It has been raining like crazy here (or like they say in the UK - raining cats and dogs) and last night there was even thunder and lightning. I am spending some time at the Oregon coast. It is easy to feel a bit down when the weather is this heavy.
I have to force myself to go outside and do something. It is going to be raining for the next five or six months so it is what it is.
I saw a pair of Bearpaw boots at Ross the other day. Ross is a great store here in the US, you can find all kinds of things there at a reduced price. There was only one pair left in my size, size 8. But I decided to wait a day......the thought was that if the boots were there the following day then I would get them. I did not think they would be since I saw them Saturday and that is a busy day for shopping, I went back yesterday and there they were, so I got them. Why not. $38. These are not for wet weather though. Fake fur of course. I am anti real fur. Absolutely no to real fur.
Then I had to admire the colors of the trees for a bit. I took a moment in between errands. Nature is so spectacular.
I saw this sign outside a bar. Funny.
Today I drove out to the beach. There was a break in the rain and the sun peeked through.
I saw this......it was way more amazing in reality. This picture does not make it justice. I almost expected an angel or something to appear, it was that majestic. Crepuscular rays.
And far out there I spotted something that looked like a building of some sort on a rock. Indeed it is, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse aka Terrible Tilly. About one mile out in the ocean.
https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/culture-history/historic-sites-oregon-trail/the-mystery-of-terrible-tilly/
Now I am going to spend the next few hours reading. Then sleep. Feeling a bit down and anxious, trying to not feel this way.
Back in December I did a photo shoot. Here are a few of the pictures from it. They ended up in three (supposedly?) magazines. I have two of the magazines, Gezno and Range, the third I know nothing about.
When I arrived at the photographer's place I met the other person that was there for the shoot as well. It is good that I am not shy. We stripped down and got covered in glitter, me in gold and the other model in silver.
I REALLY like the text for "We Are All Stardust." So pretty.
There were some other pics of me alone and the both of us in the magazines. And here are two that did not end up in print.
Seeing the end result I should had paid more attention to detail when applying the glitter, there are areas on me that are not covered which shows in the pictures and the glitter fell of as well during the shoot when I was moving around. Also, I should had put some light glitter on my face.
Photographer Kara Cooper.
Today I went to look at Ole Bolle Troll at Nordia House, a beautiful place in SW Portland. The troll has been there for a couple of months now and there are five more trolls to be found around here in the Pacific Northwest. All made from recycled material by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. Very impressive.....Ole Bolle looks great. I have read many troll tales in my days.
"There’s something in the air that something makes my belly rumble
Something smells so strong it hits me almost makes me stumble
Could it be the little people cooking something smelly
In their cooking jar, so I can put them in my belly"
From thomasdambo.com
Today as we know.....is Halloween. It is a bit past 10 pm and I am in bed. Doing nothing tonight. Besides eating and laying in bed. Which makes for a close to perfect evening if you ask me. Add a two hour massage and it would be a perfect evening.
But Happy Halloween! I love Halloween. Anything spooky, haunted houses, fairy tales, ghost stories.....that is what I like.
Let me show you some pictures from this last week. October is coming to an end.....the nights are cold now. Yesterday's full moon - the Hunter's Moon.
I keep spreading BRC Weekly around. By the way, the art theme for Burning Man 2024 is Curiouser & Curiouser.
Feeling curious about what this might mean? Read about it here......
https://journal.burningman.org/2023/10/philosophical-center/the-theme/2024-curiouser-curiouser/
I have been sharing my morning lattes with Kaya. She is so pretty. It is sweater time in the mornings.
I brought this growing avocado plant inside today. It somehow grew this tall......from an avocado pit that I planted in my backyard.
Sunday evening.....I am underneath my electric blanket (like the best thing ever). My plans for this evening......quiet time and reading.
There are some things on my Barf List. Littering is one. Another is how people handle their trash. In the rather small apartment complex I live it seems like majority of the tenants have zero clue about how to throw away their trash and how to recycle, this is very difficult for them to comprehend. Even though there are instructions posted on what goes where and how to bag and dispose of the trash in the garbage and recycle area, clearly written in English. As far as I know I am the only non American living here and I can read and understand the instructions. Bagging the trash in the appropriate trash bag and tying the bag? That is too much to ask. Just throw away half turkeys (?) not in a bag, put trash in the recycling bins, recyclables in the trash bins, plastic in the glass only bin, glass bottles and glass jars in the bins where the glass should not go, chunks of meat in the yard debris bins......whatever.
Food waste. Like WTF is this? Did you just buy a whole salad only to throw it away? Packages of unopened salad dressing just put there to be discarded. Lots of left overs here. I very rarely throw away food. Food scraps in the form of potato peels or apple cores, bell pepper cores etc go back into nature. Is is frightening how much good food is thrown away daily. It is disrespectful to the animals that died in order to end up at someone's plate. I feel the same way about fruits and vegetables. Something grew and I decided to eat it, so I will do my best to honor that. And then of course.....some people would be extremely grateful if they did not have to go hungry. And some people just don't give a fuck.
Public laundromats........yikey. One of the laundromats I used to go to (I do not have a washer and dryer in my apartment) had warm water, like a bit warmer than lukewarm half of the time even when I selected and paid for hot water. Yes, hot water costs more. I pointed that out but these places are not always staffed so there is like nobody to talk to about an issue most of the time. Plus they told me that they never clean the washers on the inside. They considered the washers to be clean enough due to laundry being done. Whaaaaaat? So I found another laundromat, in a "nice" area. They supposedly clean the washers here on the inside once a month. Wow. Progress I guess.
There are often some colorful individuals there......doing their thing. The super wash with hot water is $4.25 for 22 minutes. At least three of those minutes go to the washer filling up with water, draining the water and then the spin cycle. Do clothes get clean in 19 minutes or less? I don't think so.
This is not how Swedish tvättstuga worked when I lived in Sweden. The hot water is always HOT and I don't know if 22 minutes is even an option. That is like a pre-soak.
Since a while now I have been doing my laundry at a friend's house, she has a very nice full size washer with no agitator and a nice dryer. THANK YOU dear friend, my life has improved because of this. My laundry comes out clean and fresh. It really does make a difference where and how you do laudry. I like my stuff a certain kind of clean when I do laundry and laundromats can be very gross.......apparently I am not the only one that think so.
I love reading on Reddit, so many topics to dive into. Anyhow.....I had to copy one of the responses. It could had been me writing this except I would had added that the guy took his clothes off, everything and briefly stood around nekkid before he found a pair of pants to step into. Later he needed help to zip up his back pack so I helped him of course. Good thing I am not a pearl clutcher. I mean, I get it......You had to wash the pants you were wearing so you took them off, after all we are all naked underneath our clothes. Perhaps I should get naked at the laundromat as well but charge $, then I can use whatever I make to do my laundry. $4.25 is kind of a lot.
"When I lived in Portland I was doing my laundry at a local laundry mat and this homeless guy who was well known in the area with hair so dirty it formed thick disgusting dreads that his his skin infected, hairy face. You could literally smell this man coming from at least six blocks away if the wind shifted. I’m not kidding or trying to be rude I do feel for his situation in such a damp area. Even having access to clean clothes out there feels like they are always damp even out the dryer. Anyway I watched him come into the laundry mat and load his sleeping bag and other clothes all reeking with filth into a dryer and dry them so he could be warm…. These places are unintended and homeless people will take advantage of whatever they can and I’m not judging them for that, it’s really not their fault but it’s a reality. I made sure not to use the same dryer but I left Oregon with a skin infection regardless and I’d never had that issue in my life. I knew I couldn’t be sure he hadn’t already used every dryer in the place over time without them being cleaned I mean it was a crapshoot."
I do NOT use the dryers at laundromats for this very reason. Prior to using my friend's washer and dryer that is. I take all the clothes home, hang dry most. IKEA has good drying racks. Anything that needs to go in the dryer I take back home and put in the two dryers the tenants in my complex have access to. I am fairly certain that the tenants here put their laundry through the wash before putting it in one of the dryers.
Today Britney's story came out in book form - The Woman In Me. This is a memoir and a ghostwriter was used. A lot of the content is all over the internet so I did not get the book, yet at least. But I did go to the bookstore today to look at the book.
I love Britney. Have you seen her early performances? She was so amazing! I saw her in Vegas in 2015......yes pictures from the concert are in the blog of course. Here......
https://fargosisters.com/styx/archives/2436-Its-Britney,-Bitch.html
Lots of writings about Britney almost daily in the media. All I can say is that nobody knows what she went through......so I don't have anything bad to say about her. It seems to me like she has been mistreated by many. Besides....I REALLY like Britney, there is something about her. I hope she will live her best life and be happy.
