obsession, experiments, & fortuity

 dad says i inherited serial obsession from him. we become tunnel-fixated on a something for a while... then drop it like a hot stone. he was obsessed with my tiny trailer, bought stairs, bought a portable toilet... then said your mother and i have decided we won't stay in the trailer. i sold the tiny trailer for a good price. now am obsessed with the following to fill the space where was tiny trailer: vintage travel trailer, vintage mobile home, vintage motorhome, shipping container house, camper, rv, train caboose, sea train house, tiny home, tiny house, agghrghrghghhh!!!! my fingers can hardly move -- i hope it's from overdoing it in the yard & at school, not from too much feverish online searching for trailervintagemobilehomemotorhomecampercaboose.... argghhhh!!!

i was cleaning up the property one last time before school starts & happily spotted, near the antique wagon james brought home, bees & butterflies & other little flitting creatures cavorting & sipping at the volunteer mini-meadow that has popped up in that yard area. oh my gosh! we haven't lifted a finger to plant anything (it dies or the animals eat it, i'm not consistent enough with gardening). what a wonderful surprise that was! so i photoed all the volunteers in the yard, but only have been able to identify one, mountain aster. yay! and dad said, via duo video call, that he thinks in the backyard is a gigantic chokecherry. oh, that would be stupendous! yesterday at the thrift store w/cousin mary fafa, who visited from the valley, i got some cheap books, one entitled flowers of the southwest mountains... the chokecherry was worshipped by navaho peoples. you can make medicines from it. you can make jams & jellies with it!

i hope that gigantic bush indeed is a chokecherry...

btw, did you know that spinach, banana, & grapes make a delicious shake? throw in leftover cold tea or milk for different flavor notes... lately when fruits & veggies start to perish, i throw them in a bag in the freezer. everything goes in: carrots, cucumber, dad's maraglia grapes. then they all go in the ninja blender. some experiments have had to go right into the arroyo (nasty!), but others? so delicious! so happy not to waste food.

 well, james, on the way back from a southland gig, again went to the swap meet w/o me down in the city, but that's ok. when it gets down to it, i don't want to be broiling in the smoggy sun of the city. everything a person needs is right here in this house full of mountain breezes & soft sounds & cool floor & sleeping pets.  just don't need one more thing. but do i want more? heck, yes. it's an illness. i blame society, to quote repo man.

mary frances, my youngest cousin, is a kind & saintly
sprite of a professional woman whose progressive heart leans
toward pope francis & john waters (the pope of trash, you know).

the adorable girls, callie, bebe, maryfafa

as i left bakersfield, dad walked to get the mail dressed
as karl kolchak of the old night stalker tv show. but i
think it just was an accident of wardrobe. (sometimes he
rides a tiny bicycle to accomplish this task.)