Sub Alpine Pine - Echo Lake, CO

It’s been almost a full 2 weeks now since we moved into the new house which is still undergoing renovation construction.  Needless to say, it’s a challenge to live without kitchen facilities – but we are oh so close.  We now have counter tops, a sink with faucet, lights and our appliances will be delivered this Thursday which hopefully means that we will have a functional kitchen by next weekend.  Yesterday, we also moved our daughter out of our bedroom into her own – whew – I no longer have to circumvent her mattress and myriad of stuffed animals and blankies to get to my side of the bed.  (Yes – 11, almost 12 year olds still have lovies…Jasmine would be mortified if she knew I told anyone! ;D)

Meanwhile, Jasmine and I have both started school and are in full swing.  She loves Japanese – though I can’t make heads or tails of the language myself.  As long as she gets it, that’s all that is important.  I have already been on 1 field trip into nature and am heading out this morning to Mt. Evans with my Landscape Ecology class.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Colorado, Mt. Evans is one of Colorado State’s ‘14 rs’ – meaning that elevation at the summit is over 14,000′ above sea level.  We  have to leave early because weather normally sets in after 12pm making the visit very uncomfortable and also potentially dangerous.  I personally have no desire to be up close and personal with lightening at 14,000′.  We also have to visit this alpine/montane region now because the road to the summit closes next weekend due to snow.  Yikes, did I say snow?  I sure hope that I have enough clothing along today!

Hope everyone has a terrific week,

Cynthia

Today is the day!  Well sort of….  A moving company is coming to take most of our stuff away today.  We are actually going to camp in our house with the dogs over the weekend and will physically move into the new house on Monday.  Why?  The bathroom isn’t quite ready yet.  And, while I tried to rally the troops to camp at the new house (with out-house in the alley, primitive water source at the outside faucet and all) the rest of my gang weren’t into it.  Somehow it’s more romantic when camping in nature vs. urban setting.

Lucky me won’t be here when the movers arrive because I am attending part 2 of orientation at the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver – but rest assured, I contributed to the moving/packing effort.  I’ll return to an empty house around noon and can look forward to a leisurely weekend before school starts on Monday.  I’ve mentioned before that I frequently fantasize about living minimally and now I’ll get my chance! ;D

Later,

Cynthia

It looks like we will be moving out of our current home August 14th thanks to a newly signed rental application and that’s almost exactly 2 weeks from now in case you’re wondering whether I’ve done the math correctly or not.  I’m not really too worried about moving our household contents since we’ve been purging on and off for the past few months and have even started packing and bringing stuff over to the new house.

Side one of garagio with wheel and "stuff" everywhere

I am worried about my “garagio” though….  One quick look at the photos and I can only exclaim in French (because it’s so much more dramatique), “Quelle horreur!  Mon Dieu – q’est quon peut faire avec cette spectacle?”

Side 2 where I normally hand build

I had visions of cranking out a bit more work before the move, but alas, it is not to be so.  Most likely I won’t return to the clay studio until September at the earliest.  It’s a relief to have the house rented, but now comes the unglamorous part of serious packing, moving, cleaning etc.  We are moving to a larger space which includes a oversized 2 car garagio – which translates to a more spacious area for me.  I am also going to be selling an old make that ancient Paragon electric kiln (the same as this ebay listing) that still fires to cone 6 before the move – better write that Craigslist ad.  My firings will be less frequent since it will take more time for me to fill the Skutt 1027, but it makes sense to downsize since I am no longer teaching and anticipate less studio time since I’m going back to school.  First day of school for me is the 17th of August.  Sometimes when it rains, it pours….

I have canceled my commitment to participate in the Farmer’s Market this coming weekend – I think my husband has visions of cleaning out the garage instead.

Meanwhile, we’ve picked out tile, bath fixtures for the bathroom and carpeting for the basement in the last couple of days.  This was fairly easy since I already knew exactly what I envisioned for the house.  It’s a 1911 vintage home and I’m going all white with subway tile for the shower surround and a octagon mosaic like style for the floor.  Pretty traditional and a neutral backdrop for a vintage home.

I’m so trying not to stress right now,

Cynthia

There is nothing better than fresh pesto...

made with basil growing right outside the back door.

sweet Italian basil

Since I knew we were planning to move, I only planted one type of basil this year unlike last summer when I had lemon, sweet, Thai and one other type that I can’t recall off the top of my foggy head since I haven’t yet made a dent in my morning coffee.

There are so many recipes for pesto, but I make a fairly simple version for which I just estimate ingredients:

1000 Patterns by Drusilla Cole

Last week, I picked up 1000 Patterns by Drusilla Cole from the library to use as a bit of inspiration for both the upcoming home remodel/move and for design ideas for pottery decoration.  I had a chance to thumb through the book yesterday and it’s pretty cool – it’s interesting to read about the history of fabric designs and patterns and how classic ones have remained strong throughout the centuries.  Personally, I am mostly drawn to the more primitive ones from Polynesia, other parts of Asia and Africa for their simple, often bold graphics and limited use of color.  The book itself is well organized – I just wish many of the photos were larger.

Meanwhile, not much happening in the way of clay this week after all.  We are showing our home to potential tenants 3 times this weekend and I’ve been cleaning in preparation.  Last night, my hubby and I started the task of going through the main floor of the home, looking for items to pack, keep and/or donate.  I can see that my desire to purge stuff is going to be more difficult than I imagined.  For every 2 items I put in the purge pile, my hubby yanked 1 of them out and exclaimed, “I like this – we can’t get rid of this….” – despite said item sitting neglected in a cupboard for the past 5 years.

After reading Linda’s post yesterday about going minimal and following one of her links to zenhabits about creating a less cluttered home – I tried reasoning with my husband.  “If we haven’t touched it in a year baring special or emotional attachments, let’s give it away.”  But apparently, my husband has emotional attachments to everything including a growing match-book collection (we don’t smoke and certainly don’t burn enough candles to require so many), pewter mugs (never used), paper beer logo coasters (dime a dozen), misc. tschotskes (many are mine and I say they go), etc. etc.  Needless to say, he’s afraid to come home from work now-a-days for fear of what will be missing.

Then I boldly made a new rule, “In the future, whenever we buy anything new – something has to leave the house in its place.”  He seemed agreeable since destashing is easier when done on a smaller scale (although the rule is more about maintaining the status quo).  We live in a small home and we just don’t have room or the storage space for a lot of stuff – my vice is of course clay stuff, art supplies and books.  After we finished boxing up a good 4 boxes of items bound for ARC, I remarked at how easy it would be to move if we truly lived a minimalist existence – imagine just moving furniture?

Of course as human beings, we collect stuff or are we really collecting and preserving memories?  Being a sentimental type myself,  I keep more than my fair share of stuff including a gallery of my daughter’s art work since birth, cards, photos, art & pottery, family linens, letters, books and more.  I am trying get better at editing my stuff, but in the end, who am I keeping this for if I don’t use it on a regular basis?  My daughter?  Me?  If our memories live in our heads anyway, why do we need a physical reminder?  I don’t have the answer and am just thinking out loud.  Similarly, you may recall that my step mother gave me some of my Dad’s stuff that she had been keeping since he died in 1982 such as his wallet, some photos a letter and some more ephemera.  I didn’t miss it before I knew about it, but now I have it in my possession and can’t throw it away either.  Ironically, my step-mom now feels comfortable giving his stuff away after all these years – yet it’s one more memory and connection for me to my dead father.  Oy vey!

So question – are you a collector or comfortable with memories living only in your head?

Cynthia

Err, um, Mom…are you okay if I get rid of the silver goblets you gave me a few years ago?  Or do you want them back – seems I don’t really have use for them after all.