Pandemic Boredom Blogging and Bad Weather have made for Manic Writing spurts as I'm Locked Down inside way too much lately! *LOL* Torrential Rain turned to Hail with threat of it turning to Snow if it got much Colder in the Valley... Rare, since we live in a Desert. We needed the Rains, the Monsoons never came in 2020 and we've been thru an extended drought and loads of Fires last Season that torched the Landscape. I was sitting in a ridiculously long line at the Base Pharmacy Drive-Thru waiting to pick up my Rx refills, otherwise, I wouldn't have been out of the house.
The Man and I popped in to a "Jack In The Box" to grab something to eat fast and tho' it is a brand new building, their interior Ceiling had began falling in from the Storms! Drywall and water was everywhere in this brand new Restaurant, if I was the Franchise Owner I'd be beyond pissed off! New builds are so haphazardly constructed that I can't say I'm surprised, this is why I'd never again buy a New Home, give me an Older or preferably Historic Home any day, they'll last longer than something built right now!
Cosmetically they did a Fine job on that location's interior Design, but clearly they slapped the building up poorly to already have a bad and dangerous Roof so soon. The large portion of Ceiling had fallen down directly over a Table and Seating, they're lucky it didn't fall on Customers and create liability! The staff were clearly negatively impacted by their working conditions, they were screwing up Orders and seemed ambivalent about even making the place look presentable or being Customer Service oriented. They have a Survey on your Receipt to take, they don't really wanna know what I thought about our experience. *LOL*

For a Second Container I'm doing Bird's Nests and I have plenty of those. I think there's even an abandoned Hummingbird Nest in a Hanging Planter Ring on the back Patio that I might use. I'm not sure yet what I want to put into the Third Container, but it might be Feathers. When I was buying these Wasp Nests I was Surprised to see how much Antique Botanical Herbarium Collections were going for. I have an enormous folder of them from 1883 I bought Years ago Online. I've framed several, but my Collection is way older, larger and nicer than any I saw for Sale that were Hundreds of Dollars for just a scant few! Wow!
I remember it took me all Season the Year I bought these to go to enough Craft Stores that carried these Floating Glass Frames, so that I could buy enough of them! I think I cleaned out about Three Craft Chain Stores of what they had in this size! *LOL* Packing them to move here, I put each between flat Styrofoam of the same size that I Sourced in a Dumpster Dive behind a Cosmetic Store! So they all arrived safely and undamaged. I've kept the flat Styrofoam for any other transport of flat fragile items of Art and such that might be Showroom bound.
Seriously, I don't expect our Adult Kids, Adult Grandkids or even the Great-Grandkids we already have, to keep everything they'll Inherit one day from us. What they decide to keep and what they decide to turn into profits is entirely up to them and I've made that clear beforehand. I don't wanna Guilt anyone into keeping anything whatsoever if they have no real attachment to it or preference for having it in their Homes. I know one of the hardest things my Brother and I had to decide was what to Donate or Sell that had belonged to our Parents and we didn't want or have room for in our Homes. It's easy to feel somewhat Obligated to do something to Honor their possessions properly after they pass.
I rarely kept anything I made, I'd rather Collect the exceptional Work of other Artists that I Admire and have amassed a Collection of. I particularly like Magnolia Pearl Bags and Backpacks, even tho' the Artist hasn't made them now in a very long time, so I'm glad I established my Collection early into her Career and when she made everything herself. Once an Artist becomes renown, things are going to be mass produced and branded, and by then, I often lose Interest in Collecting any of it when it becomes common rather than OOAk and Artisan made. I like to find Unknown Artists that I Admire the Work of buy their Work while it's still affordable and not clamored for once they become known.
I know a lot of people who Collect Art that only want Art from Known Masters and not the Unknown Masters, but I'm the opposite when I Collect. I still laugh at the True Story my Parents had of one of Mom's Eccentric wealthy Great Aunts who Gifted them with an Ugly Painting for their Wedding Gift. They hung it up in their first Apartment so as not to hurt her Feelings, but they Hated it. Well, they left it hanging on the Wall when they moved. Fast forward about 20+ Years later and my Nanna asked them whatever did they do with that Monet Painting that Mom's Great Aunt had given them for their Wedding!? A Monet, and they just left it behind... because, tho' Monet was Famous, they didn't know he'd Painted it and didn't like the Painting at all anyway and thought it was a Weird and Ugly Gift from an Old and mebbe Senile Relative. *Bwahahaha!*
I do know some of what I Collected when Artists were Unknown is now Valuable once they become Well Known. I'm not always Interested in Selling it tho', in fact, if I still Love it as much as when I bought it, I probably never will re-sell it so that will be up to my Heirs to decide eventually. I thought about how the Pharaohs built enormous Pyramids and just brought all their stuff with them into their Tombs... I think my Kiddos would be relieved if I could just do that. *LOL* Seriously, I don't envy them the task of whatever I don't manage to downsize enough of before I croak! But I am attempting to downsize possessions and keep at Purging a lot about Life, to Simplify things for me and for them.
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May you already have all the Friends in the World you'll ever Need... Dawn... The Bohemian