rhapsodic.org is a weblog by Valette Keller

Tuesday night at the dog park

Nine Years

Nine years ago my sister did not survive a motorcycle accident. Today I am sitting in a too-small hotel room in Juneau, wanting desperately to honor her memory but not being able to get into the right headspace.

I tried a few different things to help me focus: I went for a walk on Sandy Beach, I ate some chocolate gelatto, and I flipped on the television to find a music channel. But when I turned on the TV there was Jersey Shore and I couldn't look away.  

I've never seen it before, and I watched two or three minutes of it - enough to know that it's truly awful. But after I turned it off I realized it's just the kind of show Melissa would have loved; she always had some awful taste in movies and television. 

But mostly today has felt like another work trio to Juneau and I hate that. I want to grieve my sister. I want to sit at her grave and tell her I miss her. I want to be with my family and share funny stories about her life. 

About the time she rode her bicycle into the side of the house and broke her arm. About the time she sang and danced with me as I packed for college. The times she was beautiful and the times she was there for me. And the times since that I have needed her. 

Nine years is much too long without my sister. 

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Weekends and Garages and Puppies

I managed to kick all kinds of butt this weekend, beginning by doing a bunch of Studio work on Friday night - processing and delivering photos, spreadsheets and tracking and numbers and boring and such.

Then Saturday was awesome. Olive and I started early with a run through the neighborhood. Cutting through the high school grounds we came across a flock of geese that I may have encouraged Olive to go hang with. That went pretty well, and I think she's made some long-lasting friends.

We had some french toast for breakfast (dredge pugliese italian bread slices in 4 eggs lightly whisked with some heavy cream, vanilla, and cinnamon; fry in some butter for a bit; cover in peanut butter and syrup; serve with fried maple ham), and then headed out for a bunch of errands and grocery shopping.

Back home I unpacked the car and put groceries away while Steve and Donovan started working on reorganizing the garage. One of the biggest changes they made was to install a ladder hook on the wall to get our giant ladder out of tripping vicinity.

They also moved a bunch of random wood pieces to the shed out back to burn in the stove this winter. The right side of the garage is still a huge mess that we hope to tackle next weekend, but the left side is looking really good. So close to getting my car in there for winter.

All of the reorganization and cleaning they did made room for our two wire baker's racks to store extra food and paper supplies (yay Costco!).

And champagne. Don't forget all of the champagne. Steve's aunt bought gobs of it for the wedding reception and gave us what was left over. I have no idea what to do with it, maybe some champagne risotto?

Saturday evening we went to a bonfire-and-hot-tub party which is just about my most favorite party ever.

Then today we had a playdate with two of Mitzi's littermates and it was non-stop adorableness. She's still a little smaller than Koda and Briggs, I can't wait to see how they all change as they grow.

It was also great to watch Mitzi play with dogs other than Olive. She and Olive have just recently started playing together, and boy are they noisy.

But if you start feeling bad for Olive, just know that she's been getting plenty of love and attention.

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