I am so very fortunate to awake (with Jenny's help,) to this glorious view.
As with many very popular books, I resisted reading Remarkably Bright Creatures, expecting that it would be a tad too sweet and predictable for my taste. But I kept hearing about it and when the Kindle edition showed up on BookBub for a couple of bucks, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Well, it is pretty sweet and somewhat predictable but, in my current frame of mind, with the political situation ongoing. it was just the escape I needed. I gulped it down like a comforting cup of coffee (with cream and sugar.)
I liked all the characters but who I really liked was Marcellus, the octopus. Marcellus who narrates short bits of the story; Marcellus who (unaccountably but who cares) knows a lot more about humans than they know about him; Marcellus who, like the deus ex machina of Greek classical theater, is the one to resolve some difficult kinks in the plot.
Marcellus is charming and he lifts the story out of the humdrum into something strange and wonderful.
Your president has demanded an "election integrity army" -- partisan forces deployed to polling places in every state. Armed? Masked? As brutal as ICE? Do you support this threat?
He has also threatened to "pack the court" and has attacked by name justices for following the law.
Do you support your president in these threats?
And then there's that ballroom that he and his 'friends' were going to pay for. Now its cost has ballooned and may be passed on to the taxpayers.
I can assure you that most taxpayers want lower gas and grocery prices rather than a ballroom they will never be invited to.
And if said ballroom is so important for security, why does the president expose himself to danger on a weekly basis at various golf courses?
I'm old enough to remember when the GOP had at least the appearance of integrity. Now it's little more than a den of grifters and yes-men--and yes-women too, alas.
Mother Earth's bounty, so beautiful, so generous . . .
In the ongoing attempt to rid the house of excess baggage, I attacked Josie's art cupboard and a closet and a chest with lots of her toys stored therein.
In the art cupboard I recycled old, used coloring books, trashed an assortment of broken bits and bobs and generally tidied. Some of her jigsaw puzzles are going to a thrift store, as are some unused workbooks and flash cards she no longer needs. I don't think she'll miss any of my removals.
Her toy chest though is full of stuffies and a few baby dolls (Margo and Dolly and all their clothes,) I felt I needed her permission, even though she hasn't played with any of them in a long time. So, on the way home from school, I asked about the dolls and the stuffies.
She was excited to get home as a friend with a daughter almost Josie's age was coming for the weekend and Josie had a mandate from her dad to clean up her room.
So she thought a a few seconds and then said the dolls and stuffies could go. Of course I mentioned how much some little girls would love them and she agreed. "How about the doctor kit?' I asked.
'Keep that,' she said. And then, 'No, it can go too.'
'How about the big building blocks in the living room closet?' I asked.
'They can go.'
I was amazed. And a little sad. (Not Margo and Dolly!) But pleased. I'd expected her to want to hang on to most of this stuff, even though she no longer plays with it, as books and podcasts, videos and art projects have filled the gap. And we still have the puppets and the dress-up box, as well as the amazing crocheted Octalia Octopus and the dolly llama from her Aunt Aileen.
Our little girl is a big girl now--almost nine, going on twenty-seven.
Ay, law!
I have, in the past, donated to various candidates and progressive/liberal political groups. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished and now I am the recipient of multiple daily scare/begging text messages. Beep, beep, beep, goes my phone way too many times a day from these guys.
Yes, I know that we're in a dire situation. But the frantic tone of these messages is really annoying--We're begging! My jaw hit the floor when I saw . . ., This is a hard thing to say. . ., Have you switched parties? We need your input for this to be complete . . . Important survey! Your voice is missing!
And the thing is, maybe they want my voice but what they really want is my money. Answer the survey and hit SUBMIT but nothing happens till you fill out the amount of your donation.
So I'm taking a hard line: texting STOP and blocking the number.
No doubt I'll still do some donating. But not to these pests.
But the toddler in question isn't playing with toy soldiers and plastic boats. He's gambling with lives and burning through our nation's store of weapons in his war of choice. Gas prices, food prices, everything is affected by the toddler's ego-driven war.
And just as an out-of-control toddler might smear his feces on the walls and furniture of his house, your toddler is moving to desecrate our nation's capitol with his glitzy makeovers. And like a toddler with a magic marker, he's attempting to smear his name everywhere.
This is so far from presidential behavior that I am amazed that the GOP, which controls both House and Senate, as well as the Supreme Court, has made no effort to rein in this demented toddler-in- chief.
I look forward to midterms and the coming of some grownups who aren't afraid to tell the toddler a resounding NO.
