November 10, 2024

Election Week

Well that didn't go to plan. Less said, the better.

I filled my mind with work, and a visit to The Club Of My People, where I ate meatballs during a presentation about Norwegian Black Metal. One young man blurted out "My uncle was in that band but he wasn't good enough at singing or explosives," which was pretty funny. I sat next to a woman who showed us photos of her son mowing the grass on the ship burial mound in the backyard of their family property in Norway. A lot of us were people of a certain age coming full circle at this point in life. I met the secretary of the club who had been there ten years ago and felt too young for the scene. He now fits in. His sister dated someone in the Black Metal scene. I ate vegetarian meatballs and one of the best creme caramel of my life. The person who gave the presentation brought his own akvavit. We sang skol a lot. It's kinda like "the wave". You don't know who starts it or why, but once it's happening you have to go with it.


And here we are. New on the horizon is an examination of whether ADHD might frame some of my life's more special / least favorite moments. I don't think that this thought of would be surprising to the people who know me well. More on this as it develops. In the meantime, it's time to go grocery shopping and prepare for sumo tonight. Maybe I'll make some clam dip in celebration.


UPDATE: I sat next to a woman who had a Viking burial mound in her back yard in Norway and showed us a photo of her son mowing the lawn on top of the mound. The site is recently being re-excavated. I looked it up, found it, thought the unusual name of the ship sounded familiar and realized that my 3rd ggfather had lived there in the 1860s.

Kinda cool.

November 5, 2024

And Now We Wait


Yup. Today's the day. I will descend into the garage and pull out the "Jessie Jackson Urges You To Vote" and hang it in the window, as is the custom. And there's nothing really to do. I'll wear my Vote earrings for one last time this year and hope for the best.

My guess? Kamala by a nose. 

Anything else would be tragic. This is not a drill. 

If he wins, his people will do everything they've been threatening / promising to do, and the world will be worse for it.

November 3, 2024

Near Miss

In the countdown to election day the old impulse control is really in abeyance.

Witness: two kittens on my "I just want to get rid of this now" group. I was almost going to see them this weekend, but luckily someone else got to them. They were adorable and fluffy and cute. I think that mrguy needs a new kitten now that his little girl is gone and the inky boy has decided that he's obsessed with me (at the age of 14). His response? "To be honest, those cats will outlive me and you will have to take care of them." And when pressed further at a different time he said that even if he lived a normal dude lifespan the cats would outlive him. Boo. Nothing like bringing us down. Undaunted I went back to the lady who was helping her friends adopt out the cats and they had found a family. I am happy for them.

In the meantime, the last cat I brought into the house found his way into the cabinet with the garbage can last night and he bit the electrical cord for the under-cabinet lights, which went dark. Oy. Well I wanted to ask the electrician a question anyway, so tomorrow I'll take care of that. Am I sure I want kittens?

Well of course.

The other thing that got away was the world's ugliest lamp, which would have really tied the pink Lady Bathroom together. It was also on the "get rid of" group. Wow. I wanted to see it in person. And even when I learned that it was 3' high, I wanted it and found a perfect ugly lampshade for it (I was planning to add some pink touches to it, to help integrate lady painters, angels and motorcycles). But then a woman said she had a friend who would love it as a housewarming gift, and I was given the perfect out. I told the giver to please give it to the other lady. For several hours I had the perfect amount of joy from this lamp without even owning it. Whew!


Happy Halloween 2024

I was late in finding this, but please enjoy and know that there are more ancient holiday post cards coming your way. This collection was saved by mrguy's grandmother when she was a child.

I would like the black cat to know that we share his feeling of horror in seeing two pumpkins kiss.