A promised walk

We went back to the river, and I took more pictures..... not the same ones as the ones that were lost (of course) but I am pleased with some of them.

The microcosm of spring in the woods.... and my dog.

The hazards of mindless tinkering

My husband has forever been a tinkerer. He will take something apart before he has even realized he was touching it. The good news is that he can almost always put it back in perfectly usable order.

SOMETIMES he can't.

Last night we went for a walk along the riverbank. It was swollen and viscous and simply awesome to watch the deafening power rage over the rocks! I took some video of the water gushing madly in all directions. I, having my camera, was also spellbound by the wild flowers blooming in every crevice and niche along the treacherous banks. I carefully took aim and captured the soft misty petals of chocolate lilies, strawberries, violets, some bluebell looking things, pink, white, yellow, orange flowers in amazing shapes and vibrant perfection. Trillium's in white and purple of perfect shape and form, and so many that I have never seen before that I was positively giddy seeing them to later maybe identify them from my pictures!

On the dusty hike back to the car my hubby wondered how long we had been in the woods, but we had no watch. "The camera should have a clock" he said, so he took it from me and explored it's menus and functions.... then he passed it back, "What does FORMAT mean?"

GASP! He had formatted the camera! Every picture I have taken since the vacation is now GONE. He apologized, and I tried to make myself feel better by thinking at least he hadn't wrecked the camera..... but by the time we had loaded the dog into the back of the car, and buckled up the boys I was seriously at a loss about all the lovely images that were now just gone.

If I hadn't brought my camera I wouldn't have felt this sad. If the camera's battery had conked out half way along the trip I wouldn't have been this sad. But to have the shots, and then have them taken away was more than my spoiled little brain could handle. I was sad, and I was ashamed at how selfish I felt.

I did take one more picture after the card had been wiped.... a little strawberry plant on the side of the road...... enjoy.

PS: T said he would take me back to the river tomorrow night for another walk. Hopefully the light will be good and the flowers will still look undamaged.......

A Thorough Dream

"It's only $75G!" I sputtered in exasperation, I knew I was right about this one... I had been arguing for 20 solid minutes the validity of the investment.

"I don't want to get tied up in a sketchy piece of property right now, I think it's a bad time" he answers back.

"What's so sketchy about it? We use the equity in our house to buy this one, then -"

"Then are stuck with a crappy, tiny, 100 year old house!" He cuts me off.

"NO! Listen, we buy it and then just clean and paint it, make it LIVABLE, not a grand palace or anything... just listen."

"But..."

"Wait, let me finish P-L-E-A-S-E, when it's livable we rent it out. At that price it doesn't have to be rented at a lot. We would be providing a much needed rental HOME, and the tenant pays the mortgage... we wait on it. The mill is shut down now, so the property is bound to improve in value, for God's sake honey it's WATERFRONT! And the industrial zone lease is up in 5 years, developers will be scrambling to put more waterfront condos up, it's common sense with everyone still moving to the coast from back east. "

"But, what if you are wrong? What if the market dives and that area stays crappy?"

"Then we are slum lords, and we keep it. Or worse case scenario, we have to sell it. Honestly I think it is a safe risk."

"I have a bad feeling about it" he mumbles. "It's got to be that cheap for a reason" But I know I have won my case.

"I will set up the meeting with the financing, after we go over the real numbers we can decide" I state.

Fast forward 3 weeks....

The inspection listed the roof, plumbing and structure are sound. BUT the house is a disaster... no wonder no one was willing to buy it! Infested with rodents and covered in filfth from months of vagrant mis-use and open to the elements from the broken windows. "No use losing my nerve now" I think to myself. And armed with a face mask and thick rubber gloves I set to work. My husband took a big leap of faith here, and I was going to make it shine!

Another month....

I walk through the newly painted front door. I am beaming with pride, there were times that I wanted to light the whole thing on fire, but now I am so glad I didn't. There were setbacks... the time we were broken into and spray painted, the many attempts to get rid of the rodents and other pest nests. I decided early on that the goal was to keep the charm, not to renovate. So the windows are still original, the sinks are still tiny and worn, and the flooring was all stripped down to the floorboards and painted in a homey country style... no frills, no fuss.

It is no dream house, but now (with the right tenants) it could be a charming home. I carry on through the bright, small rooms, inspecting the work I have done... the first prospective tenants would be there shortly, I hope they work out! The first mortgage payment has come out, we need this house occupied.

I needn't have worried, they were a fantastic young family, they LOVED the house, and their references were terrific.

2 weeks later the woman called me. "There is something wrong with this house!" the young mom cries, nearly hysterical.

"What do you mean?" I answer ( I am very concerned).

"It's fine during the day.... but.... um.... oh the voices!"

"What?"

"It sounds stupid, I know", she sobs "I keep hoping it's just me, but now it's talking to the kids. I can't live here anymore, I am too afraid of what it is telling me to do."

"Calm down, please" I plea with her," Let's see if we can fix this, I will come over tonight".

After I hang up I have a little panic attack of my own, what the hell is going on?

I had never been to the house at night, my family commitments always had me home well before dark during the repairs. As I parked in front of the tidy little garden, I felt it... something darker than just the night was settling in.

The lady of the house invites me in to the tiny living room. The have it set up very nice, it's cramped but tidy. "Come in, do you want some tea?" she asks nervously.

Her two young kids are in their PJs leaning over the banister... "Hi!" they wave cheerily.

"Off the bed you two," the mom calls up and the kids giggle off to the second bedroom upstairs. " I realize I must have sounded like a raving lunatic --on the phone " she begins, her ever so slightly trembling hands pour my tea into a sturdy mug.

"You sounded very distressed Danika" I am trying to word my reply carefully, I want to be supportive and helpful to this nice lady. "Where is Josh?"

"He is away at camp. It's terrible having him away but we need to pay the rent, you know" Her last phrase is a bit high pitched, falsely gay for my sake I can tell.

"So you are holding down the fort on your own. The house looks great by the way, I like what you have done" It's my turn to sound happy, my comments are sincere. "What were you talking about 'voices'?" I ask.

"Well it's one voice really...." she looked very ashamed of herself, but also very very frightened. "He comments on what I am doing around the house, and he , well, he LEERS a bit too"

"Pardon?"

"He makes rude comments and suggestions as I am dressing... it's always worse upstairs, like he's standing right behind me, right in my ear" she suddered involuntarily," He doesn't talk to Josh, aparently only I can hear him -- except --" She trailed off in thought.

I waited for her to sort her thoughts.

"A couple nights ago, I heard the kids upstairs and they were giggling in that way that let you know something gross was amusing to them, I went to investigate and they were just listening by the laundry chute, like they were hearing a dirty joke. I asked them what was going on and they said nothing. Again last night, little Sophia was talking to herself, but I realized I was only hearing part of the conversation, like listening to someone on the phone, she was talking to someone, and she looked intrigued, and a bit nervous -- like someone was asking her to do something she wasn't sure if she should do," At this point Danika stopped, she looked so worried thinking of it.

"I can see why you called me..." I tried to sound supportive, I was feeling scared of this woman, not sure if I was more scared that she was crazy or that she was right.

The cheery, small, living room suddenly didn't seem so warm, I wanted to leave this house. I looked down at my forgotten teacup at the cold brown fluid. I set it down untouched. "Can I go upstairs?" I asked. Damn it, I wasn't going to let my superstitions take control, I wanted to see what was going on.

"Sure". She didn't follow, after all I knew every square inch of the house like the back of my hand. I headed straight for the hall closet. The laundry chute. It was a period feature that I delighted in when I was cleaning up the place. It went straight down to the underheight basement, a decidedly spooky place that smells of dirt and ancient wood, filled with spiders and, of course, the laundry machines.

What a terrible draft, so chilly right there.

I felt something brush the back of my neck, very very softly, very very cold. "Aren't you something to see..." a gruff voice drawled in my ear. I whipped around ready to fight, but there was no one there.... soft chuckling, menancing in it's confidence.... "a real scrapper too, I like that, ..... much more fun than those children, easy easy children. Want to have some fun? Watch."

Right on que the children came out of the bedroom, bleary eyed and disoriented, obviously woken from a deep sleep. The soft rustling of the nightgown, and gentle swish of the pj's was all that could be heard. I was holding my breath in wide-eyed horror.

The oldest child, the boy, murmered, "okay" in a drowsy voice and faced the laundry chute ahead of me. Frozen with terror, I could only watch as he lifted his little sister to the hatch, and all too late, I lunged for them as they both leaned headfirst into the chute.

"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and I grasped at the empty air, the children were GONE! The hallway was so bright with the light on, looked so normal, so empty. No evedincce that anything could have happened. The chuckling continued softly in my head, obsenely. I stuck my head in the chute and called down it. "David, Sofia!" But there was no one there, no children, no man, nothing but the white walls of the chute going down into the darkness. So helpless, so helpless I could feel my soul sinking into despair, disbelief and madness.

"Where are they?!" I bellowed at the nothingness "Who are you, why are you here?!!!! What do you want?!!!!"

THEN, I WOKE UP>

What a dream! It started out so promising and ended with such helplessness. These are the dreams that hang with me the longest, LONG after I wake. What was that all about? What was my subconscious doing that up for? pheww..... so glad to wake from it.

A year already!?

How can it be?

It has been a full YEAR since this happy moment of me sipping Italian beer with 3 fantastic friends, on a genuine cobbled Rome side-street in a genuine Rome outdoor-seating trattoria, with the melody of the native working class ordering lunch as scooters and cars puttered past on a glorious afternoon.

Sigh............

I haven't finished the journal, I haven't even had any photos printed yet!!!!

And now I have Disneyland to deal with too!

I suck.

(But the trip didn't ----- I have the best friends on the planet)

The first day in California

So that I don't bore you too much all in one post, I will be breaking up the vacation into a few parts.....

The kids were great with airport/airplane time... they whooped happily at the "G"s that were pulled on take off!!! It made the stewardess's giggle. The rest of the flight was spent playing gameboy and tinkering with the tray (much to the annoyance of the fellow sitting ahead of us).

The waiting after the plane ride was long and trying, the bus-ride was great as we got the front seat! So we got a fine view of the freeway and surrounding views (not exciting, but different from home with palm trees and oil refineries and we saw the real GOODYEAR blimp parked in the distance).

The hotel was completely overwhelmed by the 3 tour buses that all came in at once, and our room wasn't ready until 6 pm. We were told there would be a wait, so we wandered off to find a meal.... Red Robin -- only a "block" away according to our map!

We found out a block is really very very big in that area of town, and poor little Cam was worn out before we even got there!

After the meal, Grandma and I went to Target across the street and bought some essentials like blister bandages, sunscreen and bottled water... then we had the long trek back to the hotel (Cam on Grandpa's shoulders). After FINALLY being allowed to get to our rooms, we unpacked and then hopped the rather pricey (but efficient) shuttle to Disneyland! Grandpa forgot the tickets in the hotel room so we checked out "Disney Downtown", essentially a shopping district open to the general public.... though we did have to pass security before being allowed in. We wandered around with our mouths agape at the sparkle and wonder of shopping at it's best!

Anything and everything Disney (and more) is available for your whims and fancies! Tinkerbell, Mickey, Pirates of the Carribean, Star Wars and (of course) Goofy!

The highlight was easily the LEGO STORE! Steve had been saving his birthday money for this very occasion, so we went back to the hotel happily laden with lego kits.

My favourite find was the Penny Souvenir Machines! For 51 cents, you got to get specially pressed penny, imprinted with a design of your choice... and you got to see it happen right in front of your eyes!!!! Cheap and cool!

We caught the shuttle "home" again, tired and happy.

We all slept very well in our beds that night, and got an early start the next day!!!! Disneyland awaits!