We Have An Apartment!

Yuppers, we were finally approved and I go to pick out the apartment I want in a couple of hours!  Now, maybe I can relax.  Really, I have been so wound up I am starting to unravel.  I have been relying on the energy to do somethings around the house.  Now, it's time to get the energy focused at packing and re-familiarizing myself with fung shui. 
Yes, I practice fung shui.  It makes for a harmonious home and helps to keep the chi flowing throughout my life.  I use the books of Sharon Stasney, who has simplified fung shui so us Americans can better understand the complex lines of thought.  Her book Chic Living With Feng Shui: Stylish Designs for Harmonious Living combines her three previous books into one easy to understand and relate to your life.
In other errands:

• Stop by the Safeway and Walmart to see if they have any boxes
• Stop by the newspaper and buy an end roll of newsprint to use to cushion delicates.  (Since there is no printing on the paper, there will be no smugs on the items wrapped.
• Go to the bank to get money to put in the other bank to pay the deposit on the apartment.

Alright girl, start channeling the drive you took yesterday to settle down those nerves.  We drove the back roads to Falls City.  We went through town and up the mountain with the goal of getting to Black Rock, an old logging city, but the road was closed due to fire damage.  It was a peaceful drive up and back the Little Luckimute River. 
Old Gerlinger Park is closed, Polk County just doesn't have enough money to keep their spartan county parks open.  We used to picnic there a lot.  It has nice shallows for kids to play in and lots of shade to rest in on hot summer days.
We took a drive alongside the edge of the valley with farms to left of us and forest to the right.  I was reminded of living in the Coquille River Valley in Coos County.  It's like that all over Western Oregon.  Forests coming down to touch the wide river valleys combining farming and logging in one small space.  The farms are small and each is unique.  I think per acre, the Willamette Valley produces more variety of product than anywhere else in the US.

 I will leave you with a picture from yesterday --- Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium  and if you peer through the pink you will see the white of flower of Blue Elderberry, Sambucus cerulea.