RACHEL
Woo! Okay, hi Diane, I’ve missed you. Sorry for knocking you behind my dresser an embarrassing number of days ago and not noticing until literally this morning when I was sweeping.
I really want to jump right in to Fun and Exciting goings ons but in the spirit of not lying or sugar coating anything ever for myself- I’ve still been ignoring the mailbox, have even caught myself forgetting it was there, but well, it’s still there. And seems I’m still getting mail as yesterday we had a bit of a windstorm that blew the little door open and there were quite a few letters. I closed it, with my foot as one does for spooky things, and there was another post-it note on the door but my shoe knocked it off and I couldn’t be bothered to run after it.
Sweet, that’s done. Fun things now. Fun things forever!
Wait, after I open this window [window slides open] Don’t know why but my house has been stinking of orange blossoms and some kind of spicy floral thing since I got back from Mom’s. It’s not unpleasant necessarily, not like a skunk or dead animal under the porch, just odd. Orange isn’t my go-to and nothing scented is blooming close to the house yet. Maybe Rosa has some super duty, extra-strong candles she’s burning 24/7.
Hmm, she still owes me the story of that summer she lived on a commune near Santa Barbara. I’ll give her a call after I knock some things off my to dos. [scratching of pen on paper] Also need to remember to double check if she’d be okay if I work in telling some of her stories into my writing. She spent a lot of time jumping between farms in the 70s and 80s and then working as a formal gardener and designer after that. It could be really interesting twining her old stories and experience in with my new adventures. [more pen on paper scratches, a long drink of tea]
It’s nice having enough non-house and non-garden work to have to dig out my bujo. My first gardening-adventure editorial is due in two weeks, and I’ve just about wrapped up those copy bits. The guy, I think his name actually was Guy… or… wait, no... Gill maybe? Doesn’t matter, he liked what I sent him last week, said there’d probably be more work down the line so that’s wonderful.
Also wonderful was Mom’s visit. She swung by for a few days and helped me pick out some more plants for the garden, the ones I ordered through Jade won’t be finalized or put in until it’s a little warmer. Went to the nursery to pick them up and I actually got to meet her! They are… how do I put it… Intimidatingly cool. Also apparently Rosa swings by a lot and has been talking about me. Do I have a coffee date with someone who can pull off purple twist braids and lipstick while wearing insulated overalls?
Technically yes.
I mean… for obvious reasons I don’t really want to call it a date but we are meeting up at Jumping Bean later today and I’ve been promised dog pictures. She has an Aussie named Zinnia. [Quiet excited sounds]
I need more dogs in my life!
But, more importantly, Jade grew up here, their parents run the flower shop meets stationary store in town and well, I know I’m choosing to ignore all the ways my life is kind of weird right now, but they mentioned off hand that I looked really familiar but couldn’t totally place it and apparently that sometimes happens here. Odd coincidences, people up and leaving without a word, all very mysterious. [long pause, she wants to dig into it more, but at the same time, really doesn’t]
Anyways, Mom brought some of the rest of my old stuff from the house, old sketchbooks, all my journals, that one scrapbook I started in college all gung-ho but then reverted to washi taping stuff in. It’s sitting in boxes in the garage-shed-thing… I’m going to call it Harold, for the moment. Believe it or not this house is still pretty sparsely furnished. Got a bit of flack that my mattress is just on the floor “like a teenager” and my books are also on the floor. Like, sorry Mom but I still have a bit of a mortgage left and am making just barebones working right now. Kelly took the bookshelf, all the nice throw pillows and the nice couch when she left.
I should make a trip out to Ikea soon though. Get some essentials. Hmmm… Maybe next weekend.
Make Cooper help. He’s promised to drive out Friday night come “hell or high water” and that is a quote. We are expecting some rain, so that high water bit might be expected. I really want to get the fire pit going. Ooh, I need to double check but I think there’s an old pop-up tent in the Harold-garage-lean-to-thing that got left behind. If I bring in some wood to dry out and put that up it might be enough.
I think that’s all the mundane, and exciting, stuff for now… got a few hours before I’m meeting up with Jade so probably will just pop into the office for a bit to get that sweet sweet paycheck. [Recorder turns off]
That evening, Rachel is cocooned in bed.
As suspected, Jade is super cool. And the Jumping Bean makes great coffee, can’t believe I haven’t made it over there yet. And Jade introduced me to… uh, Sandra, I want to say. Old school friend who manages the shop.
But yeah, we got coffee and pastries- their gluten free scones are perfection, holy cow- and walked over to the park. It was… awkward for a little bit, but I think Jade understood why. I’m so curious about this town, especially after what they mentioned during work when Mom was in town, but at the same time I really don’t want to know. And those two conflicting wants don’t cohabitate all that well for me.
Is it healthy? Probably not. And I won’t lie, I’ve been getting a cold pit in my stomach whenever I think about it too much, or try and retrace my sets of how exactly I ended up here. That’s actually exactly how Jade worded it too- people end up here. It doesn’t sound that intentional. Folks move here, for any number of reasons, suddenly, and sometimes they settle for life- like Jade’s parents did, or they up and move again without any fanfare or goodbyes. And, I kind of derailed the conversation after this, but Jade made it sound like they couldn’t leave anymore. Or, at least for any significant lengths of time.
Oh, and that Hartford doesn’t always exist on maps like it’s supposed to. Which explains why, and I did totally forget about this, but when I visited I did have to circle it’s approximate location whenever I tried to explain to Liam and then several people at the … party… where I was living.
I couldn’t really deal with that anymore. So Jade promised to take me hiking, there’s a few old forest service roads around town, including one spot where they’ve been planting huckleberries which could be really fun and nice in summer. Actually said that Georgia had given them that idea. And then the conversation dissolved back into uncomfortable territory. And I let it because the boundary between curiosity and stupidity for me is actually just a dry pasta noodle that I stepped on.
Jade says I look a lot like Georgia did, or at least what they remember Georgia looking like when they were a little kid. And then they tried to laugh it off and blame the local cryptids, these … blue beings that even Rosa has mentioned seeing on occasion. They don’t really have a name, they said some folks call them “The Blue Ones,” but they apparently don’t do too much besides altering memories and haunting abandoned wells, mines, or disused buildings. I thought it sounded like a ploy to keep kids from getting into too much trouble, and they did agree, but did admit knowing quite a few folks who’ve seen them, including their parents- Jade’s only heard the weird hum that happens before they supposedly show up.
Long, unsettling pause.
I’ve heard that sound, exactly as they described it. A rumbling and then like, lasers or something. It’s weird and it’s come from the basement a few times.
I thought it was rats. But no, it seems I have a population of the local cryptid in my house.
How do you even trap that? Legend says they’re sometimes? shapeshifters?, but usually don’t have faces or any distinguishing features, just blue, humanoid, spooky sounding.
I’m sure it’s actually an opossum or something. Skunk perhaps? No, doesn’t smell like skunk ever. Raccoon is a definite possibility though. I’ll add that to my to do list for next week.
Go through my picture albums in storage so they can come inside and find any raccoon or monster sized holes around the house so I stop having such guests pop in. Oh, and plant those shrubs. And just for funsies tomorrow cut some bouquets to bring inside, the daffodils and tulips are popping up left and right around the yard.
On top of writing work. While I was in town I got an email about someone interested in collaborating on a “spooky zodiak” zine which sounds like a lot of fun. A little mortifying to realize it happened because I never took down those horror shorts I wrote in a creative writing class in college, but it’s paid so I suppose it is worth it. Might have to jump back into site overhaul… again. I swear I looked through everything I had posted and deleted stuff that wasn’t relevant or in some way applicable for potential clients, but I must have missed a few things, oops.
Let’s see, what else do I have to look forward to…
Meeting a potential new therapist on Thursday. Weather’s supposed to be nice so I might make an afternoon of it and bike all the way over, it’s not quite 13 miles and down the valley so the hills won’t kill my knees too much.
Also being on bike will keep me from going crazy at another garden center Jade recommended. They’re- and honestly Mom also was complicit- an enabler and definitely didn’t stop me from getting three new house plants in addition to the new shrubby things I got to line the shed. Can’t remember what they’re called.
Long sigh.
I’m so tired of being forgetful. I know moving is one of the most stressful things a person can do, as are major relationship changes, so some memory funk isn’t surprising, but it’s annoying. I’ve been sleeping a lot better, and meditating… well, meditating most mornings. It’s embarrassing. The house is strewn with little notes and I’m still really struggling with names and details that’s never been a problem before.
You know what, D iane, I am quite tired, and don’t know how I feel about anything. I’m grateful I have work coming up, including some stuff for Rosa tomorrow for fricklyfrackle-mcfudgewich’s sake I need to set an alarm. Phone keys being smashed. That’s the kind of stuff that’s been bothering me.
Dark, frustrated muttering. Maybe Jade knows how to expel The Blue Ones from your house. Maybe I need an exorcist and then everything can be normal and not weird again. No, no. Just get through it one bit at a time. I’m sure it’ll get better again, I do really like it here.
SABRINA
Hello listeners dearest, thank you for tuning in again for another episode of Letters to Georgia. I am Sabrina, your writer and voice of Rachel, or SABRINA, your writer and blog updater. As always, or at least, recently yet, if you want to support this podcast show some love by sharing on social media or messages in mowed fields, or hate mail via carrier pigeons. I also have a ko-fi set up, that’s www dot ko dash fi dot com forward slash sabrinalucille and is linked in the episode description. Also linked in the description is to the website where you can find scripts and free downloadable coloring pages which I hope you use and share- please feel free to tag us on Instagram @star.room.studio thats at star dot room dot studio and I’d love to see what you make. And again, thank you guys so much for listening, Rachel will be back next-next week. Toodles.
