Shaking in my Boots

   You won't be able to tell by these pictures, but it was cold this day. Really cold. And I don't use italics lightly. About five seconds after the photos I was back inside in jeans and a sweater. That February sunshine is lovely, but a bit deceptive!

It was nice to wear a new dress I bought from Ruche (on sale!) for at least a little while though. I can't wait for warmer weather, because this dress has a lovely lace back it will be fun to show off. Preferably in a field full of wildflowers, or some windy cliffs above the sea (what, its my daydream!).

Does anyone else pick their clothes this way? Daydreaming might not be the best plan, but on the other hand if the scenario is honestly too silly to be realistic, I can usually talk myself out of the vintage evening dress-stilletos- absurdly large hat that would have been mostly for decoration anyway. 

With all these indoor hours to use up, I've been doing a bit of creating. I've made curtains, an apron, some necklaces and these little hairclips, They are made with broken bits of jewelry and a shell I picked up on beach.

What is everyone else doing while they are stuck inside?

The Floodgates

Its been several weeks now, but recently we had a flood here in Grays Harbor. It happened practically overnight, and caused a number of landslides, including one that closed the highway out of town. The rain the night before had not seemed any harder than usual! I actually didn't realize anything had happened until, after much grumbling about Mondays generally and 6 am in particular, I stepped out onto my porch. My car in the open garage had water up nearly to its bottom. The porch felt like a wooden raft afloat in a lake! That is when I noticed the several calls from work, removing the need to come in.

Since it was clearly too dangerous to come into work, the best thing to do was get outside, as soon as possible! The streets outside were lakes in some places rivers in others and sometimes practically as usual. Two steps in the same directing could plunge you into very different depths. Gulls were resting on the water where cars would normally dash past. 

We had a lot of fun exploring the suddenly bizarre landscape, but it was much less fun for many people. No one was hurt in the landslide that covered the highway, but houses in the next town over filled with water, or were covered in the backyards of houses further up the hills. 

This is the sidewalk in front of my house! It almost looks like a landscape from a plane.

The regular waterways were swollen too, and choked with debris from the flooding.

We walked up the closed off highway to see the landslide. Trees had crossed the four lanes and begun to slide down the hill into the park below. It was interesting and eerie to walk slowly somewhere you normally speed past, looking at things in detail.

This particular hill has had several slides over the years. It is called Think of Me Hill, and used to have many houses on its sides. A long time ago, in the nineteen forties I believe (but I have had difficulty finding information except from older folks who remember) there was a massive slide that destroyed a number of houses. Climbing up it away from the path you can find pottery and mason jars, tools and bricks partially unburied by yet more erosion. It makes me wonder what this place, which is never fully tamed by people, will look like in the future.

Morning Light

 We are sadly still a ways from spring. It is soon enough, at least here in the northwest, to start looking for signs though. Even the tiniest buds on trees are a cause for celebration! I've lived in places where natures state in winter was perhaps its most fascinating, and the weather not so terrible bundling up could not cure it.

 Here there are sunny bright winter days, but they are very far in between. Somehow the rain is much more disheartening than the snow ever was, at least for me. But there are only a few months left until spring, and little buds to look for.

 These photos are actually from April three years ago. They were lurking in the wrong folder on my computer and were quite enjoyable to find!

 They remind me of all the joys that are, and that are yet to come.

Black and White and Kind of Freezing

Do you guys remember the silly old joke- Whats black and white and red all over? A newspaper! (red=read) I don't think I've heard a new joke in a while. Not even the knock knock joke from a little brother who is out to entertain himself with our groaning. Or the wincing double whammy of a inappropriate one from grandma!  

Have you guys heard any good ones lately? Or some bad enough to cause some good groaning? Anyway, this outfit is another almost entirely thrifted one, although the sweater is from Ross, which amounts to something like the same. I love being able to find unique things like this belt, that aren't necessarily in fashion this moment and wouldn't appear in regular stores.

Unfortunately I needed to tighten it and I didn't know, so its hanging pretty low and loose in these photos! I am looking forward greatly to being able to wear this dress without a sweater this summer, maybe with a pair of red sandals... 

Anyway I hope its not so rainy were you are now, and have a wonderful Sunday!

Well Spoken

Lately I've been thinking about the value of speaking and writing well. Specifically that it is perhaps not as valuable as it seemed previously. As a younger person, at a certain point you discover words are tools, and not just things you must learn and repeat on command. You learn how many of them there are, and how specific. You learn to change a single word in a sentence and make it more persuasive, more biting, or less likely to get you in trouble. It is easy at this stage to admire people who can use words eloquently and persuasively, and to believe them owners of intelligence and good judgment as well. As time goes on however, it becomes clear that each of these valuable qualities are acquired separately. An intelligent man who speaks well can be so persuasive he gets along without having to develop good judgement. A man with good judgment and intelligence can speak coarsely, can be awkward, can be so in a hurry to express himself when passionate that he stumbles over correct words and grammar.  A man can say a foolish thing very well. It happens all the time, and people are so unsure of themselves that they will trust the judgement of another above their own, if he sounds like he knows what he is saying.

Two examples come to mind on the subject. First, in a Sociology class I once had in college, we were watching news recordings of protests that took place twenty or so years ago. A reporter interviewed a protester about his concerns. The man stumbled terribly, had dreadful sentence structure, clearly wasn't a professional speaker. But after a minute of thought, it seemed to me that his points were very good, very reasonable and not something I had considered before. I expected this to be the general consensus, but that was not the case. In discussion, he was dismissed outright. People complained that someone shouldn't protest if they don't know what they are talking about. In my opinion he did know what he was talking about, but had probably not had the benefit of years of having his speech corrected in school, or hours to spend thinking about perfect wording. He probably did not anticipate being the one person out of thousands to be put on the spot. He very likely felt pressure to express everything in a short window, and in front of so many news viewers.  It is an injustice anytime an unimportant factor in a discussion, for instance grammar, is used to sideline the actual issue.

The second example is one I've been guilty of personally, though I try to avoid it. Frequently I have run across very funny statements or articles detailing the folly of a group of people, a hobby or the holding of a certain opinions, or even just a harmless behavior. Because it is funny, it is easy to ignore the fact that it is incorrect or can't be proven. The behavior is detailed but the motivation or opinion that drives it is prescribed incorrectly. This is usually because the writer/speaker finds it personally annoying, or is angry about a specific person, but trying to seem more valid in their anger, describes it more generally in order to get away with being more vicious without seeming petty.

Perhaps these thoughts are common ones, another phase in maturity. I am hoping to apply it to the many things I hear and see in a day, and gain a better understanding of people and the world in general.