Nobody in Charge

I spotted this charming little narcissus still life in an empty lot at the end of our street.on our walk  this morning.  Florrie, and her husband Jim lived here in a house Florrie designed herself. It was one of the first houses to be built on this street and they raised four sons there. Jim was confined to a wheelchair due to a stroke which he suffered not long before we moved here. They had a stunning collection of Southwest Indian pottery which I took a few pictures of. I put a picture of part of their collection in front of a quit Florrie had made as a backdrop

 Not long before the Covid lockdown, Jim had a bad fall and wound up in a nursing home. When the lockdown began, Florrie wasn't allowed to see him, except through a window. She told me this just before the Glass fire burned their house to the ground. I never saw her again, but have learned that both of them have since died. Nobody seems to know what will happen with this lot, but nature is taking over,  and this little narcissus is all that stands as a memorial to Florrie and Jim and the life they built together here.

It's been one of those Sundays when I feel like nobody is in charge. We didn't feel like reading the paper, our usual Sunday morning routine. Too many stories about the inauguration. It was little consolation to read in a headline that 75% of the people who voted for the Felon didn't like him but liked his policies. Still more stories about the LA fires and the Santa Rosa people reliving their own experiences and going down to help. They know what a long road ahead there is for the survivors and have learned the hard way some of the rules for navigating it. One of the most effective was to band together as a neighborhood group and support each other. 

It was freezing this morning outside and taking the furnace a very long time to warm up the house. Neither one of us really felt much like venturing out into the freezing fog. We changed a lightbulb, but then wondered if the wattage was to high for the fixture. I turned to YouTube which told me that the acceptable wattage limit could be found on the fixture. How? when the light bulb is burned out. We probably could have solved the problem with a flashlight but we had already put the ladder away.

I think we'll probably go to bed early and start over tomorrow, although it will definitely be a news blackout day...all day.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to Sunday Supper at Jim and Dana's.