Yes, it’s been a hot minute. Lots going on behind the scenes, only about a single atom’s worth I can post here.
My oldest daughter moved back from the Midwest and in with us, bringing both of her boys with her. It was… challenging. To say the least. G was a pissy mood, and I’m just damned tired. I drove her back to her house in the middle of nowhere last week. Much as I love the kids and the grandkids, I’m grateful they seem to have forged a new way forward. I guess now that her on-the-way-to-be-ex is on the radar of CPS, she’s got ammo to keep him away.
My grandson with ADHD and PTSD (that’s the official diagnosis to date) is in a literal better place. They’re far enough out if he bolts into the street, his risk of being hit by a car is infinitesimally small. He has lots of room to play and toys and equipment specifically designed to let him safely work out his excessive energy.
With the kids here, there was no space or energy to do anything – no photography, no sewing, nothing.
Adding insult to injury, my laptop was in the shop.
Again.
For nearly a full month.
This time, the delay was because Lenovo had to wait for parts. (Tariffs are so much fun and so helpful. Amiright?) One nice perk after all the delays: the laptop after repairs is about 80% new. Lenovo replaced the keyboard, the palm rest part surroundinig the keyboard, the motherboard, and the screen.
The skies haven’t been cooperative lately, and neither has my health – so we also haven’t done any photography drives for a while.
Lucky for me, my Pixel phone has a decent camera. This corner at the end of the hall holds a few of my favorite things, and doesn’t require cloudy skies or driving for miles to take it.
G and I love vintage goodies better than new. With a few exceptions, vintage is nearly always superior – and ALWAYS has more character.
The last drive we took, we didn’t go very far, but took some of our garage-sale finds with us for props.
This isn’t the most vintage or character-heavy hat we’ve collected, but it worked with this rugged fence post. It was one of the better recent days for light I like the end result and its slightly dreamy quality.
Driving comes with another downside. On the way back from taking the kids to their house last weekend, Stormtrooper’s window got unplanned decoration via a stray rock. Ugh. Not enough to get the windshield replaced this time (I hope) but definitely too big to let it go. Next weekend we get to drive into the Phoenix metro to get it repaired.
It was a weird one-off. I wasn’t on a dirt road and there was almost no traffic around. Small car passed going the other direction and PING! A star bloomed near the dashboard. Hopefully it won’t get worse before we can get it fixed. Imost definitely don’t want to drive to Tucson to get the windshield replaced again.
All my whining aside – perspective.
As annoying and challenging as things have been, at least we don’t live in London, Kentucky.
