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Posts from the ‘travel’ Category

unpacking a lifetime of stuff

This recent move is my 23rd. I have lived in no less than 23 homes. I am not counting all the temporary/in-between houses I resided in as well…like the apartment my family lived in for the summer while we looked for housing in Hawaii, or the mobile home we lived in while my parents house hunted in San Antonio, or the times I lived with friends or in hotels or cottages…the impermanent places. One might argue that after 23 homes, there was no permanence really. But in my heart, each of these “places” became “homes.” This is the life of a child of a career military man.

With every move came packing and unpacking. Sometimes we stored our possessions only to recover them years later and find we had outgrown our stuff. It’s been three months that I have been without the majority of my possessions. They arrived from their hibernation in a storage unit and their long trek across the country just a few days ago. As I have unpacked I have rediscovered items I have carried with me one way or another since I was a child.

These include:

a deck of cards

my teddy bear and Raggedy Ann

various pins from races/events I entered as a kid

my Baptism dress

my green yoyo

a little blue plexiglass box with a bead, a dairy key, and small squares of fabric inside

my childhood rosaries( you really can’t get rid of a rosary can you?)

the very first crochet hook I ever owned, given to me by my Grandmother

an afghan I began as a kid and completed when I was in high college(crochet with the above mentioned hook)

my flokati rug doll from Turkey

my childhood scrapbook

I am sure I will find some more as I unpack. I cannot part with any of these things. Often I feel as if I am unconnected to any place on this earth, that I have never been in a place long enough to be noticed or remembered. These pieces of my past remind me that I have an identity and presence, they are tangible reminders that I am connected to my own history.

A Lovely Trip …days three and four

Chris and I finished our time in California with his sister Alice and her husband Cory.  We were treated like royalty.  They gave us their hip loft, which I told Alice was like sleeping in a boutique hotel, and then wined (literally) and dined us for our entire stay.

Cory works in the wine business which meant we got to see great wineries hidden in the recesses of Napa and Sonoma.  Saturday was the loveliest of the days, sunny and warm, everything Portland has not been this spring, so I especially relished it.

Pride Winery

Pride Rock, named before The Lion King movie

Pride Winery sits in both Napa and Sonoma

wine barrels in a cave...this is where we tasted

Keenan Winery

wine grapes

 

Our day of tasting ended with a lovely dinner at a cafe in wine country. The next morning went out for coffee and then Indian food at a wonderful cafeteria like place.  The menu, which I saved but cannot find now, delighted us with stories of a childhood in India but failed to describe the dishes being offered. We ordered well despite this.

Chris and I flew out of sunny San Francisco and landed in dismal North Bend, Oregon.  We were literally the only ones in this tiny airport for several hours of our 4 hour layover. Four hours in nowhere, cold rainy nowhere, is a looooong time…. I ordered a pizza and thank God one was delivered.  I get a little angry when I’m hungry.

We’re home now,and weeks later I finally caught up and posted the news of our adventure.

 

Lovely Trip..day two

Chris and I headed out to Capitola Thursday night to see his father.  We were set up in the very cute Venetian hotel.  The town was so lovely that the next morning when Chris and his dad headed out to breakfast down the the road, I stayed behind so I could explore the town.  It was worth it; I had pie and coffee and bough myself a very cute dress.

When the two returned from breakfast, we all headed out to Monterey to see the aquarium.  It was fabulous, except that the main exhibit, sharks!, was closed.  I really think the aquarium could have come down on the entry price, $30!!, especially considering the feature attraction wasn’t open.  The fish were amazing though, and I was lucky enough to see a seahorse just seconds after it as born…it was so tiny, it’s a wonder seahorses  survive the big ocean.

Most of the pictures are from the aquarium, a few extra thrown in from Capitola. I know there are ton of photos of the jellyfish shot, but they were so amazing I couldn’t stop myself…

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