Three weeks until I leave for New York, and then Los Angeles. Within this time I hope to get all of my pre-job search and resume things together (I have attended nine colleges, so assembling a set of transcripts is quite a task), get my front yard landscaping in place and growing, and get my new stand-up material set arranged in my mind. There are some comedy clubs here, and it seems like a good place to practice. My concern is that the audiences tend to be, well, people who live here, and they are not my target. Oh well, it won't hurt to try. 

My new driveway is in, and I immediately had to tell my roommate to NOT park there. I had the drive put in for several reasons, one being that the existing driveway was a good distance from the front door, quite a hike for visitors. I had extended the old drive so that she could park more out of my way, but she left her car in the front drive all night last night. It doesn't matter who parks there overnight, just so that they are gone early in the morning. I hope I made my point to her.

I am doing so many housekeeping tasks, and I have to admit that it is not so much fun keeping a house for yourself, as it is for a family. But, life comes to us in stages, or phases, and this phase is my solo outing. To every thing there is a season...

Better Days are Happening

  My house is looking more and more like a human being lives in it. This weekend my son and his family came to visit, and all of the furniture in the garage got moved to places in the house where it belonged. He, also, brought me some bookcases he had made (neat), a cabinet, a rocking chair, and gifts of a hand truck (for moving heavy things), a dolly (same use), and a tool set that has everything from a hammer and measuring tape to sockets and picture-hangers. I get the feeling that he is anticipating that I will be spending a lot more time on my own.

  I kinda get that feeling, too, sometimes, as much as I would like, and miss, having a best friend/boyfriend to share my life with. The truth is, that at my age, 59, it is very difficult to interface with another adult on the many levels required for a close relationship. Hence, we see, and will continue to see, more, people in mid-life and beyond, living alone. I just do not really want to be one of those, but as I have met a large number of potential mates over the past two years, I have to say that being alone is preferable to feeling like you are imprisoned in an unsuitable relationship.

  So, I realize that I will need to find a job, or even two "little" jobs, to supplement my small income. But I am feeling a lot better about having my home, now. It is looking better, and I am enjoying having a decent space to call my own. After two years living in other people's homes, I do see the upside of being able to determine how you live. It's a good thing.

  My son chopped down a dead tree in my yard. We are sure that the previous neighbors deliberately killed the tree. They were rednecks who got in over their head in the house, left, but spent much of their time here stealing the tangerines from my tree. When I asked the mother to stop doing that, she accused me of not "sharing, because there is plenty for all."  I told her that I would share the ones that I brought over to her, but that neither she nor the children were to take them. So, soon after they moved away, the tree began a downhill process of dying, while every other tree within miles flourished. 

  It is nice that the home is vacant, and the hedges that we both planted almost completely block the home. The times have changed, for the better.