Yard Sailing y el Dia de los Muertos

Today I went to more yard sales with T. We had enormous luck for most of the day- rich people yard sales and items from around the world- my favorites! I got a lot of Christmas presents. It's always good to start working on Christmas presents before you are strapped for cash in December with no ideas. That's the pits. So it was a successful day. It really was a beautiful day (unlike the monsoon that was yesterday) and I wore the exact right thing to enjoy the weather to the fullest. It's days like this that I really dislike my apartment for its lack of windows. The price we pay for living in one of the nicest neighborhoods in DC is that in order for us to afford it we are in a basement apartment. Our windows aren't even windows- they are "light wells." I refer to it as the "time warp" because you never know what time it is when you are inside- it's like a mall. During the week it's fine because we're gone during the day- it's the weekend when I would rather just go out all day while it's light and not be stuck in the time warp.

At the yard sales I found a Holga camera (scenester, I know!), some yarn for household purposes, a great picture frame, a drawing of a fat hippo, two baking sheets, a muffin tin, two cake pans, and a hippo cookie cutter (what's with the hippos today?) and other various christmas present type stuff. Oh, and a great looking Anthropology book: The Anthopology of Media. I love smart yard sales! I couldn't resist that book even though it looked like a text book- it had recycled art on the cover. T and I also cruised the outside parts of Eastern Market, a way cool part of DC near my house that has vendors on the street selling antiques, vegetables, jewelry, international stuff, different things. Yard sales are so fun because the price no longer reflects the actual price of the item- however much it may have cost retail. It takes on a price of the amount of space it takes up vs. how much money the people can actually make off of it. A delicate balance but the winner is always the shopper- if he or she has the space.

Here is a picture of the awesome bumper sticker I got at the Democratic headquarters in VA last week:

I am constructing a shrine / memorial to my dog Sam who died in April. I am still grieving a lot about it because we had her for 16 years- a large part of my life. Since I studied Day of the Dead so much last year for various projects and classes, I've decided to construct a shrine in the theme of Day of the Dead to Sam. Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in parts of Latin America- I studied it in Mexico. It is actually Days of the Dead, because it lasts for I think 3 days. It happens every year around the end of October and the beginning of November. The idea is that during that time all the souls of dead people come back to the place where they were buried to "check up" on their family. The families all come home and create lavish feasts and shrines to their dead, cooking their favorite food and offering it to them. People stay up late celebrating the lives of the people they loved- it's a big party that goes on and on. It reminds everyone that the dead are still with us, they never leave for good, and that you are always connected. I read somewhere that it is believed that if you don't put on a good feast and shrine for your dead person they will be offended because all the other dead people will have all their nice feasts and things- and you would never want to disappoint your dead person! They're dead!

So anyways, I'm making a shrine to Sam for Day of the Dead, even though she is not buried here. I think she'll probably come by to see me even though I'm so far from home. It's really hard to build the thing because I'm still so sad about it. I've got a lot of pictures of her and her collar, some special nuts I brought back from Mexico that were used in another ritual, and today I got an icon of Mary at a yard sale. I seriously cry every time I spend any kind of time thinking about it, but it is comforting to know that Sam is still around. I really want to believe in ghosts and Day of the Dead because I want her to still be near me. I'm pretty sure I heard her ghost at home over the summer once or twice. I think a lot of why it was so hard to be at home this summer was because I was trying so hard to avoid thinking about Sam. It's so easy to distract yourself when you're busy- not so much when you have nothing to do at home. Sometimes I am happy and content that Sam is around "spiritually"- and I am happy that she isn't old and weak and having a hard time. But usually I'm just devastatingly sad. Being an only child and she being my one dog that was always around is just really hard. I've never grieved anyone that was this close to me so I guess this is my "learn to grieve" part of my life.

I guess I should also say that I am completely serious about all of this stuff. I am not sure I should even be writing about it on the internet but I'm lonely right now and just need to write. I've never missed someone or been so sad about something in my life.

So ANYWAYS. This weekend was very laid back, but kind of lonely. I'm looking forward to being busy again so that I won't be alone with my thoughts for very long.