Reflection upon my time in Ravensdale Wa.

There is barely a central hub you can call Ravensdale. There a Large equipment yard storing Everything from large earth movers to family trailers. But the real center is the Ravensdale store.
Small limited verity place that I have enjoyed every stop I made there.

It still has a hitching post for horses. It's not common to find a horse there, but it was there when it was!

That's it. Add a small gift shop and you have Ravensdale sewn up.
TREES! COAL! They were Ravensdale's Life.

Now there is an old miners home that was founded by a Ravensdale whore who is loved and admired to this day.
They (Ravensdale) dedicated their community center to her. She ran the Burlesque Hall at the the 1960 worlds fair in Seattle. Then she had the Hall moved here to become the home for retired miners.

She was the only one who saved her money. She was the only one who loved the bachelor miners from all over the world whose needs she truly met.

The trees are still here, lessoned by their cloned Sameness, proving that no matter how many tree there are if they are all the same they will never be a forest.

My part of Ravensdale shows a bit more verity that others do. Mixing Ceder and alder with the conifers. a sprinkling of Dogwood gives color in the Spring.

Animal life abounds here drawn perhaps by a small shallow lake.over the hill from my house.
In the five years I spent here I've learned that I never want to lie in town or city again.

Due to circulatory blockage I have but a little use of my legs and largely stay indoors.
I can walk but for only short distances. Yet the closer I get to Wilderness the better I like it.
I cannot live in Wilderness nor at my age would I want to. But I like being next to it. I like seeing its' diverse populations interact with the weather and each other.

I like being slowed down by all that is happening. I don't really know what it is that I want to say.
What might be of value to others.

I think of it as life at the periphery. What goes on at the edges of small towns and settlements when they are surrounded by wilderness rather than farms and dairies.

Bears diffidently need special consideration, But few things have riveted my attention as wild life cutting though town. I once saw around 50 Elk stop traffic as they ever so casually wove themselves though stopped cars, I could see under the closer ones bellies as they lightly trotted pass our blocked cars...they didn't even look down at us! LOL

I have actually missed very few places in my wanders life. I would miss Ravensdale terribly were I not moving further out of town.

This move is taking far longer than I thought it would. So I have said good-bye to Ravensdale many times...I guess what I'm doing here is trying to say good-bye to something I would need another 20 years to really begin know.

But also trying to say good-bye to something we will never really part from. Nature is always with us.
It's like with dogs I loved every dog I ever met! But my dogs will always be a part of me, will always be missed, I feel I will miss them even in my grave.

So I bark and bark as I see Ravendale receding from my life.

I thank you for the Elk and Deer I thank for the bear I match paw to hand though a class door with, I fear both bear and I were quite mad and so did not do harm to each other only marveled at each others daring and lack of aggression.

Ravensdale good-bye..

I was hoping to grow upon them! But I take what I can get! Thank you George!

We're still tuck at the crossing. Like all Hoarders Patti is blind to her hoard. she's carting truck load after truck load of her acquisitions off to the Good will or one of two containers he has rented to hold the overflow. She plans what must be the biggest garage sale of the decade in Ravensdale with co-conspirators she has met at, you guessed it,... garage sales.

What hurts is that Patti doesn't collect junk. Patti has a real sense of decor and shifts though her hoard to constantly redecorate our home with objects of interest.
They have little intrinsic value but hold meaning for both of us.

Our Single wide looks huge and empty,,, we could have lived in a big house if we didn't have to store...well everything of beauty that Patti sees for under $10.00....

God I love that woman...if only.... I could talk sense to her...or her to me...sigh...

So things keep going out the door and as They do I see the place we might have lived in if not for the Dragon's hoard. It seems huge to me as the rooms empty.

How will we learn to do with less except by having less?
I'm not looking forward to Patti's withdrawal. There is literally no place to put anything not built in. She sees so much in the world that she wants to take home!!

She was always generous with her hoard, so I see hope she can re-direct her efforts to acquire.

She sees it coming or rather going and is more than a little apprehensive.

I try to slow her down, keep her cool in chill mode, but it's an effort.

She sees so much of her life in the things going out the door. They all have connections for her and speak to her of the efforts their creators made.

She hasn't ever really grasp that to live a wanders life one must live simply.
Now that realization is being forced upon her by our reduced constance.

I try to shelter her woman's heart, but this world excites her and then brings her to dismay.

"To believe in this world is just a hard way to go,"
Bonnie Raite

But if she has a single quality it's her resilience. She's the one who gets us through.

We are still at the cross roads.
The truck Patti rented (U-Haul) got her home, let her load and sort for two days then would not start, bad ignition, they came out and fixed it but cost us a day..

But mostly this is my mistake. I should hare had the trailer brought here to sort things out and make the changes we have planned for it's interior so we can squeeze in. As it is were 40 minutes between places and it's eating up way to much time. Live and learn.

Beyond that it's taking far longer to dispose of our household goods than either of us thought it would.

We'll be lucky to be out and moved by mid-week. What an ordeal!

Our move is in it's third week! LOL

Beats being a toy in a cracker-Jack box... I mean my life has to be better than that....right? LOL

And for that ray of hope I thank you, but you may never get a decent cracker Jack prize again.
Yet we must all sacrifice if the truth is to be upheld. ":O}

They're still making them. but they sell 'em in a bag and cheep out on the carmale and the nuts. don't know why I still eat them.":O}

Do tell ":O}

Arther C Clark wrote a short story wherein a father walks though a fall forest with his two son. A they walk the youngest son, maybe 8 or 10 years keeps asking his teen age brother question after question, to which he keeps replying look! just look! While the father walks in silence.

Then as the next question i about to come the older boy trips the younger who falls into a pile of fallen leaves.
He lays there wide eyed,.... then suddenly begins a joyous laughter.

The older boy joins in the laughter and shouts out
"He gets it pa, he gets it!!
When the father turns back to look at them laughing together the setting sun illuminates the path yet ahead and then sets. upon his parental shoulders.

As it's been 50 years since I read that story I may have left something out or added to it a bit.":O}

"Youth is no more a barrier to wisdom than age is a guarantor of it."

Where are you moving Daniel? I know you are going to miss Ravensdale. I hope you have a few pictures to remember it.
I love small towns as well, but I always end up living in big cities. Guess its something to do with more jobs and opportunities.

Hi Boo. I hear you. it's becoming very hard to get a foothold any where.
The Sad truth is that in the five years we've been here two new house have gone right next to us.In the 450,000 range. Still lot's of privacy, but the hand writing is on the wall,

The pressure Seattle puts upon the rental market further out is amazing.

So we seek to live beyond Seattle's price influence.... In Clearwater wa. Around 45 mins from here far far more wildlife I'm told still have not myself seen it! LOL

We are in the fourth week of our move. You can't push a string and you can't talk common sense to Patti.
Still waiting for her to carry out finding out if we can get phone service by hardline or will have to get Huges Sat, giant incompetent rip off. Check them out on
you Tube.

The real hold up has been getting shed of a lifetime of Patti accumulation at weekend garage sales. she made $400.00 last week-end and we really need the money. Down sizing to a 28 foot trailer from a house leaves lots and lots left over! LOL

It's a small campground trailer park.We will be joining a small year round group of campers. So far they have been exceptional in their kindness and willingness to help us to understand the needs of our 38 year old trailer.

Oh! Oh! I have a power generator! alway wanted one of them!

I have a general sense that you are doing well for yourself. I hope this trend continues for you and yours...If not I can recommend a trailer park I have never seen! LOL

Be well Boo and stand in the light.":O}