more spring yard work and don't they ever get tired of being outraged?

According to the pecan trees, no more freezes until next winter. I usually notice when their buds start to swell and certainly when they start breaking open. I notice because I watch for it. Only this year it all happened while I wasn’t looking. Walking the dog the other day I saw that the neighborhood pecan trees were looking a little green. Checked mine when I got home and not only did they bud out, they’re blooming. How sneaky. I guess my summer shade canopy in the big backyard won’t be far behind. 

So, busy days in the yard. Potted up the fire spike and yellow angel trumpet cuttings since they all had well developed roots, added more dirt to the potato tubs (and I swear they grew even more overnight), 

checked on the zinnia seeds which are sprouting, planted more green beans which are pushing their way out of the ground, picked up and hauled to the burn pile about a third of the dead stalks in the ditch and abandoned the rest for a later effort but Robin’s boyfriend Evan cleared all the rest of them for me, pruned out all the dead branches of the mock dogwood and the dead canes of the climbing rose that I could reach and hauled it all to the burn pile, fertilized and mulched the azaleas and the camellia, moved most the potted plumerias to their summer locations and planted the big one back in the ground, cut back the rock roses about halfway. I think that’s all. Weeding and trimming on the agenda for today.

The maroon japanese iris is blooming.

Oh, and of course, today is Easter, a high holy day for Christians, another pagan celebration co-opted by the fledgling religion to get converts. Not being christian (or any religion) it’s just a good day in spring to get outside but the far right wingnut outrage machine is in full gear because, gasp, today is also Transgender Visibility Day and they are all over social media castigating President Biden for declaring Easter!!! to be Trans Visibility Day, even going so far as to call him a demon. What an egregious slap in the face to all Christians! The governor of Mississippi called it “an intentional attempt to insult and mock Christians across America.” Except President Biden did no such thing. He simply recognized it just as he recognized Cesar Chavez Day since they both fall on March 31st. March 31st has been Trans Visibility Day since 2009 and Biden had nothing to do with it. Easter moves around and just happened to fall on March 31st this year. I suppose they think that Biden should not have recognized Trans Visibility Day this year because religious bigotry and hate should take preference.

Because one fake outrage against Biden on Easter isn’t enough, they're also blaming him for the rule by the American Egg Board that’s been in place for 47 years banning religious themed designs from the egg art contest. The American Egg Board sponsors the White House egg art contest as a promotion for America’s egg farmers. Once again Biden has nothing to do with the rule, which btw was also in effect during Trump’s White House days and no one blinked an eye then, but that didn’t stop Senator Tuberville saying the ban was because Democrats are “a Satanic cult”.

Sheesh people, get a grip.

quiet day, road trip, Marcmas

I trust everyone had a good day Monday whatever that means for you on Christmas. We had our usual quiet day. It was nice out though a little cold after two days of rain. I walked Minnie to the end of the street and got swirled into some of Rocky’s grandkids and their new bikes, scooters, hoverboard. Miss Ellen, Miss Ellen, it’s Miss Ellen! as they swarmed around me. Then I fed the kittens, two of which are starting to let me pet them before I feed them, I even have been able to pick the two tabbies up (one at a time of course) and put them in my lap for more petting. The brown tabby is quiet and had a quiet purr but the gray tabby is very vocal and purrs loudly and readily. The female still won’t really approach and will still only let me pet her while she eats though she is allowing more petting before she moves away.

We watched three movies Monday. First was Asteroid City which I had heard about and thought it would be good but it was not. It was weird and boring and I kept nodding off so if you haven’t seen it, don’t bother. Then we watched Everything Everywhere All At Once which was much better but half the dialog was in Mandarin (with subtitles) and it moved really fast and was hard to follow sometimes but we enjoyed it. And then last we watched a Christmas movie, (not your usual sappy Hallmark kind, more like Die Hard kind only with Santa) Violent Night with a drunk discouraged Santa who manages to get left behind by the reindeer at a rich person’s house while he sits back and relaxes with expensive whiskey when the house is attacked by a group of criminals intent on killing everyone unless they tell them where the money is and Santa saves the day drawing on his previous life as a warrior. Santa was played by David Harbour who played the sheriff in Stranger Things. 

Yesterday my daughter picked me up and we went to Austin to spend the day with the twins. A pleasant surprise when we got there Marc’s sister Lisa and her son Andy were there. Lisa lives in Dallas and Andy lives in Tulsa and they were in Austin to visit another son Greg and family and were headed to Houston from there to visit Marc’s and Lisa’s mom who is in hospice care now. After they got on the road Sarah and I and Jade and Autumn went out for lunch at a vegetarian/vegan coffee/restaurant place. I ordered a coconut curry with broccoli, onions, potatoes, jackfruit, tofu dish served with brown rice. It was OK but apparently a popular dish as I saw at least three other people being served it. I ordered it because of the jackfruit which I was curious about but I could not have told you which piece went in my mouth was the jackfruit. Mostly it just all tasted like the curry sauce except for the broccoli which still tasted like broccoli. Of course I didn’t take a single picture of the girls though I did take a picture of Autumn’s boyfriend’s dog who had curled his big self into the cat bed.

But here’s a picture of a picture that Bryan took of us all with Jade’s little polaroid type camera when he got off work.

Today is Marcmas, another trip around the sun for him. Our son is coming to visit and he and Sarah are going to take us out to lunch. That’s the plan anyway.

falling over brown stuff

I trust everyone who celebrates Christmas had a loving festive holiday. We had our usual quiet day though the twins, Jade and Autumn, came by for a visit while they're in town.

They left today, headed back to Austin as Autumn has to be back at work tomorrow. She's already gotten a promotion and raise. Jade, whose official residence is in Dallas with her great aunt, works from home so as long as she has her work computer with her she can do so anywhere. And now that she has a car, that's her (used) jeep in the picture, she's not tied to Dallas as long as her department continues to work from home. Still no car for Autumn but she has her moped which had been malfunctioning so she's been ubering to work and taking the bus home but now it seems to be fixed finally so I gave her my heavy coat since she didn't have one. She had to move, again, on the 23^rd. Her living situation is in constant flux, has moved three times since she graduated last May, but the apartment she's subletting now for the next 6 months is closer to her work and will give her some time to find permanent housing. My grandson, Audra, and my great grandgirl are supposed to be coming in later this week from Arkansas. And my sister returns from Albuquerque tomorrow.

I've basically been hunkered down in the house for the last three days though I did have to go out for birdseed. I usually buy a giant bag at Costco which is heavy on the sunflower seeds and light on the millet and that's what I ran out of. The seed I got Saturday looked to have a good proportion but in reality, it's heavy on the millet and the birds don't seem to like it as much. They like the pecans I've been putting out though. I put them out for the squirrels to keep them off the bird feeder but the blue jays have helped themselves.

Plenty of damage out there...ginger, firespike, shrimp plant, night blooming jasmine, 

confederate roses, banana trees, 

morning glory bush, yellow bells, purple orchid tree, rock rose, Mexican bird of paradise, Rangoon creeper, pink desert willow vine, Mexican petunias, toad lily, salvia, plumbago, turk's cap, white and purple Philippine lily, hummingbird bush, and lantana all frozen to the ground. Leopard plant, crinums, spider lilies, agapanthus, amaryllis, society garlic, swamp lily, some easter lily and daylily foliage all mush. Roses and azaleas damaged. 

Orange cosmos, 

marigolds, and my little broccoli/cabbage/cauliflower plants are dead. I think it will all come back (well, not the dead ones) as it has the past two winters after days of a hard freeze, except for the annuals for which I have seed. Tomorrow it should be warm enough to uncover everything out in the yard and pull back the big tarp in the garage and see what there is to see. Today was warm enough but still one more night below freezing.

It's not all dismal. Apparently two of the 10 buds on the the yellow angel trumpet branches I cut off and put in water were far enough along that the flowers have descended. It remains to be seen if they actually open.

I finally got motivated Sunday and today to do my home yoga routine, even threw in some extra stuff and Minnie got a walk for the first time since last Thursday so we are slowly warming up and thawing out.

Tomorrow is Marcmas! Time marches on and birthdays add up. He'll be 71.

 

this and that and food

Woke to another rainy morning Monday, the same light rain as last Saturday, and at 46˚ we'd almost hit the high of 47˚ for the day, rained all day and apparently all night and I woke to the same rain today though it's stopped for now at midday. I had heard several people say the Farmer's Almanac predicted a mild wet winter for us this year. So far they got the wet part right.

The bird feeder buffet has been open for several days now but there is still one squirrel who doesn't quite grasp that the bird feeder has been moved to the shepherd's crook hanging about 5' away from the hood. 

I guess it's loathe to give up it's tightrope walking skills. I am finally seeing some birds though, even in this rain, the usual suspects...cardinal, titmice, chickadees, inca and white wing doves, and finally sparrows. I haven't seen any sparrows for months.

Several weeks ago we had the kitchen faucet replaced for many good reasons, it was old and corroded, off was to the left of center, and sometimes when you turned it on it would squirt water out the back of the handle (it was one of those single knob/handle lean right for cold, left for hot). Turns out it's one of those low flow jobs which is fine in a shower or if you have one of those water heaters that delivers instant hot water to whichever faucet but we don't. It still takes the same volume of water from the water heater to the faucet for the water to get hot, still takes the same volume of water to fill the sink to wash dishes only now it just takes longer for those to happen.

I did my grocery shop for the week yesterday instead of today since I needed to get the white bread and set it out to get stale for the dressing. That's my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner, that and cranberry sauce which I made last year and then forgot to take it to my daughter's house so it's been in the freezer all year. I'm also going to make a butternut squash/cranberry casserole. Our thanksgiving gathering is going to be small this year. Grandboy Mikey and Audra and baby Paisleigh will be staying in Arkansas, neither of the twins are coming in from their respective cities Dallas and Austin as neither one currently has a car, and two of my sister's grandkids plus one spouse (the wedding we went to this fall) are coming to spend the day with her so she won't be joining us either. So it will be Marc and I, daughter Sarah and SIL Mike, and grandgirl Robin.

I have a new recipe for stuffed acorn squash with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, spinach, cranberries, and pecans that I'm saving for next week but I wanted to go ahead and get the squash now. My HEB here in town has always been a good store but this last year or so not so much. They haven't had any winter squash really since 2019 except for spaghetti squash which we don't eat. All they had in 2020 was butternut and then in 2021 the seeds all sprouted in the compost pile and vines grew and grew and I eventually harvested close to 30 butternuts, ate our fill and gave away as much as I could. Consequently it's been well over a year since we've eaten any. Yesterday, the HEB didn't have any acorn squash or even butternut so I went to the Evil Empire who had plenty of both.

And as long as I was out I went to the library since I had about three pages left in the book I was reading so I'm set for the long holiday weekend. And speaking of such, I need to get in there and make cornbread and roast that enormous butternut squash. 

celebrate what?, post R v W anecdotes

Today is July 4^th, Independence Day, the day we celebrate the British colonies Declaration Of Independence from England. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

I'm not celebrating today because in my opinion this country is failing the promise made for far over half of its population. Racist white nationalist groups like the Patriot Front openly march in the street carrying flags, wearing their modern day hoods...ball cap, sunglasses, and white cowl covering the lower halves of their faces so that their identities are hidden; one of our two political parties attempted a coup to take over the government from the will of the people; and the far right Supreme Court is taking rights away from women and the LGBTQIA+ community and chiseling away one of the basic concepts of the constitution, the separation of church and state, opening the door to a theocracy. Voter suppression is rampant from the same political party that tried a violent takeover, Congress is corrupted to allow minority rule, and the American obsession with guns and gun violence has made this country a place where we do nothing when our children are massacred in their schools. Police still kill unarmed black men in the streets with impunity most recently executing a man running away by filling him with 60 bullets, white criminals get off with a slap on the hand while POC get incarcerated for the same crime. The Pledge of Allegiance claims liberty and justice for all but in actual practice it's only for white cisgendered christian men. Our republic is in the most danger it's ever been in and there is no guarantee it will survive the next two national elections.

I'm starting to see anecdotes on social media about the effects of the Supreme Court ruling that turned the status of abortion over to the states. These anti-abortion laws don't just affect pregnant women...

1931 law in Michigan outlawing abortion now back in effect and Michigan and Texas pharmacists are now refusing to dispense to women the chemo drugs they need for maintenance of their cancer or illness because it could cause miscarriage and if they miscarry then the pharmacist is facing a felony and if the woman dies, manslaughter. They are making these women file paperwork that says they are not trying to miscarry or get pregnant and then the doctor has to call the pharmacy and convince them the medication is necessary and many are unwilling to do that because if a patient miscarries from the drug then the physician can also be charged with a felony and manslaughter and lose his license.

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Ten year old girl raped and impregnated in Ohio. Ohio would not make an exception and let her get an abortion. Her parents had to take her to Indiana. How cruel are republicans who would force a 10 year old child to carry a pregnancy to term in a body that is far from fully developed, her body too small to accommodate an average size baby, the developing fetus putting pressure on still growing bones. This is how much republicans hate women that they would do this to a 10 year old girl.

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Tweet from an RN...Young mom came into the ER with abdominal pain. Ultrasound showed fetus n large tumor in uterus. Baby likely won’t make it… no one will do surgery to save her life. Even though likely cancer. I’m disgusted.

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Another tweet...I got an automated call from the pharmacy that my refill of methotrexate was denied. It treats my autoimmune disease. It can also be used as an abortifacient drug. I don’t have a uterus but #AbortionBan affect me too.

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A post on FB...I was diagnosed w heart failure @ 32. Doctor told me pregnancy would damage my heart & I would not live long after giving birth, so no children. I never had to face the decision, but thank goodness I had a choice. Forced birth? Can be forced death.

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A tweet...We went to Hayward to get some groceries and a stop at Walgreens because we had left Jess birth control at home. As Jess was checking out, cashier John told her he couldn't sell her the condoms. “Oh, I got them from over there.” “We can but I won't because of my faith.”

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From FB...I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with a baby girl. She is incompatible with life. I found out at 23 weeks that she wasn't going to make it. I knew then what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to terminate. My baby is suffering inside of me, having seizures multiple times a day. I feel every single one. I knew I didn't want her to suffer any longer. I let my doctor know of my choice and he said he would schedule an induction for me. Well.. Friday came along and the overturn of Roe v Wade happened. I thought I would be OK. I thought the law wouldn't go into effect for a while. Sadly, that's not the case. I now have no choice. My doctor called me today and told me I have to remain pregnant until this baby dies inside of me or dies when she's born. What kind of sick country do we live in where we force a mom to feel her baby suffer every single day until her baby dies? It's not fair. I never thought this would happen. Now I'm completely lost and torn and confused.

What kind of sick country indeed. There is no celebrating this.

by any other name

Yesterday was Good Friday for Christians. I had a follow-up appointment with the electrophysiologist and planned a trip to Costco on the way back. I hoped it wouldn't be really crowded because...Good Friday and Easter. I don't 'do' Easter just like I don't 'do' Christmas or any religious holiday since I don't 'do' religion. You may think that makes me an atheist but I'm not. My understanding of the nature of the universe and life is about as diametrically opposed to the Abrahamic religions as it could possibly be. Buddhism, Taoism, even Paganism is closer. The universe is god/dess as opposed to separate from god, something made.

At SHARE I pretty much keep mum about my personal beliefs, the ones I have and the ones I don't have, around these church going believers. I don't lie about it but I do try to skate around the subject on the rare occasions it arises, usually around the big holidays. Usually I just get asked if I'm ready for whatever holiday or wished a good holiday and my reply is that I'm as ready as I ever am or I wish them a good holiday back. But yesterday Jan asked me if my family was getting together for Easter, to which I stuttered that we didn't do Easter. Kids and grandkids were grown and scattered and my family had a beach house when I was growing up where we spent weekends and my mother wasn't about to cook a big meal when she could be on the beach. What I didn't tell her was that I had rejected Christian theology before I had kids and raised my kids Jewish before I rejected religion altogether and so we never did celebrate Easter.

One of the things Christianity did as it sought to spread across the world and suppress the nature/native religions was to take the seasonal fertility, harvest, and winter celebrations and rededicate them to it's god (Judaism did this also ) so the fertility and rebirth celebration became the rebirth, resurrection, of Jesus. People were more likely to convert if they could keep their celebrations, if they could find their goddess in Mary.

I personally prefer recognizing the emerging new life by nurturing that emerging life, planting seeds, allowing the early wildflowers to exist providing sustenance for the bees and other pollinators. And so right now my backyard looks like this.

Because it was Good Friday I commented to the receptionist that I was surprised they had scheduled my appointment for that day and she remarked that she was surprised by the lack of traffic this morning as 'we're not religious'. My electrophysiologist is Korean and just about everyone in the office is Asian. I'm not religious either, I told her, so it worked out for me. No traffic, parking lot mostly empty, didn't have to wait, got in and out in 40 minutes.

When I got to Costco though my fears were realized. The place was packed with the two lines waiting for a register extending halfway through the store but by the time I had gotten all the stuff on my list that they had (no spanikopita, no samosas, no chia seeds but you know what they did have after years of not and I finally ordered it online in February...short grain brown rice) and headed to the registers, the lines were gone and only two people in front of me.

So here's a few more pictures to honor Ms Nature in her personification as Spring.

 

slow progress and they're already pushing Christmas

As mentioned, I've been working on the luna moth model. Here's my progress from a few days ago

and current.

I'm dithering about using the tiny wax rope for the veins in the wings even as I put them in. The other alternative is to treat them like the veins in the leaves below, which works fine for the leaves but not I think for the wings of a moth. The problem is that they don't always cast well, the glass not wanting to go down in those narrow spaces and so not filling completely and being bumpy as they are in the leaf of the first trumpet flower piece. But if you don't touch them, only look it's not that noticeable (I tell myself).

It's been so hot and humid but Wednesday morning a promised cold front came through with heavy wind and heavy rain but thankfully no lightning and only an occasional distant rumble. The rain ended mid morning and cleared up to clear blue sky a few hours later. It's pleasant out and should get even cooler as the front moves through.

I had my bi-annual teeth cleaning and exam Wednesday and finally scheduled the second to last crown that's needed. How about tomorrow at 2, she asked. Ulp, well I wasn't expecting it to be tomorrow, but OK. This will make #8 in the past three years or so. Busting my teeth up at sixteen and failing old dental work plus another cracked molar. When I get these last two done combined with the seven I already had I'll have 16 crowns.

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OMG! What a fucking ordeal. This crown is the last molar on my upper left side. On top of that, I have a small mouth so with the drill, the water sprayer, the suction thingy, the mirror, and my overbite I had a hard time breathing. I'd have to stop them fairly often so I could take a few breaths then take a big breath and hold it while they worked. Eventually it got done and it was time to make the temporary crown. It took four freaking tries. The first one came out incomplete. The second one cracked as soon as the assistant told me to bite down on it. The third one, which they had the dentist come in and do the adjusting also cracked the third time he told me to bite down on the red paper. More grinding endued. And finally a different assistant made the fourth temporary which finally succeeded. And that whole part of my head aches now that the deadener has worn off. This is not a reflection of the skill of my dentist which I told him at one point was being tested, but more to do with that particular tooth, broken and worn down and hard to get to. And to top it all off, they had the TV on the Hallmark Channel which was showing Christmas movies. In October. Before Halloween.

Seriously, What. The. Fuck.

edit: success was only temporary, the temporary crown broke into pieces during dinner last night.

 

just another day

So today is Easter, another day that is just another day to me, as are all religious holidays regardless of the religion. I just don't do religion and I soundly rejected the Judeo/Christian Abrahamic versions over a period of about 15 years. Rejected Christianity by my early-20s, Judaism by my mid-30s, educated myself right out of the dogma when I became interested in the origins and evolutions of religion and religious mythology and then theosophy and even the woo woo New Age stuff. I find more to like about Buddhism or Taoism or even paganism. Probably pantheism comes closest to my simple, but difficult to express, understanding.

But Easter was a big deal at our house growing up, at least when we kids were young. We would dye eggs, have an easter egg hunt, Bluebird Circle Easter baskets (proceeds benefit the Texas Children's Hospital), 

the decorated hollow sugar eggs with the little bunny scene inside

and of course candy and chocolate bunnies and jellybeans, our easter dresses that our mother made back then (though I don't know if she made those in the picture), and going to church with our calla lilies for the children's flower cross 

that's me on the right with the frown

though our mother never did do an Easter lunch or dinner.

When I was about 6 or 7 we moved to a new house and that was the beginning of the end of Easter celebration at our house. A couple of years later my older sister thought she was too old for easter egg hunts by then and a year or two after that our parents bought a lot and had a beach house built on the west end of Galveston Island and from then on, Easter weekend was spent down there. The beach house also pretty much ended any family church attendance as well especially after the big family drama when I was about 13 or so. That changed everything about our home life. 

We still dyed eggs for a couple of years after but that was the only nod to the holiday besides hanging plastic colored eggs from the branches of the half of a wicker christmas tree that hung on the wall above the fireplace at our house.

Nowadays I spend the quiet weekend like I do every religious holiday working in the yard, my go to 'religious' observance weather permitting, or a lazy day with a book,  personal days off for me though now that we've retired from doing the etched glass commission work, every day is a personal day off and all my time is free time and yet I am just as busy as I've ever been.

So, yeah, time for me to go nurture and tend the new life springing from the earth, the real reason for the holiday that existed long before organized religion made claims and usurped the  meaning.

 

the last week of a terrible horrible no good year

Happy New Year to all and sundry. Starting the new year as always with brunch and mimosas (I have my black eyed peas for later in the day) and the rest of the day devoted to reading or watching TV under blankets on the couch and naps.

Personally, I'm not relaxing until after Biden's inauguration. Things are going to be dicey between now and then I fear what with the Proud Boys planning protests and violence on the 6^th with Trump encouraging them. And then depending on how that goes, no telling what they will do on the 20^th. Not to mention Trump trying to provoke Iran here at the last so he can use it to somehow stay in office while one Republican senator has already promised to contest the EC votes as well as 140 Republican representatives planning on doing the same thing. Those who supposedly know say that Biden's election is a done deal and this is all just political theater and an excuse for more fundraising. Still, it's alarming that so many elected politicians seem to think that sedition is the way to go because their boy lost by a wide margin. And it is sedition because they have no proof, no evidence of widespread voter fraud and every recount, every audit that's been demanded and done has come up with zero, 60 lawsuits thrown out of courts by judges. Even the Supreme Court has refused to entertain their bogus claims. So instead of accepting defeat they intend to try to illegally get Trump appointed delaying the inevitable (Trump seems to think that Pence has the power to appoint him which he does not) while the Proud Boys rampage outside. This is what Trump and the Republican party have done, the destruction they have wrought to our democracy. This is their end game, what they have been working towards for the last 20 years, to destroy the government by the people for the people and finally permanently transform it to government by the rich and for the rich where all the money and all the power is in the hands of a small group of white men and the rest of us are living and dying hand to mouth.

OK, on to something more pleasant.

I get yard eggs from one of the women who attend yoga class

and when I was making breakfast last Sunday I cracked a sort of gray green egg and it was such a pretty blue on the inside.

I finally got in to see the dermatologist last Monday and now I look like someone poked me in the face a dozen or so times with a lit cigarette. I'll spare you having to see that.

Last Wednesday I did get out there and start on clearing out the last 12' of the barn throwing more stuff on the metal trash pile (it's amazing the stuff that accumulates), raked a bit, but I didn't make much progress for whatever reason I don't remember. Rain, I think, it rained a bit and then that night a cold front moved in with high wind, rain, lightning and thunder. The rain finally quit around noon on Thursday but the high wind stayed. I made a quick foray to the library and so much standing water, ditches full, fields and yards flooded, Boughman Slough almost full and running fast. We got 7” with standing water in the regular spots that soaked in after several hours. The field behind us looked like a lake.

This morning is a beautiful day though still cold but at least the wind has died down. Sitting here looking out my window I saw a little wren investigate the piggy birdhouse, jumped in and looked around, perhaps scouting out nest locations, then flew off. And back it came a bit later. Also took a little foray outside and was surprised by four new sweet pea sprouts and one of them is from the second package so I have hopes that more will come.

Another bit of news...my sister texted me last night that she finally got an appointment for her first vaccine shot on January 10^th and at a much closer location! How is that possible?! Turns out, Memorial Hermann added a new location and new dates, weekends only. So I went online to that location and after three or four tries I got an appointment for January 16^th mid-morning at the location only a half hour or so away. Much better than the place an hour away with a 6 PM time slot and ten days later. I haven't canceled the one on the 26^th yet, want to wait to make sure I actually get it on the 16^th.

Well, I don't usually make new year's resolutions but this year I resolve to make art on a more regular basis.

Love to you all and thank you for being part of my life.

 

the day after

 
I hope everyone had a pleasant day yesterday.

My sister, who has traveled for Christmas every year since her husband died 10 years ago and spent the holiday either with her daughter in New Mexico or our brother in Washington state, did not travel this year because...covid. Instead her granddaughter Vickie came to spend the holiday with her and so Pam and Vickie hosted a very small Christmas dinner in her new house with us and her roaming adventure friend Bobby. It was very nice and we had a good time.

Pam is the only person I exchange gifts with because she adamantly refuses not to do so and her gift to me this year was this very cool pig birdhouse which no bird with any sense at all will ever nest in because the hole is big enough to give every predator access so it's purely decorative. I love it.

My gift to her hasn't arrived yet, maybe today. I ordered it end of November and eleven days later got a notice that a mailing label, with tracking number, had been created and the post office was waiting for the package to arrive at a facility. Eight days after that according to the tracking number it still had not arrived at the facility. I dashed off an inquiry, they apologized, didn't know what had happened, duplicated my order and sent it UPS this time due to arrive the 29^th. The next day, just out of curiosity I checked the original shipment via USPS and it now said delivery scheduled for the 26^th, today. So, yay, she gets two.

My brother always sends a gift too, some sort of edible (no not that kind), even though I never reciprocate. This year it was a box of sugar, an assortment of candy from the area, which I got a big kick out of so either he didn't read the post about my blood sugar level or he's trying to kill me. And yes, I'm eating them anyway.

The grandgirls are here at their parent's house across town, the grandboy in Arkansas with his girlfriend. Had planned to go visit yesterday but we all took naps instead so that's on the agenda for today. (After I wrote this Jade and Robin came by for a visit on their way out.)

And so to tidy up this week, Wednesday, instead of finishing clearing out the last 12' of the barn because a cold front was due in that evening with a chance of rain, I got the trash wood over to the burn pile and everything else I didn't want to get wet squirreled away and by then I was worn out and went in and took a nap. We did get some rain and Thursday it was very cold and very windy and I barely ventured out. Yesterday a bit warmer, nice in the sun, but, nah and doubtful I'll get to it today either. We really need to get the roll up doors that were planned for each end but that will have to wait.

Winter is our good sunset season but this year they haven't really been anything much but last night we finally got a good one.

Thanksgiving in the year of the virus

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Despite the current situation, we do all have plenty to be thankful for. Number 1 on my list is Trump did not get re-elected.

We didn't do Thanksgiving at my house growing up. My mother said she wasn't doing all that food if she just had to do it again a month later for Christmas. The irony is that I don't ever remember her cooking our Christmas dinner, the maid did and another couple (who had their dinner on Christmas Day) came and served it and cleaned up afterwards, though she must have early on I suppose, and then when I was 12 my parents bought a lot in Sea Isle on Galveston's west end and built a beach house and forever after Thanksgiving weekend was spent there along with every other weekend and summers until I grew up and left home. After I married and the kids were young we would go to Marc's mother's house for a very laid back casual Thanksgiving except for the times we hosted it all formal like (had to use all that china and silver sometime) and even later as we all got older it became a smaller more casual affair at our house or later still when Sarah and her family were living next door, at her house or both houses. After our son got married the first time he abandoned us for his in-laws big gathering, the only time he got to see some of them whom he liked. We even joined them one year. Later still our son and his new real wife hosted Thanksgiving their first year of marriage, their one and only time to do that. After we bought the country house we would have it mostly out here. Since 2014 when we sold our city property and Sarah and her family moved into a bigger house she has been hosting it in the city. Until this year. Sarah and Mike moved out here on their land last January into a small manufactured home and so Thanksgiving was once again going to be moved to our house and then the virus hit.

Because Zoom Thanksgiving is better than ICU Christmas, the plan was that we would each still do our part of the cooking and share but eat at our respective homes. The grandgirls were coming in from three different cities (the grandboy going to Arkansas with his girlfriend) and even though they are all very careful, not going out and wearing masks when they do, we opted to follow the advice of the health care professionals. It's just one year after all out of many and considering the sacrifices and rationing our parents' and grandparents' generation endured during WWII to ensure that the war effort had all they needed, it seems a small effort to skip the big family gathering in order to insure that we are all here next year.

That was the plan. And then Sarah texted on Tuesday that one of her asymptomatic co-workers tested positive. The co-worker's father was planning to come in so she and her brother went and got tested just in case and, surprise!, she tested positive. My daughter got tested Wednesday morning but won't have the results for 2 – 4 days. Two of the grandgirls have opted to stay home, last minute ideas were tossed around but ultimately we decided not to do the massive amount of cooking and just skip that whole thing. Well, not skip the whole thing, Sarah got a turkey breast and is fixing small amounts of the traditional meal for her and Mike and Autumn. Marc and I are blowing it off altogether. We will have a meal, just the two of us, it just won't be turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. but there will be dessert, that is if I get in the kitchen and make it.

We have no idea how long her co-worker was at work shedding virus. There's only 9 of them, all feeling well, all wearing masks at work, disinfecting surfaces every day, the building has an excellent ventilation system because of all the machines. Sarah has been going to yoga with us and a week ago last Wednesday was the last time she was in close quarters in the car with Pam and I, no masks. Both Pam and I feel fine and surely a week is long enough for us to feel ill if Sarah was shedding virus then and exposed us. Regardless, I cautioned all the neighbors I encountered when I walked the dog yesterday to stay far back while we chatted. Sarah feels confident her test will come back negative but even so the family decided to act as if she is positive. If her test does come back positive, then I'll get tested but like her, I don't think I've been infected. So for now it's just a wait and see.

From Thanksgivings past...

2018

2013

2016

2014

2017

2017

(Don't know what the fuck is up with blogger but it would not accept the first two years in my chosen font no matter how many times I tried to fix it.)

out with the old, in with the new

I trust everyone had a good holiday season and are just as glad that it's done for another year. I'm glad to see 2019 gone. Besides the continued destruction of this country and our democracy and the planet, it wasn't one of my better ones. Between my health issue that dominated the year and all the months of work and struggle on a particular piece of art it was less than great. It did end well though, one part of the health issue is fixed and the other part is being controlled and the art piece did finally get finished and sold immediately. I guess I can't really complain. And the last few days of the year were good. My grandgirl Autumn came to stay a few days and then I drove her back to Austin on Monday and spent the night. We had a great dinner

and then stayed up late in the night talking about her year, which she is also glad to see gone, not a good one for her either, but she's hopeful for this coming year and she is clear on what she wants and needs, so much more so than I was at her age. Then a late breakfast

and running errands and then I drove home in time for our game night with our little social group on the street which was a lot of fun playing a domino game called Train with a lot of laughter and we actually stayed up til midnight to see the year out and in and home about 1 AM. And yesterday I was a total slug, did not even put on 'outside' clothes.

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions. I've only made two in my life that have mostly stuck. One was to spend my change even if it meant the next person in line had to wait an extra minute while I dug it out of my pocket (you'd be surprised how many people get annoyed by that) and the other was to do 5 sun salutations every morning (which evolved into a short routine) but which has been a little hit or miss, mostly miss this past year. So I'm going to try and be better about that, even on days when I go to class in the evening. And I'm going to try and be more productive in my art this year which was my goal for last year but then the whole flutter/afib thing just took over.

Today it is overcast and rainy but not too cold. I have six more days of taking care of the Demon Duo until my sister returns. 

I might do a little housecleaning today and I might not. I have a wind chime to repair and a little trinket box to paint so maybe I'll do that. The camellia is still blooming and some of the roses are blooming.

a little droopy from the rain

Here's the gray cat that comes to drink out of the turtle pond.

May 2020 be a good year for all and especially boot Trump out in November.