TELEPHONE BOOKS KEPT ME WARM.

It was cold all day yesterday. The night-time temperature sunk to 36* Brrrr!  I have wood, but I was too busy with inside projects to venture out into the cold and breezy weather to haul in an armload of wood. I read about a guy who rolled up magazines and kept his house warm with them and cardboard and junk mail. Hmm!  I grabbed four old phone books and twigs from the back deck, some cereal boxes from the recycle, lit a fire that did warm up the house enough to keep the chill off, along with papers that were meant to be shredded. The propane heater went on once. Passive solar worked well by mid afternoon.

You know that collectiholics are incurable. And, if we have two of something, a little spring goes off in the brain and...whatta ya know? A catalog collection. I have an explanation of how this can happen. We lived off the land in a remote location when I was young and catalogs were the most appealing thing we had in our old log cabin. They were paper dolls, color, tracing material, cut and paste, reading material and the wish books of Christmas were the stuff of childhood dreams. Then, as an adult I'd read with humor excerpts from even older catalogs.  Dr J. Hostetters Stomach Bitters. Ida Wheelers Ladies corsets, guaranteed to give you a 20 inch waistline. Benjamins Rheumatism Cure. The pictures were hilarious and the cures such obvious shams. Catalogs had funny parts and tools and implements and inventions we never knew existed.

Then, I coveted various "little" mail order catalogs. Don't ask me why. These I'm tossing. The big ones I'm offering free on Craigslist before tossing. Downsizing is turning into a lot of fun. This morning, I got an email from someone who wants my first day covers stamp collection that I placed in the free section 16 days ago. Yay!

This morning, I gathered wood and brought it in. The last papers I put into the stove last night were still smoldering, but I won't be burning catalogs.

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE BATTLE.

Thursday, we went to the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital for Jim’s post-op exam on his right eye and a pre-op exam and scheduling for his left eye surgery. It was our third 141 mile trip (one-way) to the hospital and we finally figured the best way of getting there. With the hospital’s cooperation we were able to leave at 9:30 and miss the horrendous morning traffic, spend the night, get up for early appointments, and leave mid-day and avoid the end of day work traffic. What a difference that made.
I managed to get in about 3 hours of reading and tootled around the hospital and took pictures of artwork and talked to people. We met Bobby Brown, the “muffler man”, again, and spent the dinner hour with him. He is a very interesting guy; chock full of life’s stories.

Artwork and collections take away the antiseptic appearance of the hospital. This boot quilt pattern is always a fun one to do.

Children’s bonnets from an Asian country, colorful and bright and cheerful. Much needed elements in a hospital.

Small musical instruments.

In one office, I talked to a worker who collects little mouse objects.

They were really cute. Working people spend most of their day on the job. Personalizing workspace is an accepted practice everywhere you go these days. I hail that practice.

On the way home, we stopped at the Golden Corral Restaurant in Tracy where Jim and I met six years ago. The food got better since our first visit, I’m glad to report.

Back to Murphys and my endless tasks. I’ve been talking about going to Australia and today, I’m going to seriously look at some tours.

REDUCING THE LOAD

A collectiholic, such as myself, finds it difficult to reduce the "stuff" we collect. I'm a paper nut and many of my collections involve paper. But, on-line, with this blog, I get to collect "stuff" that doesn't pile up, such as cures for hiccups or favorite poems, and strange-sounding names. Yesterday Elaine May from Canada sent me another sure cure for hiccups.  "I take a few drops of balsamic vinegar. It works every time," claims Elaine. And a neighbor reminded me that a cure for poison oak grows all around us. Simply make a tea of manzanita leaves and drink it once a week in the spring and you won't be affected by poison oak. Another neighbor swears by delicately biting the leaves off a poison oak plant (only in the early spring) and swallowing it. A sure preventive if it doesn't kill you.
And from my other blog comes this old remedy from Homer Maas. "I smashed my thumb in the car door. It swelled like a mini-balloon and I lay in misery all night with it throbbing, and throbbing. In the morning my dad carefully took a paperclip, half unbent it, and heated the pointed end red-hot with a torch. While I cringed with fear, he carefully "drilled" a hole into the top of my thumb nail with the heated end of the paperclip until blood spurted out of the hole. The pressure was immediately relieved and the pain was instantly gone."  Homer was only 12 years old then and he lived through it.
I've been asked how long I'll be staying in Murphys by so many people, I thought I'd explain. I rerouted away from the Motor Home to attend, graduations, my family reunion and business at home. Most of that business involves paperwork and ridding myself of collections.  I'm simplifying my life to handle everything from the road. Lining up accounts for bill paying on-line and doing neglected projects. Then things like a Jury summons and other responsibilities intervene.  I removed propane tanks at one rental because they don't use propane anymore. Supervising yard work that needed to be done. Small repairs made. Reducing the load. It's a small epiphany when I can find a home for old sheet music which a piano teacher friend,  June Foster gladly took. A table and lamp and kitchen stuff for my daughter's new apartment. I off loaded my old vinyl record collection, and so on. I'm far from finished, but making steady progress. Simplifying and reducing the load FEELS SO GOOD. Jim is encouraging me to bring some of my paper projects aboard.  (He knows not what trouble he is getting into, and, I still don't know when I'll be leaving Murphys.)

ELEPHANT COLLECTION

One of the fun things about staying at my son and daughter-in-law's house is bumping into a herd of elephants. Not too many people have a self-portrait of themselves hanging above their fireplace, but in this case the portrait of Suda the elephant was painted by Suda the elephant. A unique piece her youngest son bought for her while visiting Thailand.

Many of her elephants are unusual as this small wooden elephant bowl.  Laurie always tries to make her elephant collection usable, thus they fit in everywhere around the house and garden.

This one holds matches in the kitchen.

A basket by the pool holds sunscreen.

A mirror in the hallway.

These two hold tea on a shelf above the stove.

A pencil box near the phone.
Book ends.

Here the elephant's trunk holds up an elephant ring.

A small watering can for the houseplants.

She has musical instruments, swizzle sticks, cups, tea pots, walking sticks, letter holders, salt and peppers, serving trays, candle sticks, jewelry, knickknacks, drawer pulls...I didn't count them, but approximately 175 elephant objects. Unique and interesting.

Her collection started as a gift when she was in grammar school.  She no longer has every elephant she collected. Some have been broken, she lost key chains, jewelry and so on, but the supply is never-ending. And, of course, she never for-saw the day her son would visit Thailand, ride an elephant, and bring her a portrait painted by one.