Settler words&music in S'ólh Téméxw, (leanpub.com/upsun) living where privilege meets precarity in MST country. she/her/they———– Novels: Midnite Moving Co., Upsun; Sweep Off Those Waves coming soon, Hair Sinister after that. —Restore All Indigenous Lands!
Jeffrey and Jeri Lynn are visiting from Seattle to see Tom.
I am glad they’re here in town but the circumstances are hard.
Let us love each other while we can.
Spoke to Mike yesterday. Strangely he and I both had a horrible night’s sleep, night before last. Last night was much better. Even so my mood is somewhere between spiky and sad. Perhaps coffee? We actually purchased ground coffee so maybe that’s what I can do to lift the mood.
This is me, and my face
INSERT COPYRIGHT FREE PHOTOGRAPH OF A NATURAL STONE WALL
When learning that allowable sizes for worship services will be limited in Alberta as a public health measure due to the pandemic.
Early each day to her Whistler back yard
The little old bear woman comes
In her own special way to the people
She calls, “Come, feed the bears, all you bums!”
“Come feed the local bears, show them you care
And you’ll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry, their dens are so spare
All it takes is two grand from you.”
“Feed the bears, two grand a pop
Two grand, two grand, two grand a pop!
Feed the bears!”, that’s what she cries
While drones from BCCOS fill the skies.
Based on the news item which stated that Zuzana spent a bomb on feeding bears human food in Whistler and got fined 60K. Her male co-conspirator skated.
As I was compos(t)ing this parody, some witless asshole drove up and down Kingsway on a motorcycle wound up to about 9K. This town needs an enema.
Half an hour after that (it’s one in the MORning people) a chopper buzzed the house.
Cars can’t get chips.
Brexit is grinding food and gas supply in the UK.
Experts say DO YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING EARLY. Thanks, but no.
Many companies which manufacture the small small things that go in other things are experiencing labour shortages due to the pandemic, which adds to the mess
Transportation costs for goods is skyrocketing.
Weak investment in gas and oil is making it easier for weather events to further disrupt supply and impact demand.
Power supply issues in China are ongoing and will not get better. The problem with industrial power supplies to factories etc. is that when you need power to melt plastic into molds and it stops, you lose the entire run of plastic. I mean you can melt it down again with a little shaved lead – lead is a great plasticizer ha ha – but the colour and the finish will change and then you have to resell it in a different market where there isn’t as much fuss about how much lead there is in the plastic. Or you have to scrap it. And prices go up.
War between Taiwan and China is getting closer – 38 Chinese jets made an incursion into Taiwanese air space recently and the Chinese are making it clear that the South China sea is theirs and other claims will be ignored with prejudice. Alas, that means a global war, and it will be really strange to see American Pumpkin Spice moms getting upset when they can’t get their Christmas Chatchkes thanks to war in the South China Sea.
Shipping containers are scarce, because after the shutdown, when demand started up again– thanks to economic stimulus packages — it started up so fast that the supply chain has quite literally never caught up from 2020. Fewer containers are in circulation because NO ONE WANTS TO PAY the diesel to get them back from where they carried masks to Africa. Nothing is being shipped back so they are still in African ports. I can’t believe this bullshit, but there you go. That boat getting grounded in Suez didn’t help and something similar is almost certain to happen again as the conditions that caused that grounding have not been corrected and very large boats are still being allowed into the canal.
Shipping costs for a SINGLE CONTAINER FROM CHINA TO THE US WEST COAST HAVE GONE UP BY 13 TIMES SINCE 2020. This is making it cheaper to ship empty containers even if there’s demand because companies with capacity can’t afford the offloading time (many ports are hopelessly snarled because COVID killed or reduced their staffing levels at the same time that the jolt provided by the stimulus happened); they’ll get more money at the Chinese end if they dead head it. So eventually those empty containers in Africa will be worth the cost to transport empty but that hasn’t happened yet.
Anyway. It isn’t time to start hoarding, that never helps, but the baloney alarm is really close to going off. Pandemics have always made for violent social and political change and this one’s no different.
Matt Buckley sculpted this octopus
There is a dive bar in Charlotte
North Carolina
and to that bar a man went to drink
and the photo of him that hit
next morning on the internet
made the owner yell
and the patrons cuss
it was fun for the rest of us
Cause that man was Mick Jagger (aetat 78)
and he drank a beer and left.
The owner a man whose name is
(of course) Brian Wilson
was putting his five year old
daughter to bed
Now I may be a hapless simp
for men who do their duty
by their children when they’re missing
a chance to meet Mick Jagger
….But I have to say he
comes off pretty good.
I once drank a brand of beer
called Thirsty Beaver
which is also the name
of the dive bar of this song
and everything about this story
makes me happy
It’s unlikely that I’ll ever go
to Charlotte but you never know
and after I will say like Mick
I drank a beer and left
Based on a photo Mick posted on his twitter which since I’m not on twitter any more I can’t see to verify and this.
I ordered mask braces today, including a size that will fit Alex.
I am a happy girl, somebody vacuumed the games room. Someone named Suzanne.
I hope to a) do a shop and b) visit Tom today. We shall see.
I try not to comment on shit Trudeau does because mine is not an informed opinion but I literally and honestly believe that him holidaying in Tofino for Truth and Reconciliation day was specifically and vindictively aimed at JWR (Jody) for having the nerve to not be his house NDN.
I wore an Anishnaabe design on my chest for yesterday. I want to uphold Indigenous joy as well as sorrow. It was solemn for me, seeing how many people of different racial backgrounds were wearing Every Child Matters gear at Lougheed yesterday when I went walking there with Paul.
Paul is … more like Paul than ever. He spent ten minutes trying to get his vaxx card up on his phone and I asked him to print it out. Watching him deal with his phone at all is extra crispy difficult.
JABBERWOCKY IN WELSH
USEFUL IF YOU’RE MAKING NEW PASSWORDS
Mae’n brydgell ac mae’r brochgim stwd
Yn gimblo a gyrian yn y mhello:
Pob cólomrws yn féddabwd,
A’r hoch oma’n chwibruo.
‘Gwylia’r hen Siaberwoc, fy mab!
Y brathiad llym a’r crafanc tynn!
A rhed pan weli’r Gwbigab
A’r ofnynllyd Barllyn!’
Cym’rodd ei gleddyf yn ei law
I geisio ei fanawaidd brae–
A gorffwys ger y goeden Taw,
I feddwl–fel pe tae.
A thra pendronai ymhlith y coed
Y Siaberwoc a’i lygaid fflam
A ddaeth, mor wallgof ag erioed
Gan ffrwtian gam a cham!
Un, dau! Un, dau! drwy’r awyr oer
Aeth min y cledd ysgiw, ysgôl!
Fe’i lladdodd, a chan gludo’i ben
Hwblamodd yn ei ôl.
‘A lleddaist ti y Siaberwoc?
Tyrd yma, hapllon fachgen!
O jiwblus ddydd! Hwrê! Hwroc!’
Gan wenu arno’n llawen.
Mae’n brydgell ac mae’r brochgim stwd
Yn gimblo a gyrian yn y mhello:
Pob cólomrws yn féddabwd,
A’r hoch oma’n chwibruo.
I think about getting up, but the house is freezing – we try to wait until the beginning of October to turn the furnace on, but if the wind keeps blowing as is, where is, I may cave earlier. So right now, tea is a hunnert miles away and I want some brung to me.
Last night there was one of those lovely overlaps… Jeff played a TikTok video of Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell singing the chorus of “Grace Kelly” by Mika in multipart harmony. And I said to Jeff, “Play Mika’s Grace Kelly, then you get some more context.” Ryan and Will were obviously having a blast dragging their singing voices out of the tickle trunk (Will has an eerie falsetto, quite nice but also WTF.) And Ryan made an uwu smile (more slang, means like when a cat smiles with their eyes closed, super cute) at the end that was so unforced I just wanted to pick him up and snuggle him and pat him. But that would be gross, good thing he’s such a good sport about his fans. He was fantastic in Free Guy, which is a very entertaining film.
I absolutely love Grace Kelly, and played it many dozens of times the year it came out. The kids exposed me to it of course… if it wasn’t for the kids I wouldn’t have new music like Billie Eilish in my life.
Suzanne will be cleaning today. I dreamed about the house being tidier last night. Smirk.
Speaking of smirks, Lee Pace’s (as Empire) smirk at Jared Harris (as Hari Seldon) in Foundation was epic. He’s a hateful character, and we’re supposed to hate him, and we do.
YET ANOTHER COLONIZER WANTS TO DO A CULTURAL COMPETENCE READ ON UPSUN. I’m about ready to slap a statue.
Kaossilator: L12, G10, 90 bpm, HeL, top C. Hold left thumb in bottom left corner while moving right index finger randomly through top right quadrant. Evokes the motion of butterflies.
I saw Tom who was resting comfortably and not interacting and Peggy who had a minute to talk
also my doctor and the RN
also ate in a restaurant but ate healthier
took a taxi both ways
got mistaken for a Mennonite
most of my blood numbers are improved
Spoke to Suzanne about her coming by later to clean tomorrow
shit now I have to go to the bank
I got rid of the medication I no longer require in a socially responsible way
Katie’s lasagne continues to be wonderful, but not for long.
It’s 8:30 in the morning and thanks to a fasting blood test which took an hour longer than expected I’m ravenous, exhausted, soaking wet and I’ve got two more appointments today when I really don’t want to leave the house.
I’d like to fire all the BC health people into the sun for not confirming a mask mandate for school aged children. Get fucked yall
somebody in Burnaby is 70M$ richer this morning and I didn’t buy a ticket….
amazing how when I put my picture up in the top left hand corner the hits drop away to nothing…. thanks I guess anonymous blog visitors! I have heard your unspoken words and will change it to something more appropriate.
Mike’s dinner migrated home with me and Jeff got some of that tuna, plus the brown rice with cilantro plus the green beans and red peppers, so it was very nice to share it.
Going to see Tom today if the fates are propitious. I may call Paul.
Jeff’s car comes home from the krankenhaus today. It’s been a while.
Today biscotti and brown bread.
I’m having leftover ahi tuna for brekkie, nope, smoked salmon and eggs, and you’re not.
He’s loaning me a couple of really good diabetes cookbooks.
Watched first two episodes of Foundation last night, I’m loving it so far.
He greeted me, and said a goodbye after my couple of hours by his bedside watching him breathe, (Peggy and Ben were there) but didn’t say much else. He’s essentially in palliative care. We’re all sad, but he’s getting the care he needs, very good care thank you very much, for the stage of life he’s in, and there are friends and family with him pretty much all day.
We must love each other while we can.
I hate my ADD meds. I’d adjusted to everything else but it doesn’t seem to do anything except make my heart rate 20 bpm faster than normal, my head hurt and it hard to eat anything but yummy carbs …. without giving me any cognitive boost. I’m stopping, it just doesn’t seem to be worth it.
I keep trying to make biscotti for Peggy (Tom apparently can’t eat them) and I just can’t. I’ve learned that if I’m not baking them with love in my heart they don’t turn out properly, at least not to my standards, and I am really struggling with how I said I would do it and now I’m standing around like a fool waiting for a message of some sort or other.
The bright spot (apart from Jeff, the kids the parental units etc) is that I’m seeing Mike today; he and I are finally both well enough at the same time to get together. I can hardly wait to see what diabetes friendly delights he plans on whomping up for me. Last time I didn’t take any of my usual gear, but I’m definitely taking the laptop and the uke this time. I intend to play, “The Friend Who Gave Me This Ukelele” for him, I’ve been practicing.
Dishwasher is running thanks to me, tea is seeping thanks to Jeff, and I just realized that I didn’t get my goddamned bloodwork done because I was about to go in to Lifelabs and I got an email that Tom is sick and it literally (THANKS FOR NUTHIN ADD and also may I just mention that not getting a fucking email reminder of your pending requisition from the doctors office doesn’t exactly fucking help even if you don’t have ADD) knocked doing that out of my mind. So I must must do that today. Which means I have to walk over to 6th and 10th anyway, maybe I can mail the 9 page (large print) letter I wrote to Mary over the last week, and pick up a coffee for Jeff on the way back since he was hankering for one.
weather is frickin GLORIOUS I mean seriously.
I have a list as long as my hair (which reminds me, I need to tie it up again or Jeff’s going to be spitting out my hairs reproachfully while watching tv as they drift over his face (sometimes he goes GAAAH and flaps his hands because it’s like having a spider web land on you and then OH THE REPROACHFUL LOOK)) and slightly more motivation than yesterday for attacking it. More laundry, working on Finale writing down songs and messing with the voicing, tidying up the music/guest room, working on a couple of new fanfics, responding to Tish’s letter, actually reading the rent increase notice and diarizing it. A small fraction of the goo sticking to me.
I have subscribed to the NYT for a year, it was 1/20th the normal price so I actually thought that was fair. Jeff, it was the article about Jared Harris that made me subscribe, I am such a celebri-fluffer.
Crows called for food this morning, but I put out sunflower seeds instead of roasted unsalted peanuts so they are sulking. (later, there they go again. It’s four-call, whoever she is)
Keith has apparently had an excellent visit with the grandparents in Victoria. I’ll be meeting up with Paul at some point today to walk and possibly visit Tom and exchange stuff, since items keep migrating between our two households.
Jeff’s car is still in the krankenhaus. The problem can’t be replicated, so we’re beginning to think it’s bad fuel.
I think I have blown through yet another set of orthotics, so that’s going on the list as well. NO DO NOT WANT. I mean I want comfy feet but I do not want to spend 400 dollars even if my fOlks are underwriting it with my remittance woman stipend.
ADD meds day two. I AM ITCHY. Is it allergies? is it medication? LOL who knows. Much imitating of the Archer character Woodhouse saying in his crackly voice, “It’s going to be an itchy weekend.”
I bought some Red Racer Street Legal Pilsner and IPA for Paul so I have something festive to drink while I’m over there. Got some for myself as well. It’s about the equivalent of a piece of bread, for carbs.
I now have a nightgown for every night of the week. And okay, enough potchkeying around on my blog, I have to go have a phlebotomist stab me, baby.
During her visit here this week. She’s off home today!
aren’t they resplendent!!!?