We checked out Rachel's new crib (so hip) Friday evening, just up and over the hill in Truckee. She shares it with her friend, Megan, who has rented it for a year. Rachel will stay until she goes to school in the fall. But, for now, she can unpack her stuff for the first time since August, when she left Boston. It's a great place--mountain-cabin style, plenty of room for them and visitors. In fact, her friend, Jen, and Harveythedog were there to hang out when we dropped in. It's still snowy , up there, and they're hoping to be able to go snowboarding until early May. Such a life! So, after going back to retrieve my camera as were leaving home, I still forgot to take a picture. So, this morning, I scratched one out, real quick. That's Harvey, Jen, Megan and Rachel (l to r) on the balcony. Of course, this scene never took place, and I forgot to add snow. But you get the idea.
One of the reasons we went to Rachel's, was to pick up the Sube, so we could buy some lumber with which to make a vertical file for the studio--the last piece of furniture I'll be able to cram in there. In classic domino style, we bought the materials, then, realized we were going to have to do some serious work in the shop to make enough room to construct the thing.
So, Saturday afternoon, we began the first major overhaul of the shop space since we dumped "everything else" into it on moving day. It was a Chinese puzzle of a job. On top of reorganizing our own stuff (including a significant amount we still need to condense and store in there, for awhile), we had to assess and remove a whole lot of junk left behind from the former occupants--furniture, children's toys, construction materials--that had heretofore been inaccessible. We didn't even know what it all was. Turns out, unfortunately, that they were fellow carriers of the "pack-mule" syndrome--more serious than the "pack-rat" strain--and that this was the dregs of their last move.
Yet, in just two afternoons, we were able to shift, sort and clean our way throughout the space, so that we can now say, uh, that at least we know what it all is. More than that, we have some space to work! More than THAT, it was the opening salvo in a campaign to turn that big, unimproved space into a veritable bee hive of creative energy!! This campaign might challenge the current presidential ones in length (horrors!). It would be just like us to take years to do what we imagined might take weeks (yikes! An Iraqism wants to leap in! Help me!). But we will aim to rise above our past! Yes! Si se puedes!! Ha!
Maybe. We'll see, won't we?
Meanwhile, yesterday, Sunday morning, I took a nice long hike through part of Empire Mine State Historical Park. It's a beautiful place with a dark past. More about that, next time.
