Hoarders in the Family

As Fiorella's hands set rocks around the driveway, her brain was busy trying to piece together the psychology of her late sister-in-law.  In her later years, BJ became a classic hoarder.  Narrow paths wound their ways between the piles of treasures in her architect-designed home on a prestigious street in an exclusive Austin zip code.

Maybe BJ's hoarding was because her parents had died on her, one of her sons had been killed, and another had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. But BJ had a third son who was very much alive and sane.  And two grandsons to boot.

Maybe the  hoarding was a genetic thing--BJ's aunt had been a hoarder.  Maybe hoarding had once been a survival mechanism for the human race.

Fiorella didn't draw any conclusions about BJ, but at least a lot of rocks got put in place.

Eye and Ear

Fio has the eye and Husband has the ear.  She sees art everywhere while he hears music everywhere.  Husband not only has shelves full of jewel cases, but imitates every sound he hears--the bird chirping, the dog barking.

His mother, who came from a musical family, would do the same, which Fio found unnerving at the time, but now understands.  Just as Fio is constantly absorbing color, line, and composition, Husband is seeking to be one with the sounds of man and nature.

Interesting--at least to Fiorella.

Free-range Snippets

Not only is TJ getting a makeover in Louann, but her father is too.  Both of them are beginning to look less like cartoons and more like people.
*
We are all the descendants of survivors.  We've been genetically culled.
*
When I am old and my brain has shrunk so much that you must institutionalize me, please provide me with a nice baby doll to cuddle when you're not there.

Original Aborigines

Fiorella is so excited about the DNA discovery that Australian Aborigines really are aborigines--original people! Yes, 70,000 years ago, when the oceans were low, they left Africa and wandered along the Asian coastline across to Australia, making them "one of the oldest continuous populations outside of Africa" as well as the "population with the longest association with the land on which they live today."

Geneticists are talking about several migrations from Africa now, and even some doubling back. The history of mankind gets more and more complicated very time you turn around. What next? Fio's Neanderthal blood zings with interest.

Slave of Destiny

Fio is spending a lot of time these days packing away Christmas decorations and, as you know, your Fiorella decorates A LOT. Why? Her mother decorated for the holidays, but in moderation, a word that Fio is not familiar with. Why not? Obviously because some distant ancestor passed on a special over-the-top gene that Fio tied with a red velvet bow. Thus Fiorella is merely fulfilling her heritage, her genetic destiny. Blame it on the DNA. Hey--we could write a song:

Don't blame me, it's the DNA--
Can't control what I do,
Can't control what I say,
And, tell you what--neither can you.