Going, going, gone!

June 30/11.

Drum roll please! The sign now officially says SOLD! Thanks for everything Sinisa! Congrats. You did it!

One more week and a new owner takes over the house.
Today was another moving day. (in more ways than one). Several of those are still to come. Gotta get everything out of the house. Our friend, Tina, (sister of Carrie's boyfriend, Paul), and her partner, Bill, came back with a rented truck to pick up more items to furnish their new country place.

Lee's old bed. "Cut, print, moving on"!!

Paul, Tina and Carrie moving Lee's old bed into the van. (it was taken to Mum's place when we hired a caregiver for her, but now, it's going into storage at Carrie and Lee's place again). - Something tells me Paul is getting tired of moving it from here to there to here!
One of the big jobs today? Packing all of Mum's hundreds of coil notebook diaries from the basement, into my car and into storage in our garage till we can figure out what to do with them all. Ever-cheerful Lee, carted most of the boxes up to the car for transport.

Lee is one of the few people who truly understands the importance, value and history of these carefully kept journals. He and his Gramma had a close relationship and he watched her write in these notebooks every day for years.

When I asked Lee today what he thought she'd feel about us keeping all of these personal notebooks, he responded, calmly, "She'd probably have a panic attack." The answer took me aback, as I'd ALMOST put those dreaded panic attacks out of my mind for the moment, but he's right. On one hand, she'd be happy we're keeping them to read, but on the other, she'd be freaking, wondering what we'll think of everything she had to say! Don't worry Mum! We will treasure your words forever. No matter what you wrote! You were always a brilliant writer/archivist.

Not sure Bill was thrilled with having every moment chronicled! - (Sorry Bill, you work with the Lorings, you get blogged! Just part of the deal).
Felt sad to say goodbye to this piece. I can actually "FEEL" what it was like to open the doors.

Through our youth, it held every LP we ever loved, including The Beatles, The Chipmunks, The Monkees! (and every other "critter-record"!)

Today's team. - (left to right) - Paul & me (back row), Lee, Carrie, Tina & Bill (front row).
Miraculously, in the midst of all the moving today, Mum's beloved pigeons, (who flew the coop weeks ago), suddenly returned! We haven't fed them in quite a while, but I think they must have instinctively felt things are shutting down, and decided to check back in. (Since Mum still has half a massive bag of birdseed, we gave them what they wanted!)

After I got home from Mum's, Max helped me load all of Mum's journals into the garage to store for a while. Minutes later, my cousin, Marilyn (new Gramma!), called me from her cell in Withrow Park, (where she was walking her dog, Kalou), and asked if I could wander down and see her. It's been TOO long, between house problems here and a new baby there! I strolled down and hung out with her in the "dog park" for half an hour. Great to see her! She just finished her latest TV art direction job and is dealing with all the trials of "grandmotherhood."

While in the park, all hell broke loose with the many dogs.

Since I have SO many problems taking clear photos, Marilyn (photog expert), tried to help with my settings and tested out a shot with Kalou and me in the park. - (that is one big tongue Kalou!) - But the shot seems crystal clear, compared to the blurry ones I take!!

I mean, I rest my case! - ("automatic" - BLUR CITY!! What the hell?????)
Meanwhile, I try not to talk about pain on the blog too much - (at least, physical pain). But tonight, got plenty of it.

64 days since surgery and pain still not great. Haven't taken drugs in many weeks, but am starting to wonder if the pain will EVER really subside. Only three days till I'll be seen by the radiation oncologist. Maybe SHE'LL have some suggestions!

Well, it's after 1 a.m. now and I'm exhausted. Gotta get some rest for the big sale tomorrow! (why do I do these things?) As my Dad would say, "Night night!" Gotta go make some sandwiches now - for lunch at the sale. Cheers everybody!