I have lived in the mountains, I have lived near the ocean and in comparing the two experiences I can safely say that if I had to choose one as the place I liked the best- my answer would be anywhere the snow sticks:
FOX LAKE WI
11-21-24
PHOTO JULIO MOSCOSO
FOX LAKE WISCONSIN
11-21-24
PHOTO JULIO MOSCOSO
If in the process the sticking snow involves a scary blizzard, well, that’s going to be a place where my new Zip code is.
FOX LAKE WISCONSIN
11-21-24
Photo JULIO MOSCOSO
I only give Christmas gifts to my dog, Hamish and my Granddaughter Jemma.
Everyone else gets gift cards.
I used to buy presents until I found out most of the gifts I gave sucked so bad and so hard that they were never even re gifted.
That included the ones I made, or baked or spent hours shopping for.
I always- without exception- got the gift thing wrong
EVERY
SINGLE
TIME.
So now when people start doing the ‘ ho ho ho and what do you want for Christmas thing, I say ‘to be taller and blond’.
I actually mean that.
I am happy to report that most of the people who told me my gifts were meaningless and stupid are no longer in my life, which I suppose is a gift in itself.
One that I can honestly say I cherish.
Photo By Anita Moscoso
Upside Down House
Dells, Wisconsin
October 2024
RDP Tuesday: GUIDE
I had drifted off while reading a book, I don’t remember the title but I remember how warm the sun shinning through my slightly dusty windows felt on my cool face and chilly hands and I remember the smell of furniture polish-it was overpowering- lemony fresh was the scent. My sister was hard at work cleaning the woodwork because that’s what she does when she is feeling stressed out or sad.
She must have bathed my room and the rest of the house in it.
That day must have been a bad one for her.
“What pulled me away from my comfortable rest near the window was a voice whispering in my ear:
Follow me, follow me, follow the sound of my voice- just take one step at a time and follow me. ”
“Follow you where” I asked without turning my head.
” You will find out if you follow me, just follow the sound of my voice. ”
” Why?” I asked. “Why should I follow you.”
The voice sighed, the throat the voice was housed in cleared itself. ” Follow me, follow the sound of my voice. Just take one step at a time and follow me.”
I heard my bedroom door open, I heard the jingle and clicking of metal wheels rolling through the doorway.
” You don’t want to be here for this part, follow me, follow the sound of my voice-”
I heard a zipper, I heard a man whisper something to my sister who was sniffling, they were just behind me and I wondered if they could see who it was that was whispering into my ear.
” If you are still here when they bring the gurney around, you’ll lose your mind. I promise you. So follow me, just follow the sound of my voice,”
So I did.
The walk away from my window was a long one, and during my I walk, at every step, I wished I could have finished my book.
For FOWC with Fandango: WOUND
In Puyallup Washington at the Puyallup Fairgrounds – where every year a jingle hit the airwaves that invited you to ” do the Puyallup ‘ in the exact spot where Camp Harmony’ once stood.
Before it was called The Western Washington Fairgrounds where you can now do things like eat fair food and pet giant Clydesdale horses where you can see fireworks shows and ride carnival rides and watch people get blue for their champion show rabbits and catch concerts by cool acts Joan Jett, during WWII American citizens of Japanese ancestry were sent to ” Camp Harmony ” ( now the home of the Fairgrounds ) and trust me, nobody sent there was bopping along to jingles like ” Do the Puyallup ” as they lined up in the mud and waited to be ‘processed’.
My friend’s family were among those Japanese- Americans sent to Camp Harmony and here’s the kicker- he was in the US Army at the time. While he was off fighting for the United States, his family were sitting in Camp Harmony.
If you’re wondering if he ever got over the fact that while his family were in a detention camp and he was not, he never did.
Bainbridge Island High School pupils bid farewell to their Japanese American classmates, March 1942
The location for the assembly center AKA Camp Harmony was on and around the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. It consisted of four distinct areas:
Internees lined up in the rain, Camp Harmony (Puyallup Assembly Center), 1942
You have to understand, all of these places listed above I’ve parked there, I’ve walked all over the fairgrounds and rode the roller coaster.
The Puyallup Fairground/ Western Washington Fairground is a happy clappy place where you can eat cotton candy and send your kids off to play in a boucy house and you can even visit a ghost town but that doesn’t really change the fact that the Puyallup Fairgrounds WERE a concentration camp designed to hold American Citizens.
And today it would seem that the Trust Fund Brat who is now the President Elect wants to bring back places like Camp Harmony and fill it with people brought there at gun point by US Soldiers.
Some wounds never heal like the one left behind by Camp Harmony.
Eventually they fester and pop and ooze no matter how many bandaids you slap on them.
Puyallup Assembly Center, ” Camp Harmony “1942