short stories, part whatever and more Oct. skies

Steve of Shadows and Light wrote that the parakeets that come to his bird feeder are molting, losing old feathers and growing new ones, as all birds do. It made me think of trees which also ‘molt’, losing old leaves and growing new ones. And then of humans who do not molt though hair and skin cells are constantly shed and replaced. Which got me to thinking about hair and how long an individual hair lives since some women who have never cut their hair from birth have extremely long hair. So I looked it up. A human hair lives and grows on average 2 - 7 years before the resting phase and finally shedding and can reach a maximum length of 3’ - 6’ or about half as long as the person is tall depending on the individual, genetics, breakage, and relative health of the hair. There are exceptions of course as there are in all things, some women have/had hair down to their ankles which must be a nightmare to wash.

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Last Friday was Paisleigh’s 4th birthday and her party was Saturday afternoon. The child has a playground in her backyard. For her 2nd birthday she got a full size trampoline, 3rd birthday a bouncy castle and a play set that consists of a strap anchored between trees with a swing, hoops, ladder, and some other stuff I can’t recall descending from it. This birthday she got a treehouse with two slides (fast and slow), a climbing wall (about 5’ at a slant), and a zip line. At 4 Paisleigh already knows the proper response to any present she opens whether she fully understands what it is or not. She gasps with delight. Unless it’s the third gift of clothes clothes, oh, another shirt though she did like the new jacket that is so heavy it might get cold enough this winter for her wear it a day or two.

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If you’ve been reading me for a while you may remember the dust up with the then new neighbor, the gun nut with his chickens who would shoot at stray and neighbors' dogs who came into his yard chasing his chickens, chickens he made no effort to contain and let go into neighboring yards. One day he shot at the neighbor's dog in its own yard because it had been in his yard and the bullet whizzed by that neighbor. Big confrontation and the chicken man finally put a fence around the property. Well he died of a heart attack about five years ago, the chickens all finally died or were killed by other critters. Last year the widow got more chickens and although the property is still fenced there is a low spot where three or four of them get out under the fence every day and they strut around in the ditch and in other neighbor’s yards and she makes no effort to prevent it. I’ve chased them out of my yard. Second part of this, another neighbor who generally has a big dog or two who are well behaved and stay in their yard, had surgery on his neck that didn’t go as well as hoped and is undergoing PT in Sugar Land during the week so no one is home and the scraggly male big dog and two puppies there currently are roamers. Yesterday they knocked over my neighbor on the east side’s trash can and spread trash around and this morning when that neighbor was mowing his yard the dog trotted down the street with something big and brown in it’s mouth followed by the two puppies. I hollered at my neighbor, what did he have in his mouth? A chicken. Life in the country.

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Another interesting article from Nautilus…an interview with author Kieran Fox, a neuroscientist, of a book about Albert Einstein, I Am A Part Of Infinity, The Spiritual Journey Of Albert Einstein, and worth the read. A few quotes from the interview/book:  

“Reading Kant, I began to suspect everything I was taught,” Einstein said. “I no longer believed in the known God of the Bible, but rather in the mysterious God expressed in nature.”

“Not long after, in his early 20s, while Einstein was putting together the ideas that would revolutionize the physics of space, time, and matter…he kept exploring this other conception of the divine. He read the philosophical reflections of Arthur Schopenhauer, who saw that the radical religious ideas of thinkers…that nature and God are somehow One—mirrored similar notions in the oldest sacred Indian scriptures.” 

“At age 51…he explained his own contact with the divine. “I will call it the cosmic religious sense.”” and nine years later “Life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution or destiny; only being.” 

“How can this cosmic religious experience be communicated man to man, if it cannot lead to a definite conception of God or to a theology? It seems to me that the most important function of art and of science is to arouse and keep alive this feeling in those who are receptive.” 

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More October skies, 7th - 12th.

nine days later

Every room in the house and almost everything in the house was clean by end of day Saturday, a few things on one wall and a high shelf in the kitchen I didn’t get around to. It took me 6 days but I have to say, the house looks spectacular. I’ll probably never do this again, not the whole house, not everything at once. My brother and sister in law Cathi arrived late Thursday evening at the AirB&B where they were staying for his every five year high school reunion in Houston on Saturday and the visit just happened to coincide with my birthday this year. 

Sarah and I did the grocery store and liquor store on Saturday. Sunday I made the two salads I was making. Cathi made one batch of cookies on Friday and I made another on Saturday. Sarah showed up Sunday around 1 PM with a truck load of barbecue pit, chairs, and the food she had made. Her husband Mike showed up shortly after and got the barbecue pit and the chicken leg quarters going while Cathi made the hamburger patties to go on later.

Mikey had towed the truck over to the shop yard on Friday (needs a fuel pump) and I moved the car over early Sunday so bbq pit and chairs and coolers of drinks and ice were set up on the concrete apron in front of the garage and barn in the shade of the oak, crepe myrtle, and magnolia trees; food was spread out on my big work table inside. 

I had ordered a warm onion bacon potato dish from the local barbecue place earlier in the week, enough for 35 people which they said was a gallon and a half, paid for it in advance and when I went to pick it up on Sunday somehow between my ordering it and the kitchen getting the order it became 2 1/2 gallons! Since I had my paid receipt that showed clearly 1 1/2 gallons they waived whatever the extra cost would have been but what was I going to do with 2 1/2 gallons of potatoes! It got divided up among family afterwards and I still have some in the freezer.

It was a fine party, people started showing up at 3 PM and by all accounts everyone had a good time. I counted 31 people including Marc and me, a very varied group of people; friends from our glass studio days, friends from the neighborhood, a co-worker from the antique store days, co-volunteers from SHARE, fellow yogis, and family. Finally it was just the family sitting around and well after dark by the time we had all the food put away and coolers emptied, chairs folded and stacked, tables cleaned off. Fun day. Did I take any pictures? No. Jade took a few, Sarah took a couple. My party planner daughter and son.

Monday everyone slept late and after John and Cathi finally made it over we basically just sat around all day. Tuesday we had planned to drive to Galveston and spend the day so we left about 9:30. We walked the Strand in the historical district with all the shops and eateries. I made a beeline as soon as we got there to a store that carries the jewelry of an artist whose work I have long admired. The last time I was there with my sister and niece they didn’t have any and I was sorely disappointed as I planned to buy something. This time though they did and I had barely stopped in front of the case when the salesgirl appeared asking me if I would like for her to open it, probably because I did not saunter around the store looking at anything but went straight to the case that usually contains his work. The top shelf had a collection of phlox pieces; a gorgeous full necklace, earrings, necklace drops, and charms. I wish I had taken a picture of the necklace just to show but I did pick out a pair of earrings and at the counter mentioned to my brother that I hadn’t bought myself a birthday present yet and he said since he had not brought me a birthday present he would get them for me. Earrings by Michael Michaud Designs 

Then he treated us to lunch at a seafood restaurant (my brother wears the best shirts)

and after lunch we drove down Seawall Blvd and parked to walk on the beach for a while where the seaweed from the Sargasso Sea was coming in as it does every year around this time. The city used to scrape it off the beaches and take it to a landfill because tourists thought it was icky until the beaches and dunes started eroding away. The seaweed is essential to protecting the sand and building the dunes.

Wednesday was my actual birthday and after browsing two shops on the Square where I bought two more crystals and made a quick stop at the grocery store, we just sat around all afternoon watching cooking competition shows. John and Cathi left early Thursday morning heading back to Washington state. 

The next few days are going to be very laid back and then on Wednesday I’m having cataract surgery on my left eye.

party prep and Eostre

The idea of a party for my 75th seemed fun when asked about. The reality of making it happen filled me with anxiety…at first. A guest list? I have to make a guest list? I don’t know anybody here, really, who would I invite besides my two glass couple friends who don’t even live here and a couple of neighbors and family, a puny prospect for a party, although as my daughter said, we’re a party all on our own. Then I was reminded about the people I volunteer with at SHARE and the ones I go to yoga with. I discounted the class in El Campo, I’m the oldest person, as old as everyone else’s parents, and their attendance twice a week for 40 minutes at a time is sporadic and we don’t really socialize. The yoga class here though, I invited the older couple who comes every time that I’ve gotten friendly with and one other person. 

That left SHARE wherein most of my anxiety stemmed. Can I invite just the volunteers I work with in the back or should I invite all the volunteers. I don’t really want to hurt anyone’s feelings if word got around they weren’t invited but it’s not a SHARE social event. Ultimately I invited all but three that were there last Thursday when I handed out the really cute invitations one at a time that my daughter made. And I have to tell you I was really surprised by some of the delight and positive reactions I got. In the end I invited about 40 people (some I know can’t/won’t come) about half of which are family. That’s a lot. Too many maybe. What if it rains and we have to have it in our small house? I was anxious about who to invite and now I’m anxious that they'll all show up!

I’ve been working out in the yard, doing things I ordinarily ignore like picking up all the bricks laying around and empty pots, made the table a new leg, 

cut out all the brown and tattered leaves from the aspidistra, moved some pots around. It’s looking very nice. Of course all the pretty things that have been blooming all month will be done by next Sunday but some of the day lilies might be blooming and the purple coneflowers are starting up.

Next week I’ll be doing house cleaning and putting stuff away. Sarah came over yesterday afternoon to plan for food and drink and chairs. Basically barbecued chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, a potato dish (getting that from a local eatery), a green salad, a pasta salad, maybe deviled eggs, a cake, cookies, beer, wine, lemonade, tea, water.

Yeah, I think it’s going to be fun despite my misplaced misgivings.

And today is the stolen holiday of Eostre, the pre-christian celebration of spring and fertility when Mother Earth is renewed in the form of Virgin Spring proudly showing off her tender pretty lady bits inviting all the pollinators to come fulfill her. Getting it on with your loved one is especially appropriate today.

 

birthday party, flowers, some yard work, and speechless

Last Saturday was my great granddaughter’s pink dinosaur third birthday party. Her parents got a castle bouncy house, grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken, invited friends and family, 4 generations, the twins came in from Austin, so all of Sarah’s family was there. It was a fun day.

Jade and her mom have such a loving relationship.

And then Tuesday I went in for the TEE to check on the watchman device results of which show a very small leak well within the normal range and so I will still stop the eliquis blood thinner and go on baby aspirin and plavix for about four and a half months then just baby aspirin. But…he wants another TEE in three months to see if the leak has closed up or is stable. Damn. I told the wonderful nursing staff at the Heart Rhythm Center that they wouldn’t be seeing me again.

There’s a new car wash in town that was offering a free $25 carwash and I finally redeemed my coupon last Thursday. 

The car looks great and I even took advantage of the super powerful vacuum station and did the inside and the trunk. One of the volunteers at SHARE always ribs me about all the leaves in my trunk when he helps put the flattened cardboard in there so I can take it to the recycling container. Boy is he going to be surprised next week.

The confederate rose shrubs are starting to bloom. One opens white and turns pink and the other opens light pink and turns dark pink. Neither one is blooming all that well. So far most the buds aren’t opening fully and when they do the flowers are smaller than usual.

Today I got out and weeded the flower bed in front getting all the invasive dew berry vines out and the invasive ground cover that has taken over the yard since it flooded during Harvey and did the same in part of the long flower bed on the west side in back. I have two small purple philippine lily plants that are blooming in the front. The white reseeds readily and grows and blooms vigorously but its purple cousin is a slow grower. Of course it could be because it really doesn’t get enough sun in the front.

This morning I had a surprise visit. I was out at the back of the property when I heard a cat meowing and Lovey stuck his head out from under the Wicked Bitch of the West’s container. He came on out and while I was asking him what he was doing over here I heard another cat meow and I looked over to see Twin. Twin who is always silent. 

Looked around but didn’t see Handsome Boy anywhere. It’s a good thing neither Cat nor Minnie saw them because they would have been chased back across the street where they belong. Minnie doesn’t chase them in their territory when we go across the street to feed them because I’ve taught her not to but over here is a different story.

OMG. Marc just showed me the local bi-weekly newspaper with an article about being ready for early voting when it starts on Monday. They wrote “we have boo coo voting machines.” Boo coo. Just for the record it’s a french word and it’s spelled ‘beaucoup’. 

We’re doomed.

not dead yet

Yesterday was my 74th trip around the sun. We went to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch and margaritas and I was so full that the stuffed feeling didn’t start to abate til about 8 PM and I have left overs for lunch today. I got text messages from two of my granddaughters, a long phone call from my son, and a visit from my daughter who came bearing a gift of three fancy desserts, none of which I sampled last night because see above.

I told Marc during lunch that I think I’m more freaked out about being in the mid 70s than I think I will be when I hit my 80s (positive thinking here kids, putting out in the universe what I desire). The reason being that people start dying in their 70s; my sister who was active, self sufficient, and basically healthy being a perfect example since she keeled over dead at 76 last year. So I looked up some statistics.

According to the Social Security actuarial tables, a female (me) who was 60 in 2015 will live to be 84, 70 in 2015 will live to be 86. I was 65 in 2015 so I should expect to live until I’m 85 at least. But then my sister, older by 3 years died at 76, almost a decade less than the expectation. Here’s another statistic, more than 20% of people will die before they are 70 while almost 60% will live past 80. In 2020 the average age of death in the US was 73.7. At 74 I’ve passed that milestone if only just barely. World wide the biggest cause of death is cardiovascular disease (what killed my sister) followed by cancer, respiratory diseases (in 2021 in the US that was covid specifically) and fourth, various dementias.

In my youth and hallucinatory drug days and later delving into metaphysics and Theosophy and Jung and even the ridiculed New Age stuff, I came to understand that all is one and one is all, that death of the physical body was not necessarily the death of consciousness, that death is really only birth in reverse when we shed the physical body we took on when we were born, that our consciousness cycles through what we think of as reality as independent beings and being absorbed into the All That Is; that past, present, and future are all happening simultaneously. Research and speculations coming out from quantum physics seems to support these notions. 

The upshot is that I’m not afraid of death, but I’m not ready for it either. That’s where the fear and anxiety comes in, that it will happen suddenly like it did for Pam. I saw her one day and she was happy and healthy and the next I found her basically dead on the ground from a massive stroke.  

She had had a heart attack at 50 and at least two TIAs that I’m aware of, one a year or so after her heart attack and one in the year of her death though I think she had at least two others last year, judging from observation, that she wouldn’t admit to because she didn’t want to go to the neurologist and go through all the tests because she was seriously claustrophobic. While I have not had a heart attack or any vascular blockages or mini-strokes, I do have afib which puts me in the cardiovascular disease column, number one killer of humans.

When my death comes, as it will for every living thing in this theater we call Earth, I want to be so fulfilled with life to the point of being tired of living, to be ready to say goodbye and willing to take that last breath and give up the ghost to rest and reflect and plan for the next go round.

In the meantime, I try to be a good person and, if I’m lucky, as loved as my sister was.

a lovely day, once again the haters have to ruin it for everyone, and sex is a many splendored thing

Sunday was a beautiful day. Cool in the shade, warm in the sun, blue sky day, no humidity. I finished the chore of 'mowing' the big backyard with the trimmer, walked the dog, and then spent the rest of the day on the deck reading. My sister brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her garden.

And my daughter brought me three magnificent donuts from the Voodoo Donuts in the city. Sorry no pictures unless you want to see the inside of my stomach or go here to view.

Saturday night we went out to dinner to the family owned Italian restaurant here and it was very good. I ordered shrimp and lobster ravioli. I don't know what the filling in the ravioli was but it was served in an excellent shrimp and lobster cream sauce. We went Saturday night because they aren't open on Sunday. The other part of my birthday celebration is going to see a movie next Friday. We have to wait til then because that's when Guardians of the Galaxy 3 opens.

Monday I emptied the overflowing truck of dead and fallen limbs and branches onto the already really big burn pile and torched it discovering today that I inadvertently celebrated Beltane. Now if I was considerably younger I'd celebrate fertility with some outdoor fucking (referencing Ms Moon's post).

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Well, once again, a few people have ruined something perfectly delightful for everyone. A school in Houston had a field trip planned to go see James and the Giant Peach, a beloved children's classic, at Main Street Theater but the trip was canceled when a parent spoke before the school board equating the cross gender casting (men playing the parts of women and women playing the parts of men as has happened in theater since the inception of theater) with drag queens as inappropriate for elementary school aged children. Not content to just keep their children home they forced the school to cancel the trip. Here's a link to scarrymommy.com that wrote about it. 

Of course there are no drag queens in the production and what the actors are doing with their outsized costuming and make up is not drag which is a completely different art form but that doesn't stop these people who have their heads so far up their butts chasing their hatred/fear of the most victimized group of people in the country from ruining it for everybody, preventing other children, whose parents have no objection to the performance, from having a fun day out.

And now, of course, Texas is following suit of other ignorant republican states banning gender affirming care for people under 18 which will be applied across the board probably depriving cisgendered kids of puberty blockers and hormonal therapy for conditions that have nothing to do with trans and will no doubt have an impact on treatment of intersex children as well. The measure has already passed the state Senate.

And while I'm on the topic of human sexuality, there's a very interesting article in Scientific American (which was first published in 2015), Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplified. It's long but goes into how a developing embryo develops into one sex or the other and all the intersex variations that occur naturally, DNA, even the cellular level; how women can have a Y chromosome and men can have two Xes, and the gonadal effects on the body and ends surmising that since there is not one single parameter that trumps all the others to define your sex, the best way to determine someone's sex/sexual identity is just to ask them.

Unfortunately our society and culture is bogged down in a science rejecting religious structure that god made men men and women women and there is no in-between combined with their fear of what they don't understand so we have legislatures outlawing the existence of and care for all those who are 'in-between'.

 

milestone

one for each decade

Today is Marc's birthday, Marcmas as it's known around here. He finally caught up with me and is now a septuagenarian, marveling at the fact. No big plans, just the usual day to day activity. Curse covid. No movie or dinner out, not this year, maybe next.

For his birthday I suggested we go ahead and get the deck built out front that we talked about doing a few years ago and so we are. Rocky went off to get the materials to start today. A couple of the branches of the big yew tree on the corner of the house will have to be cut off and the deck will be built around the trunk on one side. We're having it built in the front because of our three exterior doors the front door is the best option, that part of the house being on pier and beam and you have to stand on the ground to open the storm door which swings out, it's very awkward trying to come in through the front door. The back door is in the part of the house on slab and leads out to the little backyard, the part that's fenced, which has a small patio and also the three tanks for the septic system so it's unsuitable. And the third door leads out to the garage. There's a small overhang in the front of the house leading up to the door but it's not really a porch so this will give us a place to sit outside and observe the goings on.

My daughter posted this pic of the grandgirls Jade and Autumn on FB the other day. If you are a long time reader you've watched these two young women grow up. Autumn did this last semester abroad in Ecuador, has been in the rain forest working on her 20 page essay required at the end, her topic how indigenous people approached and treated mental health issues, and now that it's done Jade, who just graduated with a degree in actuarial science (math, statistics, economics, and finance) and has a job waiting for her in June in Dallas with AIG, has joined her and the two are vacationing in the Galapagos. Autumn, who still has one more semester, her studies more varied in pre-med and social studies, wants to join the Peace Corps after she graduates. Autumn on the left, Jade on the right.

I did take some preliminary pictures yesterday of the trumpet flowers but I'm not completely happy with them so I'm getting some different light bulbs and giving it another try, might even do it after dark so I don't have to deal with the sunlight coming in from one direction. Now I have to do the hardest part, figure out what the minimum is I will take for them versus what I would like to get for them, double it for the retail price as I only get half from the gallery, and then try to find a balance, one that I can live with and one that will entice a buyer.

Today's progress on the deck. 

rained out but still a good day

A couple of hours after midnight early Friday morning the predicted storm started moving in with lightning, thunder, and rain. After a couple of hours of the little dog trembling enough to vibrate the bed, sitting as close to my head as she possibly could and panting in my ear, I finally sat up, turned on the light, and read until the thunder and lightning stopped at which point the panting stopped, the trembling continued but I was able to get another couple of hours of sleep, well, until the cat started her caterwauling get up and feed me. So that's how my birthday began.

It continued to rain off and on all day and so our plans were canceled. Not that we had any major plans. We were going to head into the shopping mecca to buy some new sheets, stock up at the liquor warehouse, maybe get a meal out if we could find a place with outdoor seating, and then go to a jewelry store. You know, because I'm such a jewelry hog.

The reason for the trip to the jeweler is to see if they can match the one diamond stud I still have. You might remember that I lost one of them when I was in the barn one day last year and got stung by a wasp right on my ear and started slapping at my ear as I stumbled back and ran out of the barn only to discover that I had slapped that earring right out of my ear. I did find the backing on the floor but the stud was never seen again, not even when I spent those days emptying the barn and cleaning it out. If they can't match it, perhaps they will take it in a partial trade for a new pair.

So it looked to be a quiet day at home though I had to go to the grocery store after breakfast since I had blown it off the day before but before that Pam came over with my present, a bag of homemade soap that she had made. 

Pam has been making soap for 15+ years and I haven't bought commercially made soap in all that time until last year what with covid and getting her new house and her being busy with what to take and what to leave and packing and moving and unpacking and selling her old house (which by the way has a contract on it so we are almost dancing in the street) so it was a wonderful surprise to get some new soap from her. And then a little while later our friend, neighbor, and fix-it guy Rocky and Melissa came by with a birthday present, a sweet little miniature rose bush. 

I got calls from my mother-in-law, my son, and grandgirl Jade and my daughter and grandgirl Autumn came over in the evening bearing gifts, a miniature orchid which I had been looking at for months to put on the windowsill in the bathroom but never bought 

and a box of four fancy pastries/desserts.

It was a fun evening and while Marc did make stuffed peppers for dinner, it was ticking towards 10 before Sarah and Autumn left to get some dinner of their own but too late for me to eat so we put it away and went straight for dessert (these are so good and so sweet and so rich just one is almost enough to put you in a diabetic coma) and went to bed.

More storm moved through Friday night with heavy rain so another night of a trembling panting little dog and more rain off and on all day Saturday. We had standing water on three sides of the house and the ditches were running nearly full, still some water in the ditch this Sunday morning. According to my neighbor we got 8” in about 36 hours.

I intended to post this  Saturday but after two nights in a row of interrupted sleep I took a nap instead and didn't drag myself out of bed until 5 PM and then Pam and I went downtown to check out the two festivals happening. More about that next post as this is already long enough.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes.