Parking and Polishing

"A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works." - Bill Vaughan

I know, last spring, I swore on this very blog that I wouldn't do the rummage sale at my mom's nursing home again but even as I said it, I knew I would probably get sucked back in.  The sale that's normally held before Christmas was advanced to next weekend this year.  So for the past two weeks, I've been trying to get things ready for the sale.  The truth is that I've been working on this sale for the last five months.  Because we had so few donations the past couple of sales, I didn't want to be caught again scrambling for something to sell to make the residents happy.  So for months, I've been buying grab bags of used jewellery from Value Village, never quite sure of what I'll find but optimistic that there will be enough to create a solid inventory after I've spent hours cleaning, sorting, repairing, pricing and displaying the pieces.  It has actually been quite interesting.  You would be amazed by what people toss into a Value Village bag without any seeming clue of its value.  I've bought $6 bags that contained about $2 of salvageable goods.  And I've bought $2 bags that contained a $100 dollars in goods.  Apparently many people aren't familiar with silver polish.  I've found many sterling items - chains, lockets, earrings, rings and bracelets that required little more than a dip and a polish to restore them to their original beauty.  One pair of earrings were set with lovely, genuine amethyst stones.  There have been lots of Swaroski crystal items and many, many watches that people decided weren't worth the change of a battery.  Each new bag is like a treasure hunt.

After these months of collecting, I came to learn that in the last couple of weeks, a whole lot of donations have come in.  Some of the pieces are very old and very beautiful.  Most needed a fair bit of work.  Someone passed along a whole lot of Mexican silver, all great pieces and all in need of serious cleaning.  So today I headed to mom's nursing home to put in a day of sale preparation.  The weather is terrible and in my haste to get from my car into the building, I forgot to put my parking permit on the dashboard.  When I remembered a couple of hours later, I braved the hurricane winds and lashing rain to run back to my car to put it out.  Too late.  There was a ticket on my windshield for $69.75.  It took some grovelling to get that ticket cancelled.

Tomorrow I will head back to try to finish things up.  I feel terrible about it, but I won't be at the sale on Saturday to help Nan.  Months ago I planned a long weekend trip with some friends to Las Vegas.  I want to get as much done as possible to set everything up so Nan can just put it out.  It's going to be hard enough for her to manage selling without me.  She will ask a friend to help her out but we've done it so many times together now, that we're like a well oiled machine.  And the sale is always frenetic.

I'll be wishing her luck on Saturday and hoping for a little of my own.  Shopping, a couple of shows, good meals and time with some girlfriends will make me feel like a winner whether or not the slots pay off in Vegas.

The Cage of Madwomen

"The best of times is now.
What's left of Summer
But a faded rose?
The best of times is now.
As for tomorrow,
Well, who knows? Who knows? Who knows?
So hold this moment fast,
And live and love
As hard as you know how.
And make this moment last,
Because the best of times is now,
Is now, is now.
Now, not some forgotten yesterday.
Now, tomorrow is too far away."
- Lyrics from The Best of Times in La Cage aux Folles 

I caught the subway to meet Cath downtown so we could go together to see La Cage aux Folles.  Our husbands are enjoying a boys weekend at Belmont Lake and as Merv had no particular desire to see this production in our subscription series, I took Cath instead.    I don't take the subway very often but it is an interesting place to watch people.  I was struck tonight by the commonality of the eight people who were seated around me on the Sheppard line.  They were clearly of different ethnic origins and probably represented a range of socio-economic classes.  But they all had three things in common.  They were all young and all had earbuds in their ears and were all engaged with their phones.  I started to think about that a little.  I wonder what it says about a generation of people who are plugged in but tuned out.  They are oblivious to the things around them - the here and now of the world.  And I wonder when it happened that young people began to feel the need to be entertained every moment of everyday.

Before we went to the Royal Alex for the play, Cath and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Baroote's.  I indulged in a succulent lobster potpie and treated myself to a glass of prosecco.  Then it was off to the theatre.  I'm not sure how old George Hamilton is but my guess is that at the very least he's pushing seventy.  He's not much of a singer but he looks good and he can still move.  The show was fun, not a stellar production but certainly an entertaining way to pass a few hours. A couple of the songs were catchy and in spite of the levity, were actually quite profound.   It was a fun night, a good night. And as the song reminded me, the best of times is now.

Legal (Dis)Ease

"The trouble with law is lawyers." - Clarence Darrow

My day yesterday was spent in an employment law summit that so nearly bored me to death, I imagined it would be less painful to stick pins in my eyes.  That being said, I needed the continuing professional development hours to keep my paralegal license current so I stayed.  The seminar hall had emptied by half when we resumed after the lunch break.  Once you've paid your money and checked in at the registration desk in the morning, there is no need to prove that you actually attended the sessions.  One could presume that those who left returned promptly to their offices and watched the sessions on the webcast.  But if you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida I'd like to talk to you about.  I did have a few moments when I considered skipping out.  No one would have known other than me.  But that was the problem.  I would have known I didn't really put the hours in and so I could not, in all good conscience have claimed them toward my requirements.  Pesky thing, that conscience of mine.

I sincerely hope the next program I attend in a couple of weeks on social media and employment has a little more meat on the bones.  The programs are expensive and I'd sure like to get more out of them than just meeting my CPD hours requirements.

The ravine behind our house moved from golden to burnt orange this week.  It's really quite lovely.  I've been thinking about digging out some carnelian stones from my inventory and making a few new pieces.  If memory serves me correctly, there are even a few orange pearls left from one of last year's projects and some citrine stones as well.  I'm sure with a little thought and some inspiration, I will figure out how to reflect the ravine vista in a necklace or two.

The Pink Tree

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"  -  Hal Borland

I love these autumn mornings when I wake up and see the changing leaves greet me from our bedroom window. We've been promised a colourful display this year and so far I am not disappointed.  The ravine is glorious, much of it still green but also a brilliant golden yellow and a rich scarlet red.  Yesterday when brewing my morning coffee, I looked out the kitchen window and spotted a pink tree.  Thinking that the light was creating an illusion, I stepped out on the balcony to get a clear look.  There was no illusion.  The tree is turning pink with some undertones of violet.  We've lived in this house for ten years and that tree has been in the ravine the whole time.  I've never seen it turn pink before.  It's absolutely beautiful.

Thanksgiving weekend is almost upon us.  My heart is full.  My life an embarrassment of riches.  Tomorrow I will pick up Jacob and Courtney from school.  The house will come to life.  We will have dinner on Sunday at Cath's.  There will be turkey and pumpkin pie.  We will express our gratitude for family and friends and the abundance of our blessings, too plentiful to enumerate.  Somewhere in the quiet hours, I will take some time to reflect on my own good fortune.  And when I thank the universe for the  many wonders of my life, I will be adding a lovely pink tree to the list.