May. 28, 2005 - 20:41 MDT

VAGARY VALLEY

In a way this weekend will be somewhat busier than the last one. Perhaps a lower key one though.

Memorial Day Weekend is a rather prosaic time for our family. We have so many folks in underground residence that an Anglo "Day of the Dead" seems to be for us. Today we went across town, stopped by Safeway over there and Heather bought some flowers. Then we went over to Fairmount Cemetery where we left flowers at my Mom and Grandma's graves. Home we went and Heather put the rest of the flowers in water and what ever that magic powder is that she uses, in order to hold them through Monday.

Tomorrow is breakfast at the IHOP near Fort Logan Cemetery where we will meet Rob's daughters, have a bite and thence to the cemetery to put flowers on Rob's grave. Probably there will be enough left to put on Heather's brother's grave too while we are there. Then Monday a quick trip to Crown Hill Cemetery to put flowers on Heather's parents grave and back to the house to wait for Jeannie and Jennifer to come by for a trip to the Red Rocks.

We rested a bit when we got home and thence to the market to look at one of those swing type things, with an an adjustable canopy of course. The one we looked was the best we had seen for the money, so Heather did the necessary and we will get out son to load it into his pickup truck and bring it here.

It was fairly late in the day when we got back to the VUE, I got in, hooked up and saw Heather whip out a classified ad section of the paper, looped and marked in many places. "How would you like to go to some garage sales with me ?" she said. Trying to put a humorous face on the situation, I said, "Compared to walking face on into a wall ?" After I grinned through the blood we got serious. I said, "Well, it is late in the day and most of the folks have already cleared the stuff away. Why don't you pick out one near to where we are and we can check by there." "Here is one she said, a church garage sale, that ought to be a good one." Not being in the market for another garage, even a little one, I allowed that it might be worth a look to see if they had anything but garages.

That sale must have been a hummer, we got there late and saw folks loading all sorts of stuff in their cars and pickups and the grounds looked as if nothing had been taken. I told Heather, "I'm broke but it doesn't cost to look a bit." She went her way and I went mine. Look I did, and drooled over many of the nice things there. After while I found a place in the shade to sit and rest a bit. Pretty soon Heather came by with two paper grocery bags, big ones, handed one to me and said, "They told me that whatever we could carry out in a bag would cost one dollar, here's a dollar in change, live it up." Away she went, and I ? Right to where a whole world of books was, I had scanned the goodies the first time and went back looking for a clump of books in a larger heap. They were still there, a treasure deluxe. Time Life Books - great photo books:

Canyons and Mesas

Cactus Country

Baja California

Carribean Isles

The Bayous

And a slim book "Geologic Story of The Arches National Park," another part of our country I would dearly like to revisit.

Almost like a rug bug, a little, slender, green paper back book slid from an avalanche of bigger books and caught my eye, a Wraparound Tale Blazer Book, the author's name caught my eye, Capn' Ahab's daddy wrote this one, I wondered what this tiny thing would have anything Herman Melville would address in such a short tome. "Bartleby The Scrivener," it's title.

My bag almost full I sat back down in the shade again, Heather came by and tucked in an assortment of small stuff that took her eye, and with the generous and cheerful help of one of the church members the bag was carried to our car and loaded in the back seat.

Arriving home, unloading our trove we sat a bit, later - I to find a place for my books and Heather to put together a bite. Mission accomplished on both sides, my books away and her deli-treat lunch, sammiches, tater chips and Pepsi. I proceeded to tuck away my eats while scanning Melville's book. By the time I had eaten a bite and read a few "I prefer not to," phrases in the book, it is as good as read. How, when younger I often wished for a way to avoid unpleasant things. Looks as if Bartleby found it. Don't know, will have to see how it all turned out.

Then at some later time to the ocular feast of the Time Life Books, something that will be repeated now and then, that sort of thing is never tiring.

For an old man, set in his ways, hating shopping and sales, with a what the heck attitude, I made out pretty good today in VAGARY VALLEY . . . . . . . . . .

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