Category: Grandson goo

whoever keeps trying to break into my blog

Jeff warned me. Lots of people are visiting, good luck with breaking things; Jeff is a prudent and cautious individual and this site is protected as well as one can thriftily make it.

Russian soldier says fuck it. When this link breaks, his name is Pavel Filatyev. He has both deserted and fled Russia.

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Katie messaged me yesterday afternoon asking if it would be inconvenient to get Alex to come over tonight for a sleepover and I’m like

Crying From Happiness GIFs | Tenor

She never tries to take advantage, what a kid.

Today, prescription refill by way of a walk before it gets too warm, then over to see the kids briefly to review the ‘family spreadsheet’ and talk about our feelings because hoo boy it’s been tough this week.

The beets Zanne bought for me in Cache Creek have been PROCESSED and are now resting comfortably in the fridge. Reminder to self: That first trip to the bathroom will scare you, BE PREPARED. I still owed her a bit of money from the trip but let me tell you, my outlay ended up being a couple of CBD gummies, a 3.5 g bag of weed and 120 dollars, and for that much fun (and such COMFORTABLE NIGHTS OF SLEEP) I would have paid MUCH MORE. And I got to drive into the sunset when the mountains faded into haze and it was like being suspended in a picture postcard for hours.

Zanne told me about tabby kittens ready to go, but no ‘new’ news on the kittens. And the poor queen (owned by an unhoused woman who lives in an underpass) is pregnant AGAIN. Woman doesn’t want to give them up but I’m going to show up with a bag of kitten kibble and a hundred dollars in small bills and ask nicely. If the fates are propitious I shall name her Sookie.

Trying to learn to get by without milk in a jug… I may be switching over to powdered and condensed. Right now there’s been no fresh milk in the house for a week.

Buster has returned from catting and got his brekkie.

There was an additional episode of Sandman that I was not aware of and it had, like, ROMANCE in it which was very attenuated but also very welcome. Tom Sturridge STARVED HIMSELF for the role, and in that first episode it’s obvious, he no longer looks like a healthy human being and you can see his face plump up over the course of the show as he puts maybe five pounds back on.

folks wandering up to Neil Gaiman and saying ‘I am absolutely not racist why did you cast Black and Desi actors in Sandman’ and him responding, ‘YOU – PERSONALLY – I DID IT TO PISS YOU OFF! – DIE MAD U SALTY BITCH’ is the shprinkles in my coffee this am.

No ac today, it’s not supposed to get warmer than 19. I’ll turn it on if I need to.

Alex Goat-Boy

 

Alex held a kid at the Country Bee

When Katie and I and her children went to Country Bee, it was with a message for the workers there that the parental dyad was feeling too punk to join us and that they knew the workers would be worried about them.

You would think this was unnecessary but IT WAS NOT. As soon as we mentioned to the sweet young grain goddess at the till that they weren’t up for it (not sick, just tired, like you’re allowed to be at however old I misremember them to be), another woman, older and shorter, popped out of the back like something in a TV show and loudly said, “I wondered.”

We had a brief but cheering conversation and then went outside to chase wall lizards, find peacock feathers and as you can see above, Alex got to hold a baby goat. It was amazing and Katie got pics.

Alex and a baby goat are centred in a picture, surrounded by goats

I love that little man so.

Katie got me a salted choco chip cookie and some iced tea, Alex got a honeybee cookie and preferred mine … I WARNED HIM. Ryker and Alex did well on the ferry wait given that it was a hot day and they were bored silly. pOp I managed to help Alex stave off the horrors of boredom in the the digital age with the

 

fanfare pls & ty

VIEW-MASTER

leaving today

Bubs the Magnificent Baby, Alex and Katie just visited me and Ryker is SO HAPPY TO SEE ME HE SMILED SO HARD HE NEARLY SQUIRMED HIMSELF OFF THE BED and his mom cotched him and threw him up in the air while he fizzed with toothy mirth.

I have finished Shirlene Obuobi’s ‘On Rotation’ and it is a very satisfactory romance. VERY. I shall exercise my critical (not very) faculties on a full scale review shortly, but not right now.

Katie’s about to order us a McDonald’s breakfast and I am here for it, quite literally.

The psychiatric attic has once more been breached! it now reveals a View-Master. The box that the View-Master and the reels are was made by my maternal grandfather and when I reached into the box to randomly pull out a reel…..

IT WAS FOR THE ADDAMS FAMILY TV SHOW, IN COLOUR.

I think I probably screeched. John Astin as Gomez in a 1920’s style pure white driving costume? It with its hair in curlers? LOLOLOL. MORTICIA KNITTING? lololololololol guess what my mother was doing all day yesterday in the sunroom, it’s just TOOOOOO RICH

Making happy family memories is a wonderful process. Only people missing as descendants were Jeff and Keith. And you were both missed!

Absolutely no writing except for the blog and a couple of tweets.

 

alex has been and gone

He complained of a tummy ache the entire time he was here. “You are experiencing anxiety. If this was a real illness you’d be fucking hurling,” this is not what I said, I just wanted to sound like the Batman of grandmas to my 30 readers. Instead I said, “You’re concerned about Ryker, but your mother is doing all the right things, and he’s going to be fine.” I mean, he’s fine right now, he just may need some some surgical tweaking, I’ve had surgery, you know, it’s not an uncommon thing. So I am proceeding as I’ve done so far. It’s in the best hands in the world, my role is to be supportive and otherwise free of opinion, and I need to work on my grandma skills, ha ha.

He quit complaining, and fired it up again when his mother appeared. This is like watching three generations of children in one precious bundle. THEN HE PLAYED PLANTS VS ZOMBIES WHILE KATIE AND I ATTEMPTED TO CATCH UP WHILE yEllING aDViCe at him. It’s a damned good thing pOp wasn’t listening, he’d probably laugh until he cried. WE TOOK AIM — I TELL YOU — AT KEEPING A COHERENT CONVERSATION GOING but it did not happen. We hydrated and mocked our conditions. Then went back to tag teaming yelling strategy and tactics at Alex, who appeared to all the world to be enjoying himself, talking himself into additional games while Katie and I flopped in the blessed cool.

Jeff is best of brOs, he got me a device which takes jacks from both recording inputs and headphone jacks so I can hear what the hell is happening in the Kaossilator as I’m recording, something I haven’t been able to do since the second last Mac died. (It had completely different input jacks and there was something else that was different but of course… I do not remember. Something about being configured to deal with Garageband. I think. Do not test me on this, I’ll only cry.)

I wrote a letter to Alex. I put it in an envelope. I didn’t seal or stamp it. He immediately ripped it out of the envelope and threw the envelope on the floor. The only word that tripped him up was Kaossilator, so I told him what that was, then he finished reading it and said ‘Awwww’ like I’d handed him a puppy. My god, he is one of the most convincingly manipulative people I’ve ever met.

Cazart, I should do a backup.

Alex did some more art, he did letter art since I handed him a bunch of different stencils and he took it with him so you know he put some sweat into it. I just got the miniature shapshifters.

I think he’s happy it’s air-conditioned at GG and Grunkle Jeff’s house. But you know he was having too good a time to comment except to say that we weren’t going outside.

Now I gotta make supper it’s hours since I said I would.

Feasting accomplished

Ordered from Cockney Kings Fish and Chips, watched the latest episode of Westworld, sat on the deck and enjoyed the evening. We hung out until the grand old hour of ten, and Mike declares the 0.0 Heineken beer quite palatable. I got Fat Tugs and drank most of two, so I was plenty plenty last night.

Mike has announced that he’s putting together a skookum gaming computer.

I’m content with the world right now and perhaps I shouldn’t be, but it is a nice feeling to see a friend.

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I get Alex tomorrow afternoon while his brother gets his urology consult. Katie really stayed on top of it, she’s the matriarch now.

Got to see all my descendents

It’s always very wonderful to have all of your descendents in a single room. I only held bubs once since he’s teething and enraged about it (I AM SPOSETA BE HAPPY ALLA TIME WHHHYYYYYY) and I’m getting Alex for a sleepover tonight so we just had a brief conversation about his most recent art project (his horror drawing is LUSH AND IMAGINATIVE and getting better all the time) and CBC kids games and we’ll catch up more tonight. I had one single beer. Slept like a rock in the arms of a rock.

Keith was in fine form. The meal was sushi and tempura and we et it all, all 85 bucks of it between the four of us (Jeff has been slammed by work and equally by the urge to do nothing about it, so he stayed home and tried to play whackamole with his task list. Katie had a bad day with Ryker so she was less than communicative, just tired tired tired as one gets. Keith got off to a board game meetup.

Paul had asked me to help with something on the computer and when I got there DESPITE THE ROGERS OUTAGE THAT IS ENSNARING our entire country he accomplished it. I’m impressed.

There’s a reason we have copper coming to the door.

Today, despite my misgivings about gatherings, HOUSE FILK hopefully the weather will let us do it outside. We’ve been promised buckets of chicken soup.

I have managed not to get too outraged on / by social media today so I’m going to hopefully write. 31796 so far. Yes, I done got graphomania again. Omar and Mr. Toth are eating a Fran’s takeout meal in the waiting room on the ward where Brad is and Mr. Toth just told him that he’s been diagnosed with dementia so Omar’s feeling shitty about calling him a demented old bastard and Mr. Toth doesn’t want his kid to be mad at him so he’s making nice with Omar by feeding him, always a plan.

trying to help

Well now, that was my first mistake LOL. Trying to help. Anyway I have to face up to the fact that my oldest kid is 36 this week. I heard a rumour he was going to quit his job but he might have been trolling his roommates.

Hopefully, a shop this morning, we are definitely OUT of things and I have no realemon for iced tea. Let’s see if Jeff’s thinking along similar lines.

27093 words. Still not back to Toronto, what do I have to do to make that happen? OH YES I SHOULD WRITE but will I. Very much enjoyed Dark Winds and Westworld yesterday.

Funniest thing happened when I was waiting for the taxi to go to Paul’s (Katie drove me home because she needed to do an errand and needed to leave Ryker (who made strange at me for the first time yesterday YAY DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES boo Grandma feels) in the car for a second); a hummingbird attacked every species of bird on the street neeeeYOW nnnneeeeeYOW buzzing them continuously until they flew away to get some peace. Hummingbirds be feisty.

feet

Second last time I spoke to Katie on the phone she said could I please do something about Paul’s feet, so I took him out on the deck (it was GORGEOUS here yesterday, just a hint of the heat that will fell us on Friday) and trimmed his nails. We none of us bend all that well. I can still do my feet but it’s hard and I sort of have to wedge myself into the bathroom in a particular way so that if I have a fainting spell I won’t kill myself falling over.

Beforehand we went for a walk in Hilda “It Says I’m an Avenue but Actually I’m a Street” Park. We listened to the crows and talked to a nice lady and her easily perturbed pooch. And we actually talked about Paul’s medical condition like adults for the first time ever. This probably has something to do with how the kids lowered the boom this week. I told him that for his own longevity, comfort and safety, he should get a diagnosis. He’s unconvinced anything can help him. So I tried to be encouraging.

After the walk, he sat on the deck and I brought him sugar free home made iced tea (using the carton of Splenda I got from Mike) and a nourishing, light lunch. (Smoked salmon, red onion, capers and garlic cream cheese on sourdough muffin with a side of the last of the cole slaw.) THEN I did the feet. Anyway, I try to help look after him as best I can, and it will be easier when he stops pretending everything is fine.

Katie and Alex are going camping Canada Day weekend. Ryker will be with his dad. Ryker’s no longer eating at mom’s (it’s not a problem; there never was a child more interested in solids in the history of getting fed).

There’s other family news too but it’s not for public consumption. Age is reflective and brutal, should we live so long and have the brains to think with.

Got my bloodwork and my meds, thank you Jeff for the boost of energy required to do it. Jeff got us fish and chips for early supper and SO GOOD. I’m going to turn the leftover chips into Really Bad Poutine Imitation. Since I have neither gravy nor cheese curds.

Suzanne plus Alex plus Katie

& I spoke with Mike today. The cup is full, the house is much cleaner. I love the world right now and need to sleep.

New Kaos: b.38/g10/bpm20/C_/gyp (music for a video game, a slow heartbeat sound quite ominous) … can you tell Alex was playing with it today and got me all inspired. Absolutely shredded Gelis and Niccolo today, I got sounds a guitar doesn’t readily make.  And I wrote a hundred words today, and washed the rugs, and made Alex lunch, and watched Elementary with Jeff. This is what a successful day looks like.

Weather quite variable today but mostly not windy, and warm.

COVID is still kicking the world’s ass. Monkeypox is established in at least twenty countries with a thousand known cases and an obscured iceberg of infections not currently recorded or understood; plus the presentation is different than the textbooks which is really not helping.

I grieve with Ukraine, what an unholy mess.

annoyances

Tim Horton’s has been scolded by the Privacy Commissioner MAN I’VE NEVER BEEN SO GLAD NOT TO HAVE A CELL PHONE

Leo and Linda have safely arrived back in Victoria. Or so I assume, no wild phone calls.

Duggy Sluggy got back in in Ontario. The media and Russian money really are doing a number on Canadian politics. I predict that disabled people will be killing themselves en masse on his doorstep before this is all over.

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JUST FOUND OUT ALEX IS GOING TO BE HERE SATURDAY because he’s having a sleepover with grammy Suzanne and we rearranged cleaning dates this week so he’ll be with her. SO CHUFFED. I am so glad she’s part of my family. She didn’t have to ask but she did because she’s CIVILIZED which I told her.

The Addams Family in Japan by Matsuyama Miyabi scanged from tumblr user dduane

 

tired arms

Well I got to hold Ryker A LOT yesterday and given that he’s six months old he’s a heavy little cuss and he has distinct preferences about how he wants to be held and that is UP and BOUNCING. Definitely feeling it. No pictures; I made memories.

When he smiles at Alex I am so happy I want to invent words. You hear people talking about how a baby is the light of a house, but Ryker just is. He makes people happy just by existing.

However I didn’t just fawn over the little one. I asked Alex if he would like an almost endless supply of free games and he asked if there would be ads and I said, well, no, because our taxes already paid for the website. Then he went entirely nuts on the cbc.ca/kids game site (there are dozens upon dozens of games) and he had a fantastic time checking through them. I gave him useful information. I also found out that he wants a Playtime Poppy poster. (Warning this is a really scary horror game which is not 100 percent age appropriate, but I’m going to get him a poster anyway.)

Keith was in fine form and fed me vegetarian bean stew for lunch and half a Stella. Katie continues to dote on her two boys and that’s lovely.

All in all a lovely visit. Paul’s in Seattle of course.

My tinnitus is MUCH MUCH WORSE. First in my right ear, and now in my left ear, day and night I have ticking noises. It started right before the camping trip.

Lovely long talk with Sue last night; she’s auditioning for a lead role in a film AND I’M SO EXCITED FOR HER. (She’s also my canonical casting for the human form of Grandmother Zosime in UPSUN)

pictures

a small white boy plays with two purple shaker eggs

there’s the little boy I love. He got bigger, and he’s still loveable playing with shaker eggs like a true filkkid. There’s the houseplant Jeff’s kept alive for decades, which continueth. There’s a rondel of art created by Alex. There are the kazoos we both still play. There’s the fabric curtain I made to keep flies out in the summer time. There’s the Guatemalan fabric bag Catherine gave me two decades ago. There are the chairs we got from Granny’s estate. There’s the expensive cat food Jeff feeds Buster. There’s the table I bought at IKEA when Jeff and I moved in together. There’s the place where Margot used to sit. There’s the place I hide Halloween candy.

There he is again, playing Xenon.

There he is with Margot in the background.

No kudos, no increase in wordcount.