Poem
You were in my dreams last night.
I was searching for you
along a beach that suddenly
burst into flames.
I was told it was bonfires
but I knew it was you
creating one last beautiful flame
before you transformed
into the whisp of wind
that blew the sand
and the flames
into the air
So, I picked up a weird bug. No fever, no anything except chest congestion. That always scares me, as I have lung issues and any "cold" generally defaults to bronchitis and I had a serious fight a few years back with pneumonia . That almost killed me, I was really, really sick.
I don't ever want to do that again.
Chris is taking wonderful care of me. He went out and got me soup and meds. I had one of those "stop breathing" episodes, where my vocal cords slam shut, but I was able to do the "dog panting" exercise that relaxes them and I never got to the gasping for air part that is just not fun
So I am taking it easy this weekend. I foolishly signed up to review TWO books that sounded good- Spoiler alert they almost always sound good. I started the first one and I thought to myself. Gosh I hope this is a murder mystery and that the main character gets killed. It is written in the first person and I am NOT enjoying being inside her head. My Kindle tells me it is a six hour read. I hope it gets better. I have only a few DNFs on this project. On at least one of them, I wrote my promised review indicating that I would rather have had a root canal with no meds than finish that book. I believe my review on that one on Amazon is titled DON'T JUST DON'T.
Last night, I had a dream that I was seeing a doctor who told me I have some kind of disorder , where I use the word "thing" far too much. This might have been related to an article I was reading about Alzheimer's. My mother died from Alzheimer's and I worry that it is in the DNA. So I just went back and edited my third paragraph and replaced the word "thing" with other nouns.
I need to do that more often. It is easy to slip into a pattern that I learned from my mother. I always understood what she meant when she would wave her hand and say "you know... the THING" I think of myself as a writer-unpublished, sure but a writer nonetheless, after all YOU are reading this, aren't you? ( and thank you, I love that people are actually reading what I am babbling on about) Mostly, these days, I write for me. To keep my chops up, to release whatever is bothering me and just to feel better.
Like I said, I hate being sick.
Women who escape an abusive- either physical or emotional-relations ship are often pressured by friends and family (who never saw the abuse happening) to "forgive him and get back together with him for the sake of the family". the pressure can be quite intense and a woman in a toxic relationship has already had her confidence and decision-making undermined and often goes back to the abuser for Round Two.
Some women realize that forgiveness often gives the abuser, especially a narcissist, permission to do it again, if the woman does not "behave" and do what she is told. In these instances, the abuser will try to harm the woman to get even.
This is where America is now.
You took him back.
Felon47 was an unfit President the first time around. But he managed to either convince or connive his way back into office and with the current crop of sycophants doing his bidding in Congress, impeachment is off the table for the moment.
He's even worse now, since he has his best bro telling him what to do, a "bro" who is even more toxic and hell-bent on vengeance than Felon47 is, if that is possible.
They are destroying everything this country was built on. They worship dictators and Nazis and pretend to be faithful Christians, but honestly, if Jesus showed up today, preaching the Beatitudes, they would deport his brown Jewish ass to Gitmo.
Fun Fact- Jesus was born in the Middle East. And a question-What are the chances he was a blue eyed blonde, like the depiction in the churches of my childhood? The answer is Zippo, but I am sure the Christians rationalize it that Jesus was made in our image or some other type of nonsense.
Felon47 is doing the classic abuser move in limiting what we can know, limiting our access to our friends and telling us what we see is not real. HE is the best thing that ever happened to us and if you don't believe it, just ask him.
We must rise. We must fight back. remember every accusation is a confession. Gather your tribe close to you. Protect the vulnerable. Demand better of local elected officials, because the ones in DC are either powerless or "turned" by the Dark Side.
Remember the first words of the Constitution, Written BOLDLY in larger letters than all the rest are WE THE PEOPLE. NOT The President. Not Congress. Not God or Jesus. THE PEOPLE.
The Current Administration would like you to forget that.
Don't.
Last Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. I forgot that( I like football) when I agreed to go with a friend to see Noises Off at the Geffen Playhouse.
It was an absolute delight. The play is a British Farce, complete with people coming in and out of doors in split second timing. The play is in three acts, a not-so-wonderful troop of actors is rehearsing a play in the first act and it all goes sideways. The second act is behind the stage, where you see the play, father along in the run, where the relationships between the actors and the director have gone totally off the rails, but they are committed to getting the show on. The third act is an attempt to put on the play one final time.
The actors were wonderful. I was HOWLING during the second act, where the actors, mindful of the play going on on the other side of the wall, express their feelings silently but LOUDLY with their facial expressions and pantomime.
Great play , just what I needed, to laugh like that!
We went to dinner afterward- Chris' back is still out AND my car is in the shop (yes AGAIN) So he picked me up and we went to a place I had heard raves about but have never gone, Versailles. It's Cuban food and YEARS ago there was this great place in NoHo- the name escapes me and it is gone now anyway- The specialty of the house at Versailles is garlic chicken, but I make that myself and and I remember loving the Cuban version of Arroz con Pollo at the place in NoHo I was looking forward to it. It was.. meh. I was missing something in the rice and the chicken was way overcooked, almost to the point of dry even though it was cooked in the broth. I was underwhelmed.
Still there was enough leftover to make a meal for both me and Chris on Monday, so I can't really complain. Not a big fan of plantains which were part of the dish.
After we got home from the Zoo, Chis told me that his back was MUCH worse and he would not be able to make it to the House Concert we had both been looking forward to. I called my BFF and she was available at the last minute so off we went.
Most House concerts ask you to bring something to share, so I double checked with the artist and she said her friends were providing "some food" and to bring what I wanted to drink. My friend and I decided to get food beforehand and stopped at the White Harte in Woodland Hills. I had a lovely beet, brussels and cauliflower "Salad" the cauliflower and the brussels were warm and the beets were cold and placed on a bed of Spring mix. She had a really nice sausage roll. Excellent meals. The funny thing about beets is, I refused to eat them as a child. Ok so maybe my mom making HOT pickled beets did scar me, they smelled and tasted horrid. Tried them again as an adult- not pickled, nor heated- and I found I really liked them. My friend had a similar aversion but tried these and was also surprised that they tasted...good! Nice little pub, good food, decent prices, good service.
The House Concert featured Bernie Barlow (please visit BernieBarlow.com to hear her!) and Little Days. They were- and probably are- trying to get funds to cover their upcoming East Coast Tour (and if you are reading this and can see them PLEASE DO!) I "found" her when she sang background vocals for the wonderful Cindy Alexander. I picked up her solo CD " redeemed" and will be writing a more comprehensive review for this and other sites, suffice it to say I really like it!
The House Party crowd was warm and welcoming and the "some food" appeared to be a table FULL of goodies. We found comfy chairs on the patio near the heater and settled in.
The band was great. they were test running the set they will do on the road and it was great. I really got lost in some of the music. Little Days was particularly intricate.
We left soon after the show ended. It was a lovely night.
Check out both bands
And stream Bernie Barlow's new single "Stay Right There" on whatever platform you listen to!
More about Sunday's adventures later today.
I needed a respite from the firehose of BS currently being spewed almost hourly by Felon47
On Saturday morning we took advantage of our LAZOO membership and got in an early morning with the animals. They have a new "Children's Zoo, where you can see but no longer pet, the goats. The sign says they are "enjoying their Golden years" ( read they weren't putting up with kids anymore, I suppose) It looks like a nice addition, although since it was early morning, not all the animals were up and about.
The meercats were super active as were the flamingos. We had a delightful conversation with the Zoo docent there, Rissa. She pointed out the black underside of the flamingo wings- usually they are NOT moving much, but it was feeding time and they were MOVING.
I love the giraffes and the baby was posing so I got a lot of pictures, I will post the best of them on my FB page. We saw the elephant getting their pedicure
The baboons were going NUYTS. It looked like one of them had broken a rule and the rest of them were screaming and chasing him. He went up a palm tree and continued to SCREAM at the rest of the troop ( Fun fact I had heard that t a group of baboons is called a Congress and I looked it up to be sure. It is not and I am sad about that) He leapt off the tree and onto another baboon. I anticipated blood, but thankfully there was none. A Zoo worked said they do that all the time, he said they were really "rumbling" last week.
I am thankful the zoo has electric scooters as Chris threw his back out on Friday night. He felt well enough to go to the Zoo, but by the time we got home it was much worse, so the House Concert we had planned to go to was out for him.
More on that in my next blog, hopefully later today- my car, the one the mechanic calls "the Ferrari" had an electrical problem. I hope they find it and fix it.
Up. Having coffee. trying not to doom scroll but it is inevitable
I see Felon47 appointed a Faith Nazi to make sure we all adhere to the NeoCon version of Christianity.
YOUR faith doesn't matter. We will ALL follow the Right Reverend Paula White-Cain .Now THERE is an ironic name if ever I heard one. Blind to anything but what she wants to see? Probably, although I think Paula really wants to see more ducats in her bank account.
Are you any faith other than Paula's version of the Bible? Sorry, according to the Executive Order by Felon 47 NO you are not. They seem to be particularly peeved at the Lutherans. Catholics are probably up next, although Missing in action VP Shady Vance is purported to be Catholic, so maybe the Jews are next on the hit list? Muslims are already practically illegal.
This is just another example of The Republican Administration wanting to burn the Constitution and file articles of Incorporation so they can appoint someone CEO. that someone will most likely NOT be doddering old Felon47. They used him and his base to get into power and unless a whole lot of us do something, this is where we are headed.
Ugh
Digressing. I had a really weird dream last night. I have been having them- probably related to the anxiety the news is causing me:
I was at a House Concert ( which I am going to this evening, please check out the music of Bernie Barlow- you can thank me later) The concert turned into a Hindu street fair where a lot of weird things happened, but the weirdest was when they let frogs go. The frogs went thru some fire that did not burn them, but changed them into snakes.
Let's not get Freudian about it. It was just weird.
Off to the Zoo for a Members only morning.
I will NOT be visiting the Reptile House.
