Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

productive day

Wordle 251 5/6 I LITERALLY didn’t get a correct letter until the third guess, didn’t get another until I guessed the entire word. That one was tough.

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A shop in the morning, walked with Paul (at Lougheed – I picked up finishing nails for Suzanne so she can hang pictures over the weekend)  and otherwise ran errands with Paul and fed Paul lunch (more peas chicken and rice THIS TIME WITH GINGER NOM) and looked at one of his boboes and got him to do his blood pressure (worse than mine…. I basically said in a level voice that that was the BP that sent me to the hospital and then he took it again and it was still high but not a crisis), two loads of laundry washed and dried (I get to put them away today lol), finished re-stringing Otto (when the hell WAS GAFilk, seriously, has it been that long and will I ever let it go that long again? the strings were so dead I should have been ashamed to record with them last winter), made some social plans with Suzanne only to learn that things have shifted a little with Katie and she’ll call me when we all get together to swim. Which reminds me the stretch has all perished out of my already super-thin bathing suit. I want to get one like the green and black one I wore when I was swimmin’ in the Dominican Republic, which Tom liked for some obscure reason. So do I want to brave the swimwear store in Metrotown? I can handle Lougheed, but Metrotown is like Tinfoil Central as far as the logie and disturbed of the Lower Mainland is concerned. Okay maybe that other mail further down Kingsway is worse but I never go there.

Keith continues to enjoy his job according to Paul.

This is a lovely although unclear as to the long term outcome story from Argentina.

Protest about the war in front of the VAG on Saturday. Putin’s threatening to use nukes. I’m trying to picture how I’ll be getting myself to write and create if that fucker bombs with poison, and the radiation level’s already up because of the tanks going through Chornobyl and kicking up all the radioactive dust.

Suzanne made things shiny and went home to nap. She’s been so busy with trying to make a living she hasn’t been able to clean her own place since she moved in, and one of her kids plus a girlfriend plus a hound is living there right now so things are lively. (But reasonably peaceful and Suzanne adores dogs and isn’t in a place in her life when she can own one. This poor hound is allergic to grass, can you imagine having to walk on grass in booties cause of allergies. I saw pics; Crooks is as cute as dogs get but beeg.)

One little kudo for an older story this morning.

Off to get my increased meds this morning, think I’ll walk over. The Entidying continues; Suzanne wants to get to the livingroom next since that’s where Master Alex plays and draws.

Peas rice and chicken

2.5 hours of taxi-ing and sitting in waiting rooms yesterday. When I saw my appointment time of 4 pm I was disgusted, since I knew I’d be on my ass waiting for a long time, but almost two hours was not what I guessed.

Anyway, I’m increasing the dose of one of my morning BP meds and I should have a scrip faxed in (I’ll check later today) and renewals for everything else. We’re hoping this will drop my blood pressure enough that the risk factors for cardiovascular damage drop somewhat.

When I came home, I realized I had some chicken thawed and I’d already made a pot of rice, so I dumped what seemed like a lot of safflower oil in a pan and fried up some chicken and rice and peas and added exactly one tablespoon of soy sauce and nothing else (it was the Most Caucastic stir fry ever, I assure you) and it was actually totally delicious and hit the spot and Jeff even had seconds, which meant it was completely consumed and there were no leftovers huzzah.

Still delightfully clear but cold yesterday, it’s supposed to be much warmer today. It was chilly in the basement these last two days.

One little kudo this morning. I wrote a story about two people who meet while already quite drunk from two different parties and one of them can’t stop barfing but they get frisky anyway. That’s the one that caught praise this morning. It has the funniest title out of all of my stories.

Much better night of sleep last night. As suspected I was twisted about the doctor appointment Tuesday night and that impacted my sleep. I could go on at length about how goddamned rude the people waiting with me were and how variable people seem to be in terms of both quality and usage of masks but there’s no point.

Probably getting a cleaning specialist today, and whether or not we do I’ll be talking to Jeff about whether we’re doing a shop this morning.

I got the strings OFF Otto but have not got them ON. Such a hassle to have ball end strings for the mandolin.

People are dead in the opening shelling of Putin’s war.

I don’t think Putin understands that he’s paved the way for a lot of unrest at home. The rouble’s tanked, foreign exchange is locked up, the army itself is poorly equipped and fed and trained and morale is low, and the suffering of the people on Russian territory as fuel and food and anything from the West skyrockets in price will be most terrible. One half of Russians support Putin’s war. One quarter does not. One quarter is not sure. Those numbers WILL change, and Putin’s going to be pissed when they don’t go his way.

Here’s a good overview of possibilities on Youtube. Make sure you turn subtitles on, that guy talks REAL fast.

off colour

I woke up about two dozen times last night, and I kept feeling nauseous, so either I ate something disagreeable yesterday or I’m sickening with something or it’s psychological because I really don’t want to sit in a doctor’s office across the street from one of the busiest emergency departments in the city later today and in all cases having to go to the doctor today is suboptimal but I will go. I’m planning on taking a taxi unless Jeff volunteers to drive me, but it’s close to rush hour for the appointment, so that seems unlikely.

Eggs and coffee for breakfast.

I’ve restrung Smokey and he sounds BETTER THAN AWESOME. I imagine I’ll go downstairs and he’ll be completely out of tune again, but I ran through ‘Gelis and Niccolo’ full chat and it sounds like god giving advice. brrr, lovely. Managed to thank Mike once again in person when he was here ‘tother night for giving me the restringing tool, which is abso wonderful and speeds things up and makes them much less scary.

I am working in the back of my mind on a song, sadly another hymn.

I am not looking forward to restringing Otto, but I have the strings and it brutally needs doing and as far as I can tell I haven’t restrung him since GAFilk. (A brief Really I should find a decent luthier and have the goddamn frets brought down, or maybe I’ll do that myself with a file.

The weird letters on my earlier posts all came back, I have no idea why.

 

Dr. Appt Tomorrow

Today another day of loafing and lazing in lower lalaland.

Ate my leftovers for breakfast, so nommy.

Mike and Jeff and I watched The King’s Man and HOLY JEEZ Rhys Ifans as Rasputin is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. He fights while doing cossack style ballet kicks (obvs not him, some poor body double sod) and the whole ‘he was very hard to kill’  story gets THE FULL TREATMENT like shitbag he was extremely hard to kill. Anyway I think I had to be in the right mood to watch it and I was, because despite it being ahistorical and goofy as anything it was very entertaining and surprisingly well written and didn’t fall down in the fourth act.

Also the montage ‘once there were three cousins who ended up being the leading rulers in Europe’ really makes you think about the Great War in different terms.

There is a lot of fighting and there is a goat. Jeff called the goat’s behaviour well in advance, but that wasn’t too hard. There’s also a sequence that will not leave you feeling great about the safety of elevators that go by hand crank up a massive cliff side (the dialogue of the poor schmo stuck in it is classic).

This is a graphic of the Peacemaker dance. If you don’t know what that is or why it’s important to the ‘me’, relax. It’s just a dance.

Mike is coming bearing food

He’s off to Balkan House to pick up SCHHHHHHHHNITZEL and oh boy oh boy. He was going to stop off and get beer but we’ve got enough for an evening’s worth and Jeff certainly won’t grudge it if Mike’s paying for din din.

Here I am hopping from one foot to the other waitin’ and anticipatin’.

But I should go downstairs and finish stringing Smokey.

Russian’s invaded Ukraine. May Putin fail and fall.

 

More items off the list

I am continuing to feel much more chipper.  It wasn’t a super productive day, but I walked (really walked, not ambled) and got some social contact and the sun was a benison.

There’s a new game, Semantle. IT’S INSANE MAKING. Wordle is fun and brief and lively, but Semantle makes you understand you don’t understand English at all, and given that it is, “My bag, my thing, my evil specialty” it’s … Okay, here’s the link. Just don’t ever play the game, you will die of frustration. (suitably vexed voice, with shaken fists: CURSE YOU VIXY) —LATER LATER MUCH LATER I’m up to 3hundred and freakn 80 guesses on Semantle, I feel like me brains are leaking out my ears.

It’s supposed to be ass freezing cold tonight until Wednesday. I am not worried; I’ll have the warmth of VISITORS tonight yes that’s right Mike was supposed to come over for ‘za last night but he drank too much with sifu (sifu is master in Chinese martial arts)  and couldn’t manage it, so he’s coming over tonight.

Buster heals and complains about the door being locked.

Yesterday I ordered the bamboo charcoal smell-killers that have worked so well for us. (really helps with the damp smell in the downstairs john).  Why? As mentioned Mike got a right hand drive Delica (which I rode in for the first time when we went saunaing and dining with Jarmo and Susanna) and it’s unfortunately a Japanese vehicle which means it’s been smoked in. So I’ll give him three of those bamboo charcoal smell killers and that will keep the noxious effluvium down to a dull roar, hopefully. I ordered it from Rona and with the exchange and free shipping it’s about the same as if I ordered it from the US, so that worked.

Absolutely delightful walk in the park at Fraser Foreshore yesterday with Paul. I fed the chickadees from my hands for about ten minutes with Paul watching, most entertained; with what delicacy and firmness did they grasp my index finger as they rested a flashing moment to grab a sunflower seed. The sun was just blasting down and there was no wind, so we sat in the sun and basked for many long minutes in companionable silence. Everyone on the trail (except for those two fuckwits on mountain bikes who came through with a gopro and attitude and 90 dB of shitty club music at about 25 kph without a bell or shout) was practically giddy with joy at the warmth and sun, and even though it was the Sunday of a long holiday weekend (it’s ‘Family Day’ in BC) the trails weren’t too crowded. I masked, Paul didn’t.

Then we went back to KC Junction and I ate Keith’s leftovers, a superlative yellow lentil stew with heaps of veg and subtle, lightly heated spicing, and then we ate my choc rice pudding for dessert. (Keith enjoyed it with thanks.) Paul was much more interested in the borscht I brought (he really likes my borscht) and I realized why when I saw the sour cream container. But I can’t eat borscht two days running because anything with oxalic acid makes my kidney output scratchy so I ate lentils instead.

Keith’s loving his job… just loving it. He says it’s only a week and you can’t know for sure, and the pay is not great, but it’s work he can stand and he’s visibly in much better shape than even two weeks ago.

Katie was out with Ryker & Alex and some friends so I didn’t get to see her.

The Russians are claiming that the Ukrainians are ‘reacquiring nuclear weapons’ and I’m like wow, we can’t trust a fucking word you say now, can we.

Worst showing ever in terms of ratings for the Olympics. Why NBC keeps this boat anchor tied to its ass I have no idea. What if they held an Olympics and nobody wanted to broadcast it? That would be choice.

Twitter antifa (canuck division) is rooting around in rural Ontario to find the names of the people who are hiding the convoyancers. So far some son of a sea cook in Embrun who’s the best friend of the mayor there is one of them. LOL they can hide but six months from now the knock will come. Remember they’re still knocking on doors from the Jan 6 rebellion in the US, it’s not like the cops work faster in Canuckistan.

I’m an abolitionist; if they could all be referred to restorative justice and be filling planters and picking up garbage in Centretown for the next two years instead of paying fines and going to jail I WOULD BE HAPPY. Especially if they had to wear a PLEASE DON’T FEED THE HONKIES sign around their necks while they were doing it, but that’s not nice, I know it.

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but if they reboot Futurama without the voice acting talents of John DiMaggio I won’t watch it, even out of whatever is left of my curiosity.

Side note to mOm. The Metformin did it again this morning, fortunately I know how this goes and I had plans in place and managed to deal with it all promptly. What a life.

 

 

 

 

brekky at Fraser Park Restaurant

I had the two slice french toast and two cups of their excellent coffee. And their weird but yummy homemade swossages.  Website.

It’s rainy and windy, not an elegant day at all. Certainly not as bad as poor Britain yesterday, lashed by 90 mile an hour winds and some of the scariest airport missed approaches I’ve seen in a while, trees over and bins in the next county and people racing sitting on skateboards while holding shopping bags and getting blown down the sidewalk.

FINALLY got Mary’s letter in the mail.

I have a three day list of tasks in front of me, let’s see how much I can get done now that I have something resembling energy and mood.

Doreen Manuel a Secwépemc woman made these beaded kicks and they are amazing. Support your Land Water Protectors today!

I made borscht

I didn’t put bouillon on the shopping list so it’s not very salty (or busting with the flavourful) but it’s definitely soup, substantial and hopefully digestible. Had it for supper last night, Jeff had some too.

There are now two soups to choose from, since there’s lentil soup in the fridge as well.

Jeff told me to my horror that my crow feeding has attracted pigeons. I put a post it note on the back door to prevent me from putting food out until Monday. I do not want to encourage pigeons unless I’m trapping and eating them too. There is interspecies signalling of food deposition – the flicker called the crows yesterday, it was amazing to watch. Buster, being trapped indoors, spends a lot of time watching birdies, both from the kitchen table and from his cat tower in the corner of the living room.

Today I’m going to slow roast some veg.

I hope to continue along with the dejunking as well; I am staying on top of the clothing situation and have been merrily throwing stuff out that I either never want to move again or don’t want to make my estate clean out. Also, changing strings, getting the posture ball back downstairs into the guest room, maybe even practicing.

Oh, the alarm’s about to go to tell me to take my BP and Metformin meds.

Still haven’t mailed Mary’s letter, how I wish those sons of sea cooks at the Post Office hadn’t removed my closest mail box. The next nearest one is a ten minute walk, outrageous. And inconvenient, I never go along that street on foot!  Fuck them assholes. Grr.

One little kudo this am, most recent story. Still working up situations for the new ones and staring fixedly at the half dozen or so other stories I would like to finish and post.

Watched the first episode of Cuphead; I think mOm and pOp might like it, it’s a total blast from 30’s animation; everything from the character to the sound design and the little blips that faux age the cartoon is pitch perfect. Also, there’s one bit where I was screaming at Jeff to rewind and replay, lovely use of the cartoon form.

Hey mOm, this is the bead rondel that is Jesse’s ‘badge of office’ when he is visiting elderly people in his building. The green background is a tacit acknowledgement that he’s a settler.

 

Here’s a sketch of Beaky (Pharos) when he was newly born. The eyes and ‘freckles’ aren’t eyes and freckles, they’re pigment patches (since sixers are made of muscle that can see lol and don’t have eyes like mammals do). He appears to have 4-6 legs but one of those forelimbs is a social tentacle. He looks so adorable here and he’s one of the crabbiest sentient creatures that ever lived, and once you know his history, it’s easy to understand why.

 

I have guitar strings!

So I picked up mando and guitar strings yesterday, which is good, because when I play “Gelis and Niccolo” I am pulverizing my guitar strings, which start to blister and unwind and go dead. So I shall take the guitar tool which the esteemed M. Mike provided and change my guitar strings with speed and ease. Also Otto’s strings because he sounds deader than Beethoven right now.

I actually picked up the ukelele yesterday and played for a while!

Buster is PISSSSSED that he can’t go outside. Then he cries like a sad kitten, it’s heartwrenching. But he’s still covered in scabs from his last failure to carry the field, and he cost Daddy somewhat with this last ear ding, so we are being brutal and keeping him in. We may break out the catnip just to keep him vivified.

After some very disturbed sleep and a lot of napping I seem to be back diurnal, sleeping until four in the morning YAY. I don’t like it when Jeff and I are out of sync, even when he’s working it’s like we don’t talk for a day and all of a sudden we’re eating supper in front of Elementary….

The kitchen is a nightmare but I can’t find the energy to clean it. (actually I just emptied the dishwasher and threw out the cruft, but that doesn’t make a visible dent lol)

Fed Paul and Jeff pulled pork sammies on brown buns, smashed taters and green beans for lunch yesterday. Paul and I went for a brief walk and toured around and got veggies and went to the guitar shop. I drove.  Although I have not spoken to Keith, Paul reports that he’s loving his new job. This heartens me; his recent previous brief foray into employment left him quite disgusted with the state of employers, like that is hard these days.

Arrests have commenced in Ottawa; when the aptly named Lich was arrested and went on social media to complain about how the jig was up I really enjoyed that.

Duly noted here is the dubious morality under which I may be said to enjoy the arrest of the people who’ve been making Centertown unliveable for three fucking weeks (as of today), when I have repeatedly (in this venue and others) stated that I am an abolitionist, and wish for the amelioration and end of incarcerated punishment, except where no acceptable community alternative is possible. I am still the child my parents raised and I enforce the carceral state in my life and my mind and with my words and actions, but I am trying very hard to turn from such darkness.

I would like to state here that at all times during the last 3 weeks the cops in Ottawa have had ALL THE LEGAL DEVICES THEY NEED TO CLEAR THE STREETS and they didn’t because AND YOU KNOW WHY, DON’T YOU, MR. JONES. Anyway there’s something called a riot act. The activities downtown WERE and ARE a riot. FUCK THE GUY ON REDDIT WHO SAID IT DIDN’T MEET THE CRITERIA, HE WAS A FOOL AND WRONG ANYWAY.

Not only is this political cartoon one of the weirdest and creepiest I’ve ever seen, it would get me pushed out a window in Russia and disappeared for three months of reeducation and weight loss in China, possibly longer than that. @listen_to_me is the source on twitter; it’s a cyrillic alphabet account I accessed through following @alexey__kovalev, an absolutely hilarious giant-testicled Russian journalist who keeps running afoul of Putin and his slavering minions.

Image

 

Not much to report

Buster is recovering as fast as cats do; the most recent Call the Midwife literally had me and Jeff on the edges of our seats; I hope to call Paul today and go for a walk, mail Auntie’s letter and maybe do some other boring errand-y things; Russia is putting the finishing touches on its invasion plans for Ukraine; I got a single kudo last night for the most recent story; I partially cleaned out the fridge this morning; Jeff and I did a shop this morning and watched a Time Team afterward.

Have some Margot fuzz.

 

Buster is an indoor cat

Buster had an immense weeping ear infection from a long cat scratch down his ear canal. He’s to be kept indoors and fed antibiotics and gooped for the next ten days. We are both very relieved, and Jeff says he was a brave boy at the vet. He peed in his carrier again, but he does that every time. He’s also up to date on his shots again, so tranquillity abounds, etc etc.

I had to replace ALL the ink in the printer yesterday which would have been even more annoying if I hadn’t previously stocked up on ersatz cartridges and didn’t have to go anywhere or spend any money to make it happen. Part of having ADD is hoarding, and part is being therefore prepared, and the rest is having a million iterations of shit that don’t fit. BUT IT IS OKAY because I finally got Mary’s letter printed and I’ll be mailing it today.

Got my balance ball back and that will make making music a lot easier. I love playing music on a bouncy ball, I can really rock out. While looking like a loon.

Saw Ryker the other day, he’s still an adorable baby with a commitment to sleep that outpaces my own.

Absolutely sweet comment – brief, too – on the most recent story yesterday.

Haven’t received word from Keith about how his first day on the job went.