Writing is slow

160 words so far today; I have broken 65000 words which means… nothing if it doesn’t get published.  Well it means that I’ve written 5000 new words since mOm last looked at the mss.  If I was a proper writer (which I will never be) I’d not show it to anyone until it was ready.

I SAW ALEX YESTERDAY.  He got filthy.  We called it Alex in the Park, the Enfilthening.  Watching him eat a piece of nectarine made me laugh.  Bite, shudder, smile, gum, swallow. I played Otto for him, and sang.  He was much more interested in eating and playing in the sand pile (which I obligingly turned a portion of into mud, which he also enjoyed, thus the filth.)

Watching Katie with her son I am so glad my mOm was not particularly censorious about my child rearing.  We have a family history of shutting the hell up unless it really is demonstrably a safety issue.  Ensuring his immune system grows up hella strong is good; dirt is a social convention, to an extent.

The hormones of parental love make one so swift and so fierce, and in after times it is hard to remember how hard they pulled.

He napped, and then he scared himself with the exercise ball. Katie and I worked on her resumé while he napped, so it was all quite convenient.

His crawling is, erm, vigorous, and he wanted to kill the fan and eat the cat food.

He has six teeth and enjoys showing them in an extremely googoo making grin.  He shared this grin with his greatuncle a few times, including the “Why are you making that remarkably enjoyable noise!?” smile.

 

 

 

ah English… where a sharp guy can be a dull dog who’s too blunt in making his point.

 

Later…. 877 words, phew, I can go watch the Sunday Night Haul. RICK AND MORTY HERE I COME.

1028 words today

Jeff’s off at a client’s and I’ve done my writing for the day, on the chapter entitled “I don’t know what they are for”, so I think I’ll have another cup of coffee and make a list. I can survive the next couple of days without issue – if I have a list.  mOm I’ll send you what I have of that chapter so far.  Domestic arguments about aliens.  Yeah.

Being able to comfort baby Alex was my big accomplishment this week.  The way he greeted me and Paul made me want to float away and dance with unicorns and other magical creatures.

 

Jump in and go where life takes you

Like today.  Breakfast out, followed by a hearty doing of nothing, and then Katie and Chipper called in rapid succession and then Paul called and said let’s go for a walk and I said I’d already arranged to go see Katie so I had to call back Katie to get the ok to have BOTH grandparents descend at once and she said yeah whatever, by which I mean to say she kind of sounded stuffing deficient.

Jesus, the point loading of Buster’s feet is like a war crime.  Okay, still gasping a little from the surprise.

Where was I.  Oh yeah.  So we stop at Katie’s and hang for a while and my god Alex is, like, so happy to see both of us – he will NOT stop smiling.  HE HAS A SMILE THAT SAYS “I HAVE SIX TEETH.  BEHOLD MY TEETH.  I HAVE A TREMENDOUS QUANTITY OF DENTITION.”   Seriously.  Nobody has been that happy to see me since I settled a debt. And it’s not fair, because he’s been a right bear to Katie all morning and the second we show up he lights up like a Christmas tree and stays that way. It is possible he was in his crabbiness objecting to his mother wearing makeup for her driver photo (a discrete amount, and a discreet amount.)

We pick up the CAR SEAT OF HOLY VIRGIN HOW MUCH DO IT WEIGH and remove the three canoe paddles and the bike rack from the back seat and then Paul doing the stuff, stuff, stuff of the CAR SEAT of HVHMDIW into the back seat, because it’s super hard to get the seatbelt past all of its hangup points and then we stuff Alex into it.  Katie aims at getting her L today but with Alex like dat who knows. One cannot plan.  One can only jump in and go where life, or in this case, your father’s car, can take you.

We go to Paul’s for lunch which is leftovers and fresh corn and bread and chasing cats across filthy floors – Katie doesn’t believe in overprotecting a child from household dirt and he was shiny with grime in some spots by the time he had given full faith and credit to his mother’s parenting style. She mopped him before we left.

I collect Mike’s birthday present and stuff it in the trunk. The gift is a long term loan of a mandolin whose provenance is much clearer than its ownership, being Edith, the little Aria mandolin which first came into our family when Keith decided to take lessons. It came to live with me and then it went back to Paul’s but he never played it so I suggested another berth and Paul enthusiastically agreed.

Katie decides rather than going straight home to her place we are definitely going to the Drivers’ licence place and she’s gonna do the test and Alex, sensing his cue, passes out like a good little lad, and Katie goes in for the test and the rest of us wait in the car and so Paul and I catch up on not much since we saw each other so recently, and Katie texts that everybody trotted off to lunch (they take lunch late because people come in on their lunch breaks) and so she waits a fair while to take her test.

Alex wakes up after a nice nap and starts to roar in a very soft, puzzled, low key kind of way, thrashing about looking for mum. I wander around the back of the parking lot with him, humming “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and he fusses and kicks and growls and does this high pitched whine, brief but indelible in the tinnitus-inducing sense of the word, and then I CAN’T BELIEVE IT he relaxes in my arms, starts to yawn and is commencing to grumble his way back to sleep (so long as I keep holding him) when his mother dances into view and he commences with that extremely vigorous kicking like holy shit I’ma break a rib.  HE IS HAPPY.  We stop at Home Hardware for a bucket (Paul is feeling fine, thanks for asking) so he can collect graywater when he showers and then we drop off Katie and go for a walk in the Quay.

On the way back I can’t stand how lonely I am without my friend Beer handy, so Paul got cider and I got an India Session Ale from Red Racer and then I tell Paul that I’ve been practicing Dave Carter’s When I Go and have actually worked it out on the mandolin and we play that for a while and sing our way through it once and then Jeff and I watched Sunset Boulevard for the first time each and so to bed.

 

What a day.  Weather has been stunning. Zero writing, but I don’t care. Tomorrow is going to be amazing.

I am a Toddler – 2 of 50

Glitter and dirt
Hugs and destruction
Tears that will dry as I laugh
Booboos that hurt
Squeals of affection
I am a toddler
I’m here to learn
And if you can’t help get off my path.

I am a toddler and I like my boots
But I will not like them tomorrow
Guessing at meanings and playing with words
that cause my folks wonder and sorrow

Parents:

“Will she say F*ck I love it in front of the grands?
Or that the big wind will breathe her away?
Will he curse at his boots and make silly demands
Returning relentlessly every day
To eating non-stop and most int’resting play
And only a fever puts toddlers away
and not even then if they’re stubborn today
and they’re stubborn ‘most every day.”

Glitter and dirt
Hugs and destruction
Tears that will dry as I laugh
Booboos that hurt
Squeals of affection
I am a toddler
I’m here to learn
And if you can’t help get off my path.

 

I don’t think I’m headed to church today.  There’s so much smoke – I could see it coming in last night and tinting the moon – that it’s not a good idea to be outside and apparently the service is to be held outdoors. 

 

New Horizons went into Safe Mode last night.  I’m not feeling good about this.

 

520 words yesterday.

Good day

Apart from a bunch of stuff healthwise that I’m not going to talk about because EW GROSS, yesterday was awesome.  I wrote 1200 words, watched a bunch of world class soccer, drank beer and stayed the hell out of the sun.

Today Jeff and I are going to do a schlep, and then I’m going to lie around waiting for Mike to take me to the beach so I can at least get in one Wreck Day this year.  Alex had HIS first Wreck Day yesterday and Katie nearly spavined herself on the stairs but he loved it and no sun burn.  Yay. Hope it’s kiteable, Mike always likes that.

Still no word on when C. (Mike’s buddy) can come home from the US.  She already had a work visa here, Las Migras in this country are underfunded fools.  A buddy has been waiting 3 years to bring his wife from the Phillippines!  Cazart.

The court decisions in the States are blowing up my social media feeds. More work remains.  I’m not going to colourize my facebook picture; I’ve got all the goddamned ribbons, medals, encomia and thank you letters I want from the work I have done for equality and if people don’t know where I stand they don’t care enough to pay attention.  Also, I’m not an American and we’ve been able to marry like that for a decade now.

One of Joni Mitchell’s former squeezes has let slip that the aneurysm has blown out her ability to talk.  I figure if she recovers enough to hold a paint brush she’ll be fine.  She’ll certainly be getting the best care.

Back to making lists and getting dressed.  I am going to have another good day, I can feel it.  Tomorrow, when I’m sore from the stairs, that’s something else.

baby Alex

Oh, he was in SUCH a good mood yesterday, clambering up on me, playing with purse contents, cuddling and smiling his dear little face off.  Katie and I were feeling super low energy and even so she made me a home made beef and cheese burrito that was extremely nommy. We also watched some Dexter.

We hung out, she gave me prints of baby pix that she took to be developed, digital not making for good brag books, and I took slow motion video of him in his bouncy chair.  V. funny.  mOm you should have received a file to that effect.

Did a bit of shopping for veg and what not on the way home.

Watched Brink.  VERY GOOD.  Perfectly cast, with one liners that will make you spittake that smoothie and an extremely timely plot.  And likeable characters.  I know True Detective doesn’t specialize in likeable characters, but we’re kinda meh to iffy on continuing, although we probably will out of curiosity if nothing else.

I wrote maybe 100 words yesterday.  I fired off the edited back end of the first novel to Tammy – she will likely read it after she gets back from Portugal.

Huge coronal mass ejection yesterday and today. I should have checked for aurorae, but I wuz sawing logs.

I hope you all do something creative today.  I need to break something, and I think it’s a habit.

Our habit of exploration makes me happy.

The Girl Who Named Pluto.

 

Hey they are potboilers

Why am I so worried?

Yesterday was a day I saw all of my descendents, and how lucky I am to have any at all. Katie is recovering nicely from her trip and Alex was a little trouper (who practically turned himself inside out with smiles when he saw his papa upon his return.)

Alex prefers women, apparently.  He liked Phyllis.  Paul apparently spent a lot of time trying to get his mother to walk.  I can see Keith doing the same thing to me if I’m spared.

Two hundred words yesterday.  I do like Pharos and George.

I’m going to call it.  There is another American Civil War.  Unlike the previous one, it is undeclared… in keeping with current US policy.

 

Breathing easy

Alex can crawl at what I consider a goodly pace. He smiled politely at my attempts at baby talk, and then got into a disagreement with one of my Crocs. (Katie will verify that he indeed made noises of displeasure at my shoe. Not the left one, the right one, since one of you is sure to ask.) And he slept like an angel during our meal. I am a topped-up grandma.

2.1 on the cpap.  It only being 4 am and me being shy on sleep I should probably put it back on…. but I prob’ly won’t.

Saw Alex today

and wrote 1222 words, and had phÆ¡ for dinner and really life is okay even if not a single person responds to any of the resumes I’ve sent out in the last two weeks.

Alex is sitting up, crawling, grinning and in general running his mama ragged. By which I mean: Alex can crawl at what I consider a goodly pace. He smiled politely at my attempts at baby talk, and then got into a disagreement with one of my Crocs. (Katie will verify that he indeed made noises of displeasure at my shoe. Not the left one, the right one, since one of you is sure to ask.) And he slept like an angel during our meal. I am a topped-up grandma.

Writing is the very devil

666 words today.

Paul and Keith hosted our Mother’s Day dinner, Katie and Alex also being in attendance. I didn’t take any pictures, but I have lovely mental images now of Alex confidently and speedily crawling while carrying things and jamming them in his mouth, showing a mastery of multitasking one normally doesn’t attribute to a seven month old infant. Of course my notion of normal doesn’t really apply.  Once a grandmother, imagination takes wing, hyperbole becomes common speech, modesty goes skinny dipping with the paparazzi, and sanity departs on a baby-powder scented puff of wind.

wonderful meal

I didn’t even drink that much

Gosh it’s been ages since I was hungover, I really can’t remember – and I was tipsy enough when I came home last night I fired up the computer and wrote another 200 words on top of what I’d done that day, which was approximately 500.

Now I get to take this wackiness to church, oh doodie. Alex and Katie are threatening to be there.  We shall see.

This morning Katie ponied up incredibly cute pix of Alex playing in fingerpaint.  His expression makes him look like a tagger in training. Our little anarchist.

No cpap.  Freaking allergies.

If brO gets to the lawn this afternoon I’ll do the weed whipping.  It’s not for us, it’s for a) the landlord and b) the neighbours. I’d love it if the grass got tall, and so would the cats. Also the rats.  The deluge of vermin has halted – the last one was while brO was gone.

Yay, I have the chords for Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked.

 

Here are some deep philosophical questions by way of Mary Bennett, from James Hollis PhD:

1) Where do my dependencies show up in my intimate relationship?
2) What am I asking my partner to do for me that I, as a mature adult, need to be doing for myself?
3) Am I taking too much responsibility for the emotional well-being of the Other? Am I taking on his/her journey at the expense of my own, and if so, why?
4) In what ways do I seek to avoid suffering?
5) What fears, lack of permission or old behaviors block me from living my life?

I wish I had asked these questions of myself 10 years ago.

 

Sundry and various

Got a package ready for ex MIL Phyllis so she’ll finally have pictures of her new great grandbaby.  Didn’t manage to get it into the mail, that’s for today.

3.9 hours on the cpap, in two stretches.

Jeff texted me to remind me about the garbage and if you can believe it I was already done!  I have brushed up my toes.

Went to see the gals who gave us Autumn, who transmoggified into Buster, and gave them all the contact deets so they can come and see him anytime. Rode over there on my bike to feed Ayesha and on the way back and JUST MISSED the vet’s office so I couldn’t pick up kitty malt for Margot, who seems to have quite a hairball to deal with.  She’s quite clingy and for the first time in about four years spent the night with me on my bed. Buster tried to scare her off but she wasn’t having any.  While I was riding (in the pouring rain, meh) a four year girl chided me for not wearing a helmet.  Everyone’s a critic.

Paul seems to be in the best mood you can imagine possible, which probably has something to do with retiring.  Yup, he put in his paperwork and joy was exceeding unrefined-like. They gave him money to buy his own goodbye eats with and he said POSITIVELY NO DONUTS and fed everybody about $150 of healthy food, which he says his soon to be former coworkers fell on like piranhas.  Nope, not even a deli tray – all healthy stuff.

He is currently in Seattle and he’s promised to bring me home some craft beer.

Watched one of the Bourne movies last night and noodled along to the music trying to deconstruct how you make a tense soundtrack.  I don’t normally write in modulations but soundtracks are full of them.  I will have to think on this thing.  It’s definitely a skill.

Did not go to church.  Sue was rehearsing in north Van and I just could not get my ass out the door.  But I did go cycling later, so I’ve got that going for me.

I practiced mandolin quite a bit yesterday. I did not do any writing or editing.

blue eyes

So 2.1 hours day before and 1 hour cpap last night.  I changed the temperature but although I got to sleep faster I tore it off faster.  I think the mask is now too tight and it’s hurting my nose.

Alex and Katie were here yesterday for Laundry adventures.  Katie’s working him up to being left with me for a couple of hours.  Unless he’s asleep he cries for mama within ten minutes, so child care is going to be an interesting proposition.

He was sitting on the deck in his stroller car seat when I opened the door, and as soon as I opened the door he recognized me and smiled.  Not a big mama smile, but an “I see you and I like you” smile.  MELT.  That’s Margot in the background, and although you can’t see it, every once in a while she’ll lift that little black paw and bat laboriously at the cat toy hanging right in front of her face.  That’s her fave spot; Buster of course sits at the very top.

Alex27Feb15

I find Alex very baby like.  He drools so much these days he could sub for a horror movie monster.

You can’t see the logo very well, but that’s a pinball machine on his shirt.