I officially dispise four-pronged drapery hooks.

So my poor cat it seems, has bronchitis. He has this terrible hacking cough and a weepy eye. So I am trying to get rid of some of the main causes of the dust in my room that might set his coughing off. One big thing is the dusty curtains. These are some kind of cool retro curtains my grandmother made back in the day. They were so easy to take down and I figured hey, I can figure out these weird hooks. It’ll be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong. I have been fighting with these nice clean curtains all day. I have pleated and un-pleated them so many times I’ve lost track. I’m hoping I have it this time. But hey at least they aren’t dusty. That reminds me, kitten needs his meds so I am out for the night.

-A

New Title And Update

Song of the morning: Flavor Of The Week by American Hi-Fi

Wow..I’ve not updated this all week. I’ve made a lot of progress with my cleaning but there is still so much to do. Amidst all the sneezing and paper-cuts I have managed to procure myself a closet for my clothes. I cleaned out both of the closets in my grandma’s room so there is some space for storage at least. Also, pictures GALORE. I have a great love of finding old pictures and reliving the memories they are connected to. I’ve found so many amazing old pictures of various family members as well. For instance, I found this really cool sort of collage that I want to try and scan. The problem is that it’s all on like pieces of wood. So I will try to scan it but we’ll see what happens. My Uncle Neil and I think that Great-Grandma Esther made it (she was my Great-grandpa Harry’s second wife). I found an old photo book that must have been more or less my grandma’s baby book. it has pictures up until she turned 13.

It was kind of cool to see her parents together, back when her mother was still a Neil. She actually married 3 times in her life. She was first a Gantenbein, then married Charles Edward Neil, then Alexis Corfino with whom she had a song, grandma’s younger half brother who sadly passed away around age 19 or so. The last man she married was a terrible man with the last name Hartford. He was the cause of my great grandma’s blindness when he hurt her, during the last part of her life. She was such a strong woman though. I read this amazing article she wrote about over-coming this experience, learning to type and write again. I found pictures of her making these strange glass creatures along with the article.

Also, last week I spent some time with my Grandmother Lois. We spent a good portion of the afternoon looking through pictures and talking about them. The best part was when I found her wedding album in this little closet that I never really noticed before. We found my grandfather Erwin’s photo album from when he was in the army as well. I really need to scan some pictures from both her collections as well as grandma Dorothy’s.

I will try to scan those collages today perhaps, because they really are quite unique. Lets see…what else..I found a bunch of letters that were back and forth between Charles Edward Neil and other family members. I haven’t read through them all but that was pretty cool. I found a few cousins from my grandpa David’s side of the family that I met back in fourth grade. I have so little family that it is nice to make those connections. I wish I had better skills with web design, I’d love to make a family tree site. I guess I’ll just stick with ancestry.com among others. Lol.

That’s all for now. I’ll probably be back with pictures later.

-A

Treasures Of The Past

What is a treasure? To each person the word treasure has a different meaning. To some treasure can be money, gold, or jewels, to others it can be the wonder and gift of a child. Some people treasure things that anyone else would consider junk or trash. I personally have a great love of memories and the items that bring them to the surface. Behind every item saved, behind every letter and every picture there is a memory if you only look or ask about it.

Having such a small family, I treasure every memory, every story and picture that leads me to something in my past. You can’t get these memories back once people have passed on. If you don’t ask questions and learn things from your family, those memories could easily be gone with them. I love asking my Grandma Lois about her family or her past. I only wish that I had thought to ask my Maternal Grandmother Dorothy about her family and her past. All I can do is clean and look through her things, learning her story through letters and pictures and occasionally asking family.

In the past few days alone I have learned so much. I learned that my Great Great-Grandfather was a crazy reporter who do just about anything for a story. One funny thing I learned from a paper my mother wrote about the Neil side of our family was that often her great grandfather used to bring people over unannounced on a regular basis. This drove his wife Nellie crazy. So, often she would close the shades and pretend to not be home, wait until he’d made his apologies and said his goodbyes, then he would come in to find his wife was in fact home. I found that rather amusing.

Anyway, I could write so many things here if I so chose, but I still have a closet to clean and clothes to take to good will. If I think of it I’ll post some more things here. I do have a train robber family member on my Grandma Lois’ side that I could research and write about here. Until then, au revoir

-A

7 am On The West Coast.

It’s strange, to be so awake ate 7 am, but here I am, still on Massachusetts time, or mountain or central time. I did travel through 3 different time zones this week. So I’m awake, but still rather tired.

The animals seem to be doing well, but once my bank account balances with all the stupid gas station holds then I may take Midnight to the vet. He’s had this odd cough/retching sound he makes and his ear started flinching when my hand went near it. I was just the one ear, so I worry he hurt it somehow or at worst got mites somehow. I’m hoping it’s just the minor injury..I really don’t want to deal with mites.

So obviously I made it the last leg of my journey. It was a long one though parts were terribly disappointing. There was this long stretch of road that was the epitome of the middle of no where. It was me, the road, the various bushes and the odd car going the other way.

What was disappointing about it you ask? Well like many other states there were postings warning you to watch for this animal or that. The only animals I saw were ravens, hawks and the dead things on the side of the road, an armadillo being the most interesting.

So, talk about false advertising. I drove over an hour through beautiful wooded areas, signs, telling me to watch for elk and then the signs after telling me to “watch for animals”. I watched for the god damn animals and they never came.

Oh well..
So I learned the hard way that you shouldn’t use your debit card as a debit card at the gas stations. I have like 5 pending 1 dollar holds on my bank account. I hope they go through soon so I can figure out my money situation.

Well I’m off to do…something..not sure what lol maybe shower and do some cleaning. All my boxes are still in my car. Lol. It’d be nice if I had room for them.

Till later
-A

Best…Barbecue…Ever

So I was way too tired to write my blog up yesterday. Passed out by 11 pm (Mountain time) and woke around 6 something, went back to sleep a few times. I’ve been sleeping so well in these hotels. With the exception of the Little Rock one which irritated me so much I did not rest very well. I should just stay on Mass time and Go to bed early and get up early here..er in AZ. Well anyway So yesterday I finished my drive through Oklahoma and moved into Texas for a short while. I panicked a bit though because I had forgotten to add Texas when I spoke to the bank about my traveling. I needed gas and I was worried that using my card in Texas might put a block on it again. I called and got it taken care of though.

So I made my way through Texas and it was kind of funny. I started to notice how completely different all of the police cars look in the different states. Lol what can I say, I’m always nervous around cops so I notice them. In Oklahoma I saw some average police cars, but then there were these unmarked SUVS with thick bars on the front the way you see on regular police cars. Those came in white and black. In Texas or Oklahoma there were these odd tan-colored police cars that were normal otherwise. In New Mexico the cars were normal but they were almost completely white with a black swirled marking on the side, or maybe that was just the way the font looked. What bothered me about these cars was that I could not recognize them in my rearview. Their lights were these tiny things that look like the luggage racks. That’s usually how I recognize when I need to get out-of-the-way of an oncoming cop car.

OMG the drive from Texas to Albuquerque was soooooooo boring. I could not reach my cds, half the rest stops were closed and I could not find a radio station to save my life. I started talking to the cat-like some crazy person. Oh! New kind of road kill I saw, armadillos! lol. I saw those and I knew I was officially in the Southwest when I saw a tumbleweed roll by. Lets see what else happened..I saw someones tire explode. It was crazy! I had to pull quickly to the next lane and then back so I avoided hitting the tire pieces or the car which was pulling over.

Ah..now on to the yummy food I had. I checked into the motel (cleanest and friendliest so far, she even called to check on my bunny lol) and hung out briefly before I wandered over to this barbecue place the hotel lady had suggested. So I walk into the place thinking it is like a regular restaurant. Nope. It’s all picnic tables and waiting in line to order your food. Lol. I ordered a lean brisket, corn on the cob and got some chocolate pudding that was made fresh in-house. I added some of their spicy sweet barbecue sauce and I..was..in..heaven. The beef was so tender and delicious, I ate every bite. They give you enough slices of bread to make yourself sandwiches with the slices of meat. I was so hungry but sadly, could not finish the pudding.

I did not realize how much I missed real barbecue until I had the food at Rudy’s yesterday. I almost want to stay here at the motel long enough to go there for lunch, but I really don’t have time. I’m sitting now watching the bunny and cat play and getting ready to hop in the shower so I can pack up and head for my last stop on the trip. ARIZONA!!! Lol Later all.

-A

Cock-Walk Restaurant

Yes, there was really a sign for a restaurant with that name. I assume they meant it as in being cocky and full of oneself but still, you have to wonder what people are thinking when they come up with these names.

So i gave in and let Midnight sit up front with me. Eventually we found a better place in the back where he slept for most of the drive with no yowling and no panicking in general. He was right as rain once he didn’t feel trapped. Also..he was nice enough to refrain from doing his business until we got to the hotel.

So I went almost completely through Oklahoma today and did I see even one stray buffalo? nope. not a one. I was quite disappointed in the state. It was a nice drive though. No rain and maybe some minor traffic in Oklahoma City. It has finally started to feel like out west. The air today was hot and dry. I think it went up to 102 today but without the humidity it felt so nice. The motel 6 in Elk City is rather nice. The internet is working and it was nice to walk into a building to get to my room.

So far my only problem has been the loud truckers slamming their door and banging next door when they got locked out. It scared the crap out of Midnight and I. So yeah other than that things have been fine. I left the room briefly to go eat at a nearby cafe, where I amused some of the truckers there because i couldn’t help but laugh when one of their phones range with E.T. by Katy Perry as the ring tone. I’m sorry but that shit was just hilarious.

I have to say that I am getting a touch homesick. Not for the state of Massachusetts, but more homesick for people. It will be hard not having my regular trips to karaoke, the club and Ihop. It just won’t be the same without a lot of you. Oh well..all I can do is try my best to keep in touch, visit and hope that eventually..one of them makes it out to visit me…

-A

Skillets, Jams and Country Hams

There was an add for a place called The Country Store that just struck me as funny, so I stole it for the title of my post.

So, first impressions of Arkansas..well it’s very flat. I have definitely reached the Midwest with it’s sprawling farms and interesting accents. I will say that I chose poorly in me decision to go to a motel in North Little Rock and not directly in Little Rock. I feel like I’m in one of the poor suburbs of Boston, full of people who live in sleazy motels, women with over-sized t-shirts and no bras, and creepy men who wear holey shirts and grin creepily.

No one has bothered me though and I’ll be out of here in an hour or so. The front desk guy was very unfriendly and the ice machine was absolutely disgusting. Motel 6 has been upgrading the look of the rooms in their motels, but in this case, it’s like painting something broken but not fixing it. It doesn’t matter how pretty this room is to look at, the place in general is run down. And what’s the point of having a new flat-screen if the picture is all fuzzy? Anyhow..I just had an icky drive yesterday.

I got on the road just fine and drove for a number of hours before my pain in the as cat freaked enough to get out of his carrier the daft beast. His carrier zips together and he found the place where the two zippers met and got it open. So he was on my lap for like 20 min or so until i found a safe place to pull over. Coincidentally it was near a Sonic, so I got a small burger and small fry. Nothing two crazy. Then on to the road again. As I was nearing Memphis my gas was running low. Now I really should have stopped sooner but I wanted to get as far as Memphis before I stopped. Unfortunately there was a ton of traffic as I was getting on the highway towards Little Rock. I finally got desperate and asked my gps to find me a place.

It took me so far out of the way that I was at this gas station run by a Chinese lady and filled with a lot of creepy people. Like this skinny old black guy who stared at me as I struggled with the gas pump, not realizing that it was of the old kinds where you have to lift the lever to get the gas going. I was so tired and nearly frustrated to tears by the time I got the ten dollars of gas into my car. I just needed enough gas to give me time to get to a better gas station.

To top it of I completely forgot to notify my bank that I’d be traveling. So I had to call to set that to rights. I was on the phone with the Bank of America guy when I crossed the state line into Arkansas and told him so. Silly me..

I finally pulled into

From Virginia to Tennessee

The first thing I will say about my first day back on the road, it was much more peaceful than the last. The gradual shift from the rolling hills of green trees to the wilder and more tropical trees and plants of Tennessee was quite lovely. I noted the various differences as I moved down route 66, route 81 and finally route 41.

It was funny to see how the trees and plants changed. In Virginia the trees seemed almost like a well manicured hedge. They were close together, creating waves of dark green. As I neared Tennessee the trees lightened in color, becoming more wild and overgrown. Once I was in the state I noticed with a smile the kudzu vines that over-power much of the Tennessee forests. Not that it is a pleasant plant to deal with and in fact is impossible to get rid of. When I was younger my aunt told me what the strange vines were and how they had gotten there. I was just out of fourth grade and in the fading light as we drove past the kudzu vines my imagination turned them into shapes and stories, just as you see shapes in the clouds, that is what I did with the kudzu plants.

The kudzu plant originated in Japan and in like 1876 it was brought to a botanical show in Philadelphia, some of the plant escaped and it just took over.

Kudzu can grow up to 7 feet (over 2 meters) per week if conditions are right. In the American South it very often does grow at this rate because of the climate and soil. So yeah..it’s pretty much impossible to get rid of and all they can really do is keep it trimmed down.

Let’s see, now that I’m done with the random lesson on kudzu what else happened on my trip. I played leap frog with a couple of trucks. That’s one thing I noticed about the long drive. I saw a lot of the same cars as I drove along. Anyway so there were these two trucks with strange machine parts on them and wide load signs on the back. No matter how many times I pulled over to take the cat out or stretch my legs, I kept on catching up with and passing them, while I was on routes 81 and 41 anyway. So that was amusing.

I saw enough road kill on this drive to make a hillbilly thanksgiving. After awhile i stopped recognizing what the animals were. I think I saw a lot of raccoons, though a few may have been beavers. lol.

After that lovely visual i think I will stop and go back to enjoying the hotel room. Midnight is curled up adorably beside me. He was quick to choose his own side of the bed by the clock. So I will be using my phone as an alarm clock lol.

Later All
-A

One More Day

I was sitting on the back porch of my stepmom’s townhouse, well prepared with a moderate spraying of bug repellant, and I realized that this was probably one of my last chances to see fireflies for awhile. Arizona doesn’t get fireflies and I will be much too tired when I get to Tennessee to go out and enjoy them as I once did down in Pulaski, TN. I was just out of fourth grade and out with a stereotypical mason jar, eagerly trying to catch my first lightning bug. Still being from Arizona I had never seen them before. It was in front of the house that used to be my great Uncle Joe and his wife Helenmae’s old house. So that’s what I did tonight. I sat and watched fireflies, trying now and again to capture one of them on film so to speak, though of course my camera is digital so it isn’t really.

Anyway..so tomorrow is the 4th of July and my last day visiting with Miriam and my brother’s Danny and Robbie. I will have to post a picture of me with them. At 15 and almost 17 years of age they are now both taller than me. Tomorrow we will light sparklers and fire crackers, and a few of those large sparking things, all of which are legal in Virginia, unlike Massachusetts.

Sometime during the day I will re-pack my car, sans the rabbit and cat and one of my boxes which I will be trying to ship before I head out on Tuesday.

My first destination in my 5 day drive will be Kingston, TN. It will take me 7+ hours to get there as i make my way through Virginia, pausing at some point to wave in the illustrious Chuck’s general direction. I’d love to stop and say hello but I have limited funds and need to get to Arizona as fast as I can..within reason. Were I alone without any animals I might try to stop a bit more sparingly, sleeping at a few rest stops on my drive to save money. But oh well. it is nice to have the company.

Next on my drive I will move through Tennessee and into Arkansas, my goal being North Little Rock to the Motel 6 there.

After Arkansas I will drift into Oklahoma, stopping in Elk City. Apparently there is a Route 66 museum there which I might just stop into for postcards at least. That is one of my main highways, route 66.

Last of all I will be in part of Albuquerque,NM. I figured since I lived there briefly as a child that I owed a small homage to the place.

And last but not least I will leave NM behind and be safe in Tempe, AZ for the 9th.

And on to new and exciting adventures.

-A

Temporary Stop-off

Well I made it to Virginia as previously posted but I’ve decided to stay a bit longer than planned. I realized that I was not likely to make it to Arizona by the 4th. So I figured, why not spend the 4th of July with my stepmother and brothers? It does help me to avoid the traffic of 4th of July weekend. I will say that it was actually my Uncles suggestion that I stole for my own.

My animals appear to be quite happy with all of this space. I let MJ out of her cage to play yesterday and she was actually playing with Midnight. I’d always worried he might hurt her but they seemed to get along pretty well. He seemed scared of her a few times, but then my cat is a bit of a wimp. My stepmom’s chubby cat Stella has put him in his place on multiple occasions. he definitely understands that it is her house and not his.

I admit I’m getting mildly restless. I feel like I need a purpose but there isn’t much I can do while I’m here. I worked at applying for school loans but without a co-signer there is no way they will give me a penny. I will work on a few cover letters I suppose. So I can send my resume to some various places between now and when I get to AZ. It’s looking like I will be there by the end of next week..hopefully.

So we’ll see what happens..