I still have not started on the rest of the painting though now I have some direction on how to start. Maybe today. I’m feeling sort of in limbo, unmotivated, spending too much time watching streaming or playing games on my phone, not even reading the book I have more than about 30 minutes at a time when I’m not working outside. It’s all mindless. I go to the grocery store, I go to SHARE, I walk the dog, I feed the cats. Wednesday was another overcast wet day with a cold front blowing in so no working outside again. Thursday and today overcast and cold. Winter is back.
We finished watching all five seasons of Eureka on Prime. It’s really very good. The average IQ sheriff in a town of high IQ individuals pushing the limits of science and invention where things inevitably go haywire is the one it falls to to fix things and save the town. Jack always comes up with the idea or solution that the scientists then figure out how to implement. Running for five seasons you get invested in the characters and their relationships and the way they wrapped it up when it was canceled during season 5 was very satisfying.
Now we’re watching the new series Paradise on Hulu. Five of the 8 episodes are out with the remaining three of season 1 being released on Tuesdays. It’s a political murder thriller based in a time after a catastrophic event the 25,000 (previously chosen) survivors of which live in an underground city. The secret service agent in charge of protecting the president finds him murdered and conducts his own investigation when the true power lies about it. We’ve seen all five released episodes so far and it’s very good. It’s planned for three seasons but it remains to be seen if it gets renewed. Most recently we’ve watched 3 episodes of season 1 of Psych on Prime which has 8 seasons about a man trained by his cop father to be extremely observant who passes himself off as a psychic to help the police solve crimes and decides to open his own detective agency with his friend. It’s kind of dumb but entertaining. Cat sprawled across my leg Wednesday night while we watched tv.
My daughter who is the floor manager of Copy.com, a print shop in Houston has one of their people working on converting my selected colored pencil drawings into notecards and prints for framing. The drawings have been scanned, the files cleaned up, the card stock selected, and now we are working on getting the colors and values as close as possible to the originals. So slow progress but progress.
New neighbor update - after meeting them on January 5th, two guys were there working on the house every day for the next two weeks but I haven’t seen anyone over there since the Sunday before the snow, 3 1/2 weeks ago. The contents of the bathroom…vanity, sink, toilet, and bathtub are in the yard outside the back door which faces my house.
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My email inbox is overflowing with newsletters from the various independent media I follow, days worth, all mostly unread. Wednesday morning I just deleted it all, only skimming through a few of them. Politicians, well democrats and independents, and pundits are finally understanding that we are in a constitutional crises and no one seems to know what to do about it. Court orders are being ignored and there is no attempt at enforcement so far. Turns out democracy only works if all parties want it to work and abide by the rules and apparently republicans are content to let the Constitution be shredded despite their oaths to protect and defend. The unelected destructor and his minions thumbing their noses at us, lying to us. Musk slashing/freezing funding, not to end fraud, of which there is very little as these agencies go through regular audits, but to redirect the money into his pocket, hence his new nearly $39M contract to SpaceX granted this week and has either appointed himself in charge of the agency that oversees and places safety regulations on his companies or shut them down. Republicans released a draft budget cutting $2Trillion in social programs slashing healthcare, food assistance, education funding, and tax credits benefiting low income communities even though these programs are very popular, including with republicans, in order to extend the tax cuts for corporations and high income households which will still add trillions to the national debt.
Our only recourse is to just resist, to flood congress with phone calls even when it falls on deaf ears, to protest, to demonstrate, to refuse to obey. If the president and his administration think the law doesn’t apply to them then why should it apply to us? Civil disobedience. Support those groups doing defense in the courts and on the ground. Do not give up, do not give in regardless of how hopeless it seems right now. Groundswells take time to build but eventually they become tsunamis.
As one poster wrote on SM “I’m going to continue living my best life, to laugh, serve, learn, rest, travel, create art, pursue joy. I’m going to joyfully resist. I’ll practice hope. I won’t give the bastards power over my mental health...I’m not going to shut up. I’m going to encourage you to join me, to stand up and speak out…I’m going to agitate the hell out of anyone who tries to normalize this. It’s not normal. It’s not justifiable. It’s not ok.”
This is the way.
Codex: Venting first. Watched the security conference in Munich, which was preceded by someone ramming his car into innocent people. Graham to Selensky were selling weapons so they can defend themselves and we'll be mining for minerals. This is what the world sees; cowboys with no eloquence. Embarrassed and depressed. I'm on automatic as well at the moment.
ReplyDeleteTrump and Hegseth are definitely selling Ukraine to Putin for its minerals, two big countries dividing up an autonomous nation, because fuck them, that's why. The US I knew, the one that went to war to protect smaller countries and people, no longer exists.
DeleteI stood in the freezing cold fog today at midday at a local scientists for climate rally and I am not even a scientist. This has been my fifth rally since Xmas and the numbers at least are encouraging. In fact, huge all over this country. But with that mad billionaire bankrolling European Nazis, it's a tough scenario. I am not ready to sit and watch and feel sorry. As I was working on getting my frozen fingers warm again I watched that guy Vance telling Europe that we have no real democracy and no freedom of speech. Jeez. What a loser. He can dig his own grave for all I care.
ReplyDeleteI would even help him.
DeleteVance wants his version of religion in control, repressing women. He's a horrible human being. No chance for active protest in this little red town.
DeleteEach day is something else. I am so horrified by Kennedy's confirmation, though; just unbelievable. And my kids and I watched Psych when it originally aired. Loved it; silly but we enjoyed it together. I must find something like that now to keep me sane.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can expect cemeteries to start filling up with babies and children again.
DeleteTry watching Eureka. It's very feel good.
Excellent post. I like the SM quote.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yeah, it was much longer but that's the essence. Nice to 'see' a new face, btw.
DeleteHere we are, Ellen. Let's hold on.
ReplyDeleteIt's all we can do.
DeleteCodex: Where will you be selling them? I've done it too. Depending on the copier it got better with time. Even the yellows came out better, but anything with colored pencil, did not.
ReplyDeleteJust start on the painting.
Eventhough they just do it for warmth, cats are instacalm.
There is a community/outreach/technology center here with a small market. It's an amazing compound that offers all kinds of things to the community free of charge. I'm friends with the director and showed her pics of some of my drawings. She floated the idea of cards and prints to put in the market. So that's where I'm going to put them. I doubt I'll get many sales, small town full of religious republicans but we'll see.
DeleteThe proofs look pretty good of my drawings, now just tweaking the color and intensity.
If kitty had a bit more blue, you'd match.
ReplyDeleteI know about the inbox problem. I can't read it all any more, but also don't need to. I remember the drill.
yeah, I just did another major purge of several days of worth.
DeleteCall Congress. Pester them. All it takes is a few minutes a day. Let them know because otherwise they'll procrastinate.
ReplyDeleteNot sure it will do any good. They've been flooded with calls and haven't done jack shit.
DeleteOne hates to advocate for a military coup but that’s maybe what will be needed.
ReplyDeleteCodex: It gives me no pleasure to admit you were right. Did not think K. would be confirmed. Speechless.
ReplyDeleteIt gives me no pleasure to be right.
DeleteIndeed this is the way. If only we had a Jedi for enforcement! I’m trying to not make myself crazy and keeping busy.
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Barbara
My most immediate, local issue is trying to decide whether to rearrange the dining room to bring the plants in again. They're predicting two below freezing nights, and one is going to hit 24° -- maybe. I guess I'll wait until Tuesday or Wednesday and see if things get 're-predicted.' Right now, it's well into the 70s and windy: February in Texas, for sure. I've been wondering about a local place to make cards from some of my photos. Copy.com is close to my camera repair place on Richmond, and my eye doc isn't so far away, down in West U. The next time I go up there I may stop by and see what they have to say about their process, cost, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunning sunset!
ReplyDeleteI don't have the streaming services that you do, Ellen, so I can't see those movies. Oh well. There is enough to watch when I want to. I love the photos of that pretty sky and your colorful pants! I've sold my Meta stock and am starting to use Duck, Duck, Go instead of google. I haven't been back to Target and haven't ordered anything from Amazon. Small things but my own way of resisting where I can right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting ready to do a driveby of my inbox - 18 unread messages, most of them blog posts or newsletters. I'll dip a toe in & then delete them. Each Sunday I have a friend who posts good things that happen each week just to give us something to hold onto. It's been helpful, but it all feels so huge right now.
ReplyDelete