Month: November 2021

lazy rainy day

Fed the crows! they are big birds, up so close.

Did another load of laundry, ran the dishwasher, emptied the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen.

Now I’m curled up in bed working on fanfic while Jeff tries to figure out what to do about the busted flange on the downstairs toilet, up to and including calling the landlord if it’s outside his paygrade.

 

No order

Finally washed and put away the rags for Suzanne to use. I’ve done three other loads but I only put away the rags and the towels.

I feel entirely deflated after pumping up full of energy to be of service at the memorial, but I must admit it was wonderful to see so many people from Beacon, and even more wonderful to merely be around Jeri Lynn and Jeffrey and Cindy and Peggy. Peggy has made her home a second home to all of us and we are so grateful. She says she thinks her sons were content with how the service went, and of course we can watch it again if we need to.

Baby Ryker has now spent some time twice with his father Mike. Apparently Mike’s mom is doing all the work and so this is me staring, expressionless, at the camera, in case you’re wondering. Ryker is being supplemented with formula anyway and a fed baby is best baby so I won’t hear a damned word about him getting formula. Gatekeeping motherhood in the 21st century is a 20th century thing to do.

Katie in the meantime keeps leaving the house – Jeff and I caught her yesterday taking Alex to the IHOP in New West (Alex told us to our faces that he didn’t want to sit with us and why the hell not, the rest of the time his mother has a baby hanging off her) – while her midwife chides. I was exactly the same way, so I understand.

Cindy wants to perform for Festival of the Living Rooms so that means a) getting together (yay) and rehearsing (double yay). I know I’m the kind of person who’s fucking impossible to get along with creatively but Cindy has a skill set which is just too intriguing and she has that mix of humour, practicality and work ethic which makes her SO WONDERFUL to work with that I, even I, cannot resist. Anyway I’m hoping to get her to revive some of her SG:Atlantis tunes because I’ve been thinking of multiple harmony lines, and of course there are about two dozen songs that we can already fire up hard and fast because we’ve sung them together so much over the years.

I am still working on fanfic. I know I should be doing at least a little more housework today since the kitchen’s an insurrection but I have no care for any of this.

Peggy ate all the salad I made her.

I have to go into town (by which if I don’t specify I mean the Royal city mall in New West) and return library books and go to the bank and run a couple of other errands. I’m up and dressed, I can do this thing!!!

Just retested my vocal range. Today my lowest note is G2 and my highest is D5 so I’m either getting a cold or my testosterone levels are higher.

 

Tom in hospital

pale green
pale grey
mushroom beige
one can wake to a drowse, just a tiny bit
of consciousness
and know you’re in hospital

He breathes in six to ten second gouts
and I watch
family & friends    the doc     the nurse    the housekeeper
come and go

Sometimes we sound him
for how he’s doing
& sometimes he replies and squirms like a sleepy toddler

in a bed too small for him
he shrinks
and next to him
just there
on the other side of the window

another place for people to go to die
and get better
and fight death to a draw
is rising
under the watchful eyes of the crows

while his son speaks softly and rubs his back

the time that passes is modelling clay
the time that passes is silent pictures taken of a dying man
as he rests in the arms of his son

Raining hard today

Tom’s memorial service is today. I gave him that hat. Yesterday we gathered at Peggy’s to rehearse and eat Chinese food (I brought home Singapore style noodles) and I got home about 8:30. It’s almost giddy making to be experiencing SOCIAL INTERACTION and then I got home and had a panic attack for about an hour (thought I was having a heart attack until I realized that the pain went away when I was breathing properly).  Talked to Brooke about how to wean off of Inderal, which was super useful.

Jeff C GAVE me his dulcimer capo but I got him back by paying for dinner. It’s so lovely to be able to sing in a group again.

Quiet day

Yesterday dined at IHOP for breakfast. Jeff took the day off and apart from driving me to pick up the prescription we did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Oh yeah, I may have worked on my puzzle.

Suzanne is here today and there’s a rehearsal for the memorial service.

Here’s a quote from one of my fanfics: “There’s two things trees never do; one is judge, and the other is complain.”

It’s International Polyamory Day!

The tune. When I wrote it in 2012 I whined about how I can’t stop writing songs in 3/4 time, but now I understand it’s a very white time signature (percussionists loathe it, so says the filk circle LOL), so it’s okay. Is it not hilarious how out of date this song is already?

Here are the lyrics:

Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I won’t force you into a pair
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
Your talent’s exceedingly rare
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I tell you, for I truly care
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
A skillset like yours should be shared

In this life there’s a bias for binary thoughtless
It starts with your left hand and right
Couple Up and De-Couple!
sells novels, moves clickbait with
Tropes that are tragic and trite.
Whatever your naughty bits com-mu-ni-ca-tion
is key to affairs of the heart
so when delineating polyamory
that is the place that I start

Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I won’t force you into a pair
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
Your talent’s exceedingly rare
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I tell you, for I truly care
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
A skillset like yours should be shared

You don’t make assumptions or fail to do check-ins
When you’re angry you use your words
You try not to judge, but when something goes ‘squick’
you are quick to say that’s for the birds
You rarely make promises, but you will keep them
on that your friends may be assured
and you’re made out of action, instead of excuses
a life style choice I much prefer

Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I won’t force you into a pair
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
Your talent’s exceedingly rare
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
I tell you for I truly care
Be mine, be mine, and be somebody else’s
A skillset like yours should be shared

But only if you you really want to….

Fraser Foreshore Walk

The tide was highest at noon yesterday and the water in the Fraser River was quite high. Paul said we were expecting rain and it was JUST GORGEOUS – a beautiful golden peach sunset, and quite warm. I took my cane and had no trouble with the usual length of walk.

CBC local news reports that Large Marge the Barge will not be removed until December 6th 2021, the date of the next King tide. Lazy bums eh.

Made lentil soup yesterday. Hoping to make Banana Cake today.

(Yes I did make banana cake.)

Keith had a Battlestar Galactica games night at his house and nobody knew there was a new baby.

Came up with another fanfic idea. About four hundred words on the ‘starlight’ story. Found an absolutely delightful fluffy 70k fanfic I haven’t read before yesterday, it was exactly what I wanted.

sleepy day

I was asleep most of yesterday but I feel fine this morning. Clearheaded and properly slept.

So far this week I’ve gotten kudos every day for the stories I’ve put on AO3. It’s nice to know someone is enjoying them.

Boris Johnson told journalists that he has ‘buyer’s remorse’ from marrying his most recent wife. What a fucking asshole, srsly.

The RCMP is arresting journalists for doing their jobs and not releasing them from jail.

Jeff and I can’t stop thinking about K*le Shitinhouse and Amber Bracken.

AND BC IS ABOUT TO RECEIVE MORE RAIN. North Central Coast and interior. It likely will not be an atmospheric river of the size of the last one (which made the epithet ‘Biblical’ look size small) but it will hamper rescue efforts and kill more livestock and render more people homeless WELCOME TO YOUR 2020s