bathtub dive and Alex pickup

I just found out you can sing into the extra soundhole on this Riversong ukulele and get absolutely wild harmonic effects. Also, yesterday I learned THE ORIGINAL LYRICS to the ‘2 & 20 Blues’ and they completely change the tone of the song. I shall herewith demonstrate: The very first line is “There’s evil men in this DOGGONE town” but the way my ex (and Dr Filk) taught it was ‘GODDAMN’ and that really changes things. First is worldweary, second is angry, and the song is resigned, not angry. The very last line is “You may say that I’m wrong but you know I FEEL all right.” I was taught ‘I’LL BE’. The singer is OKAY IN THE PRESENT, not sometime in the future. But right now! The song’s about grabbing life where and when you can, not hoping you’ll be happy sometime.

Thank you for attending this bathtub dive into 2 & 20 Blues by Linda Morrison, pressed 1981.

Continue reading bathtub dive and Alex pickup

Pandemic slump

February is not usually my favourite month but I’m coping okay today. A good night of sleep always helps. Wordle in four (SO CLOSE ALMOST got it in three). 17749 words. Two loads of laundry and one of them put away. (I’m always anxious when there’s no clean hand towels.)

Keeping the cat door closed most of the time since there’s someone out there bugging Buster. I’ve stopped feeding the crows because I got scared by an article about avian flu. They’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.

The front stairs are spalling very badly and every time it freezes there’s more debris out front.

Jeff Guenther LPC says early couples should ask themselves these questions (I have adapted them so they aren’t direct quotes from his facebook video.)

I’m posting them because I want mOm (the only other person who’s read it) to think about how the ‘boys’ in Totally Boned would answer this sort of as a character exercise but also just for curiosity. It amazes me that they’ve already taken care of a lot of this stuff together even without specifically discussing it. There are also assumptions inherent in these questions that say a lot about our culture, I mean…. imagine the questions during the 1920s. Nothing about religion or religiosity. Nothing about gender roles (not really.)

Will you get mad if I start watching a new show without you?

What text emojis for humour or sarcasm do you want me to use so we’re on the same page?

When we order food are we sharing or do you get all your food to yourself?

When it comes to presents what are your expectations for Valentines, anniversaries, birthdays and Christmas?

Are certain evenings blocked out for us or are we planning week by week?

Who’s paying for most stuff?

If one of us wants sex and the other doesn’t how do we handle it? 

Should I always take your side without fail or can I remonstrate with you if I think you’re being immoral or self-damaging?

 

 

I don’t know if any of you saw the Premier of Alberta attempting to shake Trudeau’s hand but it was pretty gross. A politician should know how to do that.

Off to see Paul today. Time for walkies.

Jarmo and Susanna

Jarmo and Susanna at Anh and Chi on Main street Feb 2023

Quiet day yesterday…. this is from earlier this month. Words cannot express how fond I am of these two. They are my Finn Family West.

Candles up for the victims of the Anatolian fault earthquakes. Five thousand dead in total on both sides of the border.

squinch fa

love the radiating wrinkles! shared this on twitter this morning too and THE EXACT PERSON I wanted to respond to it did, so I’m all happy. He said “Radiating grandma”

I should not get McDonalds breakfast delivered. LOL but I will. Jeff asked for coffee this time as I quite rudely didn’t ask him if he wanted any. Went to put my order in and they’re saying McDonalds is over capacity….. Perhaps another breakfast joint? we shall see.

Earthquakes

There have been not one but two immense and terrifying earthquakes in Turkey, a 7.8 and a 7.4 in relatively rapid succession, centred in Gaziantep. There used to be a Roman fort there; the before and after pictures are horrifying; this massive building which has survived 1700 years lost all of the towers and it just looks like a pile of rubble rolling down the hill it’s set atop. First death toll is over 1000 people and it will go higher.

Syria too is affected, about 300 reported dead. All these numbers will go higher.

Aerial shots of the affected areas are heart-stopping and horrifying.

As always if you want to help, donate to Red Crescent or find a local who’s Turkish and plugged in back home and ask for their advice.

Didn’t go to church yesterday. Made some phone calls. We had leftovers for lunch (the last of the stew soup that Keith made) a fruit smoothie for a snack and chicken sammies with poutine for supper.

Thinkn about coffee.

 

and the friends keep coming

Jarmo and Susanna were in town! they took me and Mike to pho on Main Street and we had a lovely lunch. Susanna particularly was in good spirits, and Jarmo was talking about his latest invention (he is exceedingly inventive.)

Then Mike drove up to Dana Larsen’s joint on Hastings, just past the blue graffiti of FUCK ThE CITY OF VANCOUVER AND THE VPD, and I am not publicly stating what he bought but I personally was eyeing the ‘cocacchino‘ (see the pic in the article) which is coca leaf tea with syrup and honey and…. then decided it’s counter-indicated by all the freaking blood pressure medication I’m taking. Anyway, the age of degeneracy is here and you can openly buy clinical DMT for personal use and some king hell mushrooms – ones that are wwwaaaayyy trippier than cubensis.

Then he drove me home but he said he wanted to stop at the Bohemian. He says it’s his fave cannabis shoppe and if they have afghan style hash, Jolt THC lozenges and a ten percent seniors discount for tokers over 60, why the hello nurse wouldn’t I return.

All the way there and back again we were listening to (outbound) Simon and Garfunkel and on the way back… Creedence Clearwater Revival. And singing our fool heads off. LOL. Mike has achieved oneness with that vehicle.

Then we got back to our place and he and I and Jeff watched the Creedence Clearwater Revival documentary, and Mike went home for dinner.

The family meeting didn’t happen, for various good reasons.

Thinking about going to church this morning. I’ll drop by Caspell Junction if I do, just in case Paul wants to go.

RIP Tom Verlaine

He passed a couple of days ago.

I once went into a record store in Toronto not knowing who he was but I’d heard him at Dave’s place and I was asking if they knew who sang a song with the lyrics, “Tonight the air has teeth,” and right now I’m listening to “Breaking in My Heart,” and weeping helplessly because I know.

I called Mike yesterday. He wasn’t able to drop by and did not want a visit, but we checked in and all our peeps are safe.

Another near miss (asteroid.)

 

Keith dropped by with beef stew

It is excellent, had some for lunch. I sent him on his way with a cheese bun and a cookie Jeff had picked up when he went out briefly in the morning for work.

Dinner was pork chomps, taters and frozen veg heated thoroughly. The chop was fantastic. The last one I put nothing on, this one had a lightly applied dusting of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder and ground basil, all smushed in the mortar and pestle Keith gave me which I use several times a week to release flavours on aromatics and also get the salt grains smaller. The leftover chop (they were so big Jeff and I split one) will go into a chopped salad.

I have had my coffee, done the wordle (4 tries), done my Lumosity (one top five score), put the dishwasher back in its place after running it last night, and now I contemplate a day of in part most probably doing something with Paul. I think it’s a bit nippy for a walk but Paul almost certainly won’t think so, so I should dress warmly I guess.

Chilly screencap from ventusky.com of polar air

Furnace continues to work, thanks be to the manufacturer.

No progress on writing.

 

quiet day

16979 words

I was quite tired and slept a good part of the day and then another good sleep at night. My sleep cycle right now is …. weird but hey I’m warm enough at night and this little room is cold.

Wordle in 4 this morning.  Three whole kudos from AO3 this morning – those numbers have really dropped because I’ve locked the account down to registered users only so casual readers can’t see my stories any more.

Desperately seeking coffee. Oh, shit, that means I have to –you know– get up and make it.

errands

Suzanne was here, enshinening happened. Keith has loaned her his car while she’s down a vehicle after her ice storm crash. I arranged bridge financing for her next car while Icy Beasty dithers around with her replacement car cheque, but what the blithering hell can I do, if she doesn’t have a vehicle she can’t work and she can’t walk or bus here with her cleaning equipment and it would completely mess up Katie, who would probably have to take another half hour out of her day to go fetch her for the 7:30 to 4:00 shift she works M-W. Yes, there are cabs, but if the driver’s a jerk it doesn’t work for anyone. I’ve at least seen her new used vehicle, which is quite nice and has everything she wants. (She needs a vehicle big enough for road trip packing as well as for the cleaning gear.)

Got to hold Ryker for two minutes day before yesterday. He made strange with me almost the entire time but he’d just woken up and he obviously is way more familiar with Grammy Suzanne than me. It’s getting to the point that Paul is no longer safe to be in a home with a toddler, since he keeps leaving the kitchen chairs right up next to the kitchen island, and Ryker can now scale ANYTHING in about four microts. Picture him climbing the island, pulling a knife out of the block and then falling on it for what that could end up looking like. Yeah, I kind of blacked out there for a second. He’s covered in tiny bumps and bruises, and he falls and gets up without bothering to cry quite a bit these days. And he RUNS LIKE THE WIND. He’s an acrobat. Suzanne and I talked about maybe me taking him to ‘tumbling tots’ and we’ll run it by Katie.

Got the mats into the washer before Suzanne got here. So weird seeing her pull up in Keith’s green Echo.

16511 words.

Finally got the pin fixed on my credit card, hopefully that will fix any other problems associated with it.

My nut order arrived and I have roasted the first batch of almonds for biscotti.

I had a good night of sleep but perhaps a little brief. Now to wait for Jeff to get up. I wanna make home fries for second breakfast, I already ate first breakfast, which is leftovers from yesterday. OH THOSE SWOSSAGES FROM THE FORESHORE RESTAURANT NOM NOM NOM

Various things

Took Paul out and got him lunch. We walked in Fraser Foreshore (he could have gone longer than me, but had to pee up a tree on the way back) and I fed some birdies, although they didn’t come to my hand.

He expressed that he feels overwhelmed during the weekly family phone call and would probably do better one on one. We can’t confuse our own convenience with what Paul wants.

I did not do a load of laundry nor did I do the expenses, but I ran the dishwasher, made a light supper for Jeff (I was not hungry for the rest of the day after that late lunch), ran a very restorative bath and washed my hair.

Between now and the end of the month it will be very cold at night. If you have the cycles please spare a prayer for the furnace.

16469 words

calm and foggy

So much hooting from the foghorns yesterday.

15739 words

I actually changed and made my bed yesterday. Slept like a dog on a sofa, thanks. Also started taking vitamin D again. I can feel cobwebs coming off my brain, weird feeling.

Ate nothing but leftovers yesterday, it was awesome. TOO MUCH SALT don’t care.

I have three whole tasks in front of me today.  The first is getting Paul out of his apartment (I plan to just show up and run away with him, we’ll figure out about walkies and a meal afterward), the second is updating my portion of the household expenses, and the third is putting away my laundry. Can I do it? will I be overcome with Edward Gorey scale bouts of ennui? I think so, yes. Bonus, printing out medical requisition.

Now off to do battle with Lumosity and see how my brain do.

Thinking about Dave today; apparently the weather in Toronto is vile, so I’m glad he doesn’t normally have to go anywhere.

Peaceful

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Keith asked to be on Jeff’s Minecraft server.

Weather overcast and cold.

One of the things I’m having the most problems with as I get older is that over the course of my life my energy has come in waves. Now the tide’s gone out and I have no idea when it’s coming back in. In order to spare myself I often told myself that I am perfectly capable but I need the right combo of mood and energy level to git ‘er done and now…. nope. So now I have to schedule things I don’t enjoy doing and grind, and that’s totally unsuited to my previous way of doing things, and my temperament.

I have a big ugly list and I need to get going on it.

a little list

  1. Pork chops of superlative tenderness achieved. Last two were fossilized so it made a nice change. Roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts dressed with sesame oil to go with.
  2. Three whole loads of laundry. Not put away of course but I’ll make an attempt.
  3. We’re going to get a buttload of cold weather. I’m hoping the furnace makes it.
  4. Brief call with Katie; she’s managing.
  5. Janice did not come this weekend.
  6. 15275 words
  7. Twitter is continuing to make circling the void/drain/black hole noises.