Hello again!

Back again. It has been almost a year! Good grief.
My main goal is to find a new job.
Not much has been accomplished in the apartment.
Fairies did come and put an IKEA Tarva together, that's something.

Break the job down into small bits.

Fairy wisdom.

Woodland Fairy says "Just kick it."

Leverage.

Getting things done.

The thing did get done. IKEA Tarva.

Now I want another one to put next to it.

Got a shelf with posts for the towels hung up in the boring bathroom, snaked electricity out onto the balcony,

put up a pole going across to hang curtains or whatever, grew green beans and tomatoes and cucumbers,

made (1) single kinda lousy painting, hung up 2 chalkboards, and bought a new red pot to replace the one I left behind in Rhode Island.

So a few things got done, barely a dent. It is very slow and discouraging. 

I have been thinking about Tiger dreams.

Even when tigers are stuck in the zoo, they still have dreams.

Fierce tiger dreams.

♥Chloe

Road Trip

Since my last gloomy post (sorry) I have crossed the country with my brother driving a rented truck and landed at my sister's (for which I am thankful) and am staying in the purgatory of the San Fernando Valley. 

Normally, I love a road trip!

Cars and trucks, the food, radio stations fading in and out, the food.

This trip was under duress, a rescue operation.

I have been on this route before.  Even though I was feeling sorry for myself, I couldn't help but notice that the old Rt 66 has been taken over by slick new highway,  most of the roadside business has disappeared .

In place of the small diners and gas stations that used to mark the road to California are chain restaurants and  generic fuel stations.  

Not knocking the Love's chain, they consistently had nourishment and clean bathrooms. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/7476951900/in/set-72157630365414596

We saw some sights, even under duress.  I made a set on Flickr. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/sets/72157630365414596/

Probably not what I would have shot if it was a leisurely see the country road trip. It is a big country.

This was my favorite thing. The horse motel.

If you are shipping your horse, how nice is that to have accommodations for the horse. 

The Happy Tracks Horse Motel in Amarillo, Texas still makes me happy to look at. 

I am so glad I stopped to snap it.

I am laughing at myself looking over the road photos. You got waffles, horses, cars, food.  

Same me, different place.  

It is not an easy time.  I need a job.  A lot of my skills don't translate over here. 

This stuff I write about is usually too personal to link to for showing employers how savvy and skilled I am ; )

I have to find my way out here.  

I'll keep you posted.  It is really the same me.  ♥Chloe

Hard Times and Disappointment.

Hello friends.
I haven't been around for a while.

I moved to Florida to be near the youngest who has flipped out,

flown the coop, and left me stranded in an apartment with no transportation.

1.8 mi to get milk for coffee.  That is 3.6 mi round trip on foot in Florida heat.
You'd think I'd be thin.


She had said, "Move down here."  She and her boyfriend had a comfortable life.  
I had visited a few months earlier, so had checked out the situation.
She said, "Don't bring any furniture. Don't bring that TV.  Don't bring the toaster."
Everything would be new.


So I arrived with carefully curated boxes and bins of a minimum of stuff picked out of the 
lifetime of family stuff in my old apartment, and studio stuff from work.  It all fit into a small POD.

I arrived May 23, so that makes it almost a month now.
Pretty wierd.
The rest of the family is aware of what is going on, but they are far away,
with their own children and bills.
I have been updating my Flickr friends, their input and support has meant a lot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/

There has been drama and trauma.  Police and yelling.
It is not like I am stuck on the side of a glacier in sugary powder snow with a broken leg,
or anything like that.

I have tried to take myself out to take some pictures,
but once it all went bad I didn't care about taking pictures.
Here's one.  

The plan for now is that my brother will be flying out here from California on Friday, and we will be driving back with my stuff in a truck. Going to a spare room at my sister's.  It is a nice and big spare room
Road trip.  
Wish I was more excited about it.  ♥Chloe