because things can move Fast.
and really, it's better that things move fast. Slow would not make anything Easier.
Julie asked. What will happen to This Place, here in Polvadera?
Have said this in comments, i guess, but to put it here.
Travis will live here. If that had not occured, i don't know if i could go. If i could Leave.
I met Travis at the Old Folks Home, over there on Hwy 60, the road up the mountain to Magdalena. It's a sprawling place. Never had been inside before. Until Alz. Betty had to go there one day on a Saturday.
Alz B being Bill's mother who i'd reluctantly taken up housekeeping for at his REQUEST. Every other week for some years and then just slowly increasing to include not just keeping house, but keeping Company as her mind began to Wander Away. Then More. and then, That Saturday. After that, he paid me to go there, to the Old Folks Home to just be with her a few times a week, keep track of things there, go to the staff/family meetings that determined her Care. For altogether 3 years give or take, i would primarily go at lunch time, except for Music Thursday. There were tables of 3 in the community dining room and Travis, a CNA, certified nursing assistant, was almost always at our table with Alma and Jenny. He fed them. I fed Alz B. We talked, i found out over time a lot about who he is, from the conversations, but also from being witness to the exchanges he had with two scrappy women who had Lost their Minds. His kindness and capability. His humor. His direct honesty. The night Alz. B died, i got the call to come. I got there first, before her son and sat with her and then her body. Travis came and sat too. Then we all sat for hours.
i didn't see him then, for some months until things started picking up momentum with the Old Cowboy i was caring for....things i didn't want to do, like bath time. Toe nail trimming. I called him and it went from there to his being the primary caregiver in a 24/7 kind of way, knowing other CNA's that would share shifts. Then the months of Hospice in Old Cowboy's home. To the end. During that time, i knew him better and better. He also Knew me. Well. That was going on 2 years ago and since then i have hired him and his friend Everett to help me with things here that i couldn't do or couldn't do alone. They would come, do the work and then we'd sit out under the Old Apricot Tree and just talk. We watched Toads. He saw the juvenile skink. Both he and Everett love it here. Their place is in town. a tiny courtyard yard. Travis works on vehicles. It's his Love.
I think he's 32 years old. Everett is younger and over time tells me of how social interactions are very difficult for him, how hard he works at changing that but it's slow going. He is happy as a clam here. Travis is like his older brother. Teaches him how to work on his car. Interprets the world for him.
So, when it seemed that "sooner or later", i'd need to make my mind up about Going, i just put the thought out there....would Travis want to live here? Would he promise to Give Water? Would he care for the Toads, Lizards, the Bull Snake?
YES! and for the first time, i could entertain the thought of Leaving. He will run a drip system and dig a sandpoint well which will have a solar pump. He is extremely smart and able. Will change all the things about this Home that are falling apart. I don't know if Everett will actually live here, but he will GROW things here...he loves the raised beds and imagines all manner of things growing in all the places that the Goats have enriched the soil.
so, Julie, what will happen here will Evolve. The Albatros will return to being an automotive Thing. But i have complete FAITH that things will continue and things will GROW.
so...he can have it. The neighborhood has continued to get a little more and more Ify but it won't bother them. This is important. Not a lot of people could be comfortable here. They will be, well, happy as clams.
and just to clarify a little further. When the person i was married to died, the whole area where the Front Oasis and the 3 Goat yards are had various vehicles of Potential, a boat. The guy who buys such things came at my request. He walked around and walked around. I said...so......and i always remember his wise words.
"Anyone who would want these, wouldn't have enough money. Anyone who had enough money, wouldn't want them."
that applies to this Place. So, I'll Give it.
.......................................Addendums................................................................
to Clarify more....when i say that it's more and more Ify, the neighborhood, i do not mean to imply "dangerous". I never feel any danger here. I never lock my door, and actually, the door that goes out from the ROOM into the way back, has no lock anyway. When i leave, am away for the day, the door is unlocked...in warm weather, only the screen door. By ify i mean that places are not taken care of. Even if poor, there are ways to take care. That's not happening so much. And the place next door that i'd though of buying as a "buffer" is increasingly imploding. It's an eyesore, really.
Polvadera Panini Press
Have begun the Grasses. Hard to see, but if you double click................