Today I finally started to feel like I was catching up around here. I’ve been chasing laundry around since we got back. This afternoon, I managed to actually get it out of the dryer, folded and put away. Except for things that don’t belong to me. I am a washerwoman from way back. I remember when there were umpteen bazillion people at the moomincabin in the summer and once a week, I would haul a ton of laundry to the Lockview Laundromat, fill three triple-loaders and a small washer or two for oh, you know, undies and things. I would get there when it opened at eight and be back out at the moomincabin by 10 AM. On the flip side of that, both of the beach urchins began doing their *own* laundry at about the age of 10. I think I wasn’t very good at distributing clean undies to the right people.

As I wrote that, it occurred to me that, in the later years of The Commander’s life, the mere thought of me flinging laundry around at that pace exhausted her. But back when the beach urchins were young, it was The Comm who set the laundry pace and that’s where I learned it. We didn’t go to the Lockview Laundromat then, we went to a place at the “plaza”, which was run by a friend of The Comm’s. We took the beach urchins with us and once when they got into a bit of a tiff, that friend took it upon herself to tell them that their behavior was not to be tolerated in her laundromat. She eventually left that job and the plaza laundromat went downhill and eventually out of business (I think). The beach urchins got old enough that I could leave them at the moomincabin alone and I moved my laundry operation to the Lockview. Nowadays I wait until I run out of underwear and run a load at The Comm’s house or take everything home and wash it…

Hee hee… Laundromat joke: My Dear Uncle Harry: When is the best time to go to the laundromat? Laundry Woman (aka me): Whenever George is not there. (George being a distant relative who was a wonderful person but not necessarily someone you’d want to hang out with at the laundromat (or anywhere else).)

Also hauled garbage / recycle out to the curb, paid some bills associated with The Comm’s estate, and I fergit what else. Oh yeah, ate my second (and last) homegrown tomato of the summer. I ate the first one about six weeks ago. I told you I had a black thumb! Actually there were other tomatoes six weeks ago but a well meaning person moved the plant pots down to the ground so they could take better advantage of whatever rain might fall. Alas, Henry ate them. Finally… Another tomato appeared. I didn’t think it would ever get ripe. In fact, I didn’t even venture into the back yard until this afternoon. Oh well, I will look at The Tomato since I am out here. RED RED RED! Ate it on the spot. Did not take a picture.

I am not going to post too many photooos of UKW’s space here on the internet because I want to preserve her privacy. Actually, I was random about photography out on Lopez in general. But her land is breathtakingly beautiful and this is just a wee bit of her yard with one of her gardens and her gate and our rental vee-hickle ruining the photooo in the back (Chevy Impala if my bro’ is tuning in from wherever he is). Her house (and composting outhouse) are in a clearing ringed with tall pine or fir trees. I am hesitant to try to ID those trees. They are reminiscent of the red pines on the moominbeach but certainly not the same. A gorgeous fence surrounds the “inner” yard, keeping deer out of the garden where UKW grows food a lot more successfully than I do. Gates like the one in the pic are a “thing” on Lopez! Everyone has a beautiful gate!

A two-track leads to UKW’s house and there are no streetlights anywhere, so with all of those tall trees, a flashlight is necessary to travel anywhere outside after dark. Outhouse or wherever. My iPhone “flashlight” (MyLite app) worked like a charm (except for the night that I used it to get us to R & J’s house and then couldn’t find it for 15 minutes… Sheesh.). This was somewhat reminiscent of my childhood on the moominbeach. Why didn’t we have these devices back when *I* had to use the outhouse?

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