Can you belive it!?

 I can't tell you how glad I was when I found out that I could get my blog back after all.  Being absolutely stupid about the workings of cyberspace I thought that all was lost when my computer died.  I got this chromebook, but I had no idea I could get all my past posts by simply using the information I had on my old computer.  Go figure.  My daughter was visiting this week and the subject came up......she had underestimated my computer stupidity and never gave the situation any thought.  I guess she underestimated my ignorance, just as I did.  In any case, here I am.  The first thing I did was check to see if you were still there.  I am so happy to be in touch again..........hope you will be, too.  

Dog Walk Revisited

Well, I finally managed to figure out how to get pictures of my new place on my blog.  It turned out, though, that I couldn't really find images I liked enough.  This is hardly informative, but at least it's something.......one end of the living room.  Perhaps another time.....................

There has been no progress on dealing with Mike's death.  We wait for Amber, Mike's estranged daughter, to decide if she wants to be counted as a survivor and therefore sole beneficiary of his estate.  It's hard to absorb the fact that he is all ready to be buried (I identified the remains over the computer) but nothing else can be done until she decides what she wants to do.  His house and all his belongings sit untouched.  It seems to me that there must be a danger of people helping themselves to his considerable belongings.  Probably the police are in charge of that until some decision is made about his beneficiary.  

Meanwhile my life goes on.  I have begun a series of paintings of Eastport in the hope that I can have an exhibit at the end of the summer.  When I lived in Bangor I did a series of paintings called "Dog Walk" and every one of them(about 20 paintings) sold at a gallery that exhibited my work.  It was my one minute of fame, I guess, but I wish I still had them.  Money disappears, but paintings last forever. I had three dogs at the time and I called the exhibit "Dog Walk" because I painted scenes that I saw everyday as I walked the dogs in the streets of downtown. They were featured in all the paintings, walking ahead of the viewer at the end of their leashes in front of me, just as I saw them from the rear. If I get it together, I'll call the new paintings "Dog Walk 2".  Elliot will make a good model.

I an wavering a bit on my thought to let Amber have all Mike's inheritance.......just a bit though. I don't think I'm up for the furor.  I'd rather just let it go.

 

Unwelcome Developments

 Well. Life crawls along, for me at least.  I had forgotten, believe it or not, that my brother had a daughter, albeit an estranged, adopted one.  They haven't seen one another in over twenty years.  She graduated from high school and, unbeknownst to my brother, left home the next day.  She has never contacted him.  Somehow, he knew where she lived, though, so the police were able to track her down.  She is, therefore his sole heir.  When she was contacted she refused to deal with the situation, shocked as she was, right away.  So things are in limbo at this point.

How complicated things can become.  My brother had a lot of money and a valuable estate.  She is the sole heir.  I was tremendously relieved to think I wouldn't be involved in the disposition of his estate, but if she continues to   refuse it, I may still have to deal with it.  I will be the owner of a big luxurious house in Florida, complete with swimming pool and HUMMER vehicle.  I will have money like I never dreamed of, investments, property,.....he was saving to move back to Maine and had almost a hundred thousand dollars in the bank.

I am happy with my life right now, living in subsidized housing without a penny to my name.  I have always disliked money and what it does to people.  I am hoping against hope that his daughter will take everything.....she deserves it.  She had a terrible childhood and left home the morning after she graduated from high school, never to contact anybody in the family again.

Well, right now I feel very anxious.  When I found out that they had located his daughter I was relieved at first, thinking I could continue my life as it is.  But when she refused to claim her inheritance.............well, I may be able to refuse it, too.

In a way it must strike the officials dealing with this case that Amer and I, his only family at this point, do not want his money or any of his considerable estate.

What will happen?

New Life, lost life

 I feel as if I have started all over again, so different is my life from anything it has been before.  The biggest change, of course, is my environment.  I live in a beautiful apartment that seems so unlike anywhere I have lived before.  I am surrounded by people I don't know,  Many of whom are handicapped in various ways.  The other tenants, like me, are simply poor.  I ride an elevator to get to the ground floor and have learned the code that opens the door to the outside.  I go to the bank to get quarters to use in the laundry room, which is modern and clean.  A lot of the residents here are elderly and sick.  It's beginning to seem like a place where people go to die ................

Somehow I didn't finish my post, which got lost because I couldn't find my camera and I wanted to post pictures.  Well time has gone by and still I haven't found my camera.  I may have forgotten how to post pictures.  I hate to acknowledge that my brain suffered some cruel changes after the small stroke I had.  Still, I go on pretty much as always, trying to adapt.  Life here is easy, so my diminished brainpower hasn't cause me too much trouble.  Forgetfulness makes life stay pretty much in the present.  Slowly I make progress in putting things in context, though.  I doubt if anybody notices much difference.

The big news is that my brother had a heart attack and died yesterday.  When he didn't make his usual Sunday telephone call yesterday, I knew something was wrong.  He didn't answer the phone when I tried to call many times.  Finally I called the police and asked them to check on him.  They found him dead, sitting in front of the TV.  

There are so many consequences, emotional and practical, of the death of a person who has always been there and then is not.  I'm not going to try to describe them, and I 'm sure they are familiar to us all.  Mike lived in Florida.......he had a lot of money, compared to me,  He had a beautiful Florida house with a large pool, he had every material thing a person could want, all of which will have to be dealt with, presumably by me.  I have no idea how I will do this.  

Right now I have no more to say.