Update from a Norwegian-American Sitting Quietly in the Desert

I'm continuing to do mixed-media decoration of little boxes, journals, shrines, altars, etc.  All of the small places where we keep God.  I find nice wooden, cardboard or tin boxes at various thrift shops when I'm out looking for eBay fodder.  I also find some pretty great magazine photos, wrapping papers, scrapbook papers, etc., in my wanderings. 

These boxes are for my "Faces of God" show at RioBravo FineArts gallery in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, at the end of 2014.  There will be a table in one corner of the gallery with an installation of dozens of little boxes.  The other pieces for the show will be BIG.  

This peacock hexagonal box attracted some attention when I showed it to my FaceBook friends, so now it's in the mail to Joe Possley, a friend from my college days back in Wisconsin in the 1970s. 

This mixed-media mostly-painting is called Amour-Dillo.  It was suggested by my friend Cindy Mitchell, who knows how much I like to paint animals weirdly.  I'm entering it in The Red Show in Ajo, Arizona.  

Ajo is 10 miles north of Why, and it's where we go to buy groceries, get library books, mail my eBay packages, etc.  There is a lively arts community in Ajo.  There aren't as many opportunities to show work as there are in Truth or Consequences, because there are few galleries.  But the community definitely supports its artists.  The International Senoran Desert Alliance (ISDA) rehabbed the old Curley School into artisan apartment/studio spaces. 

Besides doing artwork, I've been having a little more social winter here in Why than I have in past years.  As I mentioned in my last blog, several TorC friends have camped here at Coyote Howls, and my friends Susan and Dan from Eugene, Oregon, visited for a few days.  I've also gotten to know Michael and Pam, a couple from Albuquerque who are new to RVing--they also happened to stay at the Artesian, the same place I was in Truth or Consequences, but I missed meeting them there.  The longer I stay in this area, there are more parallels and ties between TorC and Why.  I look forward to my friend Janice coming to visit me from TorC next weekend.

I've been up to Phoenix a lot lately.  Five trips up there in about a month.  Really a lot for me, since I prefer to sit around by myself most of the time.  I ran across the perfect meme on FaceBook to describe my attitude:  It's not that I'm anti-social, I'm just pro-solitude.  But I needed new glasses, which took a couple of trips, and then my younger brother Sheldon, his wife Lori, and their four younger children were vacationing at a resort in Peoria, so I went up to spend some time with them.  In the picture above, Sheldon is whistling and acting innocent.  I can't explain why. 

Here's a picture of most of the family--Andy (14), my sister-in-law Lori, Elena (16), Charlie (the small person turned away from the camera), and Sheldon.

 

Here is a picture of seven-year-old Charlie, whom Sheldon and Lori began to adopt when he was an infant and were finally able to bring home from Guatemala last year.  Lena is in the background.  Charlie's favorite thing is to tickle and be tickled. 

 

Val (age 18) did not make it into the family picture in the kitchen because she'd been working out and then showering.  Sorry about the wet hair pic, Vali!  

On my latest trip to Phoenix, when I visited with Sheldon and family, I also got to have lunch with Roxanne of Good Luck Duck fame!  

I've been keeping busy with eBay in addition to artwork.  Yesterday I mailed out some borderland cowboy boots to a New Yorker.  I'm trying to stay focused on work right now, during this quiet time in the desert where I have good Internet access thanks to the cell phone tower at the nearby Border Patrol Station, because I simply do not know what's next.  I'll definitely be here through the beginning of April, when I'll have a show to hang at January's gallery in Truth or Consequences, NM.  But after that?  Steve and I are undecided.  Maybe a work camping job somewhere, maybe wandering the New Mexico state parks for the summer, maybe a knee replacement.  

All By Myself

Nicole Miller silk pocket square handkerchief, designed for Absolut

That Celine Dion song, "All By Myself," is such a cry-in-your-beer number. Personally I just don't understand it. When I am by myself, I get to sleep in the middle of the bed and take all the covers and all the pillows and eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and be completely self-indulgent. What's wrong with that?

Pierre Cardin equestrian scarf with knights in armor

Steve is house-sitting for friends in Ajo for five weeks. I am not. I'm staying out at Why with my cat. Sleeping in the middle of the bed, taking all the covers--no, wait, we've been through that already.

YSL pocket square

I thought about taking the Guppy into Ajo and moochdocking in our friends' back yard, but Steve's job involves small dogs who are very excitable about cats, among other things. I would've had to confine Sonja to the Guppy, yet the dogs would probably still bark at her. So I'm staying home.

Is there an Echo in here? No, but there are lots of them in my eBay store

And it's perfect timing to be All By Myself for another reason--I'm in the middle of a Free Listing Week for eBay Store Owners. Uploading an auction listing usually costs me between 35 cents and $1.00 per scarf, depending on how much I'm asking as an opening bid price. I still have to pay other costs to eBay and their Paypal subsidiary, but I am saving some bucks.

D is for Dior

And it's perfect timing to be doing lots of eBay listing, too, because I bought a shitload--wait, can I say that in my blog?--of scarves recently. Okay, make that a Guppyful of scarves.

My buyers seem to like Talbott's mosaic design as much as I do

A couple of months ago, a lady was selling a box lot of scarves on eBay and she mentioned in her auction description that she was downsizing and getting rid of a life long collection. I won that auction and emailed her to ask if I could buy the rest of her collection, which she sold me at a very reasonable price. I think I've gotten 12 Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Boxes of scarves from her, which is something like 1000 scarves. So I'm listing, listing, listing, and am glad the listings are free.

Sometimes I list to the left, but that's about my arthritic knee and my politics, not eBay.

Vera! This is Vera Neumann, not Wang or Bradley

Having this huge inventory of scarves is great. It's like somebody else went to a bajillion thrift stores and already picked out the best scarves and then mailed them to me for a lot less money than it would have cost me to do the same shopping, with gas at $3.69 a gallon here.

Nautical tall ship scarf by AV

So I'm working hard and Steve is, too, and when we're done, it will be starting to get too hot to stay here in southern Arizona, and we'll pack up and go back to New Mexico. We plan to spend the summer in Truth or Consequences, but we may travel somewhere northerly in midsummer when it's hot in TorC. We don't want to get too tied down being wage slaves this time around. And then in the fall, we are thinking of heading east to Florida rather than back west to Why. But who knows? That's a long ways off yet.

And the Oscar goes to...

In the meantime, please enjoy looking at my scarves on eBay.

Steve came out to Why today and made me fish tacos for lunch. Tomorrow he's coming out to make a new door to cover my propane tank compartment, since I keep losing doors along my travels. He's fashioning the new one out of an old metal Stop sign.

So I'm not completely All By Myself--we have visitation.

Nothing comes between me and my Calvins

An update on my son Sly--he has qualified for SSI and is receiving a small monthly check while living with his dad. The amount will increase when he lives elsewhere, and he's actively seeking a place to live. Seattle is expensive, and he's looking at getting some help through mental health organizations that place people in affordable, supported housing. It's all kind of up in the air right now, but at least Social Security has come through.

Hmm...do you suppose Anne and Calvin are related?

And another good thing is that Sly's hallucinations have stopped since his meds were changed, and now it seems unlikely that he is schizophrenic, although he has been diagnosed with Cluster B personality disorder traits as well as severe depression. But it looks like he will get his antidepressants increased once he's completely off of the meds that were giving him scary delusions.

This Scaasi is HTF and EUC in eBayese

It is difficult watching Sly's challenges from afar, but even if I was closer, it is essential that he start learning to find and get help on his own. And he is doing this. I pray every day that he can continue to work towards being independent or semi-independent without any huge crises, but, of course, this is outside of my control and would be even if we lived closer to each other.

Thank you for the kind comments and interest there has been about Sly. I really appreciate knowing that others care.

On the Road Again

My traveling companion, Sly

"On the Road Again"...Willie Nelson comes to mind, but so do John Denver, Canned Heat, and a lot of other musicians who had their own road songs. Anyhow, I'm traveling for a few days with my son Sly, who is visiting from Seattle while his dad is on vacation.

Painting a tiny muskrat skull

I haven't blogged much in the past few months, in large part because of how tenuous Sly's health has been. It's been difficult to cheerfully talk about my winter in the Arizona desert when my kid is battling for his life...or sometimes not battling for it, which is even more disturbing. Ever since he was little, he's always had mild to middling mental health issues, but the past few months have been very scary. Sly's at the age where people with depression sometimes graduate to schizophrenia, and that may be what's happening. We don't know yet, for sure. But what we do know is that Sly, at age 19, needs to be with one or the other of his parents or with mental health caretakers rather than on his own. He can't manage his own meds and he can only use sharp objects when closely supervised.

A completed cow lower jawbone, now on display in our driveway at Why

Despite these challenges, we've been having a good time, overall. For the first few days of Sly's visit, we stayed close to home in Why, Arizona, visiting the nearby town of Ajo and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We had a really nice picnic one day out on Darby Road, a beautiful stretch of BLM land just outside Ajo. We golfed at the "Why Country Club," which is a little 18-hole putting course at Coyote Howls Campground. Steve gave Sly free rein to paint some animal skulls, which Sly has enjoyed immensely. A neighbor, seeing the results, commissioned Sly to paint some antlers, too.

"Why Country Club"

Now Sly and I are on a multi-day camping trip in the Guppy. I've never traveled with another person in my little Toyota Dolphin, and it is cramped, but comfortable. There's room for both of us to sit at the dinette, and, since I had a nice big work counter custom made in my rig, we can each have some sort of project going at the same time. At night, we roll out a single futon down the aisle between the built-in furniture for Sly, and so far I've managed not to step on him if I needed to get up during the night.

Our first day out, we stayed overnight at Cochise Terrace, a commercial RV park near Benson. I thought it was half-price due to my Passport America membership, but I guess I forgot to read the fine print. It's only half-price in the summer when it's too hot to want to be in Benson, Arizona. Anyhow, it was a nice place and it was great to have warm showers and electric hookups so we could run my little electric heater. (We've had some warmer temps since my last post about the desert being surprisingly cool this winter, but it got cold again as soon as Sly and I left on our trip!)

Sly enjoying the warm weather before we started our camping trip

The next day, we went to Kartchner Caverns, about 10 miles south of Benson. This is a State Park that has several different tours of an amazing cavern that is still "alive"--which means it's still dripping wet in some places, so stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave formations continue to grow. The tours are expensive--over $20 apiece--but well worth it. Ever since we went on the tour, Sly has been busy writing a story about "The Creature of Kartchner Caverns," told in the first person and with creepy-cool illustrations.

Texas Canyon Rest Stop

Beautiful rock formations surround the rest stop

To save some money after our expensive night at Cochise Terrace, I looked for someplace we could camp free last night, and we ended up staying at a rest stop that's at the top of Texas Canyon, on I-10 between Benson and Willcox. It was a beautiful place, and we were well-situated for our visit this morning to the Amerind Foundation in Dragoon, but, boy, was it cold up there! We used a little Coleman propane catalytic heater (I believe these are known in some circles as "hippy killers"), but it ran out of fuel before we woke up.

Before heading to the museum, we had to go see "The Thing," which is advertised on billboards throughout this part of the Southwest. It's your basic gift shop/tourist trap with a gimmick. Be strong; resist it.

The Amerind Foundation is a museum that has a lot of nice artifacts in a beautiful building designed in the 1930s specifically as a museum. It does, however, have very live acoustics, so you can hear every comment made by every other visitor, which is a bit annoying. Sly and I are both soft-spoken and easily overwhelmed by loud sounds, and we were ready to get out of there sooner than we might've been if 22 RVers caravaning together hadn't shown up just before us.

Sly at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, before our camping trip

Today we backtracked to Benson where Sly got a piercing between his brows--haven't taken a picture of that one yet, but stay tuned! Then we headed north of Tucson, and we're spending the night at Catalina State Park. It's a beautiful flat stretch next to the Catalina Mountains, barely outside the city, and surprisingly quiet for how much use it gets. Almost every site is full tonight (it's a holiday weekend), but I have heard almost nothing but natural sounds here. Tomorrow morning we will head off to Biosphere 2, just a few miles further north.

Sonja stayed home with Steve. She prefers her cozy hideaways in the larger RV that stays in Why year-round.

Yay! Mom bought shoes!

You don't really need a linen closet in the bathroom, do you? How about a cat closet instead?

I'll write another blog post about the remainder of our trip and Sly's visit soon.

My First Blog Post from Why, Arizona

Steve paints skulls and hangs them on his walls

Wow, I am so far behind on blogging. Or I guess I would be if I had publication deadlines, which I don't. But I have tried to blog every week or two since I left Eugene, Oregon, on February 14th of this year.

The last few weeks were harried--well, harried for a marginally employed, basically lazy, gimpy old gal like me. I gave notice on my apartment in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and needed to be out by the end of October. Steve and I decided to head up to visit friends in Santa Fe and Taos before leaving the state, so we went on vacation the week before I planned to vacate my apartment.

We visited Steve's friends (and now they're mine, too!) Dusty and Arnold, who have homes both in Santa Fe and Ajo, Arizona, which is the town of 4000 people that's 10 miles from Why. They'll be heading to Ajo after Thanksgiving to spend the winter, so I already have friends here.

We also got to see Conrad and Susan De Jong. Conrad was my favorite undergraduate music professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the mid-70s. We had a delightful lunch with the De Jongs at the O'Keeffe Cafe which, unfortunately, was going out of business a few days after our fabulous meal there. It was very fun to catch up a little bit on the many years since I'd seen Conrad and to meet his wife, whom I just missed meeting when I was an undergrad--she started teaching at the college right after I graduated. They have very active lives (tennis for him, dressage for her) and are a great example of how to live happy and healthy.

Bridget (right) and me at lunch in Taos

We spent one day driving up to Taos to meet Bridget Boyle, a friend I've known online for several years, initially through Sparkpeople.com and more recently through FaceBook and our respective blogs. Bridget and her husband are retired school teachers from Southern California who now own a ranch outside of Guadalupita. They are growing organic vegetables and trying to keep their small herd of cattle out of the crops. Always an adventure to read Bridget's blog! And it was a pleasure to finally meet her in person.

Fabrics from a collection of Andean art

We did a few touristy things on our trip...visited the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, looked at Indian jewelry at the Santa Fe Plaza, saw the Kit Carson House in Taos and the Taos Pueblo. But really the best part of the trip was the people and also the beautiful drive between Santa Fe and Taos, where we saw some nice fall colors along the Rio Grande.

Fall colors along the Rio Grande north of Santa Fe

It was very relaxing and rejuvenating to go up north for a few days, and I came back feeling ready to really get some work done--which was great, because I had a lot of work to do! I had one more mosaic project to do for La Paloma Hot Springs & Spa before leaving TorC, plus I had to pack up The Guppy and clean the apartment. Fortunately one of the La Paloma housekeepers came over for a few hours and cleaned all the major surfaces for me, leaving me with only the smaller jobs such as cleaning the oven.



We left TorC last Wednesday morning, drove to Tucson to spend the night at Steve's sister Mary's place, and then drove the rest of the way to Why the following day. I didn't see much of Tucson--we mostly just ran a few errands while we were there--and, again, the best part of traveling was meeting Mary, who made me feel very welcome.

When we arrived at Coyote Howls, I was a little freaked. It appeared to be a big flat spot with just a scattering of mostly older RVs. After I'd been here a little while, it still looked like a big flat spot with a scattering of old RVs, but by then I'd also found out how quiet, relaxing and beautiful it is here. The night sky is amazing--I have never seen so many stars in my entire life. The sunrises and sunsets are wonderful, too. I woke up one morning to see a wild burro walking past, and I hear coyotes playing at night.

Burro on the road that goes by my new home
(Roxanne! I need a clever caption here!)

Since arriving here last week, I've been pretty busy getting acclimated. First we did some cleaning because Steve's 32-foot 5th wheel (which doesn't have a name!) had been closed up for six months or so, and a pack rat had been in here. Then I started fitting my clothes and other possessions into Steve's place. Now I'm back working on my eBay business, which I'd shut down for a few days during the transition here, and I'm getting acquainted with neighbors and with the amenities in Ajo. Today I am taking the bus from Coyote Howls to the Ajo Library for a drawing class that will run every Wednesday afternoon for six weeks. I will be in town all afternoon (the bus only runs out to Why three times a day), so I'll arrange to get a P.O. box and take time for coffee at the Oasis Cafe, which is on the beautiful little plaza in Ajo.

Looking across Ajo Plaza from the Oasis Cafe towards the library

Life is very relaxing here. I've started work on some multimedia art pieces that I've had in mind to work on for a long time. I'm reading a lot. I spend time cooking slow food such as chili from scratch, including soaking and cooking the beans. Sometimes I sit and do very little at all. I think it's going to be a great winter.

Sunrise as seen from my front door

Why? Gearing Up for a Move

Sonja in a shopping bag, ready to move on again

I've been in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, for three-and-a-half months and I am beginning to prepare to move on.

This surprised me at first, because TorC has so much to offer me--friendly coffee shops where I've met very nice folks, a couple of thrift stores to replenish my eBay inventory, a great recovery community, places to sell my artwork, and more.

However, I've also found myself back in the trap of being a wage slave here. My motorhome is large enough for travel, but is too confining for everyday living, so I rented an apartment. But, to afford the apartment, I needed a job.

Now the job has overshadowed my life, mostly because of the arthritis I still have in my knee following arthroscopic surgery. As I whined in my last blog entry, working just two days a week takes a lot out of me, because I tend to hurt pretty badly for several days after a work day. So two days of work means five or six days of pain every week, which has affected my productivity in other parts of my life...my eBay business and my artwork.

Surprise! Caught in the act of being helpful...

The obvious solution was to quit the job (done!) and live on my earnings from self-employment, while reducing my living costs. I asked my landlord about having Steve move in with me here in my nice little casita, and the answer was, NO. There's much that could be said about that, but I will refrain, except to say we each live in our own dream or version of reality.

I contemplated looking for a new place to rent with Steve here in TorC and decided against it. Much as I love this town, I am ready for new horizons, new experiences, new faces and places. It's who I am. I used to wonder what was wrong with me, that I am so ready to move on, but I've finally accepted that I am simply a traveler. I've never worked my genealogy back far enough to verify it, but my Scandinavian roots must lead to Vikings.

Recently completed shelf

So I'm giving my notice on the apartment, and in a month, Steve and I are heading for his place at Coyote Howls in Why, Arizona. I'll spend the winter there rent-free and be able to meet my expenses (health insurance, phone, Internet, food, vehicle insurance, and a life insurance plan to leave something to my kid) through self-employment.

Why is a very small town about 10 miles from Ajo, a metropolis of 4000. Surprisingly, there is public transportation. I'll be able to go to Ajo or even to Tucson (100 miles east) for the day whenever I want. Steve's sister lives in Tucson and we'll probably visit her fairly often and take in some entertainment there. Ajo has a lively artists' community where I might find some opportunities to study, volunteer or work.

Coyote Howls is a primitive RV park in the Sonoran Desert that's off the grid, except at the clubhouse. Steve's 5th wheel has solar electricity, but I'll probably need to head up to the clubhouse with my sewing machine when I want to sew. I'll have the Guppy with me, of course, and plan to use it as my little art studio/eBay office so I don't have to impose my stuff on the space that Steve will share with me. The Guppy can also serve as a guest bedroom for visitors.

Because "Gesundheit" wouldn't fit...

I expect to be back in TorC once or twice during the winter. My kid Sly will visit me during his winter break from college, and I'd like to show him TorC and introduce him to some of my friends, particularly the gallery owners who may be willing to show Sly's work. And, if things go according to my own dream, I'll have artwork of my own to bring back here for sale at January's Gallery.

In the meantime, before heading for Why to spend the winter, I have much to accomplish here. I plan to use up some of my art supplies, especially vintage fabrics, so I'll have less to move with me. I've been commissioned by La Paloma Spa to do some mosaic work, and I'll still be filling in there occasionally, but not working the long 9.5 hour shifts that aggravate my arthritis. I'll be taking a short trip north to meet my friend Joni who's flying in from California for the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

And what's next, after wintering in Why? Hmmm...the choices are endless. Steve and I are thinking of some possibly extensive travels in the Guppy before heading back to TorC. The Pacific Northwest, maybe Alaska. That remains to be seen.