Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Tip It Now

Fally

Chilly and misty today and October stretches out on the couch. I hope children will come pick up the individually baggied candy on the 31st. I am going to rig up a table and a flashlight by the sidewalk for them and watch from my stoop. Gotta get some pumpkins. The squirrels will savage them so we can't get them too early. I have put out some black sunflower seeds for the jays and squirrels on our back deck. The bluejays keep trying the feeder but they are just too hefty to land on its petite edges. 

Treats

I like to save my pleasures and dole them out so they'll last a long time. Currently watching the Brits bake every Friday and I think we're a week or so behind the releases. The last season of Schitt's Creek is also a weekend treat. I'm trying to get my workouts in to help me sleep, build that immune system and help me expend just a few calories. 

After hitting the boredom wall last weekend I dragged out my knitting project sweater from 3(?) years ago. I previously completed the front and back along with the dreaded neckline. Now I have succeeded in starting one sleeve. I'm looking forward to embroidering two big arrows on the front. So chic, right? It's a giant acrylic rectangular sweater that I plan to wear this winter. It has approximately 50 yarn ends - so far - that I will have to weave in. That may be the steepest barrier to finishing. Oh or possibly running out of yarn, but I hope not. I recommend the Song Exploder (podcast turned Netflix series) for listening while knitting. 

Civix

I dropped my ballot off this morning at the courthouse. As a voter I am a super predictable member of my class/education/age cohort and liberal university town. Hope actually seems possible now and I've lost the background nausea about my country that I was feeling over the summer. The worry and fury are still there but there seems a glimmer for the future. 

I leave you with the words of tired, witchy, bitchy ContraPoints as she argues about the importance of voting with the communist cat girl in her brain. She deftly describes our current reality from far left to far right and back again. And ends with the dull but necessary plan-to-vote instructions applicable to all of us USers. 


 I hope she stumbles upon some hope and joy soon. That goes for everybody. Upswing for all.    

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

 Y'all! It's past the first week of October! Time is moving it's just hard to observe it. Do the thing that helps you get through whether it be work, exercise, indulgence, or holding a comfort toothpick.   

Kangaroo rat being fitted with a tracking 'backpack'


Thursday, October 1, 2020

Watching and Listening

Eyes 1
Enola Holmes - a fancy picture book that kept me entertained. What a cast! The writing is a little simplistic but at the same time it creates an interesting world that never was. The male 'young love' character is a gratifying gender swap of many girl roles of yore. The determination of almost all adults to allow EH to roam the city seemed rash. Fiona Shaw is wasted as a flat villain but I'll forgive it for her initial motorcar appearance. 

Eyes 2
Michelle Buteau's stand up on nflx gets my enthusiastic guffawing recommendation. 


Ears 1
I've been grabbing CDs from the Jazz section in my library. I find the genre funny in that it contains both of these good listens:

Ranky Tanky. Band info "This Grammy Award winning, Charleston, SC-based quintet, performs timeless music born from the Gullah culture of the southeastern Sea Islands." The music has a lot of folk and gospel but also excellent musicians who get solos so I guess that's the jazz part. Album info. I've been singing That's Alright since hearing this. 

House of David by Lea DeLaria. I did not know what this was and listening to it cold was hilarious. I had to think about whether I liked it and decided that mostly I do. The arrangements are very well thought out. LDL sounds more feminine than I expected (which is all on me). 


Ears 2
Old 97s appear in tomorrow's 10/02/20 offering at Bandcamp: Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Volume 2. I scanned through the artists and found Mexican Institute of Sound and now I am in love. Song is great, content warning about violence in the video: Mexico. More great sounds: Alocatel. More info on the CD fundraiser:

The collection will be available for 24 hours only, exclusively via Bandcamp, this Friday, October 2nd starting at 12:01am PT.

100% of the net proceeds from the album’s sales will go to Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that brings state advocacy, policy, and legislative expertise to secure, protect, and defend the voting rights of all Americans.