Saturday, December 30, 2017

Lost and Found

    When traveling abroad, I try very hard not to shop too much.  Between baggage fees when flying and lugging bags around from place to place, I hate to add weight to the bags by shopping too much.  What I do like to find is something the place is known for, and if that is too big (or expensive) I find a little something that will simply be a good reminder of my trip.  When I traveled to Portugal I really wanted to come home with tile and pottery, but talk about weighing things down.  Instead I bought a handbag made of cork AND a Portuguese rooster.  The bag made it home safely, but the rooster somehow didn't.  I had packed it inside the zipper pouch of this neck pillow I had brought on the plane.  I brought the pillow for the flight to/from, but ended up never using it because the seats I sat in had adjustable headrests and were more comfortable without the pillow.  I found a some space inside the pillow to keep the little statue safe before tossing it in my suitcase. But upon returning home, unpacking, and returning to work it occurred to me about a month later that I didn't remember unpacking the pillow or the little rooster.  I figured the pillow never actually got packed, and must have been left in the room.  That was 2013.
   Flash forward to 2017 in Kona, Hawaii.  A couple of days into visiting my mom, I had taken her car for some last minute gift shopping after dropping her off at her physical therapy appointment (she had knee replacement surgery on her other knee this November and is on the mend).  I got done a bit early, so went back to the house to put things away.  As I was driving into the garage I noticed a yellow neck pillow sitting on the workbench area in the garage.  When my mom drives the car, whoever is in the passenger seat has to get out of the car before she drives in because she has to get too close to the workbench which is why I hadn't noticed it before.  It took me a moment, but then I did a double take.  "That looks just like my pillow," I said out loud as I got out of the car.
   Sure enough, my "lost in Portugal" pillow was sitting on a workbench in Hawaii.  And still inside the zipper pouch was the Portuguese rooster wrapped in tissue.  When I asked my mom about it she said that I had left it at her house the last time I had been there.  She had bought it for me for Christmas just before going to Portugal and had assumed I didn't like/want it after leaving it there. I'm not quite sure how it made it's way from Portugal to Hawaii without me knowing about it...maybe it fell out of a pocket I hadn't checked.  Who knows!  But now my rooster of luck and happiness is sitting on a bookshelf in California.

12 comments:

  1. What a great story - almost like giving yourself a surprise Christmas present! It's a really cute rooster, too. :)

    Wishing you a very happy new year!

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    1. It was a nice "present" that I had been disappointed not to have all those years ago.

      PS - Thank you for your comments of concern over the last couple of months. I would have certainly replied back to them, but I just noticed them yesterday. They went into spam for some reason. Anyhow, yes, I was/am ok just busy and tired so something had to give. I hope this break can mellow me out a bit. :)
      As for the fires, also fine. Unfortunately, we were hit with fire on the other side of town (not as big as the Ventura/SB fire) for about a week. Fortunately, my side of town already burned and burned in last year's fires so there wasn't anything left over here and the it was so windy in the opposite direction my air quality stayed quite good considering.

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  2. Thanks for the link to the Rooster story! Very interesting.

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  3. Marvellous all the same how English usage has changer over the years. Frankly 2017 was a queer year in the old meaning. But I don't think anyone in Ireland England Scotland or Wales would see rooster and not think and miss spell a roasting pan with a lid. We would think Cock, even at a big push Cockerel. We were trained with the Cow-Bull, Mare-Stallion, Sow-Boar, Hen-Cock. :-)

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    1. Hen - Rooster here
      While I know Cock is a synonym for rooster, it's not the first synonym that comes to mind when I hear it. ;)

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    2. Oh, and also a thanks to you for checking in about the fires. Those comments went to spam for some reason and I just know saw them yesterday. I appreciate the concern. All is well here. :)

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    3. Ohh I guessed it went into a spam folder of some sort. Blogger discovered a few years ago that it was being hijacked somehow with comments that came in on blogposts months or even years old. I believe if you haven't set a limit, google will set one about a month after you publish. It's in the settings someplace.

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  4. I always like when the lost is found. I am reminded of dozens of things that I put someplace where I would remember them and when the day came, I could never remember them and thus had to go repurchase the item. Then when I went to put the extras someplace where I would remember them the next time, I would in that way, find the first ones that I had stashed.

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  5. What a great surprise! You had to have had quite a laugh over that! You remind me of my wife who sometimes hides things TOO well!

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