Spending some extended time in the sun today was good to get my mind off the shit show in DC. I was able to use my day off to work on plants and outdoor decor. I know the dogs appreciated the sun and warm outdoor furniture with me.
There’s a lot going on in this video. I was in the garden with the dogs today as we had 65-degree (F) weather in January! I’m proud of this globe I painted, which is on a solar spinner. It survived the fire and was previously located at “ground zero” where the fire reportedly began. Still no explanation except “electrical anomaly.”
By the way, that is NOT poop that Hobbes is chewing on. It’s pineapple or bark.
I worked on my plants, thinking about what I’ll do with them and the outdoor decor from this rental when I move back home in a few months. I think about the move back all my waking hours at this juncture.
I put together a very utilitarian table out of repurposed, broken parts, which I’m very proud of. I love practical furniture.
The dogs bring me such joy, as does the sun.
Enjoying the warm weather with the dogs and Shea and appreciating what a great man this holiday is in honor of. I’m not watching the travesty in DC and do not want anything to do with people who are normalizing it. I pity this country and rejoice that I can pursue my EU citizenship, even though I’ll stay and still do what I can, more on the local level in the foreseeable future, to make life better even for those innumerable fools who vote against their best interests.
I will actively seek to disconnect from fascists and I will also make it quite clear that they are no longer in my life, especially the ones I’m not related to and have no reason to stay connected to. There are enough toxic people in the world already that I have to deal with, and the political ramifications of their existence and corruption.
Bonnie and Calvin evening wrestle. This is why most people can’t believe Bonnie is completely blind. For those who don’t know, her eyes were surgically removed to reduce pain after she went completely blind in August.
We had a wonderful visit with Nick Dong. He is a world-renowned master designer/artist/genius and a good friend of many years who, like so many, helped me find some resilience and silver linings in the horrible event from last January (my catastrophic house fire and the loss of five precious canine souls). It was a privilege to revisit his custom home and for Shea to get to know him.
Nick inspires me to manifest my dream house with this rebuild and find ways to live my best life. In the footage Shea took you’ll see a reflection of the three of us in a small sampling of Nick’s mind-blowing kinetic pieces. If you ever get a chance to see the work of Studio Dong in person, don’t miss the opportunity!
One of his two amazing koi ponds with the most friendly fish I’ve ever met in my life!
I hope to be told that I can start packing to return home in the next month or two. I don’t have a confirmed target date, but I was specifically told NOT to make any travel plans for the next few months, which feels fantastic!
Meanwhile, I think very conscientiously about where the items in my rental will end up when I go home. Here are some pieces I’ve recently “acquired” by looking in less obvious places for things one cannot just get in the ordinary course. I have been enjoying Facebook marketplace and Etsy more than ever, especially for some of the custom or one-of-a-kind things that will mean so much to me, including this framed Streisand picture.
I love my newest Streisand acquisition, which I got on Etsy, and how I have it lit here with some of my other Barbrabilia. Some of you know that I lost most of my Streisand collectibles in my fire in January, and they were so unique and large that they will never be replaced. They were just things and nothing compared to my lost pets, but I will miss them too as they were a part of my life for decades. I also always had a connection to my dad who was a fervent Streisand fan himself, even though it made my mom jealous. He obviously had good taste. When I was 14 I was scanning through the channels and came upon Funny Girl. My life changed that day as I saw exactly what he was telling people when they dared to suggest anyone else was a better singer.
I’m displaying very minimalist (so unlike me) xmas decorations this year in the rental. I have these two ceramic trees that my mom hand-painted which survived the fire, but I’m already looking forward to decorating my home when I’m back for xmas 2025. A surprising amount of my holiday decorations survived the fire since the garage was relatively untouched, but I don’t even feel like transporting them over here.
While I’m still counting the days to go home as the house is being rebuilt, since I have these tapestries that are so nostalgic for my siblings and me, I found a place to hang them for now, which cheers me up a little. A year ago I was taking pictures of all these dogs I miss so much with their xmas outfits. I don’t know if it’s healthy to constantly see their pictures rotating on my slideshows around the house. Still, it’s so important that I remember them and their distinct personalities, not to mention the other dogs I lost in more expected endings where I had a chance to say goodbye. This is the first time in my life I don’t think I will put up decorations or a full-size tree because this isn’t the home I planned to be in, even though I’m lucky to have a partner and two amazing dogs to be with this season. My mom’s ceramic xmas trees survived, so they will suffice. I might change my mind and see what other holiday decorations survived the fire, but this is the current plan. Shea doesn’t seem to mind that I’m not rearranging the house for the holidays and there is plenty of other projects we’re working on so it’s not a priority.
Circa 2023 after it was professionally cleaned from an April 2016 fire at my mom’s house, but before my January 18, 2024 fire.
Summer 2024 after it was professionally cleaned a second time.
Replacement from Warsaw, Poland with me on November 22, 2024.
Yes, I know this blog title is a corny Michael Jackson song, but after what I’ve been through this year, indulge me for a moment, as this is quite the saga. I always stress that NO material thing matters nearly as much as the five precious souls I lost with my dogs taken from me that day. Still, through some miraculous connections, a bit of my heart (I’m sure my siblings would agree) was restored today when a hand-carved (or is it?) piece of furniture that I mistakenly thought was one-of-a-kind was delivered from Warsaw, Poland, of all places.
The original piece, which my parents bought when we lived in rural Catalonia, Spain (my dad was in the United States Coast Guard and was stationed there in the mid-1970s), was transported with our military moves, in the normal course, from Spain to New York and then to California, where my parents retired. In 2016, it survived my mom’s house fire and was professionally cleaned. After my mom died later that year, I kept the piece, which my siblings did not want, only for it to get pretty incinerated in my own house fire this past January 18.
At first in the chaos of my soot-laden wrecked home, I had it in the junk pile on my driveway, but it meant so much to me. The damage seemed somewhat superficial, so someone convinced me that I could have it professionally “cleaned” again and/or repainted. Unfortunately, it came back even after being treated still smelling of fire, so I’m storing it in the rental house’s garage for now. I was frustrated by the daunting task of having it professionally restored to what it looked like in the pictures. I was ambivalent about whether it would be worthwhile.
On a whim, I posted it on social media, and a friend of mine who I used to swoon over regularly on the subway when I saw him during our commute years ago when I lived in New York chimed in and said he found a replica for sale in Warsaw, complete with the Polish language e-commerce link. I contacted the seller, who spoke no English. With the assistance of a translator website, I explained my unique interest. I was pleasantly surprised that it was selling for only 1,000 PLN, which amounted to about US$255. I knew the challenge would be shipping. I asked him if he would ship to California and he said he would not. I think he was only looking to ship within Europe.
Periodically, over the last several months, I would check the Polish site. It continued to be on sale, which blew my mind, but I’m sure it’s a niche market. Several weeks ago it occurred to me, after a few false starts with distant connections to Poland, that I had some of the people on my annual holiday card email list who I have been in touch with for years who are Poles. So on another whim, I wrote an email to all of them with the the before and after pictures and the Polish e-commerce link. I think there were 19 who had working emails, and one of them who I’ve had a reciprocal crush on since at least 2008 replied. His English is excellent because he lived in the UK for a while, so he was a perfect candidate, especially because he also lived in Warsaw.
At first, my handsome cub friend Artur suggested that if the seller was unwilling to ship it to California, I could have it shipped to his house and then he would facilitate shipping it to me. It turns out, that by having him communicate on my behalf, and after securing a quote for shipping that I obtained from DHL at his suggestion, the seller agreed to let it be picked up from his location. Artur, who I’ve never even met, even took care of the Polish customs paperwork for me! It was then purportedly en route! I could hardly believe I was able to track the progress online. I remained on pins and needles, thinking it would take months, but spending US$717 to ship it was enough to get it here in under two weeks. It arrived today, just in the nick of time, because Shea and I are getting on a plane to Hawaii tomorrow morning. To my glee, I didn’t even have to make arrangements for it to be brought inside from the pouring rain.
It’s now safe and sound in my rental and will be ready to transport to my home months from now when my house is ready. I want to take some pictures of the two cabinets side by side at some point. I’m also still contemplating what I should do with the original. I might use it for gardening supply storage outside if I can avoid it getting water-damaged. That way any remaining smell will hopefully diminish, but I’ll still have it on the premises and can tell this story. It will make a fine storage cabinet, as long as I don’t let it succumb to the elements in my mild climate here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
So for under a thousand dollars, I have a beautiful nostalgic piece in excellent shape to look at, together with the two very similar tapestries that my siblings and I had growing up. For the rest of my life I’ll be able to enjoy the memories that pieces bring me, even if they are facsimiles of the originals and they are pieces I would not have bought if I just saw them in a store myself.
As for what I’m putting in the new cabinet, I think I’ll start with the ashes of the beloved five dogs who I lost that day.
