It took me awhile to figure out what to say here, but I decided to just let the picture speak for themselves. We did find Kurt Cobain's boyhood home, but there's a family living there and it's been remodeled. We didn't feel right disturbing them, or even taking any pictures of it from the outside. Sitting under the bridge where Kurt Cobain wrote songs, played, and hung out with his friends before he became an icon was a surreal and somber experience. Nirvana is one of my favorite bands, but it's so heartbreaking to know that the singer, songwriter, and face behind the band was so sad and fighting with himself in his own head. Depression takes some of the best people from this world. I miss his words and thoughts on the world, especially now that I am in my 40s. I wish he was here still. Long live Kurt and his memory.
"One more special message to go, and then I'm done. Then I can go home..." Kurt Cobain
This week we took a drive through the wildfire areas near Detroit, Oregon. It's devastating. Literally devastating. A few years ago we were thinking of buying a cabin in the Detroit area. We drove up to see if the cabin survived and it didn't make it. It was such a cute cabin, too. Every single cabin in the area is gone. It breaks my heart so much for those people, especially during the time we are in right now. We are finally seeing more and more blue skies here, but it's kind of bittersweet. We lost a few people in the fires here in Oregon and two people died less than 30 minutes from our house. They got trapped by the fire and tried to leave in a vehicle and didn't make it. I always think of the suffering. I hope they didn't suffer. Most of the wildfires are contained now, but it's still a bit smoky here, but not as bad as it was. Hopefully, we get a wet winter here this year so it will help extinguish the rest. A lot of people that were evacuated were able to return to their homes this week. And, people in burned areas were able to get to their homes and survey the damage. It's just awful here. It seems the moral of everyone is depressing. We've seen a lot this year here, but I have hopes that everything will be okay. Here are five things this week.
1. These Skies.
Finally seeing more and more blue skies without the sun or clouds being blocked by wildfire smoke. This moment driving to Corvallis we were able to see the sun lighting up the sky and then the clouds broke through and a few sprinkles of rain came. It was almost like being given a drink of water after weeks of being thirsty. It was a nice and wonderful moment.
2. These Cabins.
I love horror and anything creepy and although this cabin/barn is currently not abandoned, or unoccupied I found them cool and almost horror-movie-like.
3. These Geese.
We've seen more Canadian Geese around the valley lately. We think they've been pushed out of other areas because of the wildfires, and have found refuge in the open fields here. This flock looked worn out, or tired in a way when we saw them. Hopefully, they are finding some peace through everything that has happened this wildfire season.
4. This Animation.
I took the picture of Eleven drinking the water from the glass and played around a bit with some Instagram animation. I love how it turned out. ☺
5. This Snail.
Skylar's snail habitat got a good clean out this week. The snails now are living their best life in a nice clean tank.
We realized this week that we didn't have a summer here in the Willamette Valley. With the Coronavirus pandemic and the wildfires, we completely missed out on a summer here. Everything is so weird this year and we are ready for 2020 to end. Hopefully, the next few month that are left in 2020 give us some positive aspects to end the year with. Since trick-or-treating has been canceled for a lot of people, we've decided to stay at home and just wait out the trick-or-treaters that dare the elements. I ordered some organic candy this year and are still waiting on that to arrive. We hung a few decorations, but it just seems weird this year. We plan on wearing our masks the entire time, hopefully others will respect that, as well. Here are five things this week.
1. This Puzzle.
We've been putting together a lot of random puzzles to pass the time through lockdown and through the pandemic. This puzzle is about our twentieth puzzle to put together, but it's been a fun challenge.
2. This Sticker.
Definitely something I'd had on my car, too.
3. This Sticker.
I got out of my car and it startled me a bit. I've seen a few others since this one.
4. This Player.
Been jamming out to our record collection this week. It's nice to hear some classics on vinyl.
5. This Bird.
This one-legged bird hangs out at Jeff's work. Every time we go there we look for it.
Positive affirmations this week:"Be patient. There is nothing you can't do. Don't think about it too much. It will come to you when you are not thinking intently about it." -Yoko Ono
Also, with the holiday season here, keep these things in mind when dealing with uncomfortable family situations.
With this past summer of wildfires, it's been an extremely stressful time here on the west coast. Loss of life above everything has been hard to hear as the cleanup from the wildfires has been happening here. Wildfire damage and loss of property is one thing, but people losing their life is on a whole new level of devastation. Oregon was literally caught off guard with these fires and the control of the fires was just not there. The winds didn't help and the fire crews literally just couldn't get ahead of the flames. We took a drive through the hardest hit areas near us and it was just heartbreaking. We had plans to buy a cabin in Detroit, Oregon, at one time, and something just told us not to do it. Oddly enough, the cabin we were going to buy was part of the loss in Detroit. That still bothers me. Someone did buy that cabin and those someone's lost it. And, every single one around it is gone, too. There really aren't any words to describe how overwhelmingly scary these past few months have been. I've had to call an ambulance once for everything happening lately. It's just too much. My anxiety has been over the top lately and the recent ambulance call I honestly thought my heart was going to stop. But, me aside, this year has been so hard on everyone around here and thinking positively only goes so far. I am really hoping things get better soon. Here's a look at some of the places around here that have changed since the wildfires.
We are finally in the clear with wildfires here, and the shift now seems to be leaning towards people struggling because of the pandemic. I feel sorry for the people that were struggling before and lost their house and cars in the wildfires. There is talk of a stimulus headed everyone's way here, so I hope that it is enough to help some of these people that desperately need it. We ended up draining our pool completely this week and we scrubbed it clean of all the ash and debris. We are leaving it for now to dry out before taking it down completely. It's a real shame that the ash tore the pump up and if we had known that was going to happen we definitely would have turned the pump off, or at least attempted to cover the pool during this time. But, it's okay. We are going to look into getting a new pump and possibly get a new pool. We haven't decided yet. Here are five things this week.
1. This Ice Cream.
We recently purchased an ice cream maker and have experimented with a lot of different flavors. We made strawberry and it was amazing! Our next flavor is going to mint chocolate chip.
2. This Doggy.
We've been enjoying the snuggles behind this little guy lately.
3. This View.
Because it's comforting in the early morning when I wake up.
4. This Sign.
Because clearly the tuna are biting.
5. These Items.
These items came in my Mighty Nest shipment this month and you can get in on this action by entering this invite code FREEFIX-QLJ3PEAR in the "Promo Code" box at Checkout to save on on your first month. Your first shipment of Mighty Nest will be the Keep Leaf Bags on the right side. You're going to love it!
We also got a view of the moon and mars near each other on the night of October 3, 2020. I have always been in love with the night sky. Since getting a telescope it's made the night sky even more amazing.
Life at a "Swell's" pace is a lifestyle and travel blog chronicling the life and travels while living in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley. It is mostly written by Shelly HW. Click the image to learn more»
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