Eve of Deprivation

A nontraditional Fat Tuesday dinner, your standard tuna casserole. It seemed fitting to pair it with a box wine, Black Box Chardonnay. 

Oxymoronic Query

I have a clothes dryer that has steam cycles. Is this a cool feature?

Polars, Not Grizzlies or Browns, Oh My

It has been brought to my attention that today is International Polar Bear Day. I have a few. Mixed in with the penguins. No life size polar bears, that would be completely impractical. I also have a few holiday mugs with polar bears on them, but they are packed away until December. Reid is still annoyed with me for swiping the Duplo penguin and polar bear. I think he's mostly annoyed because it took him about five years to notice they were missing.

Newton Inspects My New Chair

What?

What chair? Where is it?

This one? This hot pink one?

Oh, yes. This is good. This will do.

Pink Flamingos, Pink Hats

Pussy hats and pink birds, living peaceably together. Dana*, the blue glass androgynous head, is now stuffed with blue lights. Should a blue-glass-light-up-head be required for any occasion, I happen to have one. Many hats are available to suit whatever soiree you have in mind. 


*Andrea was instrumental in naming the blue glass head. It's a groaner of a pun. Maybe, someday, I'll share it with you. When you're ready.

Let's, Shall We?

So Long, Dear Friend

Husband of KD, father of Emma, able to play and sing more obscure folk songs than anyone else, you will be missed by many. I imagine you as a sly, winking angel playing a banjo with your halo just a little askew.

The world needs kind, talented, funny, sweet people. I hope five more were born to fill the space you left behind. Rest in peace, John. You are free.

My Kind of Manifesto

I don't know who is responsible for writing this, so please, if anyone knows, share that information in the comments. I agree with every single point in this essay so I'm doing what the PS asks at the end of the post: If you agree, please copy and re-post. Done. 

Some people are saying that we should give Donald Trump a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and he is "everyone's president." This is my response:
•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years...
•I will not "work together" to build a wall.
•I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.
•I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments, no matter how bad they might have been, so that we could have something more agreeable to our oligarchy.
•I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1%.
•I will not "work together" to increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
•I will not "work together" to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his cronies.
•I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
•I will not "work together" to sell American lands to companies which then despoil those lands.
•I will not "work together" to enable the killing in any way of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
•I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.
•I will not "work together" to waste trillions more on our military when we already have the strongest in the world.
•I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
•I will not "work together" to slash funding for education.
•I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
•I will not "work together" to allow torture and "black op" prison sites.
•I will not "work together" to "take their oil."
•I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
•I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.
•I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
•I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
•I will not "work together" to restrict health care for women.
•I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
•I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.
•I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.
•I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
•I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.
•I will not "work together" to increase the profits of the insurance companies.
•I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged or actual "pre-existing condition."
•I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.
•I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
•I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not "work together" with Donald Trump to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive.
This is the line, and I am drawing it.
•I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
•I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN for what's really so dangerous about Donald Trump, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world:
That "winning", "being great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is anything more than nothing... When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.

PS: If you agree, please copy and re-post. #RESIST

Pssst, Over Here...

Recently seen on Facebook...a friend essentially looking for a playdate for her significant other while she is busy with something. Is this weird, or is it just me? I'm settling on weird, but that's just me.

Why, Yes, Hello

Well. Who's been a lazy blogger this week? Mememememe! I have been busy, though, that's the best excuse I can come up with. The laundry room has new flooring and has reached a point of near total organization. I have made my bed three times. I have shopped for groceries. I have been standing up for free speech and signing petitions and need to call a couple of Washington people. I still have a nagging cough that is normally brought on only by laughing or getting a lungful of chilly air. In between breathing outside and finding things funny I feel pretty darn healthy. A dear friend turned fifty this week. While I find this milestone bordering on impossible to believe, that may just be denial about a certain upcoming birthday of my own. I'm almost out of beer. I need to get back to matching up totes with lids. I'm not the least bit OCD.

Modern Problems

I am convinced that my printer/scanner is demonically possessed. Nothing else can explain its erratic behavior. Yesterday I was ready to throw it out the window, except that would have required lifting it over my head and heaving it forward. My hands were not up to the task so I swore at it and turned it off instead. This morning I went in to print out my Sunday crossword puzzle. Upon clicking on print, the darned thing roared to life and printed! Not just my crossword, mind you, but nine three page copies of my federal income tax return. Leaving me to assume that I must have clicked on the print icon nine times with no response from the evil printer whilst filing my taxes. I then gave up and saved the PDF to my desktop with the idea of trying later. I turned everything on and off numerous times and went through the process of printer-search-and-recognition as well as logging the printer on to the wireless network to no avail. Then, just for fun, I attempted to scan a couple of photos I wanted to post yesterday. Surprise, surprise, no success! I think I aced the crossword, though. I'll confirm or deny that conclusion later when I'm able to find the answers online. I've never had a problem with finding them before. In reverse-virus process, it seems the demonic plague that was exorcised from my printer is now infecting crossword solutions on the interwebs. I do apologize if anyone else is experiencing similar difficulties. I suggest lighting a candle, spinning around three times clockwise after tossing salt over your left shoulder, and consulting your horoscope. Oh, and enjoy the photos I would have posted yesterday. Scanning was successful today.

Freezing in the courthouse.

Obligatory garter shot.

This Day in 1986

Thirty-one years ago I woke up, went through my regular morning routine and went to work. It was a Tuesday. Not just any Tuesday, mind you. I was done at noon. I had a hair appointment. I walked into the salon with a dried flower headband that Cindy braided into my hair. I was dressed in jeans and an old denim shirt. Allen and I went to Nick's Hamburgers and had a late lunch. We were in the habit of going to Nick's on auspicious days to celebrate whatever big thing was going on in our lives. A couple of hours later we were at the courthouse with Brenda and Dave. We had an appointment with the judge to get married. We waited outside his chambers and the clock crept forward past our scheduled time. I was chilly, the cavernous stone building had absorbed the cold of the three previous months and my dress was lacy and gossamer-thin. I think I was visibly shaking by the time the judge opened his door and gestured us in. He seemed a bit distracted, frazzled even, as the four of us, bride and groom, maid of honor and best man, assembled inside his paneled office. Turns out he was was in the middle of a trial and had recessed briefly to officiate at our wedding. He was agitated over the testimony of the defendant, whom he was convinced was lying. He said so, and needed some time to calm down, read through the transcript and decide if there were grounds for perjury. I was grateful for the warmth of the room but still felt as though I was shaking, if only internally. The judge was looking over our marriage license and recognized Allen's name. I remember thinking, this can't be good. Several months earlier, Allen had written a letter to this very judge on behalf of a friend who was serving time in the state penitentiary to ask that his friend's sentence be shortened. That if he served his full sentence, it was likely that his marriage would be over and his life would suffer irreparable setbacks. I felt as if a pall had been cast over our day, the day we were committing our lives to one another. First by the ongoing trial in the next room, then by the troubles of another couple whose marriage was likely over. Three's a charm was the thought that crept to the front of my brain. I wonder sometimes why this memory lingers in crystalline crispness so many years later. And if it was a glimpse into the future of our marriage. Perhaps an indication that it wasn't built on such solid ground after all. It was snowing outside when we left the courthouse. Big, feathery flakes landed softly on us and the car. The kind of snow that is easily brushed away. Just as I brushed away my doubts over the promise of til death do we part that had been uttered mere minutes earlier.

53

Pardon me if I've posted this photo of Cullen before. It cracks me up. And today, on the occasion of what would have been the day he turned 53, I need to smile. Back in the days of film and a frugal mom, you only hauled out the camera for auspicious celebrations, and then only snapped a couple of photos. You wouldn't know for probably weeks if any of them turned out well. Or at all. Here the birthday boy was captured just before extinguishing all seven candles with one mighty blow. Happy birthday, Cully. You are loved and you are missed. 

Listening to the Press Conference

The SCROTUS is delusional. The emperor is naked. Twenty-eight days. How much longer can this go on?

Crossword

We're talking about the puzzle, children. Specifically the Sunday crossword. I'm not chastising anyone nor am I cranky. So. I enjoy my Sunday morning routine. I make coffee, I have some sort of treat, a pastry or cookie or sometimes an English muffin with some lovely jam, and put on some music. Then I sit down with the crossword and the accompanying cryptogram. I used to have to brave the weather and cross the street to retrieve my newspaper, but now I access it online. Once I got moved, that paper version was no longer available, so I bought a couple of local papers to fulfill my puzzle needs. Not being happy with those alternatives, I ran across an incredibly cheap online deal for the paper I used to subscribe to. Incredibly cheap. Ten bucks for six months. I then proceeded to be annoyed for six months. I needed to print out the puzzle from the e-version of the paper and the source was blurry and smaller than the hard copy had been. Meh. Better than nothing, right? The six months went by and even though I received the email allowing me access, there was a paywall greeting me when I attempted to log in. So I did what I should have done back in June. I did an online search for the puzzle. And found it. For free! It prints beautifully in a large, clear and legible format. I bought a book of of three hundred plus cryptograms and I was back in business! It's not just that I enjoy the puzzles, I feel like it's brain exercise. You know, that use it or lose it thing. Doing the crossword also gives my right hand something of a workout. Writing a legible letter inside of a tiny box helps retain my fine motor skills, as diminished as they are. Sunday morning is starting to sound like a spa appointment. All I need is a massage artist and and a hot tub. Amazing what you feel you can afford when the crossword puzzle is free. 

Poem For St Valentine

I wrote this a very long time ago. It's about what you really want or need, but what you'll do to get by. I've said too much.

Maintenance vs Ecstasy

The cool, filtered water from the kitchen tap suffices.

While I wistfully dream

Of a rippling mountain stream,

So clear and cold and tumbling its taste and sound entices.

The night brings gifts of darkness and deep and restful sleep.

All alone in my bed,

Reveries in my head,

Waking up beside you is the memory I keep.

Stepping from the shower I’m clean, pristine, renewed.

It seems very clear,

If only you were near,

I’d be dirtier by far with auto-eroticism eschewed.

Protein, fat, and carbs are the basics we require.

Available in pills

Devoid of gastronomic thrills.

Bread and meat, ripe fruit, red wine fulfill desire.

This Just In...

If I had any idea how this happened, trust me, I would stop it immediately. If not sooner. Stop, stop, stop. On the other hand, I am pretty fucking adorable. Even the SCROTUS*, it seems, cannot resist me. 

*So-Called Ruler Of The United States

Breakfast

Jill, who claims to not cook, made this for me ages ago. I loved it so much I often make it for myself. For breakfast, but also as a quick supper. Eggs how you like them, which for me is over easy, toast, my preference being whole wheat, and a side of sauteed-in-olive-oil mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach. Just a little salt and pepper, and fresh cilantro if you've got it, and this is one of the yummiest meals ever.

Full Moon Night

Persistence Is Ours!

Artwork by Courtney M. Privett. Used with the artist's permission.

Escapism

If anyone needs me, I'll be on my couch, under a blanket, binge-watching The West Wing. I like the Bartlet Administration a whole lot better than the one currently setting up shop in Washington. They're kinder, more capable, savvier, better looking, funnier, and have much snappier dialog. And I seriously doubt anyone in today's White House would be capable of finding an error in The New York Times Sunday Edition crossword puzzle.

Dr Deja Vu

Took in Dr Strange yesterday. You know, the newest movie-fication of the Marvel universe. I enjoyed it. Villainous villains, reluctant hero, outstanding visual effects, just enough comic relief to offset the general horror. But what struck me and is still hanging with me a bit, is the fact that our hero's hands were injured. His hands. Shown shaking and scarred and struggling to do what they used to do without his conscious thought. How frightful and Frankensteinish they appeared post-surgery in their slings, fingers studded with steel pins. How his frustration exploded into anger as he struggled through a physical therapy session. I certainly wasn't a brilliant neurosurgeon prior to my workplace injury. But I used to do beadwork and plink a little on my guitar. I could type speedily without having to look at the keys to direct my uncooperative fingers to the letter that I require. I was an expert seamstress. Like Dr Strange, I eventually had to look within and figure out how to get on with my life with my compromised hands. I had to lose the self-pity and stop asking why me. When told by the demonic Dormammu that it will be painful, Dr Strange responds that pain is an old friend. I feel like pain is more of an annoying constant companion than friend. I try to use my daily allotment of spoons wisely. And I find joy in the moments of most days. It would be pretty cool to have an animated red cape, though. When the laundry room is more organized I may have to fire up the sewing machine and invest a week's worth of spoons in making that happen. Meanwhile, I'm changing the wifi password to shamballa.

Acceptance Without Expectation

Flyin' That Bitch Flag

Susan, a friend of a friend on Facebook, has suggested that we just pipe down and share our political views privately. And give the new president a chance. Not a chance, Susie.

I will not go quietly.I will not give a chance to a man who is clearly a sexual predator, a misogynist, a homophobe and a bigot who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and is a hatemonger and a pathological liar. His policies will devastate our environment, our economy, our relationships with other nations, access to healthcare, and a woman's constitutionally guaranteed right to choose. Those of us who are speaking out will save people like you from your own folly for believing one word that comes out of this carnival huckster's mouth. We all deserve better, even the Americans who voted for him.

Blizzard Warning

I'm a little snowflake, dancin' on the winds of change!

The Orange One Has Spoken

For the first, and likely only time, ever, I concur.

The Best Medicine

For many good laughs, allow me to recommend viewing the Bill Murray classic comedy, Groundhog Day. If that isn't enough, go here and toot your horn until you collapse in a weeping, snortlaughing heap.

Ah, February

You have only twenty-eight days, yet you are so full of so many things. Tomorrow is Imbolc, which should be celebrated with a ritual fire. It will be damp and cold here, so it is much more likely we will observe the modern holiday Groundhog Day by watching the movie of the same name. I love Valentine's Day even though I am single. I believe in the celebration of all types of love, including that of chocolates and champagne and cats. The romantic sort can be okay, too. And when I'm all immersed in it, you'll be the first to know.