Denver, Colorado
39.73 North 104.99 West / Elevation 5276
December 22, 2012
I
don’t normally include dates on my blogs but today is a very special day; it is
the first day of the new age of Aquarius, the first day after the Winter
Solstice, the first day of the new Mayan calendar and the first day I have felt
like writing since Thanksgiving.
I have had many odd small adventures since last I wrote my previous sad blog, most have included re-evaluating who I am and what I want to do, opposed to that which others would like to see me do.
As last wrote I was at my Brothers place and I spent the next week and a half with my Brother and his wife eating lots of food and drinking too much alcohol, gaining weight and feeling terrible depressed with my current situation, causing me to really want to evaluate what I was to do after my mini vacation in the middle of my Journey.
I promised my Mom I would be back in Seattle in time for her birthday on 12/12/12 when she would be turning 79. I also have plans with a friend in Everett to get together in Denver for a New Year’s Eve party so I booked a three way ticket and left Phoenix on December
5th, going from seventy degree sunny weather to forty degrees misty rain that fell for a total of 8 out of the 11 days I was in town.
I was picked up by my ‘Tallest’ friend who drove me to my Sister’s place in Everett where my Mom lives and where I would stay the entire time I was there. I was thankful for the comfortable twin bed and the privacy of a bedroom yet I awoke daily with a neck ache due to the different pillows I kept trying, but I was unsuccessful in finding a comfortable one.
My Mom has emphysema and sits in front of a large screen television breathing with the help of an oxygen machine, reading the closed captioning due to her bad hearing. She is not doing as well as when I left in August, matter of fact, a lot worse.
My Sister at one point cornered me in her kitchen, whispering over Mom’s loud Nebulizer machine that Mom uses four times a day, that she wants me to come back to Everett and find a place for Mom and I to move in together and to get Mom out of her house.
I made no commitment but understood my Sisters desire to free herself up from Mom and her constant medical problems as I sympathized with her.
In my heart I knew that it is not going to really happen, Mom and I moving in together. Over the years, experience has demonstrated that my Mom and I are incapable of maintaining a livable situation together. Not that I do not love my Mom dearly, for I really do, but we are two very different people and we both have come to an understanding of allowing each of us to love one another without trying to change each other. I am loud, she is quiet, I am opinionated, she is quiet, I am quick to frustrate, and she is quiet.
I approached her with the proposal and she said she would think about it, giving me time to step back from the situation I felt I was being pressured by, by ‘having’ to return to the Northwest.
For pressure I did begin to feel, at first, as I talked about when I did return and all things I might be able to do for a job and a place to stay. Friends were glad I was coming back and wanted to make plans for when I did return but, the more I thought about it the more I felt depressed about returning to the cold and rain, the jacked up rental prices and the unreasonable requirements to qualify for the most menial of jobs.
I put the problem on the back burner and continued to enjoy myself during the short time I was back in the beautiful Northwest including when I went out on a friends sailboat to check the crab pot he had put down the previous day, pulling up the catch of two fine male crabs that fit the requirements for Washington State, taking them back to his place where we proceeded to enjoy the Dungeness delight.
I ended up going out with another friend to Whidbey Island where we accomplished a few of his personal errands that he never found time to do during his work week while he is delivering organic bread to the various stores along the Island. As we drove around Whidbey we explored places I had never been before and indulged in an eggnog chai tea while we caught up on each other’s lives.
On Mom’s birthday my half Brother (Mom’s second Son) his Daughter, (Mom’s granddaughter) and her Son (Mom’s great-grandson), came up from Kent and the five of us went to Anthony’s Restaurant in Everett where Mom had her standard favorite meal; ling cod fish and chips and black berry cobbler for desert. Afterwards we went back to my Sisters house where Mom and my Niece, whose birthday was also 12/12/12 and turning 24 this year, opened up their birthday gifts.
After my Brother and his family left I took Mom to the Tulalip Casino where she loves to play the slot machines. She received her birthday points she acquires on her club card but did not do well at the machines at all, so we left early, stopping off at Baskin and Robbins for Mom’s birthday cone. (You have to go on line to get the coupon)
I had an interesting dining experience with another friend of mine as we ventured into the odd world of ‘The Grouchy Chef’ in Mukilteo, a 'must do' experience if you love food. The plethora of flavors that bounced around my taste buds made the unique atmosphere and strict rules of the establishment even more of joy, creating one of the most memorable dinners of my life. I highly recommend looking it up on the internet before you go, so you know the rules and restrictions, but do treat yourself.
I was able to see a couple more friends while I was in town, spending minimal time with each of them as the time flew by trying to accomplish visits with chores that needed to be done.
I had to move my things from my friends garage to a storage unit and ended up using the help of my ‘Tallest’ friend as we spent the day driving many long miles to the rental truck place, the garage of my friends, and then to the storage unit where I placed my worldly possessions in a 5X5 unit seventy-five miles from my nearest relatives, before driving back to Seattle to drop my friend off, thankful for the help he gave once again.
I spent long hours with my Mom and tried to work out her meals and her needs, all before I was to leave, with not a lot getting accomplished as she still needed time to think about the offer to live together. We parted with tears in our eyes and hugs as I left my Sisters house and rode with my friend to Seattle where I was to spend my last night in town.
My ‘Tallest’ friend cooked a wonderful meal before we headed out to the theater and saw “The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey” in 3D. The movie ended at 0200 (my plane for Denver was to leave at 0730) so we actually caught an hour nap before heading off to the airport where I had various incidents that made me smile for the added time I had included, causing me no stress as I was shuffled through the air transportation service.
My most amused times were when ‘we’ (my fellow waiting travelers who were paying attention) were entertained by a juggling Elvis on a unicycle, Frosty the Snowman, and the Ice Queen who wandering around the place, or my favorite; the talking water fountain (artist Jim Green) that perplexed the masses within earshot of the gurgling apparatus.
My plane ride was uneventful as I landed in a dry, fifty degree Denver where another good friend picked me up and drove me to his place where he lives with his girlfriend and their new six month old puppy, Roxy and where I was trained into Roxy’s routine and training words that she was to obey while they were away in New York State for the holidays.
The next day it snowed two to three inches and covered the entire city and surrounding areas with a white blanket of cold dry powder while my friend, who had just put studs on the tires of his VW Westphalia, drove me around the neighborhood showing me where to take Roxy on her walks and where to get groceries while I was alone in the city.
The following day, at three in the morning, we all arose and drove to the airport where my friends left me alone with Roxy and the freezing cold weather of Denver.
It is here that I have to say I am not a dog lover, although I do like animals, I do not appreciate all that goes into tolerating and loving the gentle beast that became my unwilling companion for seven days. I do not understand their constant need for attention, food, shedding, and to shit heavily while I dig out more plastic bags to scoop the smelly stuff. They sleep less than two hours at a time, do not appreciate the fact you must bundle up into every piece of warm clothing you have, just to take them for a walk in twenty degree weather, or that you are not their sole entertainment.
Needless to say, I would not own a dog if given a choice, as I truly must be a bird woman, preferring the feather molting and obnoxious squawking over any of these dog things.
I spent the last day of the 13th Bak’tun getting myself ready for the huge end of the Millennium Masquerade Ball that was being held in Boulder, a mere thirty miles from where I was staying.
Remembering to pack the dog food as well as warm clothes for myself, Roxy and I took off and drove the distance through various townships and small cities on our way North. I had three stops along the way and each one of them was accomplished and completed by the time I found the venue for the concert.
To my surprise it was being held in a building that was part church and part community center hall along a major road under construction. After finding a parking space and taking Roxy for long walk before I went inside, I was again surprised to see the venue looking more like a wedding chapel in decorations, with a twist theme of New Age Consciences.
Along one wall was a display table lit with color changing lights underneath various skulls, ranging from crystal to alabaster, soap stone to plastic, each a different shape and size. Along another wall was a statue of a fairy seated in a meditative pose while LED candles burned throughout the place.
The wooden dance floor with old Victorian couches and chairs lined up along most of the walls as well as a huge table sized drum near the skulls added to the surreal feel the venue held.
I didn’t stay as long as the forty-four dollar ticket was worth as I lost interest when they spent three hours in prayer and drumming until a dinner break that led to a DJ playing Indy-New Age music. I felt bored and disinterested so I wandered over to the skulls and put my hand on the only crystal one there, picking up on the tremendous vibration that emitted from the top of the skull, before deciding to leave the place.
To Roxy’s excitement she bounced around on the end of her leash for our little walk, glad I didn’t spend the next six hours going in and out of my Millennium Ball. Deep down, so was I. The show seemed more like a high school prom night than a New Millennium celebration.
On the way back to my friends’ house I drove by a movie theater that had 24 separate theaters screens, so feeling the need to see a particular show, I pulled over, fed Roxy dinner and went into the theater where I watched “Life of Pi”. Having heard the audio book I was ready to be thoroughly entertained by the visual concept over my imaginary envisions I had indulged into while listening to the story.
Two hours later I walked out of the theater with salted, butter filled popcorn lips and a feeling of being disappointed at the screen version of the book I so admired and recommended to my friends to read. Typical for most books to movie productions.
I drove back to my friends’ place and played on the internet until after midnight when it became official that the world did not end on 12/21/21 as so many, including myself, pictured it could have.
I said my prayers to the Great Elders and became grateful that ‘We’ as the Human populace were able to continue on living on without an apocalyptic ending to us (yet?) and that I was able to spend time writing and filling up pages and pages of good times and happy thoughts.
I still have a busy end of the year to accomplish as Christmas brings to Denver one of my most beloved friends, while two days later, the return of my other two friends who miss and love Roxy.
There is still music shows to catch and beer to be drank by the time New Years’ Eve rolls around and before I fly back to Phoenix to pick up my van and my little bird, Herbette along with the decision as to where I will go next while Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!
~Peace~
I have had many odd small adventures since last I wrote my previous sad blog, most have included re-evaluating who I am and what I want to do, opposed to that which others would like to see me do.
As last wrote I was at my Brothers place and I spent the next week and a half with my Brother and his wife eating lots of food and drinking too much alcohol, gaining weight and feeling terrible depressed with my current situation, causing me to really want to evaluate what I was to do after my mini vacation in the middle of my Journey.
I promised my Mom I would be back in Seattle in time for her birthday on 12/12/12 when she would be turning 79. I also have plans with a friend in Everett to get together in Denver for a New Year’s Eve party so I booked a three way ticket and left Phoenix on December
5th, going from seventy degree sunny weather to forty degrees misty rain that fell for a total of 8 out of the 11 days I was in town.
I was picked up by my ‘Tallest’ friend who drove me to my Sister’s place in Everett where my Mom lives and where I would stay the entire time I was there. I was thankful for the comfortable twin bed and the privacy of a bedroom yet I awoke daily with a neck ache due to the different pillows I kept trying, but I was unsuccessful in finding a comfortable one.
My Mom has emphysema and sits in front of a large screen television breathing with the help of an oxygen machine, reading the closed captioning due to her bad hearing. She is not doing as well as when I left in August, matter of fact, a lot worse.
My Sister at one point cornered me in her kitchen, whispering over Mom’s loud Nebulizer machine that Mom uses four times a day, that she wants me to come back to Everett and find a place for Mom and I to move in together and to get Mom out of her house.
I made no commitment but understood my Sisters desire to free herself up from Mom and her constant medical problems as I sympathized with her.
In my heart I knew that it is not going to really happen, Mom and I moving in together. Over the years, experience has demonstrated that my Mom and I are incapable of maintaining a livable situation together. Not that I do not love my Mom dearly, for I really do, but we are two very different people and we both have come to an understanding of allowing each of us to love one another without trying to change each other. I am loud, she is quiet, I am opinionated, she is quiet, I am quick to frustrate, and she is quiet.
I approached her with the proposal and she said she would think about it, giving me time to step back from the situation I felt I was being pressured by, by ‘having’ to return to the Northwest.
For pressure I did begin to feel, at first, as I talked about when I did return and all things I might be able to do for a job and a place to stay. Friends were glad I was coming back and wanted to make plans for when I did return but, the more I thought about it the more I felt depressed about returning to the cold and rain, the jacked up rental prices and the unreasonable requirements to qualify for the most menial of jobs.
I put the problem on the back burner and continued to enjoy myself during the short time I was back in the beautiful Northwest including when I went out on a friends sailboat to check the crab pot he had put down the previous day, pulling up the catch of two fine male crabs that fit the requirements for Washington State, taking them back to his place where we proceeded to enjoy the Dungeness delight.
I ended up going out with another friend to Whidbey Island where we accomplished a few of his personal errands that he never found time to do during his work week while he is delivering organic bread to the various stores along the Island. As we drove around Whidbey we explored places I had never been before and indulged in an eggnog chai tea while we caught up on each other’s lives.
On Mom’s birthday my half Brother (Mom’s second Son) his Daughter, (Mom’s granddaughter) and her Son (Mom’s great-grandson), came up from Kent and the five of us went to Anthony’s Restaurant in Everett where Mom had her standard favorite meal; ling cod fish and chips and black berry cobbler for desert. Afterwards we went back to my Sisters house where Mom and my Niece, whose birthday was also 12/12/12 and turning 24 this year, opened up their birthday gifts.
After my Brother and his family left I took Mom to the Tulalip Casino where she loves to play the slot machines. She received her birthday points she acquires on her club card but did not do well at the machines at all, so we left early, stopping off at Baskin and Robbins for Mom’s birthday cone. (You have to go on line to get the coupon)
I had an interesting dining experience with another friend of mine as we ventured into the odd world of ‘The Grouchy Chef’ in Mukilteo, a 'must do' experience if you love food. The plethora of flavors that bounced around my taste buds made the unique atmosphere and strict rules of the establishment even more of joy, creating one of the most memorable dinners of my life. I highly recommend looking it up on the internet before you go, so you know the rules and restrictions, but do treat yourself.
I was able to see a couple more friends while I was in town, spending minimal time with each of them as the time flew by trying to accomplish visits with chores that needed to be done.
I had to move my things from my friends garage to a storage unit and ended up using the help of my ‘Tallest’ friend as we spent the day driving many long miles to the rental truck place, the garage of my friends, and then to the storage unit where I placed my worldly possessions in a 5X5 unit seventy-five miles from my nearest relatives, before driving back to Seattle to drop my friend off, thankful for the help he gave once again.
I spent long hours with my Mom and tried to work out her meals and her needs, all before I was to leave, with not a lot getting accomplished as she still needed time to think about the offer to live together. We parted with tears in our eyes and hugs as I left my Sisters house and rode with my friend to Seattle where I was to spend my last night in town.
My ‘Tallest’ friend cooked a wonderful meal before we headed out to the theater and saw “The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey” in 3D. The movie ended at 0200 (my plane for Denver was to leave at 0730) so we actually caught an hour nap before heading off to the airport where I had various incidents that made me smile for the added time I had included, causing me no stress as I was shuffled through the air transportation service.
My most amused times were when ‘we’ (my fellow waiting travelers who were paying attention) were entertained by a juggling Elvis on a unicycle, Frosty the Snowman, and the Ice Queen who wandering around the place, or my favorite; the talking water fountain (artist Jim Green) that perplexed the masses within earshot of the gurgling apparatus.
My plane ride was uneventful as I landed in a dry, fifty degree Denver where another good friend picked me up and drove me to his place where he lives with his girlfriend and their new six month old puppy, Roxy and where I was trained into Roxy’s routine and training words that she was to obey while they were away in New York State for the holidays.
The next day it snowed two to three inches and covered the entire city and surrounding areas with a white blanket of cold dry powder while my friend, who had just put studs on the tires of his VW Westphalia, drove me around the neighborhood showing me where to take Roxy on her walks and where to get groceries while I was alone in the city.
The following day, at three in the morning, we all arose and drove to the airport where my friends left me alone with Roxy and the freezing cold weather of Denver.
It is here that I have to say I am not a dog lover, although I do like animals, I do not appreciate all that goes into tolerating and loving the gentle beast that became my unwilling companion for seven days. I do not understand their constant need for attention, food, shedding, and to shit heavily while I dig out more plastic bags to scoop the smelly stuff. They sleep less than two hours at a time, do not appreciate the fact you must bundle up into every piece of warm clothing you have, just to take them for a walk in twenty degree weather, or that you are not their sole entertainment.
Needless to say, I would not own a dog if given a choice, as I truly must be a bird woman, preferring the feather molting and obnoxious squawking over any of these dog things.
I spent the last day of the 13th Bak’tun getting myself ready for the huge end of the Millennium Masquerade Ball that was being held in Boulder, a mere thirty miles from where I was staying.
Remembering to pack the dog food as well as warm clothes for myself, Roxy and I took off and drove the distance through various townships and small cities on our way North. I had three stops along the way and each one of them was accomplished and completed by the time I found the venue for the concert.
To my surprise it was being held in a building that was part church and part community center hall along a major road under construction. After finding a parking space and taking Roxy for long walk before I went inside, I was again surprised to see the venue looking more like a wedding chapel in decorations, with a twist theme of New Age Consciences.
Along one wall was a display table lit with color changing lights underneath various skulls, ranging from crystal to alabaster, soap stone to plastic, each a different shape and size. Along another wall was a statue of a fairy seated in a meditative pose while LED candles burned throughout the place.
The wooden dance floor with old Victorian couches and chairs lined up along most of the walls as well as a huge table sized drum near the skulls added to the surreal feel the venue held.
I didn’t stay as long as the forty-four dollar ticket was worth as I lost interest when they spent three hours in prayer and drumming until a dinner break that led to a DJ playing Indy-New Age music. I felt bored and disinterested so I wandered over to the skulls and put my hand on the only crystal one there, picking up on the tremendous vibration that emitted from the top of the skull, before deciding to leave the place.
To Roxy’s excitement she bounced around on the end of her leash for our little walk, glad I didn’t spend the next six hours going in and out of my Millennium Ball. Deep down, so was I. The show seemed more like a high school prom night than a New Millennium celebration.
On the way back to my friends’ house I drove by a movie theater that had 24 separate theaters screens, so feeling the need to see a particular show, I pulled over, fed Roxy dinner and went into the theater where I watched “Life of Pi”. Having heard the audio book I was ready to be thoroughly entertained by the visual concept over my imaginary envisions I had indulged into while listening to the story.
Two hours later I walked out of the theater with salted, butter filled popcorn lips and a feeling of being disappointed at the screen version of the book I so admired and recommended to my friends to read. Typical for most books to movie productions.
I drove back to my friends’ place and played on the internet until after midnight when it became official that the world did not end on 12/21/21 as so many, including myself, pictured it could have.
I said my prayers to the Great Elders and became grateful that ‘We’ as the Human populace were able to continue on living on without an apocalyptic ending to us (yet?) and that I was able to spend time writing and filling up pages and pages of good times and happy thoughts.
I still have a busy end of the year to accomplish as Christmas brings to Denver one of my most beloved friends, while two days later, the return of my other two friends who miss and love Roxy.
There is still music shows to catch and beer to be drank by the time New Years’ Eve rolls around and before I fly back to Phoenix to pick up my van and my little bird, Herbette along with the decision as to where I will go next while Traveling Thru The Tonda Zone!
~Peace~
PS: I still have no camera so I cannot post pictures...sorry~
