Things I've Missed

I must admit, I missed my stuff...which had been stored away for the last two+ months while I lived in the most unstimulating of places, Oklahoma....the visionary in me slowly shrivelling up from the boring decor of our dully furnished corporate housing situation.  Unpacking is like opening the pandora's box of everything "me".  There is something so comforting about being surrounded by your own stuff.


Here's some stuff I've pulled out of boxes in the new house so far...


1)  Old Lamp Collection:

2)  Funky Furniture:

3)  The kitchen, my way:

4)  Art by me:

5)  Random tchotchke:

Edward Shenton and Goodbye Oklahoma Forever

Extra strong coffee this morning to fuel the packing and cleaning that today demands.  We leave Oklahoma tomorrow!!  (No offense, Oklahoma, but I'm not going to miss you and I hope I never see you again...that's how I really feel.)


As a congratulations gift for Matt, I ordered him an Edward Shenton giclee print from Art.com.  I want all of Shenton's airplane art, I love the simplicity of the design, bold colours, and movement that seems inherent in each one.


I got Matt this one (it reminds me of the day he proposed to me since he took us up in a little prop plane):

"Good Visibility"

Here are some of Shenton's other works...I love them all.

"Curtis Jenny"

"Charles Lindbergh"

"An American Monoplane"

"Ornithopter 1928"

"Launching a Glider..."

Taking Down the Tent

Like a circus tent falling gracefully to the ground, the little fleeting life we built here is exhaling its last breathe.  The knot in my stomache, part nerves, part christmas-like anticipation, will only let up when we reach some sort of restful state.  

Destination:  Portland!!

But before that, a trip back home, across half the country to get our things, all left neatly (and half-hazardly) in storage.  Then on with fingers crossed to Portland (a town I have always loved...with its not too bigness and not too smallness) in hopes that we line up a nice house to rent.  (I know we will, but the anticipation is dreadful and I'm holding my breath till the perfect thing falls out of the sky (it will, it will!!).)

Also before Portland, Matt has to pass his exams.  Here is the note I will be slipping in his shirt pocket for inspiration (don't tell):

Good Morning, Monday. And Thunderbird Park

Strong french pressed coffee and the Mac

This weekend, to ward off the cabin fever that keeps taking hold of me, we went exploring at Thunderbird Park, OKC.  The sun was really refreshing and the place was still uncrowded.  (It seemed like the kind of park that gets really riotous during summer season.)


My favorite part of the day was laying in the grass, soaking up the spring sun, and staring up at Matt.  The kids played on the lake's beach, nearly dying their hands and feet red from the Oklahoma sand.

Bird on a Wire and Why the Wrong People are Killed in Natural Disasters

While there may be earthquakes and tsunamis in other parts of the world these days, birds are everywhere here in Oklahoma City.  They line signs, fences, and telephone wires.  the birds make up little dotted lines everywhere, life going on living, even in the wake of worldly disaster.

I couldn't resist a photo the other night as the sun was setting.  We had been perusing  books for sale at a local book store and as we left, I needed a photo of the birds on the wire over the parking lot.  Matt came up with the brilliant idea of throwing a stone for the second shot so I could get the birds in action too.

Undisturbed Birds

Disturbed Birds

The photos turned out just as nice as I had anticipated, but what I didn't anticipate when taking them was the truck driving, mean spirited, beer belly having Oklahoman pounding on the hood of the car as we pulled away.  Matt rolled down the window to glares and accusations.  All angry, and full of spit and bullying, the guy insisted that Matt's stone hit his beloved truck.  

The way he angrily accused Matt and the way he was hefting his body weight around, made it clear that this guy and chivalry were worlds apart. Seemed like he was looking for a real western brawl!

Matt looked at me calmly, I looked out at this guy like he was insane, and the kids sat silently in the back seat.  Matt and I both knew that he hadn't hit the guy's truck, but unlike this Okie guy, Matt knows a thing or two about chivalry and humored him by sticking around.  Matt never gave the guy any satisfaction by reacting to his insults either.  What a role model.

The guy circled his truck, strutting his Oklahoma manhood, and acting like he owned the place.  Finally, he decided he didn't have a case against us (because we didn't throw a stone at his truck, obviously).  

He said to Matt, "Tell you what, I'll let you off the hook this time if you'll do me a favor."  Matt kept his cool and replied, "What's that?"  "Why don't you try keeping your head out of your ass next time," he said.

We drove off, giggling, but at the same time feeling relieved.

I know this guy thought he must have looked pretty tough, but from where I was sitting he was the one with his head in his ass.  What a hick!

With the big earthquake in Japan and Tsunami disasters happening just the day before, I couldn't help but wonder why this guy was spared to haunt the earth in all of his stupidity?  Why, when surely thousands of nicer, more worthwhile, more interesting, and more loving people in Japan lost their lives, lost their families, lost their homes, and were destined to sleep in the cold waiting for after-shocks?  It just seems too unjust.

My heart goes out to everyone who is struggling through this natural disaster.  Peace and Love.

We Are Stardust

The Oklahoma Science Museum left me feeling small and contemplative of our vast universe.  It's awe inspiring to hear about your existence in reference to billions and trillions and millions of light years, and galaxies, and bits of stardust.  

In the planetarium, we learned that if you look between the stars, where there is only black night sky, and you look at that space through our most advanced telescope, you don't just see black nothingness.  What you see are hundreds of millions of other galaxies out there (source here).  Hundreds of millions.  And these galaxies are billions of light years away.  And our universe is 13.75 billion years old (source here), older than anything I can conceive.

Here I was just one living thing in the vastness of existence, in Oklahoma, making block towers.

Block Towers

Happy With a New Toy

Reuben, AKA "Ruby Tuesday"

Well, we all get cabin fever, especially Reuben the Dog.  He is not fond at all of staying in the house all day.  He is used to his own large back yard and plenty of play time, not so used to the apartment living that he has been relocated to.  But after just a trip to the pet store, he was a happy boy with new chew toys and a nice new pillow.  


I wish it only took a new chewy to ease my cabin fever!  But the fever has definitely set in and I'm only half way into the two month hiatus that is this stay in Oklahoma.  (Only five more weeks!)


I've only lived in an apartment once before.  I was seventeen and living with a bunch of artsy college guys who listened to Joni Mitchell, read Proust, and had an undying crush on the (then young and single pre-Tom Hanks era) Katie Holmes.  I know I was seventeen then because I remember being in that apartment the night before I turned eighteen.  I stayed up all night sketching a drawing for my first tattoo...which of course, I still have today (thankfully unregrettably).  Anyhow, when you're that age, apartments aren't that irritating, though I do remember feeling hatred toward the massive quantities of cement framing the complex.  We had some good parties and the kitchen was always a mess, (especially after we tried to make tofu from scratch...soy beans everywhere)!


Now, just a bit over a decade later, I've found myself tolerating apartment living again, if only temporarily.  It's a brand new complex with (and all the signage outside reminds us daily in hot orange with bold lettering) stained cement floors, custom cabinets, vaulted ceilings...you get the idea.  But all the amenities can't hide the closeness of the neighbors or the concrete jungle just outside the door, or the whining of the husky upstairs at two in the morning.  (I know that dog is over sixty five pounds, because I know my dog is too, tsk tsk on us both.)  And, I will try not to mention the puke decorating the parking space outside after the neighbors partied like it was 1999 last weekend.


It only made sense to bring one car, which is at the Academy half the day with Matt.  I can't get out of the house during the day anyway since I am homeschooling the kids, but even so, I do get a bit stir crazy (thus all the blogging, thank god for that).  It's not that I don't have a million hobbies to occupy myself with.  I brought art supplies, my guitar, novels,...but when the kids are doing their homeschool, I can hardly take a pee break without the internet crashing or a word needing defined, or something.  Being a homeschool facilitator is not an endeavor for the weary, that's the truth.


As the days run together here in Okie-ville, I am reminded of a hike I took once.  At the time I had two big dogs and a chubby baby who enjoyed being in the backpack.  I packed us all up and drove to a trailhead on the Olympic Peninsula a friend had told me about.  The sign read that the trail was a loop with no fork in the path or other means for getting lost, and that it was less than 2 miles round trip.  This was nothing out of the ordinary for me at the time, only a new trail, nothing to worry about.


The day was beautiful, a bit muggy, and warm.  But the more I hiked the more silent the cedars became.  The giant ferns seemed to be holding reality at bay.  Only the hum of insects interrupted from time to time as the hike continued.  I had packed water in the car but left it all at the trailhead, knowing from experience that there is always water for the dogs on the peninsula.  Not that day.  The trail, though mild in elevation gain, was hot and dusty and the dogs panted louder and louder as each wooden bridge we came to crossed dauntingly over dry creek bed.  The insects hummed louder, the baby slept on my back, the dogs panted, I put one foot in front of the other and things went on like this for an immeasurably long time.


I feel just like that, some days here in Oklahoma.  I feel just like I am walking on that trail back on the Peninsula and there is no end and no beginning and no time...only the task at hand.

Oklahoma Randomness

It really does feel like I am living in another country.  Oklahoma City is nothing like any other place I've lived!


People call me 'honey' all the time and they tell me, "y'all have a good day now, ya hear?".  Everyone is really friendly.


Eating out, the portions are large enough to feed us three times. And sides are all the rage, you order a main dish and choose three sides from a list of ten!  (It's a good thing there is a gym at the place we stay.)


The highway system is hectic, it feels like the whole city is highway, no regular roads at all.  And with all of the two ton trucks people drive here...it can be intimidating to merge.


Women wear loads of makeup...turquoise eyeshadow, bright pink rouge, lipstick...I wonder if I'm at cirque du soleil?


Bumperstickers:  "I do my best, god does the rest," and I've only seen ONE 'Obama' sticker (I don't think there are many democrats here).


The local Walmart is the unfortunate choice for shopping, as there is zero alternative.  We found one health food store across town but the prices were so outlandish it isn't even worth it (and the selection for fresh dairy and produce is limited).  A half gallon of organic milk was six bucks!  So we buy soy milk at Walmart and get in and out as quick as we can.  


For Valentine's Day, I wanted fondu.  It took me all morning online to find a place that sells raclette and gruyere.  I was lucky to locate a little mediterranean deli hidden among the commercial sprawl that makes up this city.  (They also had yummy macaroons and garlic stuffed olives that had to come home with us.)


The people here are SO overweight!  It's sad to see so many unhealthy people.  Even the young people are overweight, it just seems to be the norm.