Two days ago we were walking the poodles in the rain and Jud, who lives up the road from us, drove past. He was coming home from work early because there are floods all over Bellingham. It’s a long round about route to get from the freeway to the ferry. Jud stopped to chat about the rain and water, and asked if we had been here the last time the levee broke. I said I don’t even know where the levee is, and he explained that it blocks the water from the Nooksack River from flowing over the only road to the ferry; that if it breaks we are effectively cut off from the mainland.
The Pantry
Inside, Jerry is working hard on the new pantry. It is already filled and it has changed my life. Things no longer fall out of cabinets and pull outs when I open them. I know where everything is, and if I forget I can just glance at the pantry shelves and see the logical distribution of food and cooking items. I gained a lot of near empty kitchen cabinets since filling the pantry. I know they will eventually be full of stuff, but for now I love to look at all that available space.
Yesterday I had my first outing of the new year. My drawing group has been reconstituted in the upstairs of a fine big barn that a member of the group recently acquired with her new house. The barn has a terrific view of the islands and Legoe Bay. A while back I wrote a post, Doing what comes naturally, saying that making art is easy and writing is hard. Now it seems the other way around. I sit down to write, and having practiced a lot lately, it seems a natural activity. Drawing yesterday was hard, hard, hard. My new portable easel kept slipping, I didn’t have any drawing materials I liked. All my drawings but one kept running off the page – that is, I’d lose the top of the head or the feet, or both. But it was a lot of fun anyhow.
Despite my diet I had a glass of sweet white wine with the other drawers afterwards. We caught up on a lot of island news, and began the process of living normally after the holidays. Our hostess left for a few minutes to take the model, her daughter who lives in Bellingham, to the ferry. We all stayed on, drinking wine and chatting. Shortly the hostess and her daughter came back. No going to Bellingham. The levee has broken.
Your pantry is full and you are dry indoors. But, alas, when will you get to the mainland? I did not make it to the art class at BSAC but wrote like a vortex all day. My painting efforts must wait a month or two, I fear.
Rae Ellen
I’m told that when this happens they send a “lead car” to guide traffic through the water — the lead car being a snow plough to whoosh the water out of the way so cars can follow. However, I think Haxton Way must be open because there is a long line to the ferry on this side.
That looks like a great pantry and looks like you finished it just in time. Thanks for stopping by my site. I look forward to hearing more about your life.
The pantry is wonderful, organized! Stay safe with the rains.
I thought pantries were a thing of the past. How lovely. We had a pantry when I was small, but then my parents went all modern, got rid of the maid, turned the scullery into a kitchen and the kitchen into a breakfast room, and the pantry became a cloakroom. I always missed it, with its shelves full of preserves and hams and cheeses.
I guess things are coming full circle. I have some friends here on the island who have built a no-expense-spared house and their show-piece is the scullery! If only we could bring back the maid.