MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH

Rainy Day

My blog posts are losing their punch. The last few have seemingly crashed and burned.

You're trying too hard, Jon. Just relax and let the nothingness flow.

Good advice. Today I won't try to entertain. I'll be boring and mundane. People can relate to that. I'll incorporate scenes from my daily life, accompanied by uninteresting photos. 

So, how is your daily life going lately?

Well, I haven't fallen on my ass in three days. I'd call that progress. I still have such excruciating back spasms from my most recent fall that it takes twenty minutes to get out of bed in the morning. Once I'm out of bed, I wince and teeter - - doing a sort of combination St. Vitus Dance and Jitterbug. Fortunately, my cats are the only witnesses to this sorry spectacle. They laugh, but they'll never tell.

I'll admit it. I wasn't prepared for the perils of mountain life. I figured (erroneously) that, after life in West Texas, anything else would be a cinch.

The rain here is frequent and fierce - - sort of like the monsoon season in South Vietnam.
I'm still battling bees and wasps and sealing up their nesting holes.
I've recently been bitten by a tick. The tick horror stories that I've read on the Internet have elevated my dimensions of fear to a whole new level.

Yesterday my cat Scratch brought me a dead mouse. A gift I can't exchange.

Scratch: the mouse catcher

I'm sporadically doing some more unpacking and trying to make this dump look a little more decent. 
Incidentally, my cousin Nancy has been a saint. She's always helpful and always there when I need her.

Yesterday, I unveiled part of my vast art collection. I have nearly fifty original works of art. I can either open a mountain museum or use them for firewood next winter. I'm surprised I still have most of my paintings. The movers did lose one of them (stolen??).

I'm trying to fix up the living room but the rest of the house looks absolutely horrible.

I've said enough. Here are photos.

 One of my pianos. Unfortunately I haven't had the time or inspiration to play lately. The other day I sat down for half an hour and played the final scene from Puccini's opera Suor Angelica - - which I love with a passion. It seemed strange to play again after nearly a year.

The painting above the piano. It's European, from the 1850's, signed - - but I can't decipher the signature.

 My cherished desk, which I purchased in Odessa.
The painting above the desk is of Bamburgh Castle (Northumberland, England) painted in the 1840s. 

 Portrait of Empress Alexandra in a hand-carved antique Russian frame.

This 1889 original painting is a copy of Gainsborough's painting of Lady Sophia Charlotte Sheffield. I initially thought it was Frances Duncombe, but Duncombe wasn't wearing a hat (all of Gainsborough's paintings tend to look alike). Anyway, I simply call this "The Blue Lady".

 This painting used to be in the "family room" in the Texas house. Now it's in my tiny living room. My Mom used to love this painting, so I have fond memories when I look at it.

Old faithful - my grandfather clock. It kept perfect time for a decade, but has ironically been running slow ever since I moved. Perhaps it's now on Mountain Time??

This is an original painting from the 1700's. It's a copy of Raphael's Madonna Della Seggiola. I got it from a dealer in New York for a very reasonable price because it has damage and needs restoration. It's one of my favorites, but it is very heavy and I'm hesitant to hang it on the wall.