When we sold our place in Tucson, downsizing from two houses to one, there were several logistical problems. We unloaded most of the Tucson furniture. When it came to art, we brought it all home, and the only way to hang it was to stack it. That’s when our grandson said, “Grandma, it looks like an art gallery exploded in your house.” He was right. That’s exactly what it looked like then, and it still does. Having a collection of brightly colored oil paintings and watercolors of Arizona and Tuscany hanging on walls throughout the house has been a great antidote for the dark days of Covid-based isolation.
So furniture? Check. Art? Check. But when it came to books? Not so much. As my mother would have said, “That’s a white horse of a different color.” (I’ve never been quite sure what that means exactly, but she said it often enough that it must mean something.)
But boy did we have books—in Spades—both in Tucson and here in Seattle. You may have heard that old saying, “So many books, so little time.” In our case, it’s closer to “So many books, so few shelves.” Bill and I have both collected books through the years, including ones we can’t bear parting with. For him it’s his Websters’ Third. For me it’s my father’s copy of the Treasury of the Familiar. But there were lots of other books as well—including shelves of children’s books that we gathered for the grandkids. Guess what? The grandkids are all grown. Now we’re sending those books off to our GREAT grandkids!
So when the Tucson books came home to Seattle, there was no room at the inn. The boxes of Tucson books went into the garage as we told ourselves we’ll get around to sorting them later. Then Covid reared its ugly head, and the book sorting job got put off indefinitely.
We hired movers in Tucson. They went through the house and packed up everything, willy-nilly, and most everything made it through unscathed. The only known missing items were several pieces of hardware—one set for the electronic piano and one for the king-sized bed. Bill was able to find work-arounds for both of those.
Then when I unpacked my Indian baskets, I noticed something else was missing—my collection of tiny Tohono O’odham horsehair baskets and a beaded bracelet that my friend Loretta Hawk made for me while we were still on the reservation. All those items had sat on the entryway table in Tucson, and they were nowhere to be found. I assumed that sometime during the open house process someone had simply shoved them into a pocket and walked out of the house with them. I was sorry they were gone, but eventually you get over it.
Then, this past week that book sorting process we’d put off until later came to a head. Boxes of books came into the house and were sorted into keepers or goers. The goers went away, and the keepers went back on the shelves. When the movers went through the library in Tucson, they packed up the books, all right, but they also packed up whatever else happened to be on the shelves. And one of those was the box featured in the accompanying photo.
If you’ve read my Beaumont book Second Watch, you’ve already encountered Doug Davis, a young man from Bisbee, the valedictorian of BHS class of ’61, who died in Vietnam in 1966. You also met Bonnie Abney, the woman and a friend of mine, who was engaged to marry Doug at the time of his death. Their love story was told in the background of Second Watch, and Bonnie accompanied me on that book tour.
While we were in Tucson, Doug’s niece, who was still living in Bisbee, came to the house with several things that had once been Doug’s—among them a hand-crafted box with an old-fashioned sailing ship on the lid. So this week, when I was sorting through books, I came upon the box. When I opened it, the first thing I found inside was a tiny photo of Doug as well as the framed serial number tag for my first computer, that dual floppy Eagle that I used for years. But I found something else inside as well, or rather, several somethings—all those tiny and much loved horse-hair baskets, the ones I thought I’d lost forever.
I purchased the one in the photo, an unfinished Man in the Maze, so that people could see how it was constructed. And now they still can, because it’s back on display. I don’t remember doing it, but I’m sure that in the process of selling the house, I packed up the baskets and tucked them into Doug’s box for safe keeping.
This past week I heard that my long time friend, Estelle DuBose, passed away in Phoenix recently. She was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and that’s how Beaumont got his last name—in Estelle’s honor. Estelle was a philosopher/counselor at heart in addition to being a friend, and she gave me lots of good advice over the years. She told me once, “If something really belongs to you, it is never lost.”
I guess that means those horsehair baskets are really and truly mine.
My condolences on the loss of Estelle. What a special way to honour her though–naming the series main character after the place where she grew up! I’ve become an RIO reader, and am currently nearly to the end of Birds of Prey–this time with a narrator other than Gene Engene, who is, to my surprise (thought JP HAD to be read by Gene!) doing a very creditable job.
two great blogs in one week thanks. Chuck in Tacoma.. nice gesture sharing Janice, in the manner
you did.
Yes, condolences on the loss of your friend. We, also, lost a dear friend this past week. At our age, it is inevitable that we will be losing friends way more often than ever. Or maybe our friends will lose us. We never know. As for misplacing items during a move—oh, yes, I have done that in spades! But, what a joy it is when you eventually find something you thought was gone forever. We still have 2 sheds full of boxes to go through that we packed on our last move over 2 years ago. Looking forward to going through them and dreading it at the same time. I know there’s going to be a lot that I can’t bear to get rid of so I will end up repacking it and storing it again. In the mean time, I will be reading whatever Jance book I can get hold of.
You said, “Boxes of books came into the house and were sorted into keepers or goers. The goers went away, and the keepers went back on the shelves.”
Please, WHERE did the goers go? As a university professor in rural Canada, my sister has a massive collection of books across many genres. Her university doesn’t want them; any place that would take them requires her to pick up the shipping costs. Shipping thousands of books is simply not in her budget.
I can’t afford that cost either plus, I certainly have no room. Ideas from you or other readers would be appreciated.
Do keep up your blog – I learn such fascinating tidbits and I love them! You always give me much to think about.
Prior to 2012, I also had two houses, one in the desert and one in the mountains. In 2012, I sold the desert house and lived full time in the old mountain house. Then I bought 5 acres and in 2017 moved into the house that I had put on that land. So I still have boxes in the shed that have been packed for ten years. I guess it’s time to finish unpacking. I have downsized a lot on books since I went digital but I still have all the Jance hardbacks. Some signed at the Poisoned Pen.
I am so glad that you found those lost baskets, precious and irreplaceable-
I often find that when I am looking for something, I may not find exactly what I am trying to find, but I usually do find something else I had since given up on-
If only we could bring back those soldiers lost in Vietnam and in other wars-
Second Watch was all the more tragic and deeply moving, when I read at the end of the book that it was based on the reality of a bright young man lost to his bereaved fiance and community-
When my parents moved from Redondo Beach in California to Tucson, where my father grew up, she lost the photos of the Japanese signing the treaty on the ship her cousin was on (I can’t recall the name of it.) She lost a few other small items, but that was her treasured historical photo. When my father passed in 2011 in Phoenix, we lost his WW2 photo album…I’m still upset over that loss. 🙁
I can’t wait for your next book to be released, only a few more days!! Yay!!! ?
I have the Japanese surrender framed with me from a dear restaurant that had to close as the owners were in their 80s. They never did have an auction of all the military and aviation memorabilia. I was able to get the famed surrender I was able to site in the tiny booth with that across from me during my lunch break from Boeing All my uncles were in WW2 and my Grandfather drove an ambulance in WWI. I was in the Air Force. sometimes it is happy and sometimes it is sad to have these things. I think I moved 16 times before college as we went from church to church. So I have very little from that time. i think family leters are the most important to me now.
Objects often trigger memories for me. I think that’s why I don’t want to get rid of things. Unpacking those boxes every 10 years or so takes me happily wandering into treasured memories.
I have had more than one experience to prove your late friend Estelle was correct about objects that truly belong to you. I once lost an earring in the dead of winter (in MA) and was unsure where it had abandoned my ear. The design is of particular spiritual significance to me, so I was heartbroken. When the snow piles had melted in April or so, I was walking from my car to the door of my daughter’s dancing school and there the earring was, sitting in the grass a few inches from the sidewalk! Years later, the pair lost themselves in an seldom-opened pocket of my purse, found only when I emptied it for a thorough cleaning. I thought I’d mislaid them on a trip to CA and assumed they were gone forever. They were actually probably closer to me more often while they were hiding there, and it was a time when I needed spiritual energy.
On a lighter note, in December of 2020 I bought a pair of earrings for my wife, intending for them to go into her Christmas stocking, and since they were among several larger objects I was buying I tucked them into (recurring theme here!) a safe pocket in my purse, where I forgot completely about them till I was cleaning out said purse a few weeks after tax season ended in 2021. She got a spontaneous no-reason-at-all just because I love you present! And I see she wears them a lot!
So glad you found the baskets! St, Anthony was working overtime for you! Now if he could only help me find my Pyx…
What a great story you wrote for Second Watch. I love J.P. Beaumont. Somehow I had missed Second Watch.
When you started about missing things and then found them when unpacking, it all clicked.
Keep up your wonderful writing.
I’m trying to get moving on sorting through books after moving them way too many times and can’t believe how difficult it is to give them away…..even though I know I’ll never read them again. And it feels good to know that there are folks out there who will love having a book to read. I’m encouraged by your actions!