up before the sun...

For some reason, I thought that an 8:15a dental appointment, in a city 40 minutes away would be a good thing.

And it was for these views of Falling Springs, with a blanket of fog over the valley in the background.

 The dental appointment went well.  Unexpected fillings to help protect teeth where my gums have receded from clenching my teeth too much.  More to be done next week.

I saw a thrift shop on the way that looked fun, but they weren't open today.

I may go back tomorrow just to "browse."

The drive alone is worth it.

this week...

 ...has been busy.  But not as busy as the next few will be.

The fabric arrived for the 100+ year old chair I purchased a few weeks ago, so I set about getting that project done.

The wood base for the seat looked like it was a slice from a very large tree that had separated by what were the "rings."  There was no glue between the layers that I could see or feel, and it wasn't any type of modern plywood.  I put wood glue between the layers and placed five heavy jugs of water on it to level out where age had warped the wood.  The chair will be a catch-all and not necessarily used for extra seating.  I wanted to keep the original wood because of the history and the stories the tree could tell.

Along with keeping the original wood, I also kept the natural cotton padding (top of above picture) that still had pieces of the plant in it.  The original fabric was the blue that had faded and darkened from dust, dirt and wear.  It was "tacked" to the wood with handmade steel tacks.  The burgundy striped fabric (seen on the chair in the original picture I posted on the 5th) was stapled, and those had rusted considerably.  There were no bugs in the padding, and I didn't see any reason to keep the old fabric once I used it for a template to cut the new fabric.

The print was larger than I expected, but I still love it.  I had it printed on a durable upholstery denim and purchased it from Spoonflower. [<link]

The base for my mattress arrived.  This was actually a Rodger-rigged project.  The head- and footboard are also 100ish years old, and while it came with side rails, there were no slats to rest my mattress (from a box) on, and I didn't think it would stay on the rails alone.  Box springs don't seem to be made or marketed like they once were, and this setup is actually intended to rest on the floor.  I used zip ties to secure it to the rails once it was all together.  I still feel the need to put a box or something underneath it in the center just for added support, but I'm trying to figure out what that will be.

All finished.  His Highness, Charles, gets his own pillow to sleep on, and The Queen, Gracie, will sleep on the pillow behind him.  It is the only time that Charlie tolerates her presence so close to him.

💔💔💔💔

Tuesday morning, I learned that my nephew Justin's remains had been found in Utah.  Identification was confirmed with dental records, so he likely died in December 2023 not long after he went missing.  It was not the outcome we had hoped for, but it at least gives closure to his family.  His 38th birthday would have been Sunday, and his son just turned 14 in January this year.

💔💔💔💔

If you know someone living on the edge right now, please don't wait until they disappear to try and touch base with them.  Reach out now. Ask how they are.  Listen.  Just listen.  

Should'a, could'a, would'as are the worst part of hindsight.

With hugs and love... Ci💚

not dead yet ....

   Alexander was about to order room service at the latest luxury hotel he managed to find in his journey to find Kael and the other wood elves when he decided it was high time that he actually visited the three-star Michelin ranked restaurant in this particular hotel for a change.  Room service was all well and good, but that night he was in high spirits and felt deserving of being served rather than serving himself.

  As much as he put on airs to be some sort of well-educated aristocrat, Alexander's table manners were more similar to his gnoll heritage.  Chewing with his mouth open, with food falling out, he was ignorant to the other guests of the restaurant nudging each other or requesting to be moved to another table away from him.  The maître d'hôtel saw what was happening as guests would point to him or laugh on the side and watched like a hawk to be sure that none of his waiters were mocking Alexander.

  It would be just like the inspectors who "dish out" the Michelin stars to put a honey bait of a repulsive diner to test the restaurant's staff into making a mistake that could cost them their ranking.  Distracted by the sight of Alexander eating, he didn't see one of their wealthiest and most prestigious guests arrive with a companion on each arm, and six other notably famous friends.  They stood silent, waiting for the maître d' to acknowledge them, before they saw what he was glowering at.  Their eyes widened at the spectacle Alexander was making of his meal before their host for the evening loudly exclaimed that perhaps it was time they find a new place to eat if the restaurant had lowered its standards to allow pigs to dine.

  The maître d' spun his head so quickly, they heard his neck crack, and he blushed a deep red, apologizing profusely for Alexander and offering to seat them in a private room.  But the damage was done, and the nine were already out the door, with several of the women posting to social media their disgust and disappointment as his words fell in the air.  This would be worse than an anonymous Michelin inspector, the maître d' thought as he tried to remember the last time he had to look for a job and whether or not his resume had been updated in the past two decades.

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent. To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date. You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.

sounds before morning coffee

background noise at the beginning of the clip is the hot water warming for my coffee.

Calliope has the tiniest little girl meow, while her brother Oliver has the deeper meow.

Lucy appears at the beginning of the clip in the background and is the angry hiss and spit in the middle of the clip.

video ended when my phone dropped in the chaos.

last week...

The waterfall buffet has evolved from boho witchy ^ to Art Nouveau glam.

Tuesday after physical therapy, I had planned to go into the new art & craft shop I found the week before.

But.... I spotted some used furniture in a shop I had forgotten was on the same street and got side tracked.

Which I'm grateful for, but it also came with a hiccup which I'll explain in a moment.

First ... I got a gorgeous Art Deco period waterfall bedroom set that matches what I already have.

This footboard ^ was HEAVY and came with a matching headboard.

Four drawer tall dresser with mirror.  Handles match the cabinet that I just got a few weeks ago.

The nightstand now has a new era appropriate knob (and not this random oriental theme knob). It is now a printer stand and paper storage.  While I love the waterfall style, my current nightstand has two LARGE drawers and is wider/not as tall and suits my needs better.

This extra wide catch-all chair will be recovered with the fabric below.

My sister brought me these two paintings that had been in Mom's stuff.

They were painted by her (Mom's) grandfather (so my great-grand).

I got frames for them and now have them hung.

morning...

Sunrise coffee.

A chilly 45 degrees.

Friends, old and new.

Canadian geese, unseen in the fog,

Heading south and sounding off in formation.

A ruby-throated hummingbird buzzes by me,

Grateful I've kept feeders out for her.

Tap tap tap, and the call of a woodpecker,

I watch as it hops up and down the old,

Dead tree by the edge of the not Dry Creek.

if I were a betting man...

   Several days after their near encounter with the spotted black caped elves, Lyri noticed that Thalion had been especially quiet since leaving that part of the forest.  Finding him at the edge of a creek while she was gathering wood for their evening fire, she sat beside him.

  "Do you still hear Vondran's voice in your head or in your dreams?"

  Thal continued looking at the water, watching tadpoles in the shallows.  "No, and it is starting to worry me.  What if all of it was just my imagination, and I've put our lives in danger?"

  She put a hand on his arm to comfort him.  "It hasn't been your imagination.  Elder Elowin confirmed some of the things that he had told you before we left.  You mustn't let doubt enter your thoughts, Thal.  I know we've put a lot of pressure on you to lead us.  Perhaps we should rest another day or two here."

  Thal nodded, and Lyri left him to his thoughts and returned to where Eldrin and Kael were setting up makeshift lean-tos as they did every evening.

~*~*~

  While the elves were sleeping on the ground for their part of the journey, Alexander was choosing more modern amenities for his portion.  Five-star hotels were far and few between, but he would rather not settle for less so long as he was still able to meet with the gnoll's Chieftan each evening before he slept.

  Now, Alexander and the elves traveled by day and the gnoll's by night.  In the beginning, he had kept the same schedule as the gnolls and traveled at night.  But sleep evaded him during the day, and after a particularly bad case of influenza which took all of his physical strength and left him bedridden for a week, he realized that he could no longer drive at night.  He may have had gnoll DNA, but his body and organs were weakly human.

  His original anger and desire to destroy Kael and all the wood elves had manifested into a small, pea-sized bilirubin pigment stone, the color of pumpkin orange, in his gallbladder.  For now, its presence was only an occasional twinge in his right side that went away after three or six shots of bourbon.  But as the days passed without any sign of the elves, and Alexander's evening "nightcap" increasing in frequency during the day, there came another, as the original stone became larger.

  There was now a race within Alexander's body that his mind was thus far unaware of.  Would he die of an infection caused by the stones?  Would he die of a heart attack from the stress of the journey?  Or would the gnoll Chieftan finally have enough and make a meal of him?

  The gnolls were already placing bids for his appendages, and bets for how much longer Alexander would live....

 [This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent. To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date. You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.