Thursday, April 1, 2010

4/1/10 Hodgepodge House & New Friends in Botswana

*Cartwheels in and perches on chair edge*
Impressive aren't I Mr. Blog?! Bet you don't know too
many fifty-three year old women that can do that!
That's the beauty of imagination isn't it Mr. Blog?
Well, I'm housewarming Angela's new apartment so I don't have
much time but I had the weirdest dream of Hodgepodge House
that I haven't had for about six months.
Hodgepodge House is located where Rudy's TV Repair
sits on Lake City Way only there are no apartments
and just a few tiny businesses along the un-busy road.
The bottom two floors are white colonial style with four columns
but then the top it red cedar in an austere Frank Floyd Wright style.
So I'm sound asleep and the windstorm wakes me up
and tears off a corner of the ceiling in our bedroom.
Our bedroom is on the top floor and lined with cedar paneling.
I can't wake up Terry but I hear a noise in the kitchen.
It is styled like Tina Clark's kitchen in Windemere
with windows along one side above the counters
only they are facing east instead of west.
The wind and rain are coming in the kitchen too
and I hear an animal noise and see an orange cat.
I sit down in the cold, wet mud and pick up the cat.
It is Earl! He is all grown up and cold and wet
and huge! Like twenty pounds. I gently dry him with
a towel and he looks up at me adoringly.
Then I see Winston under a nearby chair and pick him
up. He is a little smaller than Earl and I gently
pick him up and hold both of them and I'm
filled with the biggest happiness of my life to have
my babies back.
The storm stops and I hear my friend Patty calling up to me.
I go downstairs and greet her and show her around the house
which she hasn't seen even though we've lived there twenty years.
I say, "Come see this Patty, you'll love it."
We walk out a side door that faces north and there is
a pasture with grass and a few old, gnarled fruit trees
and across the meadow is a darling white carriage house.
It has Victorian trim and elaborate cornices
and it white on white.
We go in the front door and it is a living room decorated in comfortable
overstuffed chintz chairs and it is the most appealing
room I have ever seen!
It is one large room but there is a bed off to one side
but not clear to the wall because of a kitchen there.
It is an old, elegant looking kitchen with
antique appliances in white enamel but the odd thing is..
There are dutch doors at either end with a babbling brook
running down the middle of the room so to cook
you would have to step over it!
Patty says, "Gretchen! I have never seen anything like this!"
And I say, "Just wait, you haven't seen nothin yet."
She follows me to the door and we step into the grassy yard
next to the brook. The brook wells up from a huge stump
of a maple tree and there is a tiny pond inside.
We peer over the edge of the stump and see ducklings!
Patty says, "Look at the ducklings Gretchen!"
And I say, "Not just any ducklings Patty."
I pick one up and it is so soft and fuzzy and adorable
and I turn it towards Patty and her jaw drops open.
The duckling is a cross between an owl and a duck!
It has these huge appealing owl-eyes and wide owl head
on top of a fat, fuzzy brown duckling body.
They were the cutest creatures I have
ever not seen in my life Mr. Blog!
So I gently set the owl-duckling in the pond and say,
"Watch this Patty."
I lead her back into the cottage and we sit on the edge
of the bed next to the kitchen.
I have left the bottom of the Dutch door open
and in float the owl-ducklings as cute as can be.
There is a half circle opening in the bottom of the
door at the other side of the kitchen
and the babies float right out.
Patty's eyes are huge and she says,
"That is the cutest thing I have ever seen!
I would love to live here!" And I look at her and say,
"You can if you want, I'd be delighted to have you for a neighbor."
Then, this is funny Mr. Blog, she takes out a checkbook
and in this neat script handwriting, she makes out a check
for $267.00 even though I don't know that I am a landlord.
Funny thing is Mr. Blog, I have never seen Patty's handwriting
but I now want to and I'll have to ask her to write something
next time she comes over.
Well, that was that for that odd dream but I have dreamed
of that house at least a dozen times. It is different from Pigson
Mannor which is a replica of the white house and located
on the bluff over the Columbia River.
I have told you about my obsession with Botswana and posted to
four women I saw pictures of down the hall and I now
*says proudly* have two friends in Botswana!
Mo and Bakadzi. I'm guessing Mo is short for something
and guess what Mr. Blog?! She is a police officer!
Now, how fortunate am I to meet a lady police officer in Botswana?!
She has a handsome husband and three darling children.
Bakadzi is only twenty three and wants to be friends
despite my advanced age. I am old enough to be her grandmother!
But she is friendly and chatty and looked at my website
and wanted a Nixpix t-shirt!
Now how lucky is that Mr. Blog?!
I am waiting to hear what kind she wants
and I have made a decision right now,
while talking to you, that instead of having
Zazzle ship directly to her, I will order the shirt
sent her and then package it myself.
I want to send her some Kenmore stuff if there is any.
I don't think there is. Oh! A sticker!
I hope City Hall has some left!
They are diamond shape in yellow with black letters
that say, "In Kenmore, Courtesy is Contagious."
Oh! I will send her as many as they'll give me and then...
Maybe she and all her friends will come visit and stay
with us!!! Wouldn't that be exciting Mr. Blog?!
Yikes, more about all that later!
I am meeting Angela at the Kenmore Toshi's Teriyaki
at noon and will just barely make it!
Ciao!

No comments:

Post a Comment