Spending the day going through a stamp collection. Comparing, sorting, charting, filing, and putting away neatly in a temporary organizer until my new one arrives. Trying to remember to use tongs when touching them. There are some pretty old stamps in this collection and it's proving to be very difficult to determine the value of some. You can have what appears to be the same stamp but unless you look very closely (which is what I do with a light box and loupe) you won't be able to tell the difference. One mistake can cost you dearly in value. Take for example the color red on a stamp. There's Camine, Carmine Rose, Rose, Reddish, Reddish Brown, Reddish Purple, etc.. It's not easy.
There are three Confederate stamps in this collection. I need to take them to an expert to have him identify if they are authentic or fake. Even the fakes have value or so I've been told. We'll see.
A cold day outside, got my heater going, keeping me nice and warm inside. Thank goodness our P.G.E. bill wasn't very high this month, considering that we've been using the heck out of it.
Melancholy. I miss my mother. I think of Mom quite a bit, not a day goes by that I don't think of her. It makes me sad, I wish I could just pick up the phone and call her like I used to. Just a few short years ago, we used to talk a minimum of once per week when she was on her own living in her apartment. I would call her every week or sometimes a couple of times in a week just to talk about what's going on with things. I miss that. Yes, I see her but it's not the same and it's only for short visits.
She has Alzheimer's disease and things just are not the same any longer. She is not the same person. She's not interested in me or what's going on with me...not really. She cannot remember things we talk about. Oh, she remembers some things here and there, that's true. We cannot communicate on a deeper level or at a great length about anything that really matters because she doesn't get the details only bits and pieces.
It's funny how our brains work. Just imagine your brain being attacked by something foreign or something like a worm eating your brain. I cannot even imagine how frightened my mother must have been when she realized what was going on inside her, if she even did have the time to realize. I'll never know. She never spoke about deeply rooted fears to me. She must have kept all of that confusion bottled up inside. We only had a couple of real meaningful talks about her end of life wishes and that was it. I never brought it up again once she told me her wishes. I didn't want to talk about her dying even though I had the basic fear she was going in one way or another.
Imagine forgetting things, simple things. Your brain not registering even the simple fact that you need to go to the restroom. How to do simple tasks and having no desire to take care of your personal hygiene. Losing things, i.e., she kept losing her earrings. To become obsessed with clocks and watches and what time it is because you cannot remember even though you just looked at the time a moment ago. If you're on medication, when you last took your pills (I administered her pills to her) and the possibility of overdosing if you're living on your own. Your brain not getting the message about the temperature and putting on five layers of clothing when it's a hot day. The horror of losing your identity and sense of the world around you.
I miss my Mom.
Honey's Treasures
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Newly Painted Family Room
A little late in posting these pictures of our family room. I was bored on Christmas Eve and spent the day painting our little room. Rearranged the furniture. Doesn't that always make you feel good to do that? It does me. Makes you feel as if you have a new place almost. With the new arrangement, we now have a quiet little reading spot surrounded by my paintings. Until the paintings are sold, we'll just enjoy them, then I'll have to paint more. ;) Oh, how do you like my thrift store lamp and lamp shade? I painted the tall standing solid wood lamp base my favorite shade; Sea Glass Green, antiqued it and found the lamp shade at a different thrift store. A perfect compliment. See the ducks and birds in the room? Michael hand carved each and every one! Isn't he talented?
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Irish Beach Weekend
We were invited to stay at our friend's house in Irish Beach over the weekend for a birthday celebration get together on Saturday night for Don's birthday. A wonderful homemade supper was prepared:
Appetizers, Minestrone Soup, Salad, Corn Muffins and Wine at Don and Pam's place
and dessert of Apple Bundt Cake with beverage of choice at Jerry and Debbie's place.
Sunday morning we all drove to a local cafe for breakfast. Afterward, we went mushroom picking with our good friend. Golden Chanterelle Mushrooms! Thanks to Roger, a mushroom expert, we learned how to hunt and identify Golden Trumpet Chanterelle Mushrooms. Saute in a little butter and serve over egg noodles. I'm thinking of finding a buyer or two and next year hunting these professionally. Now that I know what to do and where to look.
What fun we had!
Hiking in the forest and the rush you experience when you happen to find these beautiful specimens shining their golden trumpet color against the softly carpeted forest floor. Slight peppery taste. Yummy!
Thanks, Roger! Here's my little treasure trove of these highly sought after and coveted of mushrooms...
Appetizers, Minestrone Soup, Salad, Corn Muffins and Wine at Don and Pam's place
and dessert of Apple Bundt Cake with beverage of choice at Jerry and Debbie's place.
Sunday morning we all drove to a local cafe for breakfast. Afterward, we went mushroom picking with our good friend. Golden Chanterelle Mushrooms! Thanks to Roger, a mushroom expert, we learned how to hunt and identify Golden Trumpet Chanterelle Mushrooms. Saute in a little butter and serve over egg noodles. I'm thinking of finding a buyer or two and next year hunting these professionally. Now that I know what to do and where to look.
What fun we had!
Hiking in the forest and the rush you experience when you happen to find these beautiful specimens shining their golden trumpet color against the softly carpeted forest floor. Slight peppery taste. Yummy!
Thanks, Roger! Here's my little treasure trove of these highly sought after and coveted of mushrooms...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Accident
We went camping over the New Years weekend to Felton, near Santa Cruz. On New Year's Eve we had just left home all excited about our weekend ahead of us and our 5th wheel got a flat tire, completely blew up on us and shredded to pieces. Thankfully, we didn't get in an accident and it wasn't raining. Michael got the spare tire on and we went to the closest tire dealer to where we were, in Concord, and got a new tire and was back on the road within two hours or so.
Had a lovely weekend, it rained the whole time. Saturday night there was a huge storm and thunder around 1:00 pm. I was asleep and did not wake up from it, that is, until Michael woke me up to ask me if I was awake and if I'd heard it, to which I replied, "no." I never did hear it, for it only made one large boom sound and that was the end of it even though it continued to pour. I love the patter of the rain on the rooftop. It lulled me back to sleep.
We were camping with my sister in law, Cathy, and her boyfriend, Vince. They arrived one night before us, on Thursday night in their camper. Pretty much the whole time it rained, which if you know me, I absolutely love camping in the rain. I love the rain, period. We're all cozy in our campers, in the rain. Drinking hot cocoa and playing cards, and eating. Isn't that what camping is all about, the food?
Okay, so on to the accident. We're heading home on east bound 80 last night around 3 pm or so. The traffic was somewhat heavy but not super slow or anything like that. We were moving along at a good pace. About 2 minutes before the accident Michael had been trying to get over into a slower lane (we were in the lane next to the fast lane) but a truck wouldn't let him in. So, we were still in that lane at the time of the accident. Cars were going pretty fast all around us. A woman began to move into our lane in front of us and just then the car ahead of her stepped on her brakes for no apparent reason. There was no one in front of her to cause her to brake. Of course, the woman moving into our lane just ahead of us had to brake and Michael didn't have enough time to stop, so we slammed into her and she into the woman that braked in the first place. Did you get all that?
So there we were, the three of us, in the middle of the freeway on interstate 80, in commute hour traffic. The front of our truck buckled up and I was not able to open my door. Which I did not want to get out anyway because of the danger all around us. In a short time the highway patrol officer came. He was able to call for help to stop traffic for all of us to get off the freeway safely, which we did. I was pretty shaken but had calmed down enough and was able to call for a tow truck to come get our truck. Thank you AAA. They towed it for us all the way to our home town which was about 50 minutes from where the accident occurred.
Michael had to unhook the 5th wheel from the truck before the tow truck could take our truck. Here we were until 6:30 p.m. or so waiting inside our camper playing cards, waiting for our friend, Steve, to come pick us and our trailer up to bring us home. He was the only one we knew that had a 5th wheel like us and had the capability to tow our trailer. What a lifesaver he is! We're going to get him a nice gift certificate to dinner for being such a dear friend and helping us in need.
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the accident. Just a little frazzled nerves. In the meantime, we are without our truck, not knowing if they are going to total it or repair it. We really don't know if the engine is damaged at this point. The truck did not sound very good when we drove it off the freeway to the side of the exit ramp in Berkeley. We should know something within a couple of days.
Had a lovely weekend, it rained the whole time. Saturday night there was a huge storm and thunder around 1:00 pm. I was asleep and did not wake up from it, that is, until Michael woke me up to ask me if I was awake and if I'd heard it, to which I replied, "no." I never did hear it, for it only made one large boom sound and that was the end of it even though it continued to pour. I love the patter of the rain on the rooftop. It lulled me back to sleep.
We were camping with my sister in law, Cathy, and her boyfriend, Vince. They arrived one night before us, on Thursday night in their camper. Pretty much the whole time it rained, which if you know me, I absolutely love camping in the rain. I love the rain, period. We're all cozy in our campers, in the rain. Drinking hot cocoa and playing cards, and eating. Isn't that what camping is all about, the food?
Okay, so on to the accident. We're heading home on east bound 80 last night around 3 pm or so. The traffic was somewhat heavy but not super slow or anything like that. We were moving along at a good pace. About 2 minutes before the accident Michael had been trying to get over into a slower lane (we were in the lane next to the fast lane) but a truck wouldn't let him in. So, we were still in that lane at the time of the accident. Cars were going pretty fast all around us. A woman began to move into our lane in front of us and just then the car ahead of her stepped on her brakes for no apparent reason. There was no one in front of her to cause her to brake. Of course, the woman moving into our lane just ahead of us had to brake and Michael didn't have enough time to stop, so we slammed into her and she into the woman that braked in the first place. Did you get all that?
So there we were, the three of us, in the middle of the freeway on interstate 80, in commute hour traffic. The front of our truck buckled up and I was not able to open my door. Which I did not want to get out anyway because of the danger all around us. In a short time the highway patrol officer came. He was able to call for help to stop traffic for all of us to get off the freeway safely, which we did. I was pretty shaken but had calmed down enough and was able to call for a tow truck to come get our truck. Thank you AAA. They towed it for us all the way to our home town which was about 50 minutes from where the accident occurred.
Michael had to unhook the 5th wheel from the truck before the tow truck could take our truck. Here we were until 6:30 p.m. or so waiting inside our camper playing cards, waiting for our friend, Steve, to come pick us and our trailer up to bring us home. He was the only one we knew that had a 5th wheel like us and had the capability to tow our trailer. What a lifesaver he is! We're going to get him a nice gift certificate to dinner for being such a dear friend and helping us in need.
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the accident. Just a little frazzled nerves. In the meantime, we are without our truck, not knowing if they are going to total it or repair it. We really don't know if the engine is damaged at this point. The truck did not sound very good when we drove it off the freeway to the side of the exit ramp in Berkeley. We should know something within a couple of days.
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