Teardrops and Treasures

Still around; still watching the Bootleg fire, over an hour to the east.  Fortunately the wind's been blowing the smoke towards the rest of the country, sorry.  I'm still painting the teardrop but I think I went a bit overboard with the geraniums, I'll fix that.

Last week BC and I took a quick 3 day trip to Lake Tahoe to deposit several boxes and buckets of my treasures with my friends.  They have the danger of fire there, too, but their concrete cave seems safer than the walls of my motorhome.

It's quite a relief to have those things gone, since I'd been dreaming of fires and wondering what I could grab and what becomes kindling if forced to evacuate with minutes to spare. Gone is the box filled with "My Favorite Things, including my kazoo (a gift from Dad); the little gecko squished and dried when I found it up on the flybridge of Ruff Life (it's like a fossil); even the corkscrew from my first date with Ex-man #1 (don't read more into that). They represent significant periods of my life.

I'm keeping with me Tino's ashes and my Chinese purse from Second Grade Horrors, which throughout my life I claimed I'd grab before anything else in case of a fire, I never thought it would be a real possibility.

I assured my friends that I am aware of the chances I take by leaving my things with them, and absolve them of any responsibility.  My stuff's all over the country with various people, I think I've written that before; but look at some of what I still need to retrieve from storage in 'Jersey.

A fraction of the owl collection I used to own, but if I sell the Lalique, Swarovski and Baccarat pieces I may be able to pay a month's rent in the future.  I gave some beauties to my male cousins but I still have those Matchbox cars...

Considering I don't have anywhere to display anything nor do I have descendants, why keep 'um?  Oh, I'll tell you what I DID do the other day:  opened an Instagram account, can you believe?  Since my painted teardrop will undoubtedly attract attention down the road, friends asked how I intend to advertise.  Advertise what we didn't know, but this seems like an opportunity too good to pass up.

Who better to ask than someone under 40, so I'm being tutored by my friend's daughter who, after recognizing my ineptness with social media, suggested I try Instagram for ease of use.  It is pretty simple, once you get into it.  I didn't want to plaster my name on the outside of the teardrop, so I came up with @paintedladyteardrop, or the URL is www.instagram.com/paintedladyteardrop/.

I have no real idea what I'm doing or why, but I'm giving modernity the old college try.