Yesterday was set aside for errands. Before breakfast, we retrieved Mom's cats, Ikky and Neffy, from the kennel where they boarded while she stayed in Jacksonville with my brother's family. We fit them both into a single carrier, which was easier than I expected, probably because they were traumatized. Driving home, we only heard one or two plaintive meows. We set the carrier on the front lawn and opened the door, and they took off like a pair of escaped convicts.
We also took a load of stuff -- old luggage, books, a printer, a pool cue -- to Goodwill. We've got more stuff going to the county landfill and recycling center this morning. Anyone want a 1962 set of Encyclopedia Britannicas? Last chance!
I had my own set of encyclopedias when I was a kid, which I loved, but I was never attached to these Britannicas. They're so detailed they were virtually impossible to use for any school research project. Sometimes you just need a quick answer, you know? Thank goodness for Google.
We went to Target in the afternoon and I got some new bedsheets, because Dave and I can't get sheets in London for our American king-sized mattress. Navy blue! (Very exciting for all of you, I know.)
Finally, I cleaned out some old letters that I've stored at my mom's. I don't really know why I'm saving any of them -- if they'd been e-mails, they'd all have dissolved into the ether by now -- but I can't throw them out. Favorite birthday cards, letters from my long-dead grandparents, letters from old friends that I received when I lived in Africa, back before e-mail. I reduced them to three small bundles which I'll take back to London.
(Photos: Top, a Carolina wren. Bottom, buttonbush flowers, which my brother and I used to call "Sputniks" when we were kids.)
It is funny how the older we get the smaller the bundles of what we save become.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you're in Florida because you show parts of it that I take for granted and make me see them again.
ReplyDeleteI am planning on burning some letters and other filled-with-emotions items soon. I think it's time to let them go. I think I will feel lighter when they are gone.
Exquisite photos -- and you've inspired me to perhaps deal with The Letters when my boys leave next week for their grandparents --
ReplyDeleteHaving had to clean out three apartments following the death of three relatives, I've turned into a big fan of cleaning out the excess. I just did a yard sale and made $500. I said it would be the last one but after that profit, I'm actually thinking of doing one in the fall. Less is more! Great photos!!!
ReplyDeleteI just donated most of my pantry goods to our food bank, and still, getting out of my house today took two hours with what remained...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to tomorrow.
Don't you just love the wrens? the ones in the nest here fledged this morning sometime before I wandered out to check on them.
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