends in Kelso, and talking with Sue (a widow, like me), I broke off midsentence and said, “here, I’ll show you his picture – and you will understand why my heart could never belong to anyone else.” And she did: she took a look, and said, “Oh my. He was one good-looking man!” And I smiled. He was. And for our brief 44 years together, he was all mine. Being able to freely talk about him, gives me joy.

I spent a very good and friendly two hours in Kelso before heading home. As I turned down the backroad, intending to take the looping route back home, I saw that the road I wanted had been closed for a portion of it and a detour was in place.

Cowlitz Gardens Road, Kelso-WA

N. Pacific Ave., closed.

Another pitfall along the route ...

When I got home, I received a phone call asking if I wanted to be part of a Fall Bazaar at Rosburg Hall the end of October – I said “Yes!”, and noted the details on the wall calendar. Then I immediately started taking mental inventory of what I had on hand … and what I’d have to quickly make up for new inventory 😉

And, I headed for the kitchen to sort through the various thermoses: coffee thermoses, and soup thermoses. Vendors sit through many hours between foot traffic, at Bazaars; coffee and soup are good satisfiers 😊

Opening the cupboard and sorting through the contents to find what I will be needing, I see that I haven’t completely culled all of my husband’s things; in the bedroom – atop his drawered valet, I’ve left his favorite pencil stubs where he left them the last time that he used them when designing things for me (like the birdhouse and bird feeder that hangs outside the livingroom window; and the garden boxes I replant every Spring); on the top shelf in the bedroom closet – and in the Highlander armrest-cubby, I’ve kept a couple of his favorite hats that weren’t frayed with continual use and laundering; in “his top drawer” of the bedroom dresser, I’ve hoarded scraps of paper with his scratchy handwriting on them (though these are fading to near indiscernible, as he preferred pencil over ballpoint ink); I’ve kept his thermal tops, and I will wear them every Winter until they literally all apart; photos bring me to him: looking at his snapshot face and form, memories vibrate with the sound of his voice, his laughter, the feel of him next to me, his zest for life – the recorded CD testimonial, and phone videos echo with his ability to find wonder and joy in every situation, and to easily laugh even in the midst of pain and hardship: these things relay to me, his enduring strength … on which my strength in the moment, at any given moment, pulls strongly on … and now these forlorn hospital mugs are staring me in the face as I take inventory of forgotten thermoses that will be put to use this Fall/Winter. Why did I hang into those plastic mugs – do I actually intend to use them, at some point? I stare at those things, and wonder at the strange eccentricity of my sentimentality.

Leftovers from a past life ...