SNOW. September. W.R.O.N.G!!!

We got our first snow in Anchorage yesterday and last night.

While I know my New England people are enjoying the fall and my people in the South are enjoying the warm last days of summer and my people in the other parts of the planet are all like:

Saaaay, WHAT, now?

It's so pretty!!

The snow right now was sort of wet and sloppy since it was really quite warm for it to stick. But - stuck it did and I have to say the juxtaposition of the fall leaves on the trees with the white white snow? It's cheered me up considerably.

I was downright grim yesterday until I ran into some friends that I've been missing.

And the day before that I was also feeling VERY grim until I met one of the Deadliest Catch captains and hung out with him all evening. He is a delightful person and we had a ton of fun horrifying his newest greenhorn! 

Ah, the sea stories!

I miss my Gloucester guys and gals that worked the boats with me. Some of the best humans you'd ever hope to meet. Salt of the Earth.

So it was great fun talking Bering Sea stuff with these kids and the Captain. He's really famous and on camera a LOT! Delightful.

Then yesterday I hung with my guy Brian (who's originally from Minnesota) and a world-famous Chef that you've likely seen on TV many a time. I've known him for a while and we have a lot of mutual friends, so it was another unexpectedly fun evening.

Then I got home and ate some leftovers? Not good. Paid for it all night. BLECH. Luckily there was no barfing involved but it was darn close a couple times. I just hate being nauseous.

Better today after eating some apple and drinking about 80 gallons of water to flush out  my poor system. 

So, the housemate sitch? Still ongoing. She had told me she'd be out by the end of this month. Well, that's pretty much right about now in about 13 hours.

With the help of some legal advice, I was told to write her a specific letter to ask her specific things about her exit. So, little Miss Sunshine informed me that she may, in fact, not be able to be out until Saturday.

Three days. 72 more hours of closed doors and louds sighs. And the in and out of the bathroom each morning at O dark 30.

So, the note she left me was, as you'd imagine, terse. And my favorite part is something I've come across soooooo many times in my recent past.

And that thing is that the people (and I use that loosely) of the world who are the 9 to 5-ers or the 8 to 5-ers? They all think that people like me are lazy or unproductive.

My ex-husband D who I still adore, used to think that until he realized how much I actually did while I still had my gardening business and did lots of philanthropic stuff. 

My current soon-to-be ex-husband Mr. Sunshine also viewed me as some kind of leech because I had to get my business and life re-established in a brand new place 5000 miles from anything familiar.

My ex-housemate (past one) and present one - same thing. They think I don't do anything because I get paid to do the shit that they'd LIKE to do but don't know HOW to do.

You know what I've got to say about that? Too f*cking bad, princesses. I do what I have to do and what I CAN do to make ends meet. And up until I spent my g*ddamn life savings moving here getting my identity stolen (fun) going through a shitty divorce (real fun) and then being forced to move AGAIN and marketing and schmoozing clients and networking? 

I have been utterly self-sufficient since my 20s. 

So, yeah. Things are tough right now financially. Whooopie-SH*T. Happens when you least expect it.

Last thing I'll say - you cubicle people need to get a grip. Where do you think the books or newspapers you read come from? Poetry, art, dance, music - all of those things come from us non-traditional WORKERS of the world. 

Artists are workers. 

Writers are workers.

And frankly, if you can't understand that? You can SUCK IT.

To my Salem peeps - Happy October tomorrow! Try not to get too frustrated with the traffic and crazy - you have no idea how much you miss it when you leave. No one celebrates Halloween here. So sad...

Ciao for now and thanks for reading! 

xooxo

Bummy feeling again

This is a picture I took back in the day. This is a humpback named Tulip.
Here's she's feeding at the pleats on the lower jaw are pink, flushed from being "hot"
during this active feeding session. I love this picture.

So, as most of you know, it didn't work out with the current housemate. I have not spoken to her or seen her since she got home on Monday evening.

It's a bummer situation because I don't even WANT to see her. I'm upset and really disappointed in her behavior toward my house guests and it's just such a bummer.

The people who've inquired about the apartment? Have not followed up when I returned their emails, so that's bumming me out, too.

I seriously cannot afford to have this place by myself and I'm not going to even know what I'm getting from the settlement conference (divorce proceeding) until early November...

To make matters just a wee bit worse, the move cost me about $200 more than I had thought (they failed to mention that travel to and from their main office was included in the hourly cost of the move) AND they automatically deducted the total cost of the move out of my bank account. It was my understanding that they were going to BILL me for the move, but it was taken out of my account, so I've got about $600 less than I had planned to have at the end of this month.

Will this fun ever end?

Plus, some of you know I was injured REALLY badly last Friday when I was holding onto a Cessna for a friend (only in Alaska) while he jump started the plane. Well, the passenger inside the plane (my friend Kathy) gunned the engine when Alan got the plane jump-started, and of course, the rope I had wrapped around my hand squeezed my hand so hard that there was a giant blood blister half the size of my hand that immediately formed on the top of my hand. The GIANT bruise still extends from my wrist all the way across to the knuckles of my middle, ring and pinky fingers (my right hand).

I'm totally lucky I didn't break my hand. So I iced it and iced it, but then also missed out on some gardening work that whole weekend. Luckily it healed up enough so I could do some more work on Wednesday (in the cold rain! FUN!).

Have to go do some copying at the courthouse today (again, will the fun EVER end?), and then gardening at my client's house - have to do some mulching and finish up with pruning and weeding. Also have some gardening to do here at the house (nothing too big) and early to bed.

My friends who are here visiting from MA are currently in Homer, Alaska. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been... They will return tomorrow afternoon sometime and then they take the red-eye back to Boston tomorrow evening.

This is the beach in Homer. Bald eagles everywhere. And mountains, volcanoes
and the ocean. They are the Katchemak Mountains.

I've been utterly and completely exhausted lately. Everything has caught up to me. The emotions, the physical drain, financial drain. It's incredible how much this has all cost me in all of those departments. And then having to deal with a housemate that is as entitled and icky as the person I'm divorcing? Just really was unnecessary. I'm tired of bad behavior and WHY it's seeking me out.

However, I DO want share my gratitude for my wonderful family and friends from back home. I cannot say thank you enough for the support you've given me during this difficult period. Your messages, phone calls, emails, texts... It's all greatly greatly appreciated and I feel very lucky to have such a great number of people who care about me. I see a lot of people in Alaska who are in terrible situations because they don't have a support system of wonderful humans that love them.

I am really lucky. And I'm truly thankful for all of you and you know who you are!!   : )

Well, I should get a move on. It's already almost 10:00am here. We finally have some sun - so I'm going to take a short walk to Lake Hood and watch some of the planes take off. I don't know why, but it always makes me feel better to see people off to an adventure.

Ciao for now. Thanks for reading.

xoxox

I miss Boaty. This was during a trip to Martha's Vineyard.
We were docked right next to a retired Nantucket Lightship!
And the Obamas were there during this trip, too.