Category: Family

First meal at the seniors residence with Paul

It was very pleasant. Paul learned where his mailbox is, I picked up some items for his new apartment (something to boil water in, cutlery). Saw Anne from church. She literally bolted when she saw us-  (got up from reading her newspaper and fled) – I have no idea why.

Returned him to his home and Dax and Justin were working on Dax’s car which is not drivable at the time and they needed to do a parts run. I am not getting in the middle of that, so I said Paul’s right here, ask him to borrow his car, and Dax and Paul did a parts run out to PoCo. I may need to help with that continuing repair job tomorrow so I’m holding myself in readiness to provide transpo this morning. (By staying sober, I told Paul I’d never drive high and of course I don’t drink anymore, unless you’re counting that mouthful of beer I drank yesterday just so I could remember what a Sleeman Honey Brown Ale tasted like and get a little taste flashback to when I was happy and drinking with my pals at the Golf Course.)

So I may be picking Justin up (I drove him home last night, he lives across Royal Oak from Deer Lake park the lucky young dude) this morning but he’s probably going to be able to borrow his mother’s car, and so I’m going to putter in the kitchen and do laundry and try to stop crying from writing the first part to a song.

Dementia song

I open my mouth to reply
can’t remember why
I know that the sky is blue
and then it’s grey
and then I think of you
I was talking – I remember my own voice
but it sounds different now
choked somehow
And I try to swallow and I can’t and I’m sputtering
And I try to stand but I can’t my feet are stuttering
and I freeze in place
in space
and what I’m looking at is gone
I thought that you were here and now you’re gone
and I thought I remembered your name but you’re gone
and then I remember you were mean to me that time
and I tried to get out of the car is that a crime
and I tried to get back where I was is that a crime
and I think that maybe I should nap

No bruises and only my legs are sore

The move went as smoothly as one could expect or hope. We had a slow, panicked start (Keith and I fucking near died of having our eyes pop out but Keith maintained) when we learned that the move couldn’t happen because Paul didn’t have insurance for his studio apartment and Keith had already rented the truck. Fortunately Lois and Ruth are back in the country after their amazing trip to Portugal and they GOT ON THE CASE, and all was well, and we started loading the truck pretty fast after that. Dax helped get one of the ugliest pieces into the truck (he didn’t help with loadout because he was working on his car).

Alex volunteered and rode shotgun with Uncle. He was of material assistance the whole way through. (off topic aside to mOm – Maybe Richie seems like an unrealistic character but when I have kids like Alex in my life he’s easy to imagine!) Paul bought we four lunch in the Wendy’s on 6th and I asked Alex if he’d ever been misgendered because of his hair – his brilliant hair – and he LAUGHED and said “Once, an older new kid at the school. So yeah I have been misgendered.” And continued to dip his fries in his frosty, as one does.

I told Katie that night that Alex was so helpful and hardworking it was amazingly wonderful and balm for my wounded nerves.

Anyway, the rest of the move is up to cars moving boxes and this is me being happy because he’ll be safe.

I got very hot, but I was very consistent about hydration and Keith helped me manage how many times I took the stairs. Needless to say Keith performed heroic service and I love and respect him right now more than I ever have, which was a lot.

Came home and there was Rocky Point Strawberry ice cream in the fridge. One word. Exquisite.

Love y’all, more later.

 

Pics as promised

Okay this one is not promised but I think my characterization of my mammogram as a ‘tittysmash’ appointment is CLASSIC.

I had literally just jumped out of the shower and not brushed my hair, but the all black outfits with Astronauts on them is pure fam and I make no excuse. Mine says “Earth to the Dandy Warhols” and Alex’s says Off to Space.

Barkeep, he seems to be saying. The soother comes into and exits his mouth on the basis of some arcane baby logic. He is STANDING ON THE CAT TREE which is lying on the ground because he kept climbing it. The cats KEITH VERY SAD have gone back to their original keeper.

 

no way

There was absolutely no way I would permit another sleepless night, expecially since Jeff and I are supposed to breakfast with Keith and Alex this morning. I whacked myself with ten milligrams and slept like a cat until 5 am. YAY, MULTIPLE EVENTS OF YAY!  Jeff, however, is not in the most tip top shape so it’s still an open guess whether he’ll be able to join us. (I’ll let him not provide the details.) Keith’s going to call us when he’s levered Alex into the car.

Yesterday, 3500 words on Handyman Special, day before 2500 words, 250 so far today. Absolutely none of the last ten or so destiel stories I posted had explicit sex in them and this one is basically a sea bed of hand-wavy plot hosting a tsunami of schmoopy porn, and honestly I have ZERO clue where the hell any of this comes from. But at least I am not repeating, in describing the hella hot consensual sex, any of the most commonly used expressions OR anything I’ve previously written, and by god that’s an accomplishment even if none of you horrified old coots will give me my due as an ahem mistress of the genre.

from Fanlore:

Schmoop is used to describe fanfic with a very sweet romance between two characters. Some fans see schmoop as a further escalation of fluff.

Fluff is often used in fandom to characterize any pleasant, feel-good work. It is sometimes described as the opposite of angst.

None of this is preventing me from chipping away at Totally Boned.

Peggy is threatening tourtiere

OH GOD will I survive?  She’s from northern Quebec, of course she knows how to make a tourtiere of note.

She is also threatening the last of the strawberry rhubarb pie. Jeff, reading this, is wiping off drool. I await delivery with high hopes.

Jeff and I were witnesses to some of Paul’s paperwork. I thank Lois and Ruth for stickhandling this, it never would have happened without them.

The ukulele reappeared. It was exactly where I left it, in the music room. If I had lost it I would be sad, but when Mike called I told him and he just laughed and laughed when I explained I lost something in my house and he said…. that’s my every day for months.

So…. heard from Mike. He nearly died yesterday, he went kayaking in Pitt Lake. The inflatable kayak burst and a rain storm came up and HE JUST BARELY MADE IT BACK TO SHORE, his arms were still shaking occasionally when he called me. He watched a satellite video just to ensure that he hadn’t been dreaming about how fast the storm blew up and nope, it happened like he said. Anyway, he sounded quite chipper, the way you always do when you avoid death by drowning by inches.

Buster’s leg wound from the surgery is healing nicely but he’s a long way from having the cone off. He completely freaked out when Lois and Paul came over yesterday for the document signing, it was rough for him. It’s possible he was confused over the car sound and couldn’t figure out who was coming and going with the Echo coming and going but me not being in it. Lois will return the car today and fly home, and she will be missed.

The battery on the laptop now discharges to 50 percent when left fully charged but unplugged overnight. I wish you could easily replace the batteries in these fuckers. I’ve pinged a repair shop for help; should be about 150 to 200 dollars.

Lois is here

And got the car, she walked over last night to collect it.

Always so good to see her. She has a lot of dogs and a houseguest staying right now so home is very lively.

 

My uneducated and angry take regarding Wagner’s ‘attack’ on Russian military headquarters:
This is a false flag operation, Wagner attacking Russian headquarters; when Putin genuinely doesn’t want someone on the board, he takes them off. Anyone who thinks Prigozhin isn’t following orders or serving Putin’s will doesn’t understand his value; he can be the one to nuke Ukraine (because Putin isn’t killing Ukrainians fast enough for him) and then Putin will step in to restore order and have the true fear and respect of the world again. A coup is not happening; it’s being threatened to terrify Putin’s enemies.
The Ukrainians have to be prepared to join the Japanese in history. Putin waved his hand and a dam broke; he’s mined a nuke plant; what next.

thinking thoughts

Jeff has offered breakfast at Foreshore restaurant and just thinking about their coffee makes me happy so I have cheerfully agreed. I’ll try to have something better for my kidneys (less sweet, less fatty) so maybe a bowl of oatmeal.

NOPE I HAD THE ENGLISH BREAKFAST (more vegetable matter and fibre) and it was fantastic. For 13.95 you get two eggs, a homemade sausage, a slab of fried ham, a wedge of watermelon, a bowl of English style beans, fried tomatoes and mushrooms and four pieces of sourdough toast. I dare you to find a higher quality homestyle breakfast for less money anywhere in the lower mainland. Coffee’s not included but it’s bottomless once ordered, so…. OBVS I was not going to finish it so we packaged all the remains and it will make ANOTHER MEAL for both of us. God their coffee is superb and we had the resto to ourselves until a gent in conspicuity gear made his conspicuous appearance and sat far away from us. The server as always is an absolute peach of a woman – we do like her so. The ventilation in the restaurant is excellent and we never go when it’s crowded so I feel relatively safe dining unmasked.

Today I’ll head over to Paul’s in the morning and try to help with packing and I’ll pay Dax for the oil and filter.
Right now I’m thinking bout stuff n things.

love all yall have a good one

a few items

Mo-no-ny-mous
I mean Shakira
Mo-no-ny-mous
And also Cher
Mo-no-ny-mous
Adele and Bono
and Plato, & Cato,
Colette – and don’t forget Voltaire

(This above for mOm, I sang it to her the other day and she laughed so I thought I’d write it down for her.)

Made fruit salad for the meal yesterday. Last I saw, leaving their house, Paul was going to eat the rest before anyone got seconds. It was that good. And candidly, given that he daily complains about how hard his poops are, who minds that he inhales some food value with his roughage.

It consisted of pieces of melon, blueberries, strawberries, mangoes, the best fucking Bartlett pears I ever et, and oranges. The dressing which is from a recipe I got online, I’m not smart enough to invent it, and it’s for those who can eat dairy: a cup and a half of 10%BF Greek yogurt, three tablespoons of maple syrup and half a capful of vanilla. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS how nommy it is, and like I said I would have taken home leftovers if there had been any. The mouth feel, good god yall.

Oreo sat on my shoulders a good long while and purred hard in my ear.

I PLAYED A BOARD GAME WITH THREE QUARTERS OF MY DESCENDANTS YESTERDAY. It was Alex’s idea and I had so much fun. Hasbro’s latest version of Clue, if you need to know.

Dax changed the oil in my car. I asked him anxiously from the back deck if the oil was very dirty and he swilled it around in the container and considered the matter and said, ‘Yes’ so dryly that I burst out laughing. I owe him forty bucks for the filter and the oil so I’ll be heading out to drop it off sometime today. Perhaps I’ll combine it with a trip to Peggy’s to ditch that weird fretless bass ukulele.

Made soup yesterday. Started with a litre of unsalted Campbell’s chicken stock, added organic ramen (so damn good), chopped carrots, mushrooms, baby bok choi, a little tiny dab of veggie soup base, a splish of soy sauce. Today or tomorrow I am going to attempt Instant Pot (did you know the parent company is going out of business thanks to asset stripping? Capitalism HOW YOU SUCK) red beans and rice. I may bake up some chicken breasts and taters since the weather seems to be veering off into ‘June-uary’ temperatures.

Thunder and lightning two days ago. Not usual for these parts. We talked about the weather a lot yesterday.

Ryker was just down for his nap and Alex kissed his head AND WOKE HIM UP. He was down for most of the meal and the board game but since he’d gotten no other nap that day and was up at 6:30 Katie was SPARE while Ryker ran around the house terrorizing everything he could and parroting everything his mother said. WITH HER INTONATION. He’s got dozens and dozens of words, some clear enough that people who don’t live with him can understand him. Keith was like that, pristine pronunciation from the git. But Ryker is DIFFERENT. He is stronger, braver (yeah, like no sense of self preservation) smarter, faster, funnier, more able to understand what the adults around him are saying, more able to self-soothe, more durable – he took hits yesterday that would have had me bawling and just walked it off – picking up language so fast. Mike the father brought him back with a pinch bruise on his leg from a recliner, apologetic af, and Katie wasn’t bothered. What can you do? He’s not Alex, or Keith, who conducted themselves from a very early age knowing that the world can bite ya. I told her they should promise each other ten bucks and hand it to whichever of them DOESN’T have to take him to hospital with a broken bone first. You should have seen Katie rubbing her face as she contemplated how many TIMES she’ll likely have to take him to hospital. Like the tshirt said, today we keep the tiny human alive. Except he’s NOT tiny, he can open and shut doors with the handle.

everything about the visit is overshadowed by the fact that Alex is crying every day about how he can no longer go to second street school because his mother can’t afford to live in the catchment area. And the landlord fucked her over by not giving her a duly completed eviction notice so she can’t move up the BC housing list. This world is a horrible place for my children right now and I am helpless.

Over 500 words on TB yesterday. Richie and Blossom have finally met.

Much better

Gosh, I can’t believe how much better I feel this morning! It’s as if everything feels clearer and lighter.

Today’s Father’s Day. My pOp is best pOp, your argument is invalid. Okay, Leo’s a good father, and he fathered good fathers! Damnit, so is Terry. So was Jim (actually among the best) and then there’s Tom, he was a bighearted dad, and my grandads, and Barry, and David, and actually my life is full of good dads. Paul was among them. He’s still family, but he has passed into the part of the world where he is no longer really a dad. Katie didn’t advertise it as a father’s day meal but we’re getting together tonight. I hear Dax is fixing to change the oil in Paul’s Echo.

I am going to endeavour to persevere; I hope you all can manage that today. We are for going schlepping when the grocery opens.

A long joke, stolen from saturn128 on reddit. Typos have been corrected and it’s been slightly edited.

One day Fibonacci goes to the fair with his friends: Ms. One, Mr. Five, and Dr. Twenty.

While Fibonacci perused the fairgrounds, his friends decided to enjoy a variety of different competitions and games.

Ms. One thought to try her hand at the ring toss and ball throwing games. She’s a pretty good shot and quickly wins a pair of adorable stuffed toys shaped, oddly enough, like small cherry trees.

Mr. Five, being a man with a hearty appetite, went to sign up for the pie eating contest. When the time came to compete, Mr. Five set to his task with a ravenous fervour. The competition was brutal and incredibly messy, but by the end Five had scarfed over a dozen pies.

Dr. Twenty wandered to an area a little more removed from the main fairground. He was, in fact, looking for the tent that he knew would host the poker tables. Dr. Twenty was an avid gambler, a man of numbers and statistics as well. Upon finding the tables, Dr. Twenty is already prepared with his own bet. Placing ten dollars in the pot, he is dealt his cards and solidifies his poker face. After a solid hour of cards, the doctor had won over three times as much as he had originally bet.

All the while, Fibonacci had walked between his friends and checked on their activities. In his wanderings he had run into an acquaintance of the group. They asked, “How did the others fare in their games?”

Fibonacci responds, “Oh, One won two trees, five ate thirteen, Twenty won $34.55.”

chimichanga and Mr. Ho’s

It was lovely to see Tom, Chari, Brian and Mike at Mr. Hos. None of us had a drop of alcohol.

It was also very lovely, earlier in the day, to see Ryker who is A BUSY LITTLE BOY WHO NEVER STOPS MOVING. And broke a corelle dish, in accordance with the prophecy.

Keith cooked me a chimichanga with cheese and Suzanne made me a cup of tea and told me she can’t do second Thursday’s any more because she got a better paying position for that day but she can do an evening or weekend or morning instead. So Jeff and I will have to talk about what’s most convenient.

On the way back I got Jeff a strawberry rhubarb five inch from Pie Hole and us some relaxants from The Bohemian. Took a cab to the restaurant like a sensible person.

Curvebeak was back this morning (Jeff noticed him the other day, he’s uh, hard not to notice with that incredible honker) and it’s just aggravating because I don’t have any sound and healthy crow food except…. hardcooked eggs, (wut?) so I peeled him an egg and put it out for him. Felt weird. Accidentally let Buster out but he has to stay in for his appointment at the vet today so we for sure can lay hands on him when it’s time to go. I coaxed him back in with many treats.

Just checked what I fed Curvebeak, every scrap of the egg is gone. Well, he got one fifth of his calories for the day I guess, they eat 12 oz a day.

 

the cumulative effect

so

if Keith hadn’t asked me to come with for Peggy’s luncheon

Peggy wouldn’t have reminded me that Cindy’s Festival of the Living Rooms concert is Saturday and suggested I back Cindy up

and I wouldn’t have messaged Cindy to be so kind as to allow me to accompany her

and I wouldn’t have found out that Cindy was low key panicking, and we wouldn’t have rehearsed last night and I wouldn’t be backing her up today for the 3PM concert. She brought like 80 DOLLAH of greek food and we ate like chieftains wit’ da meat on spits, good god yall.

Yesterday with Alex was fun. We didn’t call GGMa but we did have a good time, and I got to see my neurodiverse grandson HAVING A SOCIAL LIFE WITH FRIENDS WHO ALSO HAVE DYED HAIR (three little cis boys with red and pink hair noisily occupying a living room) and once again I was moved to intense and grievous anger that he’s being renovicted and may lose these friends, as children do in moves. I will keep that friendship going if I have to take him on the bus I publicly swear it. Anyway he was invited over and I squared it with his mummabear and we exchanged numbers and his mummabear picked him up. It rained, but not enough to really put out any fires.

He played me something on youtube called Rush E. Don’t bother, it’s a memey thing and your life won’t be better if you look at it. Also he needs to remember to bring his blessed charger with him.

I got him to pick a beat on the Kaossilator and we recorded him playing overtop of that. I will post a fragment when I get around to it and quit panicking about the performance this afternoon.

The counteroffensive has begun. Qapla’ Ukrainy (Success Ukraine in Klingon)

 

busy all of a sudden

FINALLY got my bloodwork done, should be ready for the doc by the time I see her for the video chat. The venipuncturist was SO SLICK IT WAS REVELATORY. I literally didn’t feel a thing and she took three fast tubes with collapsing or bruising anything. It’s very amusing when the ripping off of the little round bandaid causes more irritation than the stick….

Keith picked me up and we went to Peggy’s. As we were driving along Armstrong a VERY TALL MAN came into view and I said, “That’s Joe.” He was looking bummed because even though he knew that he was low on gas…. he ran out. We drove him back to Peggy’s (well it’s his home too now) and he dealt with his car and Keith prepped a flatbread lunch (pesto-spread flatbread with fresh mozz and sauteed peppers (WHY WON’T THIS VERSION OF WORDPRESS COPE WITH SPECIAL CHARACTERS THANKS I HATE IT) as well as a delicious spinach salad, and which included extras of each flatbread to be taken over to the OTHER of Peggy’s son’s houses down the hill, but not for Ben because he can’t have yeast.) And Peggy devoured it, with the kind of obvious glee that makes me continuously glad she picked herself out of the crowd to be my ersatz oldest sister. She’s about to get on an airplane and go visit one of her sisters, may many blessings ensue. I was reminded that Cindy’s giving a Zoom concert on Saturday and asked to get my ass over there and provide backup singing support so I’ll email her and find out if she actually wants me to do that.

Keith talked about housing while we were there. It was a dark and emotional convo as one can imagine.

Part of Keith’s emotional turmoil is that he’s really connected with his two nephews and the idea of not being part of their daily care is grieving him.

THEN I found out I get Alex today all day because it’s a Pro-D Day so he’ll turn up with his electric candy apple red hair and tablet sometime between 8 and 9 this morning and go home when his mama picks him up. I have plans for his day.

THEN Mike’s 12v portable cooler was delivered here (for the Delica). (That’s because the Porch Pirates of Burnaby are EXCEEDINGLY ACTIVE IN HIS BUILDING, like they steal food deliveries as well as parcels.) He’s had so many packages stolen that he’s asking to have stuff delivered here instead. So I called Mike and he came and got it and most of the cooking gear he left here Sunday, although the metal chopsticks I gave him apparently took a walk and I reused one of his bowls after I cleaned it, yay ADD. He couldn’t stay because he had to make a grocery run.

I gave him his Um Suleiman kufiyah on Sunday, forgot to mention that. (Genuine Palestinian kufiyah in ladybug colours.) He really liked it and it will match pretty much anything in his wardrobe. I should have waited for his B-day in July but who the hell knows what tomorrow will bring and I wanted to do it NAOW.

Working on ‘understanding short sentences’ with Buster. I keep having to remind myself that UNLESS he’s already ‘primed’ for a behaviour he needs 8-10 seconds processing time to understand and respond to the verbal cue. (Margot needed a stunning 18 seconds to respond to anything.) “Door open” “Cat door closed” “wet food upstairs” “Daddy went downstairs” “Want brush?” “Want to train?” “Jump up for the one two three” (I always put exactly three cat treats on the tuffet in a terrifically underthought attempt to get him to learn counting words.) Also continued to train Oreo at Planet of the Renovicted. Sam is untrainable. (Like most cats with Bengal markings if you don’t get ’em really young.)

two items

From my ancestor’s diary via mOm:

 September  8th  1862    Today about 5:15 PM went into W. Sutton’s Office and told him that I had a concern to lay before him which had rested on my mind for a long while, in reference to his practices in his business, that there was so much that partook of Covetousness that I often felt uneasy in my mind in being so nearly associated with it.  Much more I said, so that I fully relieved my mind and hope he will as I told him consider these things as they brought the Truth into disrepute and was a stumbling block on the way of those who may incline to our Principles.  He heard me through and was very indignant but I took no notice although he said I was “demented,” etc.  He expressed a desire for me to leave, and it is agreed that I leave him 3 months from this date.

LOL

second item

over the last week it has been my privilege to see two family friends eating and drinking from the last remnants of the ironstone set from Granny Rivett. Suzanne drank tea and Mike used the platter to serve the meal he cooked us.

And he washed it after. He said, “You have no idea how hard I worked to neither drop nor chip it.” I thanked him profusely. What a guy. I’m so lucky.

Not much happening

I think I’ll go spend a couple of hours helping Paul pack today.

Mike says we may go to Vantan, the private members naturist club up at Mt. Fromme, this weekend, weather depending.

Really looking forward to it. Place is completely off grid – even the hot tub is wood fired.

Membership requires 10 hours of work each year or a donation of cash or kind if you can’t work.

drugs achieved

Paul and I ran errands, walked at Fraser Foreshore (the bird song was well nigh deafening, no joke), and Paul got an early lunch at Foreshore restaurant (he had the manhattan style chowder and the schnitzel on a portuguese bun, I just had coffee because I’d had an enormous breakfast). I reupped the amilzide.

It’s now 2 in the afternoon and I am contemplating how best to spend the rest of my day. I was supposed to help Paul with his packing but bowed out. We had a good time; Paul and I were both stiff old crocks but we had a lovely day.

SADLY some MOTHERFUCKER backed into the Echo and now the left rear tail light is cracked and the trunk lid is fucked up (still closes). I have no idea when that happened, but I think it happened when we were parked; it wasn’t busted Monday when I drove Lois to the airport.

120GLP – worst and rudest driver in Burnaby this morning. Hey White Audi driver thanks for completely supporting everything I already thought about Audi drivers. And Fuck You most sincerely.