Newvember! Little Thing Thursday! Yee Haw!

I was going to post a different picture, but can't figure out how to find the actual camera pictures recently stored on the computer. Another time...

Instead, we have this lovely little spy I discovered keeping tabs on a neighborhood from a secure location which I will not disclose.

Yes, it's true, I'm back in the blogging biz, thanks to Keeper of the Tomes, who made a point to let me know my lack of posting since 2016 had been noticed. I could blame Facebook, since my cessation of blogging closely paralleled my (almost nonexistent) interaction there, but, no, it's all on me. & here I am.

Life is good. I'm still doing the Bradbury Challenge I started in January, which involves reading a short story, a poem & an essay every day & writing a short story a week. I am a little behind but wrote a killer story yesterday. Literally a killer story. Appropriate for Halloween.

This is Newvember & I am planning to blog on a weekly basis when possible.

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Almost forgot the blog alternative, what you could be doing instead of reading a blog. Imagine all the time I've saved you by not blogging for a couple years. Grin.

306. Read a short story, a poem & an essay. Writing a story of your own would be the cherry on top.

Re-re-(re?)-inventing myself

Wendy & I with her puppies when I was
up in Portland with Ron & Barb

I'm doing it again. It makes sense, me being out here on a new coast, with no one around who knows who I was being before. Re-inventing myself.

We do it all the time, moving from grade school to high school (not too successfully, in my case) or from high school to college. (Now THAT was fun. Grin.) We have personas we assume in certain situations (prom dress girl at science fiction conventions) & some that we doggedly try for a while, because we started, but it just doesn't take.

My name is like that. When I moved to North Carolina, I started introducing myself exclusively as "Laurel" even though I've always felt a little imposterish not being Laurie. It'll take some getting used to, I assumed. I like the name Laurel. I actually LOVE the name Laurel. I like it just fine when someone calls me Laurel. I just don't feel downhome, old jeans & a poker t-shirt, comfy in it. It's more like a pseudonym. So, here, I'm back to Laurie.

I know a Kathryn that never looks in the rear view mirror at Kathy, & a Victoria who is NOT-Vicky, although she also likes to answer to Vic. Me, I guess I'm just a Laurie, although if you call me Laurel (from science fiction conventions or North Carolina) I'll wear it like a pearl necklace & be just fine with it.

I've got some other things shifting & sorting as well (coffee? tea?) but I'm in no hurry to finish (hah! as if we ever could) the re-re-re-invention process.

Blog alternative:
305. Think about your current incarnation. Are there any aspects that have been chafing a bit? Remember, just because you started doesn't mean you have to finish up that way...

Brain Plastic Magic Map

Here I am.

Oddly enough, I have existed since November, since last posting, since being in Minnesota with friends, since being in Montana with relatives (who are also friends), since moving to Oregon.

I just didn't tell you about it.

But here I am, in the Rogue Valley, right where I've been headed since I started Goldilocks-ing for weather. This indeed is Baby Bear's weather/topography/location map. In the mountains. Near the ocean. Not too hot. Not too cold. Not too humid. (Okay, it can get a little hot, but it doesn't get that way until 1 & it starts cooling down by 6 or 7.) Close-ish to new grandson. (Not so new anymore, as he's approaching a year old!)

My folks & I made a trip to Oregon, in the rain, with 2 vehicles loaded with my stuff, complete with cartop carriers. We stayed with good friend June in Coeur d'Alene & then with good cousins Kay & Barb & Ron in Portland, & visited good second cousins Donna & Tom, & good second cousin's second cousins Don & Vicky. Don had recommended a storage place, so I called them on the way down--in the rain--& said I'd like to rent a unit. The woman paused & said they'd had a waiting list for 3 years, but they'd just had an auction on Friday, & so far the waiting listers had all found other storage, so no problem. It was still raining when we pulled up & I did the necessary paper work, but we pulled up to the unit & it stopped. Unloaded both vehicles, got back in the car, started raining again. Coincidence? I think not.

Went back to Montana for 1 more load & some more visiting & to finish getting utterly swacked by Dad in pitch. (He'd won at least 70 more games than Mom & I. Without cheating. Grin.) Got to see Nick & Chloe & Max, & the other new baby in the family, Crystal & Tyler's Paige Marie, over New Year's.

Then I was off again, with the last carload. Hit the friends (lots of pinochle & a new puppy) & cousins (omg, fostering lots of puppies) on the way there. Went back to the same hotel we'd stayed in the first trip, since I'd left a notebook there. Plus it was a good hotel. (Days Inn, Medford, if anyone's looking for a place to stay.) I had a housesitting gig almost lined up but it fell through at the last minute.

This was on a Monday. I got a little wonky, thinking that I didn't have those 2 weeks I was gonna have to find a place to live. So I did some work centering & grounding & reminding myself that things always work out for me. Then I hit Craig's List & texted a single possibility, a young couple who were renting a room in their townhome. After getting a few details from me, the woman said she thought I might be happier renting from her boyfriend's mother. So I checked that out on Tuesday & it was perfect: a room in a house with two really great sisters (I'm between them in age) & 2 cats. (We're all older than the cats, but perhaps not in cat years.) I had to stop by the front desk on my back from the house & told the woman I'd found a place to live. She asked what I was going to do there (job-wise) & I said I had no idea. So she asked if I'd ever thought about front desk work. They needed someone at their other property. Talked to her husband when I checked out on Wednesday. Voila!

I am now a 3-to-11 front desk clerk! It's been lots of fun already. A bit of a learning curve on some things, but, hey, I just listened to an audiobook on brain plasticity (The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doig) that recommends new jobs, new languages, new instruments, etcetera, as ways to keep the brain sharp as one is getting older. &--at least the lucky ones among us--aren't we all.

So, here's to magic & brain plasticity & Baby Bear. Not too & not too & Just right!

Blog alternative:
304. Believe in magic. Just for a few minutes. See what happens.

Got the BLUE going on...

I'm hanging out with Minnesota friends & having a lovely time. I'm writing & relaxing & loving where & who I am. Not rose colored glasses, but cobalt blue, which does not mean the blues. I wish for you the beauty of blue or gold or red or green, or whatever your favorite filter. Maybe pink.

Joying the journey. In joying. Enjoying. I wish you joy. I wish you journey. One step at a time, which is the only way you can experience a journey.

Blog alternative:
303. Pick a filter for the day. Cobalt blue? Princess pink? Green or gold or...

The adventure continues

Zach dressed up for his orientation for the new job
in the Mayo Clinic system. 

I know. It's been a while. I posted from San Francisco & since then I've been to Ashland & Rochester & Salem, South Dakota, & various points in Montana. I'm still at various points in Montana, with limited web access, although thanks to my new Verizon smart phone I can get & send email from my parents' home in Nye, Montana. Crazy. I can see the baby journal updates for Max!

I've not been much in the mood for blogging, having been spending lots of time packing & sorting & such. A lot of my possessions are in a U-box in Rochester, waiting for the word. A bunch are in my car. Some are still in Rochester in various homes. Another one of those "differently-addressed" phases.

But, I had a good trip to Montana, with a stop to visit the marvelous Susi Buck at the Home Motel in Salem. My mom's arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear went well & she's recovering. I've seen all my siblings, but not much in the way of extended family yet. Bunch of my parents' neighbors.

Where next? Just being home where I am for a while. Looking for the next bread crumb to show me the trail. (There was a clue that mentioned Ashland and Medford on Jeopardy the other day.) Anyway, I'm on the adventure.

Blog alternative:
302. Pick an adventure, even if it's a little one. Take a step.

Surviving the third stream

Hello from the land of the bay. San Francisco. Nick & Chloe & Max land. I landed here on Saturday & was going to take a short-ish walk from the BART station to their apartment, except I walked the wrong way on Mission Street for a while (a good while) so it turned out to be a long-ish walk after I got turned in the right direction.

A long-ish walk in San Francisco (even with (light) luggage) on a beautiful day is not too bad though. I did arrive, as the photo shows. Nick has Max in this clever device that just looks like an uber-long scarf but is actually a baby swaddler/carrier/guaranteed-sleeper...

Nice to have a guaranteed-sleeper, because Max can be a bit (grin) fussy when awake. He likes being bounced. Lots of bouncing. I brought some picture books in my little wheeled carry-on & he kinda sorta payed attention while being read to. As much as a month-old baby pays attention anyway.

I've been doing the Grammy thing: changing diapers (more on that later) & bouncing & walking/dancing/quietly-nonsense-singing around & around the apartment trying to make him unfussy, or at least quietly-fussy, so his parents can nap in the loft area upstairs & doing a few dishes & such.

They are not coffee persons so I went out to a coffee shop this morning to get a cup (& a refill). Chloe asked which coffee shop I was going to, with longing in her voice, so I offered to bring her something. Turned out she just liked the idea of going to a coffee shop. So, while I was there, at Bravado, which is nearby & has really cool lighting, I came up with a new rule: each of them has to get outside at least once a day, without the baby. They can go out together & come back separately if so desired, or head out alone, but there must be a little baby-free, fresh air time. Daily! Grammy's rule!

Nick balked a little when I informed him of it, saying, "but what if I want to take the baby along?" I told him he could do that, as well, but the rule stood. Chloe was all about it. Grin.

So, the promised diaper story:

Max had been pooping for a while--I could tell--so I decided to change him. Parents were napping. I set baby on changing mat & get to work. In the midst of it, as I am leaning over him, diligently wiping, a last squirt of soft, yellow baby poop erupts, catching me in the chest & also splatting down onto the changing mat. Fortunately it missed the couch & the soft fleecy pad thing under the changing mat, but I then had to try to wipe up the baby & myself & the mat--& then put on the new diaper without recontaminating. This took a few--quite a few--wipes. I even had to wipe the wipes, as I had poopifed the edges of the wipe dispenser. Oh, & in the midst of this he peed & I had to hurriedly raise the poopy diaper to catch the stream. What Grammy-tastic reflexes!

Then I had to transfer the fleecy pad to the floor & slip the poopy-edged mat out from under the baby & leave him to fuss a little while I went into the bathroom & divested myself of poopy night gown & scrubbed down a little & put on the long shirt I brought to be my robe & go reclaim the baby. It was an adventure. Parents got to sleep through it, mostly-ish.

It has been a day or two since I changed diapers, but I think I've got it. Grin. Nick--when I told him of the adventure--said, "You caught the 3rd stream! Only day 2 & you caught the 3rd stream." I certainly will wait longer next time the little critter is pooping to start the diapering procedure...

Blog alternative:
301. Go outside, just for the sake of going outside. Not on your way to somewhere. Just to breathe in some sunlight. (Or some rainlight, if that's what your weather is providing.)

A Good Plot

I've been busy

A) un-housesitting

I picked up the homeowners late Tuesday afternoon & delivered them to their cats. Phoebe, who has been my lap buddy, happily shedding hair on me, got in a snit & started ignoring everyone. Zoe, at the first sound of beloved voices, raced downstairs to be petted & loved, finally getting the human contact she'd been craving--but unwilling to accept--for 5 weeks.

B) settling back into the other house

Stuff-wrangling--oh the stacks of plastic totes are impressive.

C) preparing for my trip

Yes, tomorrow I am flying to San Francisco to meet Max! (Oh, of course I am excited to see Nick & Chloe, & my friend Ellen, & my nephew Luke & his wife Rachel & other SF buddies, but I do have to admit meeting Max is top priority...)

SO

I have been remiss in letting y'all know:

My story has hit the stands.

"A Good Plot" page 46, Woman's World, grocery checkout stands. It, um, disappears sometime tomorrow, June 6th, probably, even though the date on the cover is June 8th.

Now, back to getting ready to go!

Blog alternative:
300. Plan a lemonade date with a friend.