My blog has been on hiatus for the last few months while my family makes a slow-motion cross-country move to Northern Virginia. I am focused like a laser beam on tasks related to the move and new house and have been trying to avoid distractions and temptations (typewriters).
The Virginia house is a lot like a really big typewriter. It has lots of moving parts and I am learning something new each and every day.
I have been shuttling back and forth between California and Virginia for the past three months, working on the Virginia house. I really don’t want to be That Lady, but there are some updates and modifications we’d like to make before we bring in our familiar junk and make ourselves at home. I am home-making.
The Virginia house is full of period details from the 1990s that I am trying to tone down: acres of high-gloss honey oak and brass accents. This enormous ceiling fan that came with the house is mesmerizing. It’s like a rare plant of the Amazon that blooms once every hundred years and emits a corpse-like scent. It’s so weird, it may need to stay.
So I am out here in Virginia, trying make this house home-ly for our family – a comfortable setting for all our weird junk. My skills are limited to demolition, insulation hanging and painting. I like to paint and my favorite medium is rattle-can Rust-Oleum:
I am trying to make two rooms out of one. Sometimes I feel like Gob Bluth: “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
The Olympia Robust joined me on this trip as a carry-on and kept me company in the garage while the floors were being refinished.
Fire extinguisher at the ready in case the Robust overheats
The Robust appears to have spent some time rethinking the past. It seems to have experienced some sort of spiritual conversion:
We are all on a journey, and our paths often lead to unplanned destinations. Yesterday the Robust journeyed to Richmond, VA where it will be rotated into exhibits at the Virginia Holocaust Museum.
I drove down to Richmond, VA with the Olympia Robust as co-pilot. I have not been there in 30 years and was amazed at the city’s funky transformation.
This is a window box at the Poe Museum featuring my favorite type of bird, a corvid:
The Virginia Holocaust Museum is located near the waterfront in an old part of town:
Weirdly (and I didn’t plan this) I dropped off the Robust at the museum on International Holocaust Remembrance Day which takes place on January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
I met with the museum’s Assistant Curator, Angela, and we brought the Robust to the museum’s collections workspace where it will be processed. I filled out the paperwork and kissed the Robust fondly goodbye.
After the drop-off, I met my son and his girlfriend for lunch and reminisced about the good times with the Robust and celebrated the fact that the typewriter was now in a good place.
I drove back to Northern Virginia and sang loudly to the radio.
Farewell, re-born Robust! Before we parted and the Robust embarked on its new life, it typed out this:
myoldtypewriter 
That’s one heck of an undertaking, moving from one coast to the other! I hope everything’s going well with it all, and going according to plan!
That ceiling fan tho. Wow.
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That ceiling fan evokes a powerful reaction in everyone who sees it – positive and negative. I may have to keep it for that reason alone.
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I can’t imagine a coast to coast move even when the company where I worked would have arranged and paid for it. Hope everything goes good for you. Congratulations on your Robust being part of the Holocaust Museum. The museum was not there when I lived near Richmond. I need to visit.
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The museum is very good and well worth a visit. I am amazed at how much Richmond has changed over the years – it’s funky and prosperous looking.
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Be well and keep blogging, I’m interested in how you settle in. I hope. There’s another typewriter in your near future.
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I am sure that there are many more typewriters in my future. As soon as the dust settles, I’m heading out to do some garage sale-ing.
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Welcome to the east coast!
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Wow, a big move. I’m impressed you found any time for the blog.
It is good to see the Robust having a change of heart.
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Glad to see you’re still around, I always enjoy reading your blog. Good luck in your new home.
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Welcome to Virginia! I love this state so much.
Maybe if you are lucky enough to find another one of those you can drive down and see the mountains here in the New River Valley and drop it off with me! That’s been my number one most wanted machine since it moved up from number two ever since I have been collecting (I got number one as a very kind gift from another collector, also a WW2 machine but from our side). Robust, runes, and QWERTY to boot -that was a perfect typewriter.
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It’s been 20+ years since I last lived in The Old Dominion – it’s familiar and transformed at the same time. Richmond is a pretty cool town – make sure you drop by the Virginia Holocaust Museum if you are ever in that neck of the woods. The Robust is in a good place.
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Agree to disagree. It’s not really a Holocaust relic. I have been there before, it’s a nice museum.
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I’m glad you donated the german typewriter. Its really the only appropriate place for it these days.
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In the current climate, the museum seemed like the right spot for it.
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Best wishes with the house work! I lived in Fairfax County of VA for a couple of years myself while a student. I didn’t get a chance to explore it thoroughly, sad to say. And may you find plenty of typewriters worthy of your talents.
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I am sure that I will find interesting typewriters in Northern Virginia. The neighborhood Goodwill is open until 9PM(!) and seems to have quirky merchandise.
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yay! a whole new town full of thrifts to hunt! Have fun with the renovations and keep us posted (:
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I’m excited – I haven’t had much time to poke around, but once things settle down, I’ll grab my net and head out to hunt.
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