Earlier this week, I finally got a storage unit in my building. Happily, I've been getting stuff down there that I've been wanting to unstuff from my closets so that I don't feel like I'm so packed in.
I got inspired tonight to start sorting through some stuff in my closets again to find and re-find some items, and just get things in better places, as I've been wanting to do ever since I moved in back in September. It was, however, contingent on the storage unit.
I just pulled out a box from my closet, and it was clearly one I'd into which I'd carefully placed many items, and had -- I thought at the time -- just as carefully labeled what each one was on the lid of the box.
However, I was clearly inebriated from packing dust and the heady scent of new carpet, paint and cabinetry, as my handwriting is confusing at best. Some things I can understand, but others -- not so much. Here is what I can see:
- APE Bast
- Blue Erile pilowe
- Med. Corner misc.
- Misc framed hickey carols
- inunse burng
- A + A wall thing
- gutter / bath thing
- green tassels
- Han and Leia Dolls
- 4600 Nilcn Box
- James's Tapes
- Ruticles
- Phantoom Men
- Port. CD players + Cord
- Again bowls
- Fecund cill ph.
Stumped, I was prompted to open the box so that I could know what was in it. Apparently I had also been planning to use it as a time capsule, as I had hermetically sealed the top seams with three layers of packing tape. Once opened, the mysterious scribbles began to take on their translations.
- APE Best -- APE Battery; A.P.E, that is -- a backup battery for my old tower PC.
- Blue Erile Pillow -- No clue. There is no pillow in the box.
- Med. Corner misc. -- items I had in my "meditation corner" in my 2nd bedroom.
- Misc framed hickey carols -- Misc. framed hockey cards.
- inunse burng -- incense burner
- A + A wall thing -- a quilted Raggedy Ann and Andy wall decoration
- gutter / bath thing -- I have absolutely no idea. There were baths, yes, but no
gutters in my old place. Maybe "rubber wrist thing", i.e. my rubber wrist rest from my desk, but why the / mark? And the "bath" word doesn't start with a "w" .... No clue.
- green tassels -- decorations from my old 2nd bedroom.
- Han and Leia Dolls -- toys.
- 4600 Nilcn Box -- 4600 Nikon box; the box my camera came in.
- James's Tapes -- VHS copy of movies a friend made.
- Ruticles - VHS copy of the movie The Rutles.
- Phantoom Men -- VHS copy of the Phantom Menace
- Port. CD players + Cord -- Portable CD Players + Cord. About the only thing that's legible.
- Again bowls -- Asian bowls. Plastic bowls with Asian symbols on them.
- Fecund cill ph. -- Second cell phone.
I am glad I got into the box; I was wondering where my little CD players were, as well as my other cell phone, in case this one goes dead and I need another one while it charges.
Funny thing is, I was so proud of myself for taking the time to so laboriously label the boxes into which I was condensing things as I unpacked and got settled. I remember thinking, "Oh, this is good! I'll be able to find what's in here so quickly!"
But, I thought that a lot as I unpacked and repacked and got settled back in September. I can't remember where many things are now; I saw them...and then I didn't. And now I don't know where they are (my entire pirate Halloween costume has disappeared). I had one escapade where I found a frame that matched a collection of lighthouse photos, but I had a photo in it. My mother had given back to me me another photo from the same lighthouse series that I had given her to frame for herself, but had never found a home for it, and so I thought I'd put it with my own.
Over the long weekend I used to move in, I'd keep finding the photo, but not the frame; then I'd find the frame but didn't know where the photo was. I went around like that several times. I then, at one point, found the frame again (but didn't know where the photo was), and decided to put it away, just to keep it out of the way. I remember staring at it and thinking, "Okay, I'll remember it's here. Right here. I'll picture it in my head and I WILL REMEMBER -- !"
I put it away, and then, some time later, found the photo again, and quite delightedly thought, "Oh! Now I can frame it!" -- And then realized I had absolutely no idea where I'd put the frame. In my mind's eye, I saw myself staring at some box (plastic? Cardboard? Wooden? Plastic and decorated with Smurfs?) but the exact box wasn't clear. The frame wasn't with the other framed photos I'd packed away in a clear plastic box (the logical place), and beyond that ... no idea. So I left the photo out on the top of my dresser. It's still there, waiting for its home.
I came across the frame again tonight -- but I realized I have no place to put what's now in it; it's not a photo as I remembered, which could just go in with my the other loose photos I have stored in a plastic shoebox. It's a hockey card. It was a semi-valuable one I stumbled across in a card shop in San Jose when I lived there, and I'd gotten it for a cheap price. It had surprised me to discover I'd found the little gem quite by accident, and so I'd honored it by framing it.
So that means, because it's something I need to keep tidy and clean and in good shape, I can't just stick it some place. (Hmm...come to think of it, I have some other cards some place that are actually worth something. Where are they? -- ??? Ack...wait. I think I know.)
Ahem.
-- I can't just stick it some place, I was saying. So that means I have to keep it in the frame for now, and with the other framed hockey cards. Like with like and all that, for organizing. Which is what' I'd done before (it was in the box labled "framed hockey cards", but I'd remembered it being a photo. I suppose one could argue that a hockey card is technically just that, but -- not really. Which is why I didn't put it in the box with the other framed photos I couldn't hang up.
But -- whew. It's like I'm still moving, as my mother observed about herself, and about me finally getting my storage unit. I guess that's sort of why I still don't feel settled. It's hard to feel settled when you feel ... stuffed ... into your home.
With time, I'll get it all organized and in better shape. I've been wanting to for awhile, but I've been resistant, as I still felt like I was nursing a move-in hangover, and I didn't have anywhere to put it until now. But at least I now have the storage unit, and I can start getting things all shaped up.
I was going to put my boxes in the unit, but it's on the ground floor and opens to the outside, and so it's sort of damp. I have a bunch of really nice Rubbermaid Roughneck containers for it, and there's shelving in it already (nice sturdy metal-framed ones with wood for the shelves) where I can put other things, just not cardboard boxes that will start to rot over time. I did buy some nice vacuum seal storage bags for comforters and such, so those are stored nicely down there and are out of the linen closet.
I also had to put a bunch of my Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in another one of those bags down there. Most of you know, but not all, that I collect Raggedy Ann and Andy things. Or used to. Haven't in awhile (no storage room). But it was quite amusing; I ended up with a brick of Raggedies; one Annie is looking out, hair and face smooshed back so that she looks like she's riding with glee on the front of a supersonic Air Force jet.
I did also sweep up my terrace tonight; the debris from the Winter storm(s) -- the snow and then the windstorms that followed -- made a small disaster out there. However, it was nothing like my Dad's backyard; his yard looked like a small thermonuclear weapon went off and splintered about four Douglas Fir trees; his entire back yard was insulated with everything from tiny finger-sized branches, to ones taller than I am, and as thick as my upper arm. Many of the branches came down on his lovely rose bushes and his beautiful tulip tree. He remarked that the side yard, where he has many rhododendron and fern bushes, will take several years to nurse back to health.
They say it was the worst storm that Portland has had since 1908; I can believe it. I've never seen such weather in the 30 years I've been here. They had to limp snow plows down from Timberline lodge to help clear out Portland, and many dump trucks were molded into makeshift ones.
Even so; it was a bit embarassing to tell someone from Sweden that our whole city shut down from 16 inches or so of snow and ice. "I realize that's something your weather can sneeze at you in a few hours there," I said to him, when I felt his listening silence shift into a deeper irritation from not having received his package, "but we never get weather like this. It would be like you having to deal with a bonafide monsoon in summer. We just don't get weather like that."
He did laugh, at that, and, while still a bit frustrated that he'd have to wait another week or so for what he had ordered, he was understanding.
When it all melted away, it left a muddy, filthy mess. The layers of gravel that had been put down on fresh dumpings of snow and ice mixed and became thick, shuddery rolling messes that sent you skidding in your car for a few feet if you weren't careful. The gravel has since been cleaned up, but the dust it left behind is still blowing around, and we've now slipped into several days of an air stagnation warning. There's been absolutely no wind, not even anything to move the tallest trees, even though it's been sunny. I haven't heard my windchimes in days. The air's been downright stinky at times as smog from cars collects and goes nowhere, except in thin and soupy mists that hang around for longer than my lungs would like. I remarked to a friend that it was "like Los Angeles had moved to Portland."
There's been no in-between as of late. From a blizzard right out of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to downpours to windstorms to flooding to air stagnation warnings. Bleah. I'm done, thankyouverymuch. Let the balance of weather begin.
My beautiful geraniums are all dead from being frozen, and are now glurking with enough mold and mildew to make them look like creatures from some 1950s B movie; my palm tree looks like it's either dying or is dead. The top snapped off, and I think it just went kaput. The bamboo plants are all fine, though. A couple do look a bit sad and fretful with singed-looking leaves, but new shoots are coming out, so they're at least recovering.
I brought in my jasmine plants during the storm, and they're slowly coming back. They're even starting to shoot out new green armlets and even some new buds that will blossom into flowers. I'm happy about that.
Okay -- back to work. I can rest easily now that I know where my fecund cell phone is.
-- H
