Sunday, August 9, 2015

THIS IS NOTHING


BEAT THE HEAT
No, she ain't dead. That's my cat Kitzee (also known as Scratch) relaxing under the piano bench.



 
This is nothing but a bunch of jumbled thoughts that shouldn't be written. But I write, nevertheless, just to spite my better judgement.

This is a jumbled weekend. I'm exhausted from vicious bouts of insomnia. I have a touch of food poisoning, which has inspired me to consort with PeptoBismol. 
And I'm thinking.......could this food poisoning be an act of sabotage? Should I hire a food taster??

Hell, I don't have any money to waste on food tasters. I'll give it to the cats to taste. If they survive, I'm okay.

No need to panic. I'm jesting. Maybe. When you live alone in the mountain wilderness, the mind tends to do strange things.
Come to think of it, when I lived in the Big City my mind still did strange things.

I did some more work in the chaotic garage today, i.e. unpacking, sorting stuff, clearing out the junk. I'm making SLOW progress, but progress nevertheless. An extended deep depression kept me from doing things for months. Depression combined with laziness. I have to literally force myself to do physical things.

Those ruthless years in Texas have taken their toll. I survived but I emerged as a beaten old man. I used to look ten years younger than my age. Now I look ten years older. And I feel fifty years older.

I survived the death of both my parents, and the continual torture of my drug-addicted neighbors, and the lies and unethical shenanigans of incompetent realtors who kept me on a string for over four years. I was stuck with enormous medical bills and astronomical property taxes that financially wiped me out. I was plagued with my own health problems and medical issues that I've never revealed to anyone. And - - during all this time - -  I was caring for sixteen cats that one of my other neighbors abandoned when she moved.

That's only part of the Texas saga. If I ever told the rest nobody would believe me. I'm finally out of that bitch of a place, but I still have scars and am licking wounds.

You're complaining too much, Jon. Nobody wants to hear a whiner.

Hey, Pollyanna, when I bitch and whine, I do it with style and flair. Never condemn free entertainment.

I've already mentioned (many times) that the movers had "lost" a lot of my stuff. They also piled big heavy boxes on top of small ones marked fragile and a lot of delicate things were broken. Many of my treasured acquisitions are now in fragmented bits. 

Well, today I found some stuff that wasn't broken. That's my cue to post some boring photos of things nobody wants to see.


 Some of my antique Staffordshire china, circa 1820


Dresden figurine, circa 1790
I don't know how this one didn't break -
I must be a good packer 


 The Prince and the Pauper
these two figurines were made in 1885
(I had to put them away because my rowdy cats almost broke them) 


Are you still awake?
Yesterday I got the proofs for my poetry book Love Letters to Ghosts, which I plan to check later tonight. Then I'll immediately begin the daunting task of compiling my memoirs.

Memoirs??!!
I can actually feel the excitement  that is rippling through my blog audience!

That's not audience excitement, Jon. That's merely a side effect from one of your alcohol-induced stupors.

 I'll end (not a moment too soon) with a photo of a seedless watermelon. I still can't find my big carving knives, so I had to cut this with a small Mickey Mouse knife from the Dollar Store.
The melon is sweet and good. 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

WELCOME TO AUGUST



Clouds Over August

I've been so hopelessly confused lately that I thought August arrived last week. Changed my calendar and everything. Then I realized there was still a week left in July. It's not dementia. I'm merely reality-challenged. Been that way since I was twelve.

Was hoping my previous blog post would generate interest, but it didn't. Heck, most of the people around today weren't even born when To Kill a Mockingbird was published. It used to be a reading requirement in school.

Actually, when I was in high school our reading requirement was Silas Marner. The members of the California Board of Education who devised that plan should have been shot. Silas Marner is not only the most boring novel ever written, it could turn you against literature for the rest of your life. Hell, I don't even think George Eliot liked it. 
That was supposed to be funny. Why aren't you laughing?

Actually, my blog posts often bomb because they're too long. Nobody wants to sweat through a long blog post. And I can't blame them.
I know some people who write a dozen words on their blogs and immediately get 400 adoring comments. I write my ass off and have to beg for comments on the street corner with a tin cup.

Are you being vicious and envious, Jon?

Naw, I had a few beers and I'm exuding
alcohol-induced sarcasm.

Speaking of writing - my transitions are smooth and seamless, aren't they? - I finished editing the second edition of my poetry book Love Letters to Ghosts. I typed it up in two days and it's ready to be transformed into a PDF file.

I'll wait a moment until you catch your breath.

I know this isn't a big revelation, but it's something I've been meaning to do for months. Now that that's out of the way, I can concentrate on my memoir.


Clouds this morning

August has arrived with the most beautiful weather imaginable. Gorgeous sunshine, pure blue skies. It hasn't rained in two whole days and that is worthy of documentation.

Everything is still in absolute chaos here but I'm making slow progress. My ongoing depression is buoyed by occasional bouts of cautious optimism. It's difficult to do any work in the garage because it's 110 degrees in there and swarming with angry wasps.

Actually, the insect problem has lessened. The only annoyances left are the nasty wasps. And the rotten fruit flies. And some mosquitoes. And loads of moths at night. And dragonflies and butterflies, which I like.

There was a hummingbird on my back porch yesterday.
Methinks there's another mouse in the cupboard. Something has chewed some holes in the bags of cat food. My cats are very alert at night.....waiting to catch the varmint.......but so far no luck.


 I took this photo of Bosco last night

I didn't drive to town last week so I'm out of everything. I need milk, bread, and everything else. Not to mention litter and cat food. I'll venture out on Monday. 

Fortunately there's still some food around. Tonight I plan to  have roasted chicken, BBQed beans, and watermelon.


Only a few courageous souls have been visiting my new photo blog. It's nothing spectacular, but it's a photo-only endeavor - - so knowing how to read isn't a requirement.

P.S.
 I don't think the homoerotic photos have killed anyone. Yet.

http://cabinetofcurioustreasures.blogspot.com