A River Runs Through It!

The scene just a bit ago here in Old Bisbee.

Rainy McRainerson showed up and spewed out a whole lotta the wet stuff now I am sitting here listening to cheesy albums from the 60's on low volume and marveling at the sound of the river flowing in The Mule Gulch Ditch behind my house. Soothing indeed.

In fact... it's this:

70 degrees?

My wee house is a right comfy 70 degrees. In fact, I might need some socks or something! I fel so fortunate! This time last year I was sweating my ass off in Hilton Head with virtually no escaping that humid/oppressive heat. As I am about a month away from my anniversary of getting back to Bisbee I am very aware of making a place a home.

My pal Sally reminded me last night that I had professed the need to come home and eat healthy and get this house in order. I get lost in the overwhelm of it all sometimes but having a little outside perspective to step in and marvel at how the place is transforming is a welcome gift. It's still torn apart and will be disemboweled in various places as I start to figure out where things need to be and what I just don't freakin' need at all..

I've been back in this house nearly 9 months which is astonishing! So much time has passed... so many ideas have changed, so much has slipped away... virtually making room for what gets to be next which has yet to become known. It's a big unknown world.I'm just going to have to continue to show up One Day At A Time and see what I get to do.

Newly planted.

Gardening?

No.

Newly planted heat source in the wee beach house?

Yes!

I finally paid off the ventless heater that will be the main heat source for me here. Now, those of you not in Bisbee may not understand how freakin' cold it gets here... but I am here to tell you... we had sub zero temperatures last year and everyone lost plumbing at some point in February.

It was hideously cold, and my lack of income coupled with my utility-miser ways had me not keeping the house humanely warm to begin with. So, after my burst pipes got repaired, and all was somewhat back to normal I listened carefully to the admonishment from my contractor when he said he wouldn't be back to fix any broken pipes if I wasn't going to heat the house reasonably. My kitchen was in the teens... and that is where the last of the copper plumbing is for the most part.

So.. this new ventless thing will hopefully be energy efficient and kinda fun to use.

I welcome this heavy metal contraption into my home as one of the last big things I have been waiting for to finish putting the house together. Once it gets plumbed in, it stays where it's at that's for sure.

So that is the really big news here... and I'm streaming the Newport Folk Fest live on NPR all day... Gillian Welch is on at about 1:30 AZ time so that is gonna be a real treat. I get the good music where I can...

slam the coffee get out the door!

Go!

The chiropractor appt is this morning at 8:15 so I am short on words and long on hope that she'll get me crackin' in the right dorection... as in standing upright and able to move a little more freely.

No tylenol, no food... just jitter juice and good thoughts for the super tight and sore spot in my back.

Time to scoot!

Uh oh .. again

Oh crap.

Guess who is walking like a hunched over cavewoman?

My back stuff is tied to my emotional well being without a doubt. So I have an emergency chirp visit tomorrow before working a double. Prolly should be grateful my back is gonna have several days of focused stretching with no work. Sitting down for a spell and doing a bot of stretching before what I hope is a dinner rush at Poco. Oh man..when am I gonna learn to keep stretching?

Doh!

oh silly me...

Did I waste the entire day yesterday?

Yes.

Me and True Blood season 3.

I'm not proud of that, but I did enjoy it. I'm back on track pulling parts of the house together and doing laundry. I needed a check out day I guess. I have only 2 days on the schedule this week at Poco... I hope they still like me there. Maybe my needing time to go do this and that has peeved them? That added to my need to check out for sure.

Who knows?

Maybe I'm making it all up in my head... that's possible too. I'll sit tight and see. I do love working there for so many reasons. I'll take it all one day at a time and see what comes my way. That's about all I can do. THis could be a bit too honest for the wee bloggy but as always, it's what's up for me today and there is no denying it.

hmmm...

Raw food not happening.

I totally cheated last night and I guess I'm ok with that. Don't wanna be miserable don't wanna be bored.

I think the emotion of what's up with my pal Babs kinda overtook me and I really didn't reach out to talk to anyone. Food kept me comfortable last night. I gotta say, vegan chicken did make me happy.

I'm kinda checked out today.

S'okay... I don't need to be going all the time.

heart on my sleeve

Yeah, so if you know me...

I wear that there hearty of mine proudly on my sleeve. I don't really care too much what anyone thinks about it. I am a very intense and intuitive individual most days. Whether I show that to you or not, that's me.

So when I got word that I should get to VA sooner than later to visit my pal Babs who is in hospice, I immediately set out to see when would be good for my pal Kelly to have me there to hang with Babs (her mom). I left a message for the boss of the wee Poco and hope the time off does not create too much of an issue. Hopefully no issue at all.. but I gotta go.. I can't not go. So I booked a flight. Without getting word if it's ok with my workplace or not... am I worried it'll cause stress for them?

Of course..

Can I do anything about it at this point?

No.

I gotta go.

THis kind of thing makes me a less than stellar employee... I'm sure. But I feel like I am a human being first. My own mother and my close friends matter to me more than anything in this world. I am nothing if not a fierce friend. I have a bunch of love and laughter to bring to my pal Babs. And that is what matters.

This is kind of a heavy post. But know what? It's what my day is driven by right now.

Rainy days and Sundays.

It pretty much rained all day here in Bisbee yesterday.

After the trip to the farmers market at 9 am I pretty much stayed in the house and tore apart the kitchen and moved things around. By 10 pm I was near finished but had to stop due to a cashew 911 (a fave snack right now).

A feeling of shock washed over me that I spent the whole day where I basically cleaned, moved things, sorted out and then stood back to see how it all looked and then moved it again. My process is slow for sure. My progress even slower.

In the end, it will have a flow to it. I hope.

After all those years walking in and out of people's houses when I was a realtor I got a good sense of flow of energy. Some people have the most amazing decorating capability, and some people have a weird penchant for beachy things glued/bolted and propped up against their house in tiny towns in the desert.

cricket..cricket..

This day brings working down at the wee Poco for brunch then home to try to finish this kitchen thing. It could take me days if I don't focus. I can't fathom trying to deal with the laundry room.. it could mean getting rid of a piece of furniture I kinda love... so I'll just sit tight and bask in the sounds of John Platt on WFUV doing his show with a bunch of Falcon Ridge faves on the show.

Envious of all my pals that are there. I love a good folk festival.

Oh Wino...

When I finally got online this morning after hitting up the farmer's mkt for some produce, I was shocked to see that Amy Winehouse had died of an apparent overdose. She had talent, but the demons outweighed the talent.

I feel so lucky to be here.

You don't have to be an international rock star to have gargantuan problems with drugs and alcohol. One Day At A Time I am keeping my side of the street clean.

Yikes... it's just a reminder for me. I will have a sobriety bday in mid-August and there are few accomplishments I value more in my life than not picking up a drink or a drug for over 20 years.

It's a sobering morning and strangely this news has got me very present and I am done bitching about being bored with raw food. Suck it up Layton...

I'm just glad to be here.

Oh Poop!

Damn.

Just after emotionally getting past the canceled procedure for The Mother Unit... I get word that a very dear friend of mine is starting hospice care over on the other side of the country.

Shit.

My heart is heavy for sure, but her choosing not to do more chemo is an informed choice. At some point in the next few weeks I will hope to do a turn and burn to go give her some big love and laughs. There is no real telling how long it will be before she makes her cosmic journey. But I would like to go tell her how much I love her. I will do what I can to make that happen. I have come to realize that friends and family are kind of all we have... and if friends become like family, then you go and do what you feel compelled to do.

Just like saying goodbye to my friend Jack. I did those trips up to Tucson to say goodbye. And he appreciated it. He died a few days afterward, and hopefully knowing that people cared made a difference in his emotional comfort. He sure was a curmudgeonly old guy...but I had known him my entire life and he mattered to me.

This friend in Virginia is someone I have know only a few years but she is a beloved friend to me (and many others..) so I will wait and see what the setup is for her hospice and see how she is doing before I make any decisions on how and when.

Heavy heart brings the awareness of bunches of love so I can't really complain too loudly.

food boredom...

Raw food challenge day 13..

OMG I am soooooooo bored with it! Ok, maybe I'm just bored and looking for an excuse to not eat raw today. I'll make a big salad and STFU.

I am off till this afternoon. So I am gonna put the kitchen back together today. After the salad that is.

So it's just me and music now.Listening to Bertrand Burgalat on Spotify today. Still test driving it. Sure do like the way you can get the exact song you want. Love finding new music through Pandora too. Supposedly Spotify will roll out a similar feature where you can get in a sort of genre/algorithm and it'll help you find new stuff too. But that is not available in the US yet.

Not feeling too chatty this morning, but that doesn't mean I won't post more later.

Let's see what this week brings?

It's a new work type week here.. the boss at The Poco is outta town for a couple days and I have a few extra hours to help out down there. That's a good thing. The construction here cost a bit more than planned and the coffers need refilling. It was good to get home to the wee beach house yesterday and see/feel the progress.

I spent a good bit of time putting yet more stuff away and rethinking this and that and mulling over ideas. It's still a work in progress but it's leaps and bounds closer than it was even a week ago. That makes such a difference in how energy flows for me. Home is an interesting concept..

Put out word today looking for confirmation or not on touring in Sept. Hope it's a go... and if not, I'll look forward to whatever is next. I probably need to get more proactive and create that so I'll put my thinking cap on. Doing that to the background music on Spotify the hip new service that is geared to blow the lid off how we access music online. I haven't gotten all the how-to stuff down yet... but I will say the first song I streamed was a Roxy Music tune. Then I actually went after some Dave Eggar to see if he was there and he was! Yay!

Should be a fairly busy stint till Saturday. That sounds good to me.

Haboobs and other storms..

The storm of chaos has cleared. Just like the haboob in Phoenix yesterday. In both cases they were each less powerful than expected.

My mom's medical procedure was canceled. They opted to not do it as they took a closer look and the risk of puncturing her lung to remove what appeared to be less liquid than previously thought seemed like a less than stellar option.

Ok... thanks for the drama there, medical guys.

And the haboob in Phoenix? Well, my ex husband Mr Layton did send a text alerting me to the haboobalicious activity, and I wondered if it would be anywhere near as spectacular as the one 2 weeks prior? My answer came this morning in the form of a forwarded email detailing it as decidedly less of a haboob especial.

The name alone is pretty damn epic though...

fingers crossed.

Hoping this day goes by easily and without any extra incident. Send out the good joo joo for The Mother Unit if you feel like it... I know she is nervous.

Had some ping pong time last night and while I felt like it was a comforting thing to do,  my thoughts were on this morning's procedure. I'll update later.

Wow..

Ben Folds was incredible!

Friends gathered.

Laughter and goodness filled our hearts as Ben Folds kicked ass onstage. A perfect day to start my 46th year.

The focus now is The Mother Unit and her procedure. Let's hope it goes easy and with no complications. That would certainly be good.

Ben Folds!

I have done some errands this morning and now just chilling out in the air conditioned comfort of The Mother Unit's casa. Resting up for the Ben Folds show tonight at The Rialto! This guy is a helluva dynamic performer. Meeting up with pals at the Congress before and getting some visiting in with loved ones.

I'm officially 46 and a day now so I feel confident that I am going to get wise any day now. The big lessons come and go and I think that the grey area is where I'm headed. Maybe in my days of being wise I'll get to be more familiar with all that grey area stuff in this next phase?

Music, balance,friends...

Perfect!

Elf in the morning!

 

The face of bitter coffee.. 

The face of Buddy the Elf! 

My face is smiling as I have Elf on the tv and a stout cuppa jolene here at my side. Feet up taking in the feel of the living room in it's "closer to done" state.  Fresh fruit for breakfast, and a paint can with my name on it.  Before I head up to The Baked Pueblo today I am gonna bust out the painting on the walls that I primed 2 days ago.

I am trucking in a bunch of sprouted goodness to my mom's today as well as food for me to partake in while I spend a few days up in Tucson. The Mother Unit is having a procedure done on Monday,  and I am so lucky to be close enough to be there for her. That's the one thing that is kinda sticking out in my thoughts today.

Gratitude for my mom. And when I think of that I inevitably think of my pals... and all the love I have in my world. I may not see many of these friends that often, but that doesn't mean the love ain't there. And of course no post on love of friends would be complete without mentioning my four-legged BFF's
Rosey..

 And Marvin...

My love for both is huge.. and also... my "baby sister" Tianna the cheehoo (chihuahua) of The Mother Unit.. she's a sweetheart in my world! But I have no pics of her.

Today I celebrate the incredible people I have in my world... and I thank you all!

Even closer!

I worked late on cleaning and getting parts of the living room put back together. The soundtrack was my ipod on shuffle which could be anything from Yma Sumac to Pema Chodron! And definitely all kinds of great stuff in between. I watched a True Blood episode when I was done, and then sat in the quiet house for a bit and surveyed my work. I can paint around what is left to paint... and will do that tomorrow morning.

At some point in May I uttered the words late July for a finish for this project. If I hadn't gotten help, it could have been sooooo much longer that it was left undone. I am glad I sucked it up and shelled out the cash. Plus, I love the ladder. The library ladder was cool... the alternating stair ladder is way cool!

 So it went from this..

To this..

Obviously I am still putting the place back together. This was taken yesterday afternoon. At some point over the next few days I will get a real shot of the finished room. I spent a wee bit of time sitting up in the loft last night. It was cozy... and I liked the feel. This was a job that went from insulate this little cardboard shack to make this home not only more energy efficient, but practical. I am pleased.. very pleased.

soooooo close!

Are we finished? Kinda... now I get to eat lunch and think about getting all the construction stuff put away.

Ugh!

Progress not perfection.

That title is a saying from A.A... No better place to say that than right here, right now, in a funny little town in a corner of Arizona. The project went from exciting to complicated with the rise of the stairs giving Ben a bit of a headache. He handled it quite well, but the day was filled with trying to figure out how this is gonna work. We started slow...

It also took on a very Wendy moment..
As I stood back and looked at the overall makeup of the room, I decided, as I have done before that planks were required. Not "planking" which is all the rage... but planks. I had to pull the rustic "Coastal Living Magazine" card and go get planks to fix the wall that refused to stop getting dinged, beat up and thrashed. I will either white wash the wall with a thin coat of paint or stain it in some mossy green. Of course if it were in true Coastal Living style, it would be white white white! But I am not that into just white.

And even though the staircase is upside down, you can kinda get the feel for what is transpiring..

Ben is due here at around 7.. I best get my coffee slammed and get the room ready for all the constructing, sawing and drilling that will be happening.

Mung!

Oh!

I love it! I have mung bean sprouts that look delicious!

I am waiting for Ben.. and drinking coffee. I am anxious to see what gets done today! I have lots of faith in this guy. We listened to a bunch of music yesterday and talked about a bunch of music too.. He used to work for Bill Graham in San Fransisco... this guys has some good stories.

This day holds much goodness... and sprouted mung beans!

pretty close to done.

I should always ask how much something is going to cost me. I know this. I have no idea how much Ben is going to cost me when all of this is done, but it know it feels good to have this painted. We are tackling the rest tomorrow. By "we" I mean Ben..I made tasty food, coffee, moved things, handed him things and he did all the ladder work. My back feels better already!

And let me say this..
We did in fact have one rather yucky paint mishap involving a tray that fell offa the ladder and splattered everywhere. I kept my cool, it got cleaned up pretty well, and I am now gazing upwards and pondering what colors need to be augmented, changed or left alone. It does need something for sure as it's all one color of kinda grey-ish green. But this is a big part of it getting done. I have a ladder here and if I can muster the energy I might just paint a few things. I have a feeling we will tackle the access/stair/ladder issue tomorrow. That would be kinda totally thrilling and I would gladly surrender my entire paycheck to my new BFF Ben if not only did we get the paint done, but the access to the loft handled and the twin mattresses up on the deck and all... I really would. Of course, my paycheck is not huge, but I would gladly surrender it for the sake of getting so much closer to completion.

Now to find a disco ball..

Underway.

And we are underway... about 3 hours into the priming, painting and finishing of the lofty a.k.a. "KK's Disco Slumber Lounge."

It's gonna be a long day's work, but it'll be a great one!


Forward motion!

Also, rubbed kale salad, mung beans sprouting nicely and some awesome fruit in the house!

Can you tell I'm hungry?

Eat your veggies kids!

Hello raw food...

Salads, smoothies, peaches...lots of peaches. This has been the menu so far. I gots to go get some raw cashews from the co-op and searching for some sprouted things too for snacks and added salad crunch. The breakfast bar construction zone is re-opening too.. Hence the need for the cashews.

Should be good. I have my buddy Kurt coming down to Bisbee today, so I have that to look forward to as well as getting ready to finish the loft project starting bright and early in the morning. I do believe Ben is coming over at 7 am. Nothing like being up against the clock to get it all done.

Tick tock...

get the lead out.

Oh I'm sluggish..

I am trying a raw foods thingy for a bit starting today. I am pretty sure that'll have me perky and all in a week or so. Never a better time to get fresh stuff than summer. I am off to the Farmer's Mkt. in a few then back to get ready for work. I hope there is some good produce there.. it's been lacking lately, but hopefully there will be a bunch of good stuff this week.

As usual... coffee gives me hope that everything is gonna be great this day!

day off and disassembly of the living room

Everything goes back out of the room today. I gotta get ready for this project. I want it done. The day is gonna fly by so I need focus. My excitement for this project has definitely turned to more dread than anything. Thank goodness I have enlisted some help. Funny, I totally suck at asking for help (as anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows..) and I do feel fortunate that I have some folks on the periphery that show up at just the right time.

I am looking to forward to the time that the loft is done and I can just see what the rest of the space in the living room really wants/needs from me... I know that a ping pong table is a ridiculous option. But I would love access to ping pong. I just would.

In reality, I just need the space to be less cluttered, more put together and easy to clean and care for. Sounds like a good recipe for life too.

Oh Kelly..

Here is Marvin... He waits.... for Kelly to come back from Hawaii. And he waits a little longer. But today it's ok that he waits. His mommy (Kelly) and daddy (Steve) are off on a fun-filled trip to Hawaii! And on the docket today?

Kelly's birthday!

The heavens really shined upon those of us lucky enough to know this dynamo of a woman! She is a helluva human being, and her love of music is legendary...so are her house concerts! Janis Ian, Susan Werner, Kris Delmhorst, Catie Curtis, Vance Gilbert, Randall Bramblett, Trina Hamlin... just to name a few.

In my small little world in my funny little brain... I have declared this day, "Marvin's Other Mommy's Day of The Blessed Event!"

Wow, that's wordy. But really it's all about celebrating one of my true sisters in this world. A women who not only kicks ass and takes names... but she has my cat!

Also... she's a helluva cook! Amazingly delicious things happen in this kitchen..

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!

music documentaries and yet more coffee.

Just watched "Still Bill" about Bill Withers and and finishing up "Who Is Harry Nilsson?" I love all aspects of music... and I love the peek inside these artists lives. I spent a great deal of time with Nilsson's "The Point" when I was younger.
The music from both of these men is brilliant... and accessible. The Bill Withers song "Lovely Day" is one guaranteed to put a smile in my heart that radiates outward. So my smiles are big and genuine for all the good reasons.

I managed to get my buddy Ben to schedule me in for a Monday filled with labor to get this room wrapped up. Ready to get this straightened up and in the back of my mind I figured I would be done by the end of July and I am not far off if I stick to my potential plan.

Feels good to be moving forward with this. And I like the thought of having a comfy and cool space for a guest. Not that there are going to be many, but the ability to host well is a real delight of mine. Basically it boils down to being able to have coffee in the morning with folks and share the goodness.

And with that... I have one more cup to slam and then I am setting out to clean out the closet and get stuff into storage. That's all I got.

oh bloggy ...

Well, I took a nice easy start to my day. And I think the whole day is basically puttering around here. There is nothing pressing, no plans at all. Which means I should do what prep I can to paint more of this sleeping loft. I can't just do nothing.... and the only pressing thing is paint and clean... and then paint some more... and clean. I am not even going to complain about that. I do need to track down a tall ladder. I think a call to my ukulele buddy Ben might be in order. Not only does he wanna do some uke gathering ( I still suck at the uke, but I am very enamored with it) but he is a handyman of epic proportions. He's gotta have a big ol' ladder. I'll see if I can round him up. Should be relatively easy to find him... just hope he's free.

And now, a moment to just think about how lucky I am to have the awesome people in my life that I get to call family and friends. Spread out all over the place but never far from my heart. It's moments like this that totally feed the heart and mind good stuff to keep me balanced and moving forward.

Today is all about moving forward... whatever that means.

Just one more thing.

one:


ok... really this one is both great and classic.

Do you know what 4th of July means?

I do...

In Bisbee.. if you live on Tombstone Canyon..

It means get your car offa the damn street or you will get towed! Because of the coaster races, they clear Tombstone Canyon all the way down to the Post Office.  I was up early and totally lucked out with a spot close to the house.

I watched them tow a vehicle down the block... I guess they weren't kidding.

And now it's a early walk down the hill to get a glimpse of the BRATS rolling arty things before heading off to The Poco for the day. Hope this day goes well for this town. Our summer festivities are many. Here's to all of the businesses in Bisbee having a great and profitable day filled with happy people in and out the doors!

sweet rain

And while I am quite sure this messes with a bunch of people and the holiday bbq schedules etc, there is no denying tha Bisbee needed rain. And we got it! There were 4 good downpours in Old Bisbee in the last hour or so. We had about a 20 degree temperature drop and it's just kinda nice and mellow up here away from all the tourists and hubub.  Gonna crank up some music and clean the house a bit.  I already sat out on the porch with my little ukulele and did a little strumming practice and stuff. The uke stuff is not easy for me to do, but I sure like the sweetness of it... goes nicely with the rain.

and the real finished product...

yikes! It's hideous!

The Devil Dogs..

Here is the piece in process.. and now that it's done and hanging I can just breathe that sigh of relief. It's been a busy weekend for sure, but I think today's brunch will be super fun and that tomorrow's business will be the slower day.

Had my pals The Mellor's pop into Poco yesterday and we reconvened for dinner at the art show. Nice to see them... it's been a long time. Things are getting back to more of a normal state for me here... the extreme high from the touring is wearing off and I am looking forward to cleaning up the house here and getting some painting done on the sleeping loft. Time to track down that high ladder... I can't stand this chaos in here any longer!

And the heavens smiled down on me.

My paint by numbers got turned in just under the extension wire! I came right home from work, put on my old lady readers and got to the skabillion tiny splotches of mix this and that painted spots. I know everyone else who is a REAL artist didn't do theirs all vanilla and old school like me... but trust me... you don't wanna see me get too creative. My recent attempts at macaroni noodle art is a the stuff nightmares are made out of!

I was happy to walk the piece up to Kate's house and while she praised me for how it turned out, all I could feel was a sense of relief that I did what I said I'd do... and that I didn't let her down. And for me that was a good thing.

I'm no artist.

I live in a town filled to the gills with some of the most talented and amazing people... they create things that inspire and fill the world with beauty and whimsy.

My art is truly in my love for people and how I just want to be out there with them. It's best to keep the art supplies out of my hands.

And the show gets hung at Poco today... and runs till...? Hell, I have no idea!

Oh... and shoutout to my peeps Woj, Jane and Meth who called me from the beach house in Avalon, NJ after a certain someone farted and at that moment decided she missed me. Love you guys... remember... NYE in Bisbee should be the plan! You haven't lived till you have been to Bisbee for a real Gretchen inspired event... and the first ever International Fake Jan Day will be sure to screw you up for the rest of your life in all the right ways!

down to the wire...

I have really done it this time!

Not enough progress made last night on the "art piece" for the Real Art Show at Poco tomorrow..  so as soon as I get off work this afternoon, I need to get cracking. I must admit, late night concentration is not my normal state. Especially not after a 12 hour work day prior. But the piece will be finished.

Heaven help those who gaze upon it!

It's a super nice morning (at least inside the wee beach house it is!) and I am about to head down the hill to work. Nice to be back at The Poco... I love seeing everyone, and while it's not a substitute for quality time, at least I get brief moments to connect with my pals. It's definitely slowed down overall but this weekend promises to be an ass kicker even without fireworks displays. 

Let this weekend begin, and let me find the inspiration and magical arty skills to get my piece done for the show!