What has brought you joy today?

I planned on going home during lunch to see my puppy and play with her. On the way home, I realized that we had no food in the house, so I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some avocado rolls. While waiting to pay, the woman in front of me decided that she should pay with exact change, but then couldn’t find enough coins to make it exact. This went on for many minutes. My mind started spiraling into frustration, resentment, and impatience.

Then it hit me. I could see my mind doing what it was doing, and I instantly felt relief. It gave me the sanity to be able to fully appreciate my situation. I live close enough to my work so that I can drive home during lunch. I am able to afford to stop by Whole Foods for lunch. I have a puppy that will be excited to see me when I eventually get there. I am alive and life is a f*cking trip. Suddenly everyone and everything was beautiful.

I’ve been seeing beauty since. So much beauty.

My littlest one is teething and also recovering from outpatient mouth surgery. The nights are long and tiresome. But this morning he woke with such joy that the rest of the household just laid on my bed and enjoyed his happy little presence. His gummy, drooly, smiley, happy little presence.

I picked a bunch of warm, ripe heirloom tomatoes from the garden, diced, portioned and froze most of them, and will enjoy the taste of summer come February. The one I will have for dinner tonight (with some mozz and fresh basil) and the anticipation of the taste in February, give me a sweet lift.

This question just brings it into focus. Thank you.

I GOT TO SEE THE TWINS!!!!!

I used to see the twins every day, but since they moved it can be weeks inbetween visits and I’m always so afraid they’ll forget about me.
Everyone was gathering at Chris’. I was the last one to get there. They were all in the basement, so I went down stairs. I stood in front of Savannah who was looking at something on the ground. She saw my shoes then looked up…and up…and up….then she saw my face. She startled really hard, she just shook, and a HUGE smile and rays of happy light were shining all around her! She came to me as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around my neck, just grinning the whole time. It was simply marvelous.

Two things:

I met up with a group of friends I had been feeling distanced from for a few months. Things have been better, even good, for a while now – today, they were great! Maybe this difficult period was worth it – because I can appreciate them so much more now.

The other one is a little weird, maybe – I’ve started to enjoy cleaning and tidying. Tasks which used to be mind-numbing, I now almost always manage to see as mind-clearing. Also, I found the FLYlady, who is really getting me organized. My apartment is not perfect, but I’m getting there, and pretty soon, I think I may be ready to accept unannounced visitors! ;)

I guess the best part of my day was having no bad moments. It has been pretty smooth so far.

Nothing yet, I will get back to you.

I broke my toe this morning because I did something extremely stupid. My family has made me the brunt of stupid jokes ever since…....................I’ve been laughing so hard

Heh..well…( operative word Well ) I have water again after forgetting to turn off one of the water sources last night and draining the well tank. I am waiting anther couple hours to shower after cleaning stalls, setting the birds up for the day and tromping around the property. A wonderful cool shower is going to be joyful after the final push of chores on this 97 degree afternoon! Thank God there was enough water left to keep the horses automatic waterers full the last few hours.

Do my eyes deceive me or am I seing many penguins in the Community Feed? It’s a convention!

Shit! It’s a penguin raid! Run!!!

Rain—- with promise of more predicted for the weekend bring in cooler temperatures.

How’d you break your toe @snowberry?

March of the Penguin. haha

The Penguin has killed everyone except Buttonistic and a newbie!!

@hominid Have you seen the movie About Time? I think you would like it. Actually, I think everyone would like it.

Today, I had a lot of crappy interactions with people. People who I needed things from, and who were responding with incompetence or meanness. I took a longer route home, walking instead of taking the bus, and stopped in to look around in one of my favourite posh kitchen shops (they have everything, and people of all walks of life buy things there, because it’s an eclectic neighbourhood).

There was a woman shopping, and her (perhaps) 6-year old daughter was shuffling around on the carpet on her knees… playing some kind of fantasy game. Instead of anyone telling her to get up or behave herself in this kind of environment or that she would get her clothes dirty or that she would break something, the mother totally played into the game. It was just nice.

I made a huge casserole of pasta, Alfredo sauce, sauteed portabella mushroom cubes, diced tomatoes, black olives, Italian cheese blend, parmesan cheese and a couple of cups of fresh crab meat. My joy is in the anticipation of sharing it in about 15 minutes.

My interactions with my classmates didn’t make me want to go home and cry about how lonely I am here. Sometimes, just surviving is a source of joy.

Well I had a lovely time with my husband when we woke up this morning and then our dogs came bounding onto the bed and gave us big cuddles. That’s always a great way to start the day.

Ranch is buttoned down for the night and I got my wonderful cool shower. Now I am in- joying a Long Board ale and about to go sit on the veranda and watch that super moon rise over the treeline. :-)

I was able to trade my family’s only cow for a handful of don’t tell anyone magic beans.

I got the job!

Heard on the radio today:

Something needs to be done about Mumford and Sons. I mean, some mods need to just come in on their mopeds and kick the shit out of them.

I lol’ed.

I paid some bills.

@dappled_leaves “About Time” is a wonderful little movie, I agree.

No joy, but my sister gave me comfort when it was most needed.

@Dutchess_III I broke my toe by trying to move a heavy ladder. I dropped it at exactly the wrong moment, and it badly bruised one foot while cracking the little toe on the other foot. The doc thinks the crack goes into a joint, and doesn’t want me to put ANY weight on it.

The good news is my feet don’t hurt at all, and that doesn’t make any sense. My knees, shoulders and hands do hurt however, because they aren’t used to carrying my weight, and they also now are bruised. I have been alternating between using a walker, hopping and crawling on my hands and knees, or scooting on my bottom. Getting up from the floor is the hardest.

All that isn’t so much fun, but stuff like this takes pure talent, and I challenge you all to do it better! It is utterly ridiculous how I managed to hurt myself in the first place, and I’m enjoying all the jokes.

Finally finished my experimental exams and got some money for taking them :)

Wake up blow job, stunning, simply stunning.

Hit a new deadlift PR yesterday. Single rep, 180 lbs, 1.44x my bodyweight.

Dropped some water weight I was holding for two weeks. Back in the 125–126 lb range. Woot!

Took measurements – another half inch gone from my waist (now 26”, down from 28.5”) and quarter inch from my thigh from last month.

Took and proudly posted five month progress pictures to Instagram. Particularly stoked about my back and arm progress. Yay for lifting heavy!

Also, it’s my monthly fattycake weekend, meaning I’m about to eat all the fooooodz! :)

@Adagio And it is basically about the subject of this question. :)

Well, I didn’t wake with quite the joy of some, but there is a cold pinch to the air today. I feel invigorated.

I am about to slice a couple of amazingly perfect avocados I have been waiting on and have them with some locally baked artisan french bread, caraway havarti cheese and plums. I am salivating writing this. haha

I survived the arthroscopic surgery yesterday to remove scar tissue from my knee replacement. The surgeon gave me a parting gift of a shot of novocaine so it didn’t start to hurt until midday today.

Pre-surgery he came out with his iPhone and asked me to bend the knee. He took a video (with a sound track) of the clunk the scar tissue was causing plus the audible noise it was making. He asked me to demonstrate a second time. I said that I might break his knee caps at that point. I now also have photos of the surgery itself, taken through the teeny holes he drilled into the sides of my knee. Before and after shots. If anyone is interested, please send SASE envelop.

No thanks, dearie!

Ars gratia artis?

Speaking of which, I just e-mailed you my latest painting.

@Coloma How delicious, just what I would love to be devouring, lucky you.

I heard the geat horned owls that are living on our property. It’s been a month since I heard them last. It was a nice surprise.

I also have frogs on my windows. I love this time of year.

Don’t rush me. I’m thinking.

Had a delicious cheese fondue supper last night after see a good production of Moliere’s “The School for Wives.” And did I mention the chocolate fondue too?

My dog is insane about food. The vet gave me some very bitter pills that she’s supposed to get twice a day. Even if I neglect to enrobe them in peanut butter she is extatic about me shoving them down her throat.

Today after getting her pill she was so excited, about the next “treat”, she was shaking all over- even her lower jaw was trembling. She makes me laugh all the time.

Still thinking.

@Here2_4 Oh c’mon. Hasn’t Fluther brought you joy today? :-)

This and this and this and this and this and this and this and this :D

OK, so it was yesterday, but we’ll call it today!

I am able to stroll around outside fairly comfortably for 10 minute intervals. I will be able to shower tomorrow and drive on Wed. Vicodin is just an unpleasant memory. (How people choose to use it recreationally is a mystery.)

The eastern Kingbird sat on my deck railing and then darted out to catch an insect.

The red-tails are soaring on the thermals.

@gailcalled Sounding good!

And for me, my son wrote and told me that the article about the latest new dinosaur discovered – Spinosaurus – is Jake’s favorite dinosaur now. Guess I’ll be painting a Spinosaurus soon!

I experienced clarity of thought on something that had been causing some stress recently. Everything feels a little lighter this morning. Letting go of things feels really good.

Ugh….nothing, yet.
Woke to a living hell of smoke from 2 raging wildfires surrounding this area. It was all I could do to get out and tend to the horses and set the ducks and geese up with their pools for the day. The only joy in the moment is being sequestered indoors with the AC on while the fires rage around me. I am out of wine too…bah humbug! lol

@janbb: Many possibilities of both verbal and pictorial puns around spines…back bones, vertebrae, and posture.

@gailcalled Spinosaurus actually swims!

@Coloma Good luck to you and the livestock!

Here’s Dreadnuaghtus the first new dinosaur discovery I sent to Jake and here’s spinosaurus. I love it that new dinosaurs are still being discovered and that I am learning about them because of Jake’s interest..

I don’t know if it counts as joy, but I’m pretty excited to learn about a new dinosaur. The biggest carnivorous dinosaur—bigger than T-Rex!

Rad.
Thanks, @janbb!

Edit: Dreadnaughtus; I spelled it wrong.

Dreadnaughtus is the biggest dinosaur ever found and it is a plant eater. As big as 12 elephants and 7 T-Rexes I think I read. Its neck was 37 feet long! It had to eat constantly to get enough food. It is so exciting.

Smokes lifting a little now, ugh…sheer misery, maybe it will dissipate more as the day goes on.

@janbb Thanks! Ick!

Ummm…. thinking….

@janbb; It also weighed apparently as much as eight school buses. One big guy. And it seems to be “Dreadnoughtus.” Some funny possibilities, including 12 elephants, 7 T-Rexes and 8 school buses in the same drawing. Do they have yellow school buses in Paris?

Or all of those inside the dino? And no, no schoolbuses that I have seen. There parents walk the little ones to school and they or a sitter picks them up.

Does anyone else think this dinosaur name sounds like a spell from a Harry Potter book?

Dreadn[a]ughtus valoirius!

Dreadnought comes from “fear nothing” and was also used as the name of a type of battle ship bu itdoes sound like a Hogwart curse.

I’m sure the Brits just call it “Dreadnowtus”.

@janbb I’m guessing you’ve already seen the film Moliere, but if not I thoroughly recommend you do.

Chocolate covered raisins!

^ oh… I wish. I love chocolate covered coffee beans too.

Woke to a much cooler morning/day and no smoke! A good start for some thanksgiving.

@Coloma: That is really wonderful news.

I had my first post-surgery shower this morning, wrapped in a plastic bag and duct tape. I needed a surgeon to remove that after the shower.

I am now feeling well enough to be able to think about something other than me for part of the day, which is a relief.

Milo here, “And a fuckin’ relief to me too! Zheesh!”

^^^^ You two! LOL

Man. We have the BEST bed in the world. It’s a heated, king-sized waterbed with a quilted mattress. On top of that we have a feather mattress. I have a sleeping bag that I use as a comforter. Talk about soft and cozy.
We also have an attic fan. This morning it was pulling this cool, cool breeze through the window over my head. I just burrowed down in the softness and decided simply to not get out of bed today. Hey, when I make a decision I stick with it!

But then some lady brought a baby over and stuck her in bed with me.

So Zoey finally got to experience the magic of Gramma’s Feather Waterbed! 9 feet high and 6 feet wide, soft as a downy chick. It could hold eight kids and four hound dogs…Ok 8 kids and one hound dog and a cat.

At first she just laid there, examining this new sensation. Then she and I just played peek-a- boo and scrambled around under the blankets for 15 minutes.
Then Zo’s got out from under the covers and crawled to the middle of the bed and laid down. Her feet were facing the window. She had on this darling little blue dress and the air was turning it into a parachute, so I covered her up with the downy sleeping bag I use for a comforter. She just laid there and laid there. I got up, got some coffee and checked on her. She just laid there. I don’t think she was even asleep, just laying there.
Rick walked in and said, “What are you doing!”
And she just laid there.
She must have laid there for 20 minutes! Then she got up and I fed her clam chowder and she just scarfed it.

No wonder she loves coming to grammas!

Got some lovely feedback on some work I’ve done from an external source.

And two people have commented on how lovely my hair is.

Happy Days!

My husband told me my face is nice to look at. Not sure how to respond to that! I mean, just before that he told me I looked like George Washington. Confusion reigns!

The little one’s fever broke. Took him for a stroll along the water to get some fresh air. Now he’s snoring away in his stroller next to me while I’m sitting on the beach. It’s September and the weather is still beautiful. The warm sun on my face after several sleepless nights is kind of amazing.

^^^Nice image. :D

Penguins! Penguins bring me joy! Especially the Janbb one. I knew if I thought long enough, it would come to me.

And @Here2_4 s bring me joy! MWAH! (Slaps her face with a flipper!)

My day is almost done and what a whopper of a day it was. I am so damn exhausted it is taking every ounce of energy I have left to get to the shower and have a bite of dinner.
Joy? The joy of the end of the day that never ends. lol

The morning after my first post-op PT session, most of my discomfort is caused by old-fashioned normal Charlie horses.

(Spotted a new weird adjective…“expensive-ish,” and “basically actually” misused back-to-back in a sentence. All that was missing to make it perfect was “basically actually literally.”)

My friend, the eastern kingbird, is back on my deck railing. Two dozen turkeys bobbing around in the lower field along with a few deer, eating something with relish.

@gailcalled I hate it when people misuse “basically actually”. People should always use it properly.

Glad to hear you’re healing well!

Yock.There must be at least one circumstance when “basically literally” would work, but damned if I can think of it now.

Sitting on the bog sprawling porch here this morning with my coffee and watching a Covey of California Quail skittering up the long driveway into the pasture across from the porch and 3 Bluebirds all sitting on a Bluebird box by the garden. I wonder if they are a little family from this spring come home to roost.

@Coloma “The bog” is a slang word in England for toilet so I thought you were going somewhere else with that post. lol

@Coloma; California quail with their little tear drop boggles nodding back and forth. It is a particularly endearing little bird. Speaking of which, do you have javelinas in that area? They are pretty cute also.

@gailcalled Yes, I love the little bobbling quail! :-)
No Javalinas that I know of but there are wild boars in the some areas and the coastal range around Napa/Sonoma here.

@janbb LOL yep, there’s a bog toilet of the veranda here so you don’t have to go in the house when your drinking wine and porch sitting. haha

I HAVE NOT BEEN SEXUALLY HARASSED TODAY!!! Or yesterday for that matter. Or in a long time, actually. YAY!!!!

Fever’s back. But little man is in a good mood. On the sofa shaking his little booty to his favourite song (Meghan Trainor All About That Bass)
Only wearing his diaper and a pair of checkerboard Vans.

“Sitting on the bog…” Janbb, your reference made me laugh! Ha ha! That made joy in MY day!

@Dutchess_III Me neither. I must be getting old.

My very good dog spent three hours home alone…with a cheese sandwich sitting on the floor! I found her with her nose ten inches from the plate, half-asleep. Gave her the sandwich. She deserved it.

Good dog!

Well…todays joy was seeing, for the 1st time in 23 years in these hills, a newborn Pacific Diamondback Rattlesnake. Precious little viper he was, all coiled up, the size of a Nickel, maaaybe 2.5 inches long. Sadly, he was on the patio and the chickens were running around so did away with him. I felt terrible, but, can;t have little vipers near the animal houses.

Now we are wondering where mama snake is and how many more little vipers are skittering around. This is birthing season, August through Oct. and there could be another dozen or more infants lurking nearby depending on where they were born and how far a 2 inch snake can travel. haha

They finally pulled the stent last night and I just got back to my delightful little room at the hotel in Camaguey. I’ll have breakfast with the wonderful family who run this hotel and who have more or less adopted me; have a long heartfelt goodbye; and be on my way to Havana by 1pm. I should be safely offshore and on a westerly heading toward the Yucatan by the time the stars come out tomorrow, the 19th. Bloody hell, this has been one strange, unforgettable trip.

I hope your luck is as good as mine in recent days, Coloma. I see those fires are just a couple of miles up 50 from Placerville. Be smart, and be safe.

@Espiritus_Corvus Likewise sailor. :-)

Todays joy, first, finishing off the leftovers from my pre-Thanksgiving feast I prepared last night for my friends and I that got in from 10 days in Hawaii yesterday morning.
We had roast chicken, corn, fresh pea pods, stuffing, grilled red potatoes and pecan pie! They loved it so much they are already having leftovers for breakfast here at the ranch.

We are all whopped, and slept in til a decadent gasp! 9 a.m.!
The horses were calling for breakfast, poor starving babies. haha
The 2nd joy after waking to another miserable smokey morning from the King fire here, is that they arrested a local guy and are holding him on a 10 million dollar bail.
He has several other felony convictions on unrelated charges and I’ll tell you what, if I had my way I’d string that guy up on the nearest tree and lynch his ass.

At least he is behind bars while half the Sierras are on fire. Gah!

So, took off about 11:00 to go to the store. I actually turned the wrong way because I forgot I needed to go to the bank first. So I turned on 14th to circle around. There I saw a Durango coming towards me. Recognized it as Chris’, so I stopped, he stopped, and we rolled down our windows. A chorus of “GRAMMA!!!” from the back seat. :D :D :D :D :D :D. That word always brings me joy.
I said, “Where ya goin’?”
“To your house,” Chris said. “Where you goin’?”
“To my house,” I said.

2 Nutbush City Limits later, 1 Wild Wild West, 1 Puff the Magic Dragon, 1 Frozen, and 1 Going Down (Monkees) songs later, and after the RV had been thoroughly explored AGAIN by the two oldest kids, and Zoey practiced sitting on tables…. NOW I’m going to the store. Have a family reunion to cook for. Like I need another one.

It is a source of joy that I am finally on my way back to the boat and back to the Yucatan. But first I must navigate the vagaries of the Cuban rail system.

I caught the Santiago-Havana “Express” out of Camaguey today at around 2:30pm. I meant to take the 1pm regular from Camaguey to Havana, but it never showed. So, I caught the Santiago train, which was 17 hours late. It arrived just in time for me, though. The Havana Express, which travels the length of Cuba, with minimum stops in between, is advertised as taking about 6 hours to travel the 250 miles from Camaguey to Havana, with stops in Santa Clara and Matanzas, a city just southeast of Havana.

But, the Santiago to Havana Express was unable to continue after stopping at Santa Clara, so I will sit here in the railroad station and hope that my original train, the Camaguey to Havana, will stop here sometime tonight and take me the rest of the way. It all works out though as I was to meet Mike here, when he disembarked from his train from Cienfuegos, a city to the west of here.

But as my train never showed, his didn’t either, but hopefully the train that he did take will arrive here in Santa Clara before the Camaguey to Havana will arrive, and we can ride together to Havana and then take a taxi to the boat as originally planned. We’ll see. You have to take these things in stride. It’s part of the charm.

So, I’m here in the Estacion Centrale Santa Clara; a pretty little station with ornate, old, woodwork kept in high polish; high, arched ceilings; brightly colored tile murals depicting peasant rebellions against the imperialism of 19th century Spanish Empire, and the American imperialism of the 20th century—with special attention to the Revolution of 1959 and the great economic, industrial, and social successes under the regime of Señor Castro.

Amazingly, they have wifi here in the station, a novel inovation, something new to Cuba, put in place for the many European and Canadian tourists who come here for the sun. There is a friendly abuelita on her stool in a corner of the main salon selling fresh flowers and a man in a stall selling bananas and small cups of Cuban espresso. There is a restaurant, but it closed at 7:30pm.

There are tired looking travelers, mostly Cuban workers and a few officials in suits and ties, and one or two casually dressed young foreigners busy with their tablets and laptops. Smart phones won’t work here. Maybe next year.

Mr. Castro has received 150 million dollars from his Chinese brothers to upgrade these railroad lines, and he has bought recently retired rolling stock from the French, who are upgrading their system to high-speed rail, but his roads can’t handle them safely yet, so the Cuban people must wait some more. The present trains cannot travel faster than 25 mph safely, but the new, old French rolling stock, including luxury passenger cars from the Orient Express used in the London to Paris run, are promised to go 40 mph when the tracks are up to speed.

So, I’m sitting here, pounding away at the keyboard, looking around me at these people with all the regular human commonalities, but with a history and culture and life experience so different than ours, and I am happy. This isn’t a train station on Long Island full of busy, ambivalent commuters. This is a train station in a society frozen in the 1950s and it is so much more charming, so much more interesting. It’s life in slow motion. The abuelita smiles at me from across the salon. The man in stall that looks like the kind of wooden box a grand piano might be shipped in looks at me expectantly—me the weary traveler might need some of his coffee to get through the night as I wait for a train, any train, to Havana. He’s right. And what the hell, why leave my abuelita out? They are the only business people left here.

So, I bought a beautiful bouquet of yellow, blue, and red flowers, with a white spray, from her. And what a gentle soul she seems as she whispered her gracias to me with a warm, toothless, octogenarian smile. Two dollars in Convertable Pesos ($2.00 CP = $2.00 US dollars) got me all that. The man with the coffee served it to me with the confident smile of a merchant who is sure of our continued business relationship, at least through this night.

A man in a State Rail uniform came over and informed me that the Camaguey train will be coming at around 1am, with the caveat that things could change, but right now, it’s One O’clock. He offered to buy me a cup of espresso, compliments of the railroad. I took him up on it. Then he went back into the office.

So, here I am. I might make it back to the boat sometime tomorrow. Who knows. It really doesn’t matter, I won’t be sailing out immediately anyway. I have to get some sleep before I do that. And there is some really nasty weather arriving from the north which I’m not crazy about sailing in. So, maybe Mike and I will take another day or two before we sail.

There are some things we should stock up on, such as Cohiba El Jefe’s; the cigar designed personally for Comrade Castro in celebration of his victory in Havana over the American-backed dictator Batista on New Year‘s Day, 1959, and the cigar he has smoked exclusively over these long years since. It is precisely the same blend and circumfrance of Winston Churchill’s personal Cohiba stock, but with one significant difference: it is exactly one inch longer. And we need a couple of cases of that excellent Cuban dark rum, the premium Añejo of the old days; smoothe and powerful, with a slight coffee-bean finish. These are things that it is agreed worldwide that are best of their kind, even among those who don’t partake. They are valuable in other places, and keeping with the traditons of the sea, it would be grossly negligent of me not to take a certain quantity aboard for future trade.

I also want to visit Hemingway’s home, La Finca Vigia (The Lookout Farm) from 1939 to 1960, in the Havana suburb of San Francisco de Paula, southeast of the city. It’s a museum now, and has some of his personal library and notes. It’s a pretty villa overlooking Havana and said to be kept the same as it was when he lived there, the same furniture, many of the same books on the shelves. Here he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. He also received the Nobel prize in literature when he lived here.

But overall, he considered his time at Finca Vigia unproductive years. Here he grew old, gained weight, his body and mind began to succumb to the effects of decades of heavy drinking, diabetes, a series of injuries due to car accidents and plane crashes over the decades, and finally crippling depression and paranoia. It was soon after leaving this place for Ketchum, Idaho that he committed suicide. But what I really want to see is his 38-foot fisherman/cabin cruiser Pilar which the Cuban government has recently restored. It’s kept in a separate building next to the house. If there were any good times while he was living those years in Cuba, it was aboard this boat.

These errands should only take a couple of days and the weather should have cleared by then. We’ll probably sail sometime Monday.

Miracle of Miracles, the Camaguey to Havana train—the train I was originally supposed to catch at 1 pm yesterday afternoon in Camaguey—is pulling into the station. Only eleven hours late.

@Espiritus_Corvus Great writing. You make me feel I am there.

I enjoyed some time with dear friends today.

Fresh baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast, otherwise, still in a living hell from the King fire here that is continuing to rage, growing and suffocating everything under a thick blanket of smoke. We had to tie wet bandanas around our faces to go out and feed the horses this morning. Sheer hell on earth and homes lost now too.
A day inside, keeping all the animals in their barns for the day, slight relief for them.

Up in smoke. :-(

Painting another dinosaur for Jake. (Technical hint: You need a really big ladder!)

Seeing Fluther finally rid of its errors and back to the normal state again.

Mm, sweet and goopy!

Learning that the French for window shopping is les lèche-vitrines, translated as window- licking.

To go window-shopping;

Faire du lèche-vitrines.

(@SavoirFaire; This one’s for you, chér.)

…and hoping that @Espiritus_Corvus is no longer sitting in the Santa Clara railway station.

@gailcalled That is funny as hell! God, the French…. and their LLLLLLLLLLingua Franca. The food, the French kiss… and the other thing. It’s always the tongue, isn’t it? Très approprié.

All is well. I will be sleeping aboard the boat tonight, and PMing you in the morning

Good news. I had a vision of you sitting on a bench in the Santa Clara station forever, caught in an existential Moebius loop.

Ragingloli showed me a funny picture of a cat today. It made me laugh.

It was muggy today, so I turned on the water sprinkler, and dared to dash through it. Don’t tell my kids. I would never hear the end of it.

My daughter turns five today! I snuck in a kiss after midnight while she was sleeping. I got the first five-year-old kiss! :D

That sure takes me back!

Last night, when a delightful thunderstorm came accross these hills and I sat in the rain for a blissful 10 minutes around 9:30 p.m. The King fire still rages about 23 miles from me now but maybe we will get a little help from mother nature and some T-storms. Nobody knows if the weather might help or hinder the situation right now. Wind and lightening strikes bad, cooler temps. and light rain good.

What has brought me joy today is that I was able to sleep in and I don’t have a dang thing planned for today! Except to make some biscuits.

New(er) jelly @Here2_4. She has some of the best answers! Funny or insightful…what a joy.
I hope she sticks around long enough to plan a Mansion lawn party.

Knowing I don’t have to go out today as the King fire here in CA. rages on about 23 miles from me. It is only 35% contained today on day 10 and has the potential of losing all progress and growing again as the heat and winds pick up today.
The smoke is so bad we only have about a ¾ mile visability this morning. We all just suited up with wet bandanas tied around our faces to go down to the barn and feed the horses.

All the animals are being kept in their barns and stalls and we are worried about the birds, their barn is fairly smoke free and staying cool but birds are much more sensitive than the larger animals. it is a living hell out there.

In the morning I put up three new shelves in the kitchen and in the afternoon I watched Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final role.

@flutherother: just FYI, check for him on IMDB, there is at least one, maybe two of his not released yet, good news if you’re a fan. :-)

I stand corrected. He was great in ‘A Most Wanted Man’ which I saw today but he didn’t look like a well man in the film. Well worth seeing though.

My intent wasn’t to correct, but to helpfully inform. More to look forward to.

I visited Columbia, Missouri today and I had food adventure and junk shopping.

I stopped at a place called Lucky’s Market, and it was better than Whole Foods to me. One side is all ‘healthier’ food lacking Gluten, meat, pesticides, etc., with a nice bakery, deli, salad bar and pizza. The other side was liquor. 100’s of kinds of beer, possibly 1000’s of kinds of wine and a big hard liquor selection. I called my beer drinker buddy, but, alas she didn’t want any so I left. (It was too early in the day to buy food and I wasn’t interested in the alcohol but for the astounding variety.

Shortly after, I ran into a restaurant with “Olive” in the name, authentic “H_____” (nothing that rings any bells with me) food”. So, of course, I whip in and there is Mid Eastern writing on the window. (Ooooh!) I go in and it’s Arabic. Small place with a little buffet. I wasn’t actually hungry, so I got a go box for buffet, filling it with the non-meat items that looked enticing. The baba ghanoush (Finally, I get to try the real deal!) was terrific! I’ve never had better hummus, and I’ve tried a LOT. Dolmas were better than I have had in the past (and I like them). I might have had falafel that suited my taste better, there’s nothing to say that it was as authentic. Roasted zucchini was so-so, the eggplant better. I’ve never seen a bunch of people more eager to please! Everyone was Arabic but one perky little blonde girl. I hope they’re still there when I get back.

Hopefully the detractors have given up by now, and someone is following my narrative. Not only is S/O not home, but today would not be of interest, so I’m sharing with Fluther Friends. I’m not normally so long.

So, after adventures in following stranger’s directions to re-sale shops (details skipped, praise the gourd), I went back to “Lucky’s Market”: Veggie bratwurst, shrimp spring roll, avocado & cilantro hummus, 3 ‘stuffed’ croissants, and a selection from the salad bar. Marinated tofu was excellent, best of the bunch.

Simple question, narrative answer.
Just be glad I hold the verbosity in check, most of the time.

I had a GREAT day.

@ibstubro I word with the “H” is “Halal” which means food cooked according to Muslim dictates. It’s kind of like what Kosher means to Jews.

Yup, that’s it, @janbb. There must be a sizable Muslim population in that area of Columbia, as I saw a number of women in traditional dress. I just wish I had been hungry, dammit.

Lucky’s Market is a chain, and I highly recommend.

Zoey. Zoey brings me joy. Except when she decides to scream. Lord, that child could drown out a jet engine.

I figured out how to go out the door, down two steps, and load the wheel chair in the car all by myself. The last part is a bit tricky standing on one foot, but I did it. This means if I can figure out how to stabilize myself while loading the wheel chair, I’m mobile, and not dependent on other people to get me around.

A bit of relief from the hellhole out west here in the Sierras where the King fire rages on at over 90,000 acres now on day 11. Burning about 23 miles from me here.
SW winds are blowing the horrible smoke away from us this afternoon and while the fire rages on we can breathe again. A beautiful breezy day and the ducks and geese are enjoying a lovely pool side party and the horses have been turned out to graze with the donkeys for the first time in days.

Sadly these winds are fueling the fire but some rain predicted tomorrow, in the moment precious relief and fall is finally in the air.

Laughing at all the silly squabbling that Jellies do.

Watching my daughter play flag football.

Old friends, new friends, and some funny pictures.

Today my surgeon, on day 10 post-arthroscopic surgery, gave me the green light to start to live my life again. He cancelled the rest of my physical therapy, stopped the daily enteric aspirin and gave me a hard copy of the photographs of the surgery, taken inside two slits the size of an enfant’s thumb nail.

His instructions were to bend the knee up and down while I watch TV or sit in a movie and jump-start my walking program. 15 minutes tomorrow even though it aches. Aching is good. 20 minutes next week is even better. A year and a day since the original total knee replacement… 366 days where all I thought about was my knee. Day 367 will be a new beginning.

Rain, rain, RAIN!!!!
A nice little gully washer this morning, maybe drop a half inch or so on the fire zone. It is truly a JOYFUL morning! I just came in from porch sitting with my coffee as the rain comes down. :-D

I am so glad for you, and others. I hope it gives the firefighters the advantage they need to stop that awful fire.

@Here2_4 Thank You, yes, it has been a living hell over here, so sad. :-(

@Coloma Yay. I hope it truly quenches things. Horrible.

I went into the podiatrist’s office in a wheel chair and walked out pushing it! Yaaaay!

I am so happy for you! Now you don’t have to try to read Fluther with mirrors!

^^ LOL!

A telephone call from far away.

—_—_— I’m out of breath. I ran all the way here from Rosh Hashana. I got to see another cool kitty picture today. Milo is celebrating Rosh Hashana in style with a very festive looking yarmulke. I am so pleased I was included. Now I will run to the question about strenuous activity and add a remark about all this running from one question to another.—_—_—_—_

A tree frog attached to the outside of my front window.
It’s the little things I get a kick out of.

I set sail this afternoon out of Havana for Cabo San Antonio, port Los Morros, our original port of entry into Cuban waters where I left some bang sticks and a couple of guns in the safe keeping of the Cuban authorities there. Contraband that will be returned upon my presentation of receipts and cancellation of my cruising permit and visa. We should clear that station by tomorrow afternoon in good stead with the officials and be well on our way to Cancun by sunset.

The moon set already and the lights of Havana are behind us. We will be sailing a black void tonight except for a ceiling of a billion stars and the bright blue bioflourescent wake we leave behind. Right now the skies are clear and it is beautiful, and quiet. It’s a comfortable 80F with just enough breeze to blow off the humidity and get us some headway.

Bloody hell it’s nice to feel the roll of the sea beneath me again! Adiós y buena suerte, mis amigos. Adiós Cuba, por ahora .

And just to cover all the bases, L’shanah Tovah to all.

Fair winds, sweetie. You had quite a time there.

I just read this and cannot help but feel some pleasure. I rarely wish people il,l but he’s an exception. The punishment fits the crime. Source

”“Kim Jong-un is suffering from gout, which is why he is limping on both legs. I understand that he is suffering from gout along with hyperuricemia, hyperlipidemia, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure,” a source familiar with North Korean affairs told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The King fire here is now about 45–50% “contained” from yesterdays delicious rainstorm and possibly more shower and T-storms later today and tomorrow.
A gorgeous, smoke free, clear and crisp morning.
Joy to my world!

I get to see the twins today!

Correction: ‘They” are saying 68% this morning now. :-D

@gailcalled Oh, ho, ho, ho! Do I know what that sonovabitch is going through! Couldn’t happen to a more conscientious and generous leader. A true man of the people.~

I hope he runs out of Colchicine and Allopurinol, like his people run out of rice and wheat every winter.

@Espiritus_Corvus @gailcalled I heard it was due to his bingeing on emmental cheese.

Sitting by the ocean after coming back from an overnight in NYC.

(Emmental, the famous North Korean cheese. “Veronique Drouet, director of the National Dairy Industry College in France, confirmed earlier this year Kim Jong Un attempted to have envoys enrolled in cheese-making courses so he could have his Emmental made locally, but the request was denied.”)

Source

Emmental, my dear Watson.

maybe you should have let pachy take the pun @janbb

pachy take the pun. I will take the cake.

Cheesus Christ!

Cheese and rice, you mean. Wait…what thread is this? Oh joy.

These two awful pictures I took just moments ago!
Savannah was being stern cuz I was using the flash and she got lasered in the eye, and Kale is staring intently at a video of himself taken just yesterday doing somersaults for the first time! :D I had my arms full of one baby or the other and it was hard to take a pic.

I’m not surprised. You’d expect someone who is crackers would like cheese.

Take me to your Liederkranz!

There has been an explosion at North Korea’s nuclear weapons facility. All that is left is de Brie.

Fucking puns. You people should all know cheddar than to act like this.

Havarti pity on me!

Plead away. I will do you no gouda.

Are we stilton doing this?

I think you already bleu it.

I can keep making puns from now to Wensleydale.

The fire here is now contained at 78% thanks to more night time rain and T-storms that will continue today. Another glorious morning, cool, moist, beautiful clouds shrouding the mountains.
Yay, yay, yay, almost burned out, so is every other human and creature in these hills. haha

ragingloli shared adorable kitten pictures with me again, first thing this morning. They were so cute, and it gave my day just the right kind of start.

Somehow ”@ragingloli” and “adorable kitten pictures” don’t occupy the same universe in my mind.

increased walk to 22 minutes. Foliage is beginning to peak. The swamp maples are aflame.

♪ ♫@ragingloli and @Here2_4 sittin’ in a tree. K I S S I N G…♪♫

Well said @janbb

A talk with my son.

http://www.catgifpage.com/

That’s what they sent. How cute, right?
Thanks, ragingloli.

Learning the hell out of Adobe Fireworks.

People actually open links from Loli?! ~

Usually links from Raggy are…inappropriate, to say the least!

Wow.

We left Cuba fat with cargo at 4pm Friday for 150 mile crossing of the Yucatan Straits, west for Cancún. By 8pm, we were making 12kts under clear skies, pushed by a nice wind out of the ENE. The moon had set early again and it we were surrounded in blackness. Mike took the wheel and I got my mat and moved up to the bow for the night, and we surged forward into the darkness on a long, slow swell going our way under a dome of shattered glass. The roll was perfectly in time with the rise and fall of the score from Out of Africa we had on the deck sound system. I felt like Edmund Tyrone in his monologue in Long Day’s Journey into Night when he talks about laying in the nets on the bowsprit of a square-rigger, his old hooker, driving fourteen knots for Buenos Ares, looking up at the sails and the skies and feeling at one with it all. We are so small in this world…

At medionoche (one of my favorite Spanish words), I awoke to Mike calling me from the stern. One of those late summer squalls had popped up and we were heading right into it. We spent the rest of the night fighting the devil, heavy seas, reefed sails, fickle gusts, wet deck, backwash and nasty broadsides. A fifteen hour pleasure cruise turned into a 27 hour barroom brawl with an angry sea in a recalcitrant vessel; a tough, but genteel lady who doesn’t like the idea of being reduced to a beast of burden. By early morning it had broken up and we were riding chop toward a long strip of green on the horizon we supposed was Punta Nizuc just south of Cancún. At our stern, were the red, angry skies of future bad weather.

Getting through Customs was a breeze, disculpen el juego de palabras (or something like that). They knew us from the last time we came through a couple of months ago and simply re-stamped our cruising, diving, and fishing permits along with our visas. We were exhausted and decided to take a taxi to one of the best hotels in town. Hopefully we could get off-season prices.

I love these resorts in the off-season, when the harbors are free of jet skis, those mechanical gnats driven by tourists unfamiliar with watercraft of any kind, with no water etiquette and too many margaritas; who often find out the hard way that the damn things have no brakes. There are few crowds to struggle through to get from points A to B. The service staff in restaurants and the hotels seem genuinely glad to see you. Nice.

So, this is pure joy. A king size bed facing a wall of glass with a nearly 180° view of a white, sandy beach, an old wooden dock to the left and, beyond all of it, an amazingly blue Yucatan Strait below and even bluer sky filled with little white, puffy clouds. The motto of this hotel is “Mexican spirit, with a Mayan soul”. I don’t know about that, but the food is fucking excellent. But I really can’t afford this. I’ll have to trade down this afternoon, before I end up washing sheets down in the hotel basement. But this is such a great place with such a great kitchen so… I’m ringing room service just one more time and ordering the biggest goddamned assortment of Mexican appetizers known to man.

Nice to read that the Old Man is back at sea.

Making my incredible pepper steak sandwiches. Soooo good!

25 minute walk. I saw six accidental tomato plants growing against the guard rail over a bridge above our little creek. Four of the plants had yellow blossoms, meaning incipient tomatoes, if the weather remains warm. So much for laboring over planned gardens with fabulous improved soil

I was chatting with a small black woman (total stranger) at the thrift store today. “Kids today!” kind of chat. When I got to the checkout she was ahead of me and bought a clothes basket and enough junk to fill it. Heavy stuff. I hurriedly paid for for my single notebook, handed it to her and said, “Here, I have to go out the same way you do, you carry mine and I’ll carry yours.” “Why thank your! I across the street.” “Perfect! I’m across the street too.”

Thrift store number 2, I see a college-age boy buy an old, low entertainment center. There were only young girls working, so he asked about a dolly. I walked over and said, “What all did you buy? Just this?” He said “Yeah”. “Oh heck, lets just carry it. I’ll help.” We carried it out and loaded it in his truck.

Off to the grocery. I get in and there are no short carts. I hate the full sided so I walk out to get one. The cart boy is collecting full sized, so I shove the ½ dozen short carts together and push them all in. He thanks me a couple times and I just say, “Pushing in all was the same as pushing in one. Have a good day!” About that time a woman pulls the front short cart off and goes about shopping.

I made my own fun today! :)

@ibstubro That’s a real gift, one I possess as well, gotta make your own fun and engage peeps as you go.

My joy this morning, walking down to feed and turn out the horses on a glorious cool, bright, sunny morning.
I switched the mares around, moving one to the outside paddock/arena to romp and the other was up for the every other day rotation out to the big 7 acre pasture. Oh my, Raye was SO happy, as soon as I slipped her halter off she took off bucking and running and herding the donkeys. haha
Nothing like a beautiful horse in action.

After waking up from her nap, Zoey and I sat on the couch and cuddled. She had her head on my chest and we were both covered by a blanket. It was sweet. We were like that for about 15 minutes. Then a panther attacked her.

Walked 27 minutes. Discovered a new “i.s.h” to add to my list…crazy-ish.

Now, if only someone would oblige me and use selfish-ish .

I had the opportunity to cuddle a Labrador pup today. Enough said.

I was inches from slightly selfishishly grabbing him and running off to Austria.

^^ Why Austria in particular?

^ Closer than Mexico.

@gailcalled Heard the term “surveilling” on NPR. How do you like that?

Zoey blowing spit bubbles.

It’s pretty-ish baddish.

Yeah.

Getting a medal because my 8th grade home room scored the best out of all the 8th grade homerooms on our NeSA testing

What does NESA stand for?

Nevada State Acountability.

meanng?

Today I hit my post-op goal of a 30-minute walk, five days ahead of schedule. I get to keep that as maintenance for a while until swelling and achiness finally disappear and I can bag the daily Motrin. I am feeling happy-ish. My daughter arrives on Friday with her new beau.

^That’s great! But don’t over do it. And when your daughter gets there, let her do things for you. That’s why she is there.

@Here2_4 and I have just helped someone with a certain problem via the chatroom. We have lifted that person’s mood a lot! I like it when I’m able to help someone.

I got a massage, a haircut AND..I saved $111.00 on my car insurance by tweaking a couple things that were outdated. Yay!

Surprise! I got to spend the whole day with Chris, Zoey and Onnah!

Now all you need is a Real Job, @Coloma.

@Dutchess_III Haha

Todays joy, the neighbors pretty Angus/Hereford X cow gave birth to a darling little heifer in our pasture this morning. Precious baby, all black with a white star on her forehead and a little white snip on her nose. Fitting seeing as how it is Natl. farm animal day. haha
These cows are never going to be butchered, they are part of a small herd we use to train of cutting show horses with.

All they do is wander around a giant green pasture of grass, studded with shady Oak trees and get herded around by the horses once a week. Happy cow lives. :-)

< resident bug lady here

My daughter lives in Japan, where Gokiburis (Cockroaches) are legendary for their size.

@snowberry’s daughter: I passed a cockroach on the road while walking home. :P He was running in the same direction I was going.

@snowberry: Out for a run maybe? He’s got to stay in shape you know. The problem is he won’t be able to bulk up like we can, because of his exoskeleton!

We had a good long laugh.

Well, yesterday my son came over with his two girls and kidnapped me! Took me to Newton, about 60 miles away. We hung out for the whole day. It was awesome! He’s so much fun to be with. This is an example:

On the way home we were discussing the best place to exit 135. I said, “Southeast Boulevard.”
Chris said, “K15.”
Well, turns out they’re one and the same exit. I just never noticed! Chris said it should properly just be called “K15” because K15 is longer than Southeast Boulevard.
I looked at him and said, “Nuh uh! Southeast Boulevard is like this long,” and I held my two pointer fingers about 8 inches apart. “And K15 is like…” and I closed the gap so it was only about an inch long.

Chris says, “Well, if I spell out fifteen….”
I said, “And Kansas.”
Here are the results:

Southeast Boulevard.
Kansas Highway Number Fifteen.

Chris wins again. Told you he knows everything.

But I don’t get where his crazy way of thinking comes from.

After a very pleasant sail, I arrived in Celestun from Cancun last evening at sunset. I re-licensed the boat under the new name, The Compass Rose after a week-long series of faxes with the State of Florida. A good friend has offered to paint a compass rose as background to the lettering and a spray of Peace roses (Thank you for the suggestion, Gail) under the new name on the transom. It will look very nice. The Peace roses will go nicely with the 1921 Peace dollar that is embedded into the mast, which is the twin to the one stepped under the mast for good luck. Interestingly, both the rose and the coin came about as a worldwide yearning for peace in the terrible denouement after WWI—that moment the world took a look at itself and asked, “What have we done?”

Tomorrow morning, Mike and I, and two paying guests, will make the inaugural sail under the new name to the Flower Garden Banks in the northwest Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles off Galveston, Texas.

The scuba diving there is supposed to be some of the best in the States, believe it or not, even though these incredible living reefs are just a couple hundred miles from the Mississippi River Delta and the megatons of toxic effluent which spews from it. These are unbelievably rich sea mounts, as I described earlier. The depths are anywhere from 60ft—well within the photic zone—to a ball-busting 430ft. They are famous as a major hangout for big things, such as Whale Sharks and Mantas, and interesting small things, like certain crustaceans unique only to these reefs. But just the knowledge that they are still there and still thriving, especially after the widespread oil rig damage and spills in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, brings me joy.

And although these coral reefs are certainly in constant danger from the industrial and residential effluent coming from our rivers, I thought you all, too, would get a little joy out of knowing that the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is not as dead as you may have been led to believe.

@Espiritus_Corvus Those reefs are stunningly beautiful!
Our poor planet, always being raped and pillaged by something. I love sea turtles too, one of my dreams to see them sometime. :-)

Sounds great, Crow!

This didn’t exactly bring me joy, but one of my fb “friends” who tends to pass on all the unsubstantiated BS and rumors, posted one about some teething tablets that supposedly cause the babies to have seizures. BUT when she did, she tagged me and asked me to research it!
It was outdated. (What is so hard about typing in Snopes.com?)

A stellar fall day and I am making a killer harvest veggie soup, freshly baked corn muffins with coconut milk and out farm fresh eggs, annnnnd I just took a delicious home picked blackberry and apple compote off the stove to cool. Now I am going to the deck with my giant glass of wine, before we all dine. haha

There was a very cool rainbow spot in the sky today. Generally bright and sunny, but transposed on a cloud what a spot of rainbow. Mostly yellow and orange, too.

When I walked out of the thrift store, there was a perfect spider wed, lit by the sun to a molten silver.

Two blue herons on the river were mating.

Later there was a small flock of bid beautiful pelicans about the same place on the river.

A great belly laugh when someone spooed on the Ricola commercial, now it is…EEEEBOOOLA. lol

edit…spoofed -

was wondering what “spooed” meant!

@janbb Haha, and I am not having my usual giant glass of wine, a legitimate typo.

I thought ‘spooed’ was when liquid came out your nose while laughing.

Oh, spent the day with my family at the Pumpkin Patch yesterday!
One
Two
Three
four
Five
Six

And yesterday was Zoey’s birthday

Everything!

The first day on the new job went very well. There’s a lot to learn, but I’m still very happy about it!

Right now, 9:37 PDT, having an amazing bowl of home made split pea soup with hot out of the oven, home made garlic croutons after watching the moon rise from the veranda over here. Oh man, bliss out to the 10th power. Nothing like these California nights, dinner at 10. haha

I took a test in world history and I’m feeling pretty good about it. Haha, going out to lunch and then doing some shopping with my friends made me feel a bit better today.

Watching a video of my younger grandson blowing raspberries when his Dad says his name.

Taking my new avatar picture of Marwyn in part of his Halloween costume.
The ranch jester stands on his platform.
He also has a chicken hat to better blend with the hens so he can infiltrate the flock and goose the enemy. lol

Got a job interview tomorrow.

My daughter and her new beau flew in from B.C. on Friday. He is a combination of McDreamy and Mr. Fix-it, charming, low-key, level-headed and comfortable to be with. The three of us established a nice rhythym over the past 5 days. My daughter is now showing him VT. NH, ME, and MA. They’ll be back here in a week. He is eager to see Portland, ME. and the Atlantic coast.

Milo took to him immediately, in spite of having his nails (including the dew claws), snipped when he wasn’t expecting it.

Had an interview today. I thought it went well.

My good friend M. just called and wants to take me on a weekend get away to Lake Tahoe. Sunday ‘til Tues. Only a little over an hour drive from our hills here.
We are getting a lakeside cabin and I am going to just sit on the shore and wiggle my sore feetsies in the sand and drink wine. haha

@Coloma Sounds like jsut what the doctor ordered!

@janbb Yes, freeze my feet in the lake then massage them in the warm sand. :-)

Oh @Coloma! So jealous! And you so deserve it! ♥

Walked 31 minutes…a personal best. Saw a red-tailed hawk and some turkey buzzards squabbling over something. I chose not to investigate more closely.

@gailcalled – Oh! I am so pleased for you! You are making great progress.

I met a man the other day, and we had a nice evening together. Feeling kind of light headed.

@Here2_4 Whoo-ee!

Us middle aged people are easily thrilled these days ey? lol

Fog.
It’s not real common here in the Midwest and we had a good fog (non-hazardous) clear up until nearly noon. Crossing the Mississippi the fog intensified the the color of the fall trees by dampening them, then diffused the scene with wispy whiteness.

The sunset tonight was a Maxfield Parrish extravaganza of orange and pink. Almost surreal abuse of color, more beautiful that anything any human has ever hoped to create.

The NPR pledge drive has ended.

Did you take some photos @ibstubro. The scene sounds beautiful.

I’m sorta anti-photo, @Earthbound_Misfit.

If I could capture the Earth’s majesty, I would die, happily.

The fact that my daughter was diagnosed with a manageable illness and not an inoperable brain tumor or something.

My friends told me what a joy it is having me around and they really want me to stay on here at the ranch while they pursue their car racing this next year, a big circuit all over the place for formula Mazdas and they want me to stay on and manage things while they travel a lot. It’s nice to feel wanted and appreciated. :-)

That I’ve taught Zoey to fake sneeze and fake cough!

Gee, it’s really been almost a year since anyone posted something that has brought them joy today!??!

It’s been a great week-and-a-half for me. Starting my work at school, this was our “Intensive” week, which meant I got to go in and teach all day everyday, helping out the five “rock” bands the students had put together.

Coincidentally, my birthday was celebrated with a simple dinner with my wife, my sister and my daughters.

Then Saturday, my older daughter asked me to come over to her apartment to measure the walls for a murphy bed. However, she was adamant that I wear “nice” clothes rather than raggedy work clothes, because she had some errands to run. So we measured, and then she said she had some errands to run, would I like to ride with her. I said sure, it’s always good to spend time with family. She then said since she had not gotten me a birthday present, she would buy me a craft beer. She pulled into this craft brewery, and ordered me a coffee-and-cream stout, and then she suggested we sit down and have something to eat. I turned away from the bar, and first noticed the food on the table, then the cake with my name on it. Then my wife came out from the hallway, followed by my other daughter, my sister, a friend, another friend, and another friend, and they kept on coming, until there were couple dozen of my closest friends and family!

Needless to say, I was very surprised!

@Yetanotheruser Lovely!

@Yetanotheruser Happy Birthday ya old geezer!
Do you still have the wind to blow out all those candles? lol ;-)

Todays joy, is right now, sitting in a leather recliner with my feetsies up by the french doors to the patio after completing the major morning chore list here at the ranch I am sitting for from the 9th to 19th.
I just had an Odwalla protein shake, a banana and a half of egg salad sandwich to fortify myself for the next few hours.
Gorgeous fall morning, acorns zinging around, sunny, light breeze and a beautiful view here from atop a hill.
I have 4 dogs lying at my feet, 2 border collies, an australian shepherd and a little muttley mutt.

Buried in horses, hay and dogs up to my eyeballs.
“Scout” one of the dogs is my feeding buddy and makes the rounds with me morning and night, running ahead finding big sticks for me to throw and drinking from the horse troughs as I wheel the hay cart along three long rows of paddocks, pristinely fenced with white vinyl fencing and prancing steeds tossing their heads and pawing their mats for that oh so delicious orchard grass and alfalfa hay. Joy to the herd, all the boys and girls, joy to the doggies in the deep gold leaves, joy to you and me. :-P

My daughters came home this weekend. So the joy has been around since Sunday. So lovely to see them and to talk to them about their adventures.

@Yetanotheruser Happy Birthday, my friend. You really must tell us sometime what it was like to study under the personal tutelage of Johann Strauss…... Sr.

I was presented with a fine pup yesterday. He’s strong and hyperactive like all good border collies. He is good natured and curious about everything, and the light of intelligence shines brightly in his eyes. Sam is a bit bewildered, but started to show affection for him within a few hours. Sam is about as old as I in dog years. He is graying at the chin and shows less patience with foolishness. But I think this pup is melting his old, sergeant-major’s heart. He certainly has melted mine.

I’m thinking about naming him Dave, as in Sam & Dave, but we’ll see.

@Espiritus_Corvus Awww…ya ought’a name him “Crow” or “Spirit.” :-)

@Espiritus_Corvus I like Dave for Sam and Dave and also because it’s my son’s name.

I finished what was a monster scan project for me!

The beautiful reds and golds of the turning leaves.

That one of my dog charges here at the ranch has had his rattlesnake vaccine because he got nailed but good, on his hind foot, by a rattle snake tonight while out with me on the evening feeding rounds. “Scout” is resting on doggy morphine at the vets right now and will come home in 24 hours if all goes well. He is such a good boy.

Seeing Loch Lomond after the mist cleared this morning, calm and beautiful as if just created.

Simply that it’s Saturday. Everyone is home. I can do absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about it if I want.

When I look to the West and see the mountains ablaze oops! poor choice of words on fire still not right! bursting with fall colors!

Me.

Crazy wild T-storms during the night with lightening and thunder and waking up to a cool and refreshing morning.

When I saw Jan’s posting of @gailcalled‘s obituary this morning, I went out riding. I thought about how, when I was in my twenties, when someone valuable to me passed away, how futile it all seemed, how useless it was to strive, and work, and go through all the motions of living to only die and eventually be forgotten. All that, just to be turned to dust in the end.

I realized that I haven’t thought that way for a long time. I remembered Gail and all the things she’d done, all the things she accomplished and all the people she touched. And I remembered what is referred today as the Butterfly Effect, how it really works, but it is slow because this is a big, complicated world and you just have to live long enough to actually see the effects. Gail’s passing has reminded me that we all don’t just turn to dust. We really do live on. And that brought me some joy today.

The leaves have turned heart stoppingly beautiful this week after what seemed like it would be a dull foliage season. I kept stopping my car to take pictures today. The colors just take my breath away and taking the time to enjoy nature seems to honor Gail.

Yes, I was just sitting on the expansive porch/deck here watching my happy kitty “Myles” perched on the edge of the big turn around area by the barn here overlooking the pasture full of quail bobbling around. I too thought of Gail and all the fun ramblings we shared about being pioneer women alone in the wilderness. While I have always been gifted with an astute eye for the nuances of nature, today, I am especially extra attuned to the simple pleasures of having eyes to see.

@Espiritus_Corvus We’re taking the horses out in awhile too, happy trails!

My daughter and I took a drive in the country. It’s a beautiful 60 degree sunny day and the leaves are at their peak. We drove by a beautiful blue lake and stopped to take pictures. We also spotted several turkey vultures and a red-tailed hawk. My thoughts were with Gail and it was very peaceful.

Yesterday was the perfect day for a drive. Around 60° and sunny with a light breeze. The sky was a vivid blue and the clouds looked like mounds of whipped cream. Even though I drove over an hour north, I never lost NPR, my favorite companion on a drive.

When I got back in town, I stopped at the market and those 16–20 count Red Australian Shrimp that I’ve had my eye on were on sale, 2 pounds for $16! Monsters.

We’re getting a new horse here a registered 8 yr. old paint gelding named Chex’s Texas Cowboy” ” Frogg” for short. haha
He’s a cutie and hopefully will fit in nicely with the girls.
He’s had 2 test rides and now and is going out on trail Friday, but, pretty sure he’s a sold horse as of today. :-)

I was driving down the highway just before dusk when I glanced up at the sky and back to the road. Immediately I did a double take and it was the most amazing sky!

Medium blue at the horizon then lightening until it was purple then lightening until it was a purplish with huge swirls of pink. Dead center sat a bright white, near-full moon. If I had a picture, you wouldn’t believe it wasn’t photo-shopped!

<———- Here’s “Froggy”, he comes home Saturday and will be given the middle stall in the barn, flanked by the two beautiful women, “Rae” & ” Coolie.” This Frog is a real prince. Our new little spitfire cow pony. Just look at his spunk. haha

I am 99% done with my shelves!! Well…98%. I have a little work to do on the second, more narrow closet and it’s turning into more than I expected of course but with any luck I really should be 100% done tomorrow. I am SO excited! I’ll have my house cleaned and back in order for the first time in MONTHS.

We had severe weather warnings and I was in town to work my booth at the mall. When I got there the owner wanted to to help him take a sign down out front. As we did that the wind started to pick up.
We went inside and the wind really picked up, followed by torrential rain. I heard something and looked out, and there was quarter-sized hail. Didn’t last long, and I went back to work. I looked up and the sun was out. I said “Look, the sun’s out and it’s raining to beat the band. About that time the last drop fell. I looked up and the sky was clear blue, with a few wispy cloud.
I think from wind to blue sky was 30, 40 minutes tops.

Weather smorgasbord! I just gpt a kick out of it.

My ISP gave me 3G free download for Christmas and I’ve been talking advantage of it today.

This just made my day!

If you like it Trudbol has some amazing videos with Julien Neel on there, including where he is his own chorale of either 12 or 16. It just blew me away. I think I I’ve watched 4–6 of his videos. I should be downloading instead of streaming.

A week or so ago I took Cheyenne out for a little night ride under one of the most spectacular moons I’ve seen in ages. It was about 76F, the air was still with a noticeable absence of humidity and filled with the perfume of a tropical forest. I took a trail to the side of a mountain, along the edge of a cliff overlooking a black ocean and strip of white beach. Below was a long line of waves, their crests glowing white against the blackness as they approached shore. Now and then a breaker would explode upon some rocks below. The sky seemed lower than usual, as if you could reach up into the blackness and touch the river of stars above.

Van Morrison’s voice kept running through my head: It’s a marvelous night for a moondance… and I thought of who I would dance with. There’s Kita, the lady with Apache eyes down in the village who is feeling old and tired and thinks she’s no longer attractive. But I think she is beautiful and even more so because she, sadly, can’t see it. She could use a nice, slow dance in this moonlight… and the one up in Celestun on the Yucatan, she could use one, too… or the university librarian up in Jersey who just got back from Paris with poetry in her heart, or the dog trainer in Germany, the horsewoman in the Sierras, Our Ladies of the Antipodes and the especially eloquent one on Auckland, or the one up in Columbus awaiting winter, the Oklahoman with her loving family, or our gracious Mistress of the Mansion—our not-so-hard-riding Texan in her black leather-and-mink bustier and riding crop, or the well-traveled one in Norway, or the One who Seeks, or the smart one in Vietnam who is well on her way to being wise beyond her years . All of them in turn—all of the women in the world should get one dance under this moon because some moments in life scream out to be shared.

And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low

And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Everyone on earth should get a moment like this, in this extraordinary moonlight, under these stars, in this scented air. Everyone at the same time, on the same night. The next day would be a very good one in this world.

Me! Me! Me! I’ll do that moondance! (And write poetry.)

Save the last dance for me and then we will go for a gallop on the beach.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo3JznMhpWc

The first day of my job! I’m going to interpret for a foreigner while the others do business with him. Actually the job only last for 2 days but they promised to pay as much as a teacher’s one month salary.

@Mimishu1995 That’s great!

@Mimishu1995 Fantastic!

Last night I got out a beat-up old git that I bought in a pawn shop the last time I went up to Castries. I put new strings on it and was picking a single-note baseline that turned into a slow version of You are My Sunshine and Dave kinda moseyed up to me to investigate this new thing. I bent the notes some, took it to a kind of drawling-Hank-Williams,-Sr. level, whining “So, puhleeeeeez don’t take my sun shy-yun a-waaaaaaaaaaay!” and Dave let out a wail so sweet and on key it was shocking. The kid can sing. So, Sam got into the act, I pulled out the slide and we did John Lee Hooker’s “I’m Goin’ Down”, then segue’d into “When the Levi Breaks,”—nice and slow and deep and worried like a guy sitting in the 9th Ward waiting for Katrina to come knocking. It was really a sweet moment. Sam added a couple of ruffs between heart-felt howls. Was that impatience, or a little percussion? These dogs, bred in the sheeplands of Yorkshire, have Delta blues in their blood. They are alright.

OK, here’s yer percussion, doggy:

Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down that boogie and play that funky music till you die
Till you die ya,
Oh till you die

Buzzkill. Sam gave me a kind of “fuck you, too” look, then he and Dave went into another room.

Just wait till they get a load of the bluesharp I bought the other day. That’ll bring ‘em back.

@Espiritus_Corvus Music is truly the universal language.

My music students chose Charlie Daniels’ The Devil Went Down to Georgia as one of the songs they want to learn in this class.

@Yetanotheruser Whoa – that’s not an easy one to learn!

@Yetanotheruser Ayaiyai. What’s the school sport there? Neuroscience?

Not only that, they want to do a metal version, a la Adrenaline Mob. We have a really talented guitarist who can probably do a pretty good version of this with a little coaching. We’ve got two drummers who are pretty good, I’ll probably fill in on keys it’ll be a challenge to work the rust out of the old fingers!, the other teacher will play bass, and we have three vocalists who, again with a little coaching I think can handle the harmony in the “Johnny, rosin up your bow…” part. When we get it down, I’ll try to get a video to post to the school website, and I’ll share it here.

The sports here are futbol, basketball, volleyball, and Tai Chi.

No fiddle?

Nope—No fiddle!. The Faustian legend is not instrument specific.

My best friend who wrote me the most wonderful birthday card… a sampling…

So many wonderful memories kept in my heart of you that have made me smile and laugh.
You are truly one of a kind and there should be more like you in this world.
You have touched my life in so many uplifting ways and I am honored to have you as a friend. Your wisdom and knowledge with stay with me always.

Wow…little old me?

Goddamn, Strauss. Les bons temps can’t roo-lay without a fiddle!

@Espiritus_Corvus Our jelly fiddler switched to banjo. But check these bon temps!

It’s my brithday today. I have a cold but I’m really enjoying all the well-wishes and birthday greetings from online and RL friends. I feel like I have so much love in my life.

Still planning to participate in the plans I made – Japanese dinner at my friends’ restaurant with them and a few friends tonight. Then tomorrow, I’m going into NYC with a bunch of my close girlfriends for a museum visit and then afternoon tea at a swanky hotel.

I’ve learned to be the architect of my own life.

Happy Birthday Penguin lady!

Happy Birthday!!!

Yeah, where is that Cajun bastard?

Today I had the pleasure of helping my teenager download a ringtone for the phone we granted gave her for her 16th birthday.

Had the most fantastic birthday weekend ever! Friday night treated to dinner with friends at my friends’ Japanese restaurant, Saturday day in the city with girlfriends including afternoon tea at a hotel. Today, I went to hear friends’ blues band play at a gig then out to lunch with my friend Dan who is their bass player. Couldn’t get any better!

Who’d a thunk I could be so happy!!

@janbb Sounds like a loverly time! Belated b-day wishes!

Not really joy. I found out that my best Fluther friend (and one of my best friends) died recently. He had been my main source of help for my book, and he also promised to find an agent after I finished it. But yesterday when I thought about our memories, I suddenly had an idea to do something in his honor. I have vowed to finish the book and see it published without his help. It further fuels my determination to get back to work.

Wow. When I was substitute teaching full time in Wichita, I kind of adopted a 3rd grade kid out of one of my classes. For the next two years he and his older brother were at my house every other weekend. Then one day, in 1995, they were just gone. I looked every where. I heard a rumor that they had been sent to KC to live with their drug dealer father, but I had no idea how to contact them.. I was heart broken. So were my two youngest kids. Truman and Thurman were like brothers to them.
Yesterday, thanks to the magic of Facebook…...MY DAUGHTER FOUND TRUMAN!!!!! That was one of the best phone calls of my LIFE.

Here are the boys in 1994. From boys to men.
This is Truman today and this is Thurman.

I CAN’T BELIEVE I CAN JUST REACH OUT TO THEM ANY TIME I WANT TO NOW!!!!! It’s really like a dream.

That must feel great @Dutchess_III .

I can’t even explain how elated I am. I was devastated when I lost them. About six months after I met them their aunt moved them from a relatively quiet, low-income neighborhood which was on a cul de sac not far from my house, to a god-awful part of the city, smack in the middle of thug town. I will never understand why she did that. When I couldn’t get a hold of them by phone I took my pretty, white self right into the middle of that part of town, by myself, to knock on their door, although it really scared me to do it.

They were gone.

Two years ago I bought a damned Amaryllis bulb home from a house clean-out. I couldn’t stand to throw it in the trash, and no one else would take it.

The leaves have come and gone, broken and re-grown, and generally taken up about a yard of space in the house that I don’t have to spare. A couple of weeks ago, the leaves were flopping and in the way so I moved the pot. All the leaves ended up broken and laying on the floor. I determined that when it got warm enough, I would take the plant to the thrift store, where they have several not-for-sale houseplants in the front window.

Today it did this.

^In spite of your best efforts to kill it.

Sunshine! After crazy rain the last 2 days. So nice to be sitting in the sun this morning!

Thanks, you guys for posting. I couldn’t find this question a couple of days ago when something really good and long-awaited happened. Your postings brought it back to my activities page.

I received a 2-foot tall Boswellia Sacra, a Somalian Frankincense tree. They require a warm, arid climate, so I’ll be keeping this indoors and out of the humid, tropical climate here. It will drown if watered more than once a month. It’s one of the many ag experiments I have going. It smells slightly of Frankincense. It takes ten years before it will be ready to safely score the bark and harvest resin, but I want to take shoots from this one and start a few bonsai’s. Frankincense Bonsai Trees. Nice, huh?

I’m happy for you, @Dutchess_III. Good show!

No, @chyna, I babied the Amaryllis until after the first of this year. I decided to donate, and the leaves were going to get broken in the car, regardless. It would have been in the trash a year ago (one year was the moratorium) if my S/O had called it.

Just a walk outside with a close friend on a nice Spring day….

I wish we could have a ‘favourite’ question tab where we can put those questions we want to come back to. I can never remember the exact question title to find things like this. When something wonderful happens, I want to tell you all, but like @Espiritus_Corvus I usually can’t find the question!

@Mariah, I just met a girl called Mariah…....

@janbb Really? She seems like a really nice person. Good for you.

No, no, no – I meant maybe she could implement @Earthbound_Misfit‘s idea. My GF’s name is something entirely different.

I did think that! Perhaps I should ask a meta question and see if anyone else would like that too. I only posted it here because I’ll forget for next time someone says ‘what would you like?’.

I just found out today that my teaching footprint may expand next year. In addition to teaching the freshmen rock band (which I’ll probably be doing solo starting next year), I will also be teaching some segments on music history. I’m hoping I can put some emphasis on the African roots and influences on contemporary music.

@ibstubro When I first moved into my house there was some weed thing growing along the back fence. It looked like some sort of bush. I kept cutting on it and hacking on it, trying to make it dead.
About the 3rd spring I waited too long and….it suddenly bloomed a beautiful purple! I left him alone after that. There is a rope swing hanging from one of the branches now.

@Dutchess_III I had huge “Mule Ears” ” Mullein” plants that I forbid my gardener buddy to cut down for years. They were so cool. They get about 6–8 ft. tall, huge, velvety leaves that look like mule ears and one giant stalk that flowers out with tiny yellow flowers. Don’t touch my weeds, I like them! haha

I was talking to the fruit stand lady today and discovered none of the kids here have ever had an Easter egg hunt. She thought it was the coolest thing, so tomorrow she and a couple of mothers and their kids are going to go to her house and dye Easter eggs with me. Sunday morning after they all go to church they’ll come up here and have a hunt. It’s nice to be able to contribute something to a community again. It’s been awhile. I feel pretty good about it.

I stumbled into a Mediterranean restaurant today and had the best falafel I’ve ever had, and probably the most authentic hummus.

I’ll return to try the vegetable Moussaka!

Here is all I understood of the conversation between 2 men and the owner. Speaking in a foreign language and and broken English:
“Trump.”
“No matter how long you’ve been here!”
[Laughter]

A long soak in a steaming hot bath full of epsom salts for my over used bod. Now I am all bundled up and boneless and going out to watch the moon rise.

I was able to communicate with three of my four surviving siblings.

My online item arrived! It is in perfect condition like in the description. I wasn’t conned after all. That was lucky for a newbie like me. At least I learned something about online shopping.

I woke up happy!

It’d been so long I didn’t recognize it at first.

Good! I’m very glad @ibstubro. ((Hugs))

This picture my daughter had posted on FB. I could just look at it all day.

Magnifico day here, nothing like spring in the Sierra foothills! The world is gleaming green, the trees are all leafed out and the birds and the bees are twittering away. I’m walkin’ on sunshine, and don’t it feel good!

@Dutchess_III Cute pic!

Aren’t they beautiful?!

I set my birdbath up today.
I think I’ve only seen birds in the bowl once or twice, but in the spring the bees flock to it in droves. I have rocks I put in the water and sticks I prop on them to make a little bee habitat. My ‘bee pond’.

Gail and I talked about it a number of times. She had a relative that created similar bee habitats and she gave me some ideas on how to make it friendlier.

The bees are sluggish when the weather is cool, and you either have to have a lot of ways for them to drag themselves out of the water if they fall in, or you have to go scoop the ‘swimmers’ out periodically.

After singing onstage with my brother’s band last night (the first time in over 20 years), I’m looking forward to spending some time with him in his studio, either today or tomorrow.

We’re going to “Didney”!

A friend who was out of town contacted me that he’s back.

In a word? Goodwill.

I picked my new rimless glasses up at Walmart today.
They’re untinted, and I had looked at some spring loaded, clip over sunglasses for riding in the car. They run about $15 a pair.
I went from there to Goodwill where they had a donation from a local eyecare business. Clip over sunglasses for my new glasses, $2, new in the package.
A zipper bag that had another 3–4 pairs that will work was an additional $4. I’m set.

Excited, I keep shopping. Wow, there’s this typewriter for $6. Surely it’s worth that. I mean, I’ve heard that the kids are wanting manual typewriters. I check out with my ‘goodies’ and when I get home I look up the typewriter on eBay. HOLY MOLY!

I’m going to have to reactivate my eBay seller account.

A clerk in a store today told me I as adorable and smelled good too. lol
‘I’ll take it!

@Coloma I haven’t seen you yet but I believe it.

@Mimishu1995 Here I am in a street bar in Hualien Taiwan a few years ago, I am going to ask a question if others will share their face with us for a moment. :-)

<<That’s me!

Actually, I got a lot of joy in the last 15 minutes looking at the simple things that other folks in the collective like to celebrate. I think everyone should be required (not that it could ever be enforceable) to spend five minutes a day to celebrate the good things in life!

Amazing morning here, light rain, around 60 something degrees and everything is SO green and lush it is almost blinding. Just looking out over these hills and fields is an exquisite experience.

Painting.

@janbb Painting what? Your house or a picture? :-)

Or a picture of a house?

I looked down on the water from my hilltop yesterday and saw a long, silver and black line of king mackerel glistening just under the surface of the water. It was about a half-mile long and heading south. It’s the spring mackerel run. The village is full of fish. Springtime has come to the Caribbean.

I got a three-footer for dinner tonight. Just as stone crab are going out of season, the king mackerel are coming in. Nature’s larder is constant here.

@janbb Good for you!

Watercolor

A client telling me she felt extremely motivated after our time together.

My 2 year old rescue amaryllis bulb is finally in complete an glorious full bloom.
It’s scarlet.

The Dingo didn’t eat my baby. Okay, the roving Coyote didn’t snatch my cat. haha

Last night I came a across some very valuable information on a subject I’ve been writing about and it has really helped to set the story up, made things flow, and this always brings me joy as fiction comes hard for me.

The story is based on events surrounding a lynching that occurred in my hometown back in 1915. The set up is a nice, little Florida town of about 8,000 people at the very end of the Edwardian era. The city fathers are mostly men from Detroit and other parts of Michigan, men who made a little money as merchants, or as industrialists, or simply sold the farm and headed to a warmer clime following their friends and business associates to fish and raise oranges. Those who fought in the Civil War (they would be about the same age as our Vietnam War veterans), all fought for the North.

They prospered. They were glad to be in the sunshine and they intended to invent the perfect town from scratch.

When they began arriving in the 1870’s there was only one black family on the peninsula. The Gillespies had a 160 acres of orange and grapefruit groves just south of town. No contemporaneous literature describes them as a black family. But one photograph of Mr. Gillespie standing in his buckboard unloading cases of grapefruits at the city railroad loading dock, depicts an obvious black man and a black boy of about ten helping him. The caption identifies them as Gillespie and son.

With the coming of the railroad in 1887, black laborers from Georgia arrived, then squatted on the edge of town near the gas plant. They used wood scraps from the construction of the depots, repair shops and the railroad pier to build their shacks. The men constituted the town casual labor force and their wives became the paid domestic servants of the upper middle class households.

The town was peaceful, industrious, and the people on both sides of the tracks considered themselves to be good, honest people. And then there was a murder of a recently retired white Michigander, and the town went mad.

1,700 white townspeople gathered to watch the lynching of a black man from a telegraph pole across from the black neighborhood at the gas plant. Then they filled him full of holes for twenty long minutes. The coup-de-gras was when a woman in a chauffeured Studebaker cabriolet, swathed in her November furs, stood up in the backseat of her car and emptied her little silver revolver into the swinging pulp of a man. She had an elegant broad-brimmed hat on, bristling with white ibis feathers and a dark veil. But everyone knew who she was and that information was carefully kept out of the newspaper reports. The journalist’s frustration is evident in one of the reports: ”...when she had finished, she sat down again and told her driver to move on. Although a black veil covered her face, she was recognized by many in the mob, still no-one will speak her name.” I could imagine the fight he had with the editor over just that little revelation.

How do good people suddenly go mad and, as one unit, commit a brutal murder like this? What happens? I find lynchings fascinating in this way. Between 1880 and 1940 their were something over 4,500 recorded lynchings in the U.S. About 3,200 involved black victims. If you go down the roster kept by the NAACP in those years, you see single-digit tallies for those counties that had lynchings. Only few had more than ten, even fewer had twenty.

One county stands out clearly and when I saw it, I thought is was a typo: Phillips County, Arkansas—237 lynchings. But it wasn’t a typo at all. It was 1918, the war had ended, the black share croppers of Phillips County wanted better prices for their crops, the leadership of Phillips County would have none of it and out came the ropes. The pictures of five and ten people at a time hanging from trees in Arkansas were the inspiration for the lyrics to “Strange Fruit”, made famous by Billie Holiday.

Anyway, in order to tell my story right, I the reader must establish strong affinity with the people who run this town. I want them to like these people, so when the lynching they are more horrified, because it becomes obvious that all of us are capable of such acts under certain circumstances. Because of what I see coming out of America today—the humiliation humor, the bullying in schools and at the workplace, the resultant high teen and adolescent suicide rates, the obsession with more and more graphic violence in literature, TV fare and film—I believe the match to light this society on fire won’t have to be very big to “get the job done.”

The information I found on contemporaneous individuals living in this quiet Florida town was detailed and interesting. It describes their daily lives; their wants and fears of the war in Europe, there fights pro or con for prohibition, the upside and downside of the advent of the automobile—all the things that would occupy an average citizen of that time in that particular town.

In the 1970’s a graduate journalism student interviewed many of the people still alive who were at the lynching. For the first time they could talk about it, the actions of the people around them, their own guilt over the years, the political aspects and ramifications, and just their opinions so valuable to understanding who these people were.

It’s sounds morbid, I know, but finding this trove makes me very happy. The details of these people’s lives makes them so much easier to write about.

Note: I’m sorry this was so long, but there is no way I could tell you how overjoyed I was at coming across information on a hundred year-old lynching and just leave it at that.

My husband came home from a work trip. Always makes me feel happy. I’ve had a couple of fabulous work days. I haven’t so much finished tasks as moved projects forward through great collaborations with other people. It’s such a joy when people not only get what you’re trying to do, but are totally supportive. And it’s my birthday in a couple of days.

I spent the afternoon with the other music teacher at the school, discussing plans to expand the music opportunities for next year. When we talked about making private lessons available, we also talked about my experience. I told him he hasn’t lived until he’s heard an accordion band playing Rossini’s William Tell Overture!

I mowed the yard for the first time this year and planted morning glory and moonflower seeds. I spent most of the afternoon outdoors and it felt so good.

Rain.
The weather is mild here, so I have no heat or AC on. I woke in the middle of the night to a soft hissing noise. It took me a minute to realize it was the sound of a much needed light rain. Continuing into the day, and the cooler weather is a nice break from the unseasonable 80° we’ve been seeing.

The first Canada gosling hatched from the nest on the horse barn a few days ago and today mom or dad took them down to the pond for their first swim. Still waiting to see if the other eggs hatch or are duds.

My kids are coming tomorrow! My kids are coming tomorrow!

@janbb An early Mothers day party ey? :-)

I planted a bleeding heart Friday and it has bloomed.

@dammitjanetfromvegas I have Morning Glory seeds soaking but I have never been able to get Moonflowers to grow here, the seeds always end up rotting in the ground, any tricks to share?

@Coloma I started the seeds in pots this year and they are sprouting after a week. I’ve also had trouble when I plant them in the ground. The only problem I’ve had with pots happened today. A squirrel got into the pots and dug some of the seeds out! I moved the pots indoors and I’ll transplant the vines when they’re ready.

We watched a terrific storm approach for 20–30 minutes, and then it petered out just as it was to hit.
I drove to town and, looking back, there was one of the largest, most complete, rainbows I’ve ever seen.

The anticipation of my son and his family arriving this evening from Paris for a visit.

Driving home this evening I was about 3 miles from my house when a huge bird landed in the field. I figured it was a buzzard, but I slowed down to look and it was an American Eagle. Beautiful white head, muscular, sculpted body.
What beautiful birds. I’m glad we brought them back from the brink.

Being with my kids and theirs.