We had an uneventful crossing and are now in Victoria. Katie’s back home and she and Keith had quite The Wirefest last night. She told me she’d help with the meal clean up so I am contemplating a tidy kitchen on my return with some happiness.
Author: Allegra
Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.
Christmas miracle
Dax was here for Christmas dinner. Everything was perfectly calm and civilized. Now to Victoria, back tonight.
Merry Christmas
Einstein, 1949:
I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.
Christmas Eve Service was not well attended, but we sang the old carols lustily, and I admired Erin’s little one, and said hey to Rob, who got two whole days off from driving bus. Peggy read so sincerely that I could feel tears welling up – and they spilled. For unto us a son is given…. and I’ve had that magic, a little life I built (with help) myself and held in my arms for the first time a very long time ago. And now he’s all big and opinionated, but not so opinionated that he doesn’t love it when I pick him up a milkshake on the way home from church.
No church this Sunday – off to Victoria.
I should go upstairs and wrassle the bird. For some reason I don’t feel like cooking stuffing. Must be something wrong with me.
flying through Manhattan
37 Days til Conflikt IV!!!!
I have vowed to have nothing but filk playing in the car until I go.
Ever wonder why 98.6?
Full of gratitude
It is so very pleasant to be able to pick up the phone and be able to talk to my mother. It’s the most bracing luxury. It is a luxury, a luxury to think that the people and machines that keep the phones running will always be there, will never be distracted by anything else. And yet bracing, for when my day darkens and my drears get all bleary, I can contemplate easily calling my mother, and even if I don’t call her, it’s still a bracing thought.
Murmle mushy pancreatic implosions of daughterly joy. Snirf, ack, ptui.
Cause it never gets old.
And do we really know what social unrest looks like?
Canada Post website is down
Call the toll free, get pissed on from a great height. Sorry, can’t answer your call, call later. Click, Bzz. Need to talk to Canada Post before I can tell one of my coworkers that she’s an ignorant sociopath with delusions of adequacy; strangely I need to check my facts, even if she doesn’t.
Annoying.
Broke a large piece of glass this morning trying to get the food I cooked for a company potluck into a bag to carry it. Cut myself three times cleaning it up and I just realized I cut my leg as well as dropping the lid on my foot.
Happy fucking Monday, y’all. Only good thing about this morning was the brevity of the commute and the pan fried scallops I had for brekky.
Trying to train Margot to grunt on command is hopeless, and yet entertaining.
I wrapped the present for the needy family this morning. It’s the first 3 books of the Scott Pilgrim series. The 14 year old boy did ask for graphic novels after all.
In other news, I went to check out the cajon that’s on craigslist in town and it sucked so I didn’t buy it.
In other news, Katie and Keith are back in Vancouver and I cooked a baron of beef (mit gravy) and mashed spuds and broccoli for dinner last night. Paul stopped by to eat and run. I don’t mind, he cooked two meals earlier this week both of which were awesome.
Feels weird to be through The Wire. I am thinking about that a lot.
Sunday roundup
I was feeling like I missed Leo and Linda so I made Finn pancakes last night. Paul stopped by on the way to work and devoured some. I think he’s missing the kids, I am definitely missing them, and Katie posting that she was sad on Facebook diddint help.
We also sang and played a bit last night. He sure makes my Seagull sound purty; I’m working on a new tune and it was a treat to work it up in guitar first and then hand the guitar to Paul so I could noodle on the mandolin; there was some tasty stuff in there.
Jeff and I watched the last episode of The Wire; for each part of the ecosystem of the drug trade and city infrastructure, folks die or retire and others take their place; that was the point at which I realized that The Wire is really about corruption. A corrupt system only needs a bit of corruption from everyone and a whole bunch of corruption from the big players to work; now there’s research indicating that maybe that is how it’s supposed to work. Humanity will always have corruption with it, but how does one cope? Carlyle said make of yourself an honest man and then there’s one less rascal to deal with, more or less.
Of the many, many things I am grateful for, having a mother who never made me a sweater like this is one.
It snowed last night, but not enough to matter; I checked a webcam rather than going to a window, does that make me a bad person?
Python lives on!
A ladybug playing with sugar sprinkles
The diagnosis game
To protect Katie’s dignity and privacy I won’t go into much of the background stuff. The foreground stuff is a lot of me shaking my head and going “This is bullshit.” (From disbelief, disappointment, anger, fear and vanity.) At the same time I’m hearing things I didn’t hear about at the time they happened and I’m starting to understand how parents can wake up one morning and find one of their kids hanging from something or possibly having left town abruptly or maybe just plain old O.D’ed. “But I had no idea he was so upset!” Yeah….. My daughter’s having a crisis and all I can think about is how it affects me – how it makes me look. How mature! so I’m really trying to make an effort to not make it about me; it was easy enough to do when she didn’t live with me for the best part of five years. Now she’s sleeping on the media room couch (why didn’t she go to bed? Bet she stayed up talking to Keith…)
She is feeling better. She says so. She’s diurnal again. She’s painting a lot. She’s going to Victoria today with her brother. She swapped my laundry over for me last night so I’ve got clean clothes this morning.
I am also thinking A LOT these days about Elly, and thinking I should get on the phone with her. She is just about the most loving and sensible woman I ever met, and I hope she can help me with what’s happening, just for perspective, just for asking pointed questions, giving sage advice.
I hope Katie and Keith have a lovely time in Victoria. She’s taking her easel.