On Mystery or Boring Life?:

Some times you just have to be an introvert. I had some things to think through. Personal things. Not that I didn’t want to share, it just wasn’t anything to share about.

Mystery and intrigue, not really. I was just saving you from some boring self evolving.

Anyway the veggie garden has been started.















Seed in, plants not yet up.















42 Tomato plants in.















Cucumber plants in raised bed.















Mountain Man is re-doing the archway into the garden. It is now bigger, better and taller. (I liked it the other way, but will get used to this when it is done.)

Knitting was resumed while thinking. I’m working on two baby blankets. One for the unknown grandchild to be and the other for a family friend‘s baby.

I have a need to do some cemetery walking in my Goth Victorian Morning Garb. I haven’t been dressed all mourning gothy in a cemetery since ‘last’ May. Way too long if you ask me.

I have been gothy, and I have been in cemeteries in the last year, just not together. A sorry state for a Goth such as myself.

The mystery I have is the fact that many of my cemetery pictures did not remain in my camera from my last trip to Boston. I do not know why, only that they were missing when I went to download them from the camera. Even thou I had looked at them on the camera itself after I came home from that walk.

Most of those missing were from the older moved cemetery and now I only have one picture, with the wall around it, from afar, and one epitaph picture from that group of headstones that I will use later in another blog posting.

So I go onward, back to blogging daily and watching the world go round.

On Expired:

I woke up this morning thinking I was going to get A, B and C done. I might even get in D and E if it was a good day.

First thing, I started up my computer to find that while I was down and out my anti virus expired and I needed to get it fixed up and brought up to date. And after hours of that I was ready to get down to business again.

But Mountain Man’s ear phones broke, died, down for the count, expired. The earphones for his computer, and he is hard of hearing, and I don’t want to be hard of hearing or get another headache because his speakers are up so loud, and we went out to buy him a new pair.

And when I was installing the new earphones. ‘Wireless!’ So that they will not get pulled off his head when he stands, forgetting that they are there, and breaking.

Anyway, I noted that his computer needed new antivirus too as his had expired last month and he didn’t tell me. Quote, “I just hit the button to ignore it. I figured if it was important, that some red light would be blinking or something.” Can you spell ‘old school?’

So, I spent the afternoon cleaning out and installing the same antivirus I have on my computer. That way it will email me when it is time and I won’t have to rely on him to tell me, or for him to ignore it in the future.

And now I am washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen while I wait for the antivirus to wipe out anything that got into his system during the last month he was without.

Maybe now I’ll just go and check the dates on the stuff in the fridge. Anything expired in here too….? Oh my!!!

I hope that tomorrow I will be back to my A, B, C’s.

On Time Travel:

I think that I have been lost in time. I did have a migraine headache and was out of commission. But when you finally are able to get out of bed and open the windows. The world is a changed place.

It was only two days on the calendar.

It feels like a week or more.

Things to catch up on; housework and just daily stuff, emails, blogging, reading, and yes, gossip.

Things to continue; knitting, crafts, relationships, plants/gardening.

Things to find; lost places in books, objects moved while you were unavailable, your mind.

I hate the feeling of coming into the middle of the play, feeling lost and not in the loop, and having it be your own life.

There were births and deaths, beginnings and finishes, and the fiddly bits in between, all missed by me.

I wasn’t trying to be dramatic, or grandstanding, or contrary, or a party pooper. I was sick with an inconvenient headache that made me want to rip my own head off.

Is that clock right, I seem to have misplaced Tuesday and Wednesday? And, Is that mud coming out of that hole in the Gulf? What has been happening while I was gone? And we need more pain killers in the house, Again. And, Where are my clean cloths? Did you see my…….???

On Busy Weekend:

I’m having a hard time getting back into blogging daily. Not that I haven’t been missing all of you, because I have. It’s more of a out of the house kind of thing.

And the places I’ve been, there is no internet to use.

In town there is a Fine Arts Festival every year at the end of May and it landed on this past weekend. World Goth Day was on Saturday, and my daughter was in town burying her fathers ashes that day too.

I will do something I should have done the other day when I posted about Amelia Earhart house. After you use the link of her name, turn the picture to the left and you are there. Move up and down the street and look at the house from a few different angles. Walk her street.

If the link of her name doesn’t work, try this. vPike Type in [ 78 brooks st medford ma ] and hit the submit button. It is a street side view where you can go to any street that they already have in their archives. And since they are attached to Google Maps that is a lot of streets. Enjoy. Try it on your own house or your grandma's.

On Now that I‘m Home, Pictures:

Well, where to start with my Boston trip? I played work horse to my daughter. Being pregnant she was not to lift the heavy boxes left by the movers. So, I did the heavy lifting while Prince Charming was at work. And when both kids were at work, I played dog walker.

While I was gone my own house did not clean itself as I had hoped. Now Mountain Man is not a major mess maker, but he doesn’t do dishes or laundry until absolutely necessary. And then there was the laundry I brought home with me. You get the picture. I just wanted to clean and straighten my world when I got back.

Now that I can sit back and relax, I’m feeling the muscles that were too long unused before the last few weeks.

Boston: Every day we packed a lunch in the car and went to a different neighborhood looking for out of the way cemeteries and historical sites while taking the dog for a long walk. My daughter and I both needed exercise, and the dog was game.

One of the first things we did was look for Amelia Earhart’s house.

There are no tours of the house because a family now lives there.















This picture is from the street corner that the house sits on.















The house faces another street and I took the next three from that street angle.














One picture much closer to the stone marker.















The plaque itself.
It says: “Amelia Earhart, The famed flier lived here from 1925 until she left to make the first transatlantic flight be a woman July 17, 1928. Here she wrote the poem ‘Courage‘.”

On Up Coming Gothiness:

Well, I’m back home and only a little worse for wear from lifting packing boxes. My son’s birthday was two days ago and it was harder on me then I thought it would be to not get to visit his grave like I was used to doing all these ten long years.

My daughter and her husband are here because they will be burying her fathers ashes this weekend in an adjacent grave to my/our son. Feeling a little strange about this.

More about my trip to Boston another day.

On to the Gothiness:

Saturday May 22 is World Goth Day! To find out about Gothy events in your area, or let others know about a planned event in your area you can go to the to World Goth Day Dot Com. Just hit the Goth Day Form link and you can find your area of the world and what is going on.

Even if you don’t have anything to go to where you live, get your Gothy self out and show your stuff and/or support.

On Blogging While Away From Home:

I had plans to blog each day. You know, how many boxes can you move or unpack, and not want to scream and tear your hair, running to your computer and hangout with friends?

Well, it turns out that we mostly listened to music on CD to decide on keep-ability while knitting and talking. (A person has to knit to retain ones calm-a-tude.) Exploring the new neighborhood, while getting exercise and walking the dog. (That is a good excuse, isn’t it?) And going sight seeing. (Right, you go to Historic Boston and not be tempted to go and see something while you are there.) So very many things to tempt you away from boxes.

I took pictures to show you, really I did. I just can’t get them out of my camera and onto my computer so you can see them yet. (You don’t always remember to pack odd cords to connect cameras to computers when last minute packing either. Well I don’t anyway.)

There was also shopping. Grocery shopping (We did have to eat and drink while moving boxes into proper rooms.) and thrift stores. I didn’t buy much. I do have to travel back home and space is limited. (I did make a find or two, more about that later, with pictures.)

So, I didn’t have pictures, and I wanted to when I told you about my daily exploits. And given that, it was hard to blog about things with no pictures. No, I didn’t even have my cell phone with me, Mountain Man has it.

I’ll have to catch up with it all when I get home next week. Let’s see, Wednesday, I think. My daughter will be staying with me for a few days dealing with the remnants of her father’s life. Sad times for her at the moment. More boxes to deal with. But there will be a fine arts festival if she has the time and feels up to it.

I have a need to go home soon. Back to the country and slow quiet places. But I am enjoying my time here with the kids. (Scratch that, adults that are my children), preparing for a child of their own.

I gave her a small group of baby things that I still had, from when she and her brother were babies. Memories. I remember getting ready for my first baby, never what you think it will be. But somehow always better.

On Helping the Kids:

Sorry I disappeared mysteriously. My daughter came into town to visit me for the Mothers Day weekend. And well, as these things happen, on Sunday I went off to Boston to help them with a move to a larger apartment. Because, as we now know, they need the room for the upcoming little one.

Most of the move was done by the movers. Yeah!

It is now all unboxing and organizing. And that pesky, ‘What do we do with this, now that we don’t have that built in wall cabinet anymore?’

Pictures and curtains need hanging. Seasonal things need to be stored away without forgetting what went where. And let us not forget about the miles of cords and cables, for no end of appliances and tech gadgets.

So, I am now in Boston for the week. We are back on line and all is good, but our backs. Ha, ha. And there are still many things to do, move related.

So far, the Goth in me did get a short walk in a cemetery, while walking their dog. I’ll have to get some pictures before I leave.

This cemetery is different then the one I spent time in last year. It has an area in it where an older cemetery was moved and reassembled just like it had been before. (‘The Sims’ video game part of my head said, ‘Now, they will all haunt this place forever more.’ [Insert evil laughter here!]) In the Sims video games, once you move a headstone/grave then the ‘Sim’ it belongs to starts to haunt the property. I don’t disrespect the dead in real life.

I’ll be knitting more than sight seeing this trip, but that is okay. We have been working hard moving boxes and climbing more stairs then I’m used to. Sitting and knitting is a good thing.

On Change:

I have always tried to except change in my life. Change happens no matter how you try to insulate against it. So I figure, why fight it?

Not that there wasn’t some kicking and screaming at times. My son’s death and my cancer comes to mind.

And there is also the good changes to consider. Spring after a long winter, new car when the old gets too troublesome, presents, vacations…

Change means letting go and embracing. Learning and forgiving. Challenge and acceptance. Making room and different perspectives.

This brings us to the present. Thing are just about the same as yesterday. I have all my body parts in place. My house is still a mess, but standing strong. Plants flourish green in the yard. Knitting moves forward.

With the exception of my news. It has changed everything in my life, by the way.

I’m going to be a 'grandma' for the first time in my life. Well, not until October in reality, but you know what I mean.

I didn’t think I was going to see this day, so I just planned a life without grandkids.

Once my kids grew up and left home, I danced alone with the fairies in the woods. I wished on evening stars by myself. The fireflies in my garden went unmolested on summer evenings. I wore fairy wings to do housecleaning. I dress up for myself alone.

My eyes see everything differently yet again as this change works its way into my life. Grandma. Grandchild. I can get behind this one.

I think, I’ll never be a conventional grandma. But I’ll bet I’m the funny one. Both funny ‘ha, ha’ and funny ‘odd.’

No fears of this becoming a Granma blog, by the way. I’m not into having kids or grandkids in my image. I’m just hoping health. Life and its individuality can take it from there.

On Sort Of, Redecorating:

You can’t really call it redecorating if nothing looks any better when you are done, can you? And if it in fact looks worse, is that Undecorating?

Anyway I’ve been buying one of those prefab stackable cabinets things every once in a while and trying to make sense of, excuse me ‘organize‘, all my junk in bins.

They don’t match in color and they aren’t all that nice to look at. But they are keeping some of my stuff off the floor.

I just slapped together and stacked yet another of them. And I filled it with crafting books and video game paraphernalia.

Really you don’t want to see it, so look at this with me.










































I am now, out in my cubby porch, sitting on my chair there in the picture, and drinking in the wisteria. Of course that is only until the washer is done and I have to hang the laundry, but I’m going to enjoy it every second I can.

On The Gods of Electricity Were Against Me:

Did you ever have one of those days where no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get what you want to done?

That was me yesterday.

I got up late, so I didn’t blog before doing my weekly shopping. Shopping went well, thou slow. I found some yarn on sale, but other things I was looking for were out of stock. We bounced from store to store looking for substitutes.

When we did finally return home, as we pulled into the driveway, lightening struck near by and the clouds let loose heavy drops of cold rain.

Short lived as that storm was, we waited it out. We finally got our food and purchases into the house. As I got on the web and the second wave of storms hit. We unplugged everything and waited it out.

Now, I have been in this house when it was hit by lightening before. I do live on top of a mountain, closer to the clouds and violent storms. I’ve even had a phone explode in my hand once. We unplug things around here when a storm is about to hit.

So, I spent the rest of the day waiting for the waves to clear long enough to get on the web. They would clear only long enough to do one or two needed things before we would have to unplug things again. We even were without electricity for a while.

I did get my knitting mojo back while waiting for the storms to lift. I knitted a baby sweater for a friend (No pictures, she reads the blog.) and started on two other knit projects. I guess I just needed a little electric shock to get back in the groove.

So I’m back in the blog and knitting like crazy. All is well in my little world. Well almost, I still need to get over allergy season.

On Blog Sharing:

Whitey of the photo blog Skunk Hollow has been sharing some of her photos with me. These are just a few of Whitey’s headstone photos, from a cemetery she visited in Utah.










































It started with a few questions on some pictures she had of headstones. She was looking for information on the symbols on them. There was also the sharing of epitaphs. (I’m not looking for people to send me cemetery photos. So please ‘do not’ send your pictures to me.)



























This is not the first time someone has shared their cemetery bounty with me. Others have posted their photos on their blogs and said ‘This is for you.’ But it is the first time that a photographer gave me their photos and said, ‘Here you go.’ Thank you Whitey for the gift of your trust as well as your pictures.

On Video Game Play:

I have this love/hate relationship with video games.

On the one hand I could play all day, enjoying myself immensely, and not stopping to eat much at all.

And then there is the added benefit of the fact that they help with my memory troubles.

On the other they just suck all my time and life away. I get little, if any exercise. And I wind up with eye strain headaches.

I want balance in my life. I had plans to knit this weekend. I was lost with Indiana Jones in a Lego world, collecting treasure and wasting time.

Yes, I chose to play the game. Yes, I could have stopped. But I didn’t because I was having too much fun. I could easily get addicted to these things.

Today I’m not gaming until I have some knitting accomplished.

Who knows? I just might keep my hands off the video game controller all day.

Who am I kidding. Not a chance. I’m doomed.

On Sitting Back and Enjoying the Day:

It is the first of May. Today, I’m taking the easy way out. I’m making Green Bean Soup.

What is Green Bean Soup, you ask?

At my house it is cooking up some green (wax) beans (or both), adding water to more then cover them, and adding cream cheese, 2 oz. per quart, stir until melted and salt to taste. Easy-peasy, kid friendly recipe!

It’s amazing what kids will eat when they make it themselves.

This can also be put through a blender and liquefied if you like. An alterative to Tomato Soup. We serve it up with sandwiches or a salad.