So I've been here in New Jersey since Friday. I haven't posted any photos or blogged about anything that's been happening because frankly, there's not much here that would be of interest to anyone but me! That's life in a small town. I like this part of New Jersey a lot - green, rolling hills, lots of old historic homes, good local farm produce this time of year (strawberries!) - but there's not a lot going on to blog about, and on this visit I'm not even going into New York or to the Jersey shore.
I've spent time with my family and I've got lunch or dinner dates set up with friends all week long. I went to the funeral of my friend Dwight on Saturday (I swear, there were at least 1,000 people there - a packed church, an amazing service with a beautiful and very calm speech from Dwight's wife Carla; so wonderful to see so many people who loved him) and got to see a lot of old friends for a little while. And I got to celebrate my birthday with my family for the first time in about 3 years.
I've been doing some projects at my mom's house, like cleaning out her very very dusty and cluttered basement, and there's a certain satisfaction in seeing how much I have accomplished in that respect. I cleaned out her blocked rain gutters this afternoon, too; luckily my cranky left knee hasn't been giving me too much trouble on this trip. My sister, who lives nearby, is the main go-to person for our mom, so while I'm here I'm mainly just trying to take care of whatever I can do, in order to give my sister a bit of a respite. It's not much compared to what my sister does for our mom all year long, but I try to do what I can. Any of you who have had to provide support for aging family members, whether you're the go-to person or one who's far away, know exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about.
So I've been emptying old boxes of junk, tossing out piles of old flower pots, jars of old nails and screws, getting rid of bags of pine cones and "craft stuff" from the days when my very creative mom used to make decorative wreaths and baskets. I've shop-vac'd every corner of the unfinished basement so far but one (I'm working in stages but now it's nearly finished). And I had the fun of knocking the hell out of an old wood and plywood " work table" that I think my dad must have made, back in the day, because at this point 45 or 50 years later it was practically falling down. I broke it into pieces, hammered down the rusty nails (don't want tetanus as one of my souvenirs from this trip) and shoved it all in the car for the trip to the dump. It was totally therapeutic! At the dump, there was a guy parked next to me, unloading a big pick-up truck full of crap, and he asked me how on earth I managed to fit so much of MY crap in such a small car. I think it was just sheer will-power at that point.
I'm also going through the boxes of my own things that my mom has been storing for me, and I came across five boxes I'd totally forgotten about! I really need to make some decisions about what to do with things like some antique china, an antique lamp which I'm desperately trying to figure out if I can take as a carry on (the hand-painted glass shade part; the metal base I would propose to wrap up in my checked luggage). There's an antique mirror belonging to one of my grandmothers that I really would love to have with me in Paris but I need to get quotes for shipping that, plus a few boxes of other assorted items like all my photos and negatives from my "film camera" days. I'm not ready to ship much of anything yet, but we'll come back at Christmas and I think I'll need to take care of it all then, because we're not sure how much longer my mom will want to keep her house. She's at that stage of life where the upkeep is starting to be very stressful for her. So I'm just trying to think ahead and hoping that shipping things to France won't cost me too much (frankly I'm afraid to ask what it might cost).
On this trip, I'll be able to bring back a few books and I think I can ship one box of books over now; I need to get them out of the damp basement once and for all, before they're ruined. I found some pretty seashells and coral that I think the Little Guy would like for his "collection" at home. And maybe a few small bits and pieces, or a photo album or two, can fit into my 2 checked bags without going over the weight limit. I'm trying to take it easy on the personal shopping so I have more space in the luggage for these other momentos I want to take with me, though I desperately need some good walking shoes and a few clothing items for summer. Oh, I miss how easy and cheap it used to be to bring things back to France when I first moved there, before the airlines started bleeding us dry with baggage fees!
So that's about it from rural New Jersey. Just trying to enjoy my time with the people I love, and get through my "to do list" before I leave in just a few days. The time has already passed too quickly; I thought 10 days would be enough... but it's never enough.
