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push on you weary soul     thank you willie p bennett

 

Lovely walk in Deer Lake Park yesterday. It was exactly the perfect temperature. In response to my dream I said fuck it; I’ve been vaccinated, it’s outdoors, the wind is a steady 3 to 5 knots, I’m not wearing a mask today.  Paul put *his* on while we were on the walkway. Two of the biggest green frogs we ever did see were in the waterways by the raised walkway.

Many perching hummingbirds.

Many pterodactyls, seen but not heard.

Many songbirds in glorious voice.

When we arrived the parking lot was JAMMED and then… someone pulled out of the spaces in the shade, it was like a movie or something.

I didn’t drive, I wasn’t feeling up to it. I warned Paul about the repair work at Burris and Canada Way so we took Kingsway instead. Anyway, I don’t know whether Paul was making heroic efforts not to bug me with his driving or I was just in a good mood, but it was fine.

Then back here for lentil soup with melted cheese, tea and a bun. I sent Paul away with a container of lentil soup; this batch isn’t as spicy as usual but the flavours settled very nicely.

Cousin Alex is vaccinated. After her COVID woes recently (D. tested positive after they did everything right which is SO ANNOYING) I WAS THRILLED BEYOND WORDS when she showed her bandaid on twitter. Me, I’m doing okay although there is still an inch across welt on my arm from the 8th.

Anyway, I was feeling like death yesterday and I feel fine today, so yay, perhaps I’ll get some work done today!!

 

A mental health post

Woke up from my first COVID nightmare this morning at 6:30 am – I was trying to get on the Seabus and realized that I was alone, and I wasn’t wearing a mask, and Noone Else Was Either. My awakening was unpleasant but at least I was oriented pretty quick.

I want to believe I’ve been able to weather this thing but I haven’t, it’s weathered me. They’re saying now (Kapil Komireddi in Foreign Policy) that the death toll in India may literally be ten times higher than whatever Modi is allowing the press to report. Modi has already done more to destroy India than Trump did to the US, and that’s SAYING something. The media are lapdogs, the supreme court is silent, and Hindutva types are FOAMING at the opportunity to ‘drive the Muslim dogs’ out of their beautiful pure brahmin New India.  So sure, it could be worse in Canada, let’s hope it doesn’t go there, but the world is a dumpster fire right now.

I’m going to let my mental health go there.

For the next week, I’m on vacation. Don’t know where I’m going, besides this house, but I am going to just ignore everything until I feel calm enough to get back on the goddamned Seabus. No writing, no practicing, no moving, no thinking. I’ll update my blog but try to stay off social media.

For my mOm, a historical titles document for her reference.

using the concept of niceness to tyrannize the authentic is one of the folkways of whiteness
It’s always one breath away from calling the cops.
@gindaanis on twitter today
aanikoobijigan is the Ojibwe word for great-grandparent (or ancestor) and the word for great-grandchild. It’s a connective way of thinking, cyclical rather than linear time. And as I step into writing a chapter on restoring human relations that’s an interesting thing to think on

Hives continue

Lost a good chunk of sleep last night to them. Topical creams help a little but it was kinda rough.

I’m going to try not to doomscroll today, even though Horgan is doing his best to try to kill me.

It’s possible that what I’ve got, hive wise, is actually a mild and late reaction to the AZ shot. If so this will slowly pass. Sigh.

Jeff’s doing a timmy ho’s run and then we’re going to watch Time Team in our LA-Z-BOY CHAIR. Did I tell you folks that we set it up? I had to mess with my half, but it sure is comfy.

RIP MICHAEL COLLINS. You were, as Phil Plait remarked this am, the ultimate team player.

well, that was strange

so I’m scrolling through twitter and two of the sf people I follow say they’re going to edit a bunch of short Quaker Speculative Fiction and I think… man, I been throwing around the idea of Henry Thomas Wake going to space for a decade now, mebbe I should write the story.

In the course of the morning I wrote the story, got my mOm to correct it, and SUBMITTED IT. Yes I HAVE SUBMITTED A STORY TO A MAGAZINE.

I’m only 62, but it did take a while.

still covered in hives

I am miserably uncomfortable and I have absolutely no idea what’s triggering them.

It’s not as bad at night. It gets worse when I get up and put clothes on. I recently changed laundry detergent, so it’s a possibility in the hopper of tree pollen, cat dander and general porousness of the building envelope that we’re dealing with.

Anyway, off to the shower, maybe that’s all it will take. (wrong, the heat of the shower made it worse. WHAT IS IT? ALLERGIES? VIRAL? A NEW MIGRAINE SYMPTOM (I’VE BEEN GETTING TRIANGULAR RAINBOW DRAGONS FOR DAYS NOW) wat wat is it

Weather was SO GLORIOUS yesterday, we had a lovely walk in at Deer Lake. Paul is being rather stiff and formal with me as if he’s expecting me to outburst on him, but all I did yesterday was tell him that not putting the mask over his nose isn’t a good look.

The crows telling the raven to sod off was pretty funny.

The frogs were out but not talking.

We heard a waterfowl that we’ve never heard before, could have been a hooded merganser; they certainly appear in the park.

Katie took the day off yesterday, and I had a brief and bracing phone call with Keith when I tried to stealth-check up on her.

Allergies

I’m getting hives, probably from the brazil nuts, heavy sigh.

Just ordered doubles and Chicken Roti and Shrimp with Rice from D Roti Shak.

SO DAMNED GOOD

Here’s a funny pic, courtesy of Liz M. shows two old people in a really old car in front of a building called St. Luke’s with a JUST VACCINATED sign like a just married sign.

here’s another funny one, it spells ACAB in cherry blossoms and is apparently from this week in Portland

t’aint funny M’Gee

on the subject of white guys who don’t know when the fuck to shut up, imagine being Jordan Peterson getting this review for his latest JUST OUTTA REHAB special.

While 12 Rules for Life was a snapshot of an intellectual moment, however paltry, Beyond Order is the literary equivalent of colonoscopy by cake shovel, writes Richard Poplak.

Family addition

Katie has announced that she is expecting her second child in November.

She has already had a prophetic dream about the sex of the child, but we will wait upon events. We were laughing to each other that if the child is trans at least they will be born into the right family.

So much love and hope, but also terror.