Moving Day

My daughter-n-law Heather, the four youngest grands, and myself scurried over to Whitman College Friday to watch a house being moved. Lovely thing about a small town is how close you can get for your viewing pleasure.  There were two trucks with cherry pickers to lift the lines as they slowly entered the intersection to cross the street.  The usual suspects were all there, Charter, PocketInet, CenturyLink, et.al.  On the right side of the house you can see the chimney which had been nicely preserved with just the top lopped neatly off below the roof line.

This sweet little house has been part of the landscape of the Whitman Campus since in was built sometime in the 30's I believe. I'm happy that someone bought it and is giving it a new home.

There were three lovely, very old houses from the late 1890's near and owned by the hospital here.  They offered them for free if someone would take them.  They offered them for salvage. There were no takers. Then they were demolished and a parking lot is going in. Makes me sad. Two of them were unique and looked decent but who knows?  I suppose the rehabbing costs could be intimidating. The cost of a lot certainly is. There is another small home east of downtown that escaped demolition in a business district because of its history and that it belonged to a prominent citizen in the past.  I really hate to see the domestic history of our small town disappear this way.  It is change but not necessarily progress especially in light of the fact that small family homes are disappearing here.

My life is quiet right now. It was 58° this morning but supposed to close to 100° this afternoon.  My mornings are rushed. Getting errands done, trying to get a walk in before the heat sets in. I have good, efficient and affordable A/C but after a few weeks of this I feel somewhat out of it. I feel like the transport ship in "Mr. Roberts," traveling “ ...from Tedium to Apathy and back; about five days each way. It makes an occasional trip to Monotony, and once it made a run all the way to Ennui..."

It won't last forever.

Just a postscript my sweet grandgirl Sophie...

I

is 20 today. Happy Birthday darling.

Home Alone - Not the Movie and Meteors

In an odd convergence three large sections of my family have all gone on vacations.  My youngest son's family here is spread out, 9 grandchild in various places, not with me, and their parents on Maui celebrating their 20th anniversary. This is where they spent their honeymoon.  My youngest sister and her family are vacationing Colorado before they drop their eldest off in Fort Collins for her second year in college.  Another is in Missouri for a wedding and then delivering a child to college in Virginia and sight seeing their way home.

I wondered if I'd miss them.  Feeling a little guilty but I have to admit I'm enjoying the break.  I've been opening boxes from my move two years ago and going through the closets and getting rid of stuff.  Even gave away some cookbooks.  I had two shelves of them.  Now I have one.  Briefly wondered if I should save them for the grandkids but I wonder if any of them will even cook. One or two maybe.

I've organized a little jaunt into the hills tonight to get a view of the Perseids meteor shower tonight. The biggest glare is the Washington State Prison just on the edge of town.  We'll be off in the other direction putting some foothills between us and the lights of town and said prison.  I'm making a little picnic snack, charging my camera and the gas tank is full. It's supposed to be a good one tonight and tomorrow night.  The skies have cleared here and we are ready to go.

  Composed Image of Perseids over Mt. Rainier by Matt Dieterich