New photo reminder of trans sisters and brothers, seeds and more

 Swiped from Debra, She Who Seeks, to remind us all

Thank you, Debra and if I knew the creator, I'd credit them.

Today is about returning an item via UPS, and, while I'm out anyway,  going to the dollar store and seeing about some seeds for this year's flower containers. 

So here's the display, smaller this year, no cosmos, no marigolds, but we'll survive. 

The price is up from four packets for a dollar to a dizzy four for $1.25. So this year's garden, seeds, potting soil etc still totals a modest $25 or so. I can do this.

My chives finally gave out last year after many years, so I'll try a new start.  I may need to get marigolds from the local farm stand.

If I fill and place the containers ahead, I think I'll be able to get the planting and squirrel proofing done early May. Anyway that's the plan. 

I would like a flower garden again this year. I have plans about walking, then sitting on the deck admiring my surroundings! Great ambitions. 

Happy day everyone, always have plans of some sort, dream big. Sez the lady with three dollars in flower seeds..

Colder, but fields of daisies rule

 

Any field of flowers is good for a person's spirits, and too much of a good thing is wonderful!

Handsome son visiting today with a med he picked up for me, and while he's here I'll give him sugar cookies, tea and a request to assemble a tub bench to make it easier for me to shower. It's the kind you slide across, instead of stepping into the tub.

Here's the bench installed 

And Handsome Son assembling the handheld showerhead, ready to install it

Quite a few of the extras I've had to buy because of surgery are in fact going to be generally useful anyway. I'm already using the hip kit items, and I imagine I'll be glad of the tub bench long after I heal.  So it's more long-term, really.

I'm thinking about shopping for seeds, in the hope I'll be able to do the flower containers again. I have potting soil and containers. Maybe by mid May I can do that. We'll see.  

Happy day everyone! Make stuff, resist, enjoy!

Singing for freedom, and walking for spring

 Here's where blogista Anne will be next weekend, taking part in a singing rally

Let's join her in spirit, even in person, if you can.

And today, here in NJ,  warm sunshine, the daffodils bursting out, insects busy everywhere, emerging from underground, the Korean spice bush budding up, some cosmos maybe, self seeded from last year, first forsythia down the street. Lovely day.

And more women's art, from the Fils et Aiguilles blog

And, speaking of hand made items, this morning I sent off a pair of socks and two pairs of gloves to the knitting ministry, with a note taking a little leave of absence, but promising to return.

Happy day, everyone,  so many reasons to keep going and stay joyful. Now I'm off to sit on the deck, to read and to watch and listen to birds.

Art will save us all

Here's a stitching made by someone, sorry I've misplaced the reference,  with a quotation from a brave writer 

Hessel should know. He spent years in a Nazi concentration camp and lived to write the tale.

An iPod-assisted  work, emailed from the only email iPod will load, sent to my preferred email account, then uploaded here, arriving out of breath, with a bit, not much, resolution lost.

But then, photography as art is about composition more than about image resolution.  Photography as recording and reporting needs great resolution. As does the photographer, come to think of it.

Physical therapy today, quite rigorous, along with discussions of art, high school soccer, resistance bands (the physical therapy kind!), obscure New Jersey towns, we roam all over. Emil believes in conversation while we work,  to keep the atmosphere light. 

Happy day everyone, I made the rest of that cookie dough into a batch, not the best recipe, though I improved it this time with some aqua faba. Edible.

Do good, enjoy your day 

Ted sez 

Misfits and another try

Haleem arrived on the dot. I think he has an early shift, since when he's delivering, it's mid morning, very handy.

And here you see some future planning. Makings of a lasagna which will be baked and frozen, to use when I get home after Helen II.  Plenty of cheese, too, and bread, also chunked chicken breast, sandwich makings.  Carrots and spinach probably to make a salad with sandwiches. 

I need to think ahead a bit because my delivery day is the same as the surgery day, so I may stock up ahead and skip ordering that week. There's time to figure this out.

This afternoon is another try at the doctor's appointment to get clearance for surgery. Next week another. Following week two more.  It's all go around here. I certainly can't complain about neglect.

Breaking news: doctor says good to go, pending cardiologist opinion. So far so good. 

Happy day everyone, tink ahed. The Thanksgiving cactus is blooming again, so it's now an Easter cactus, I guess 

Fiftyfiftyone, and darkness

 On the subject of light

Fiftyfiftyone is a grassroots movement, people from all fifty states united in one movement,  resistance of all kinds. We can do this.

About darkness, the literal kind, I'm waking very early for me, around five am, and getting up to have breakfast while I watch the dawn. Simple pleasure. With only myself to attend to, I can rest later if I need to, so getting up very early is possible.

I'm continuing my second glove today, with an audio book.

And reading later

 

I've read this before, a few years ago, and it's still good reading. The war in question is WWI.  My mother used to talk about the wonderful hot summer before war broke out, and my dad joined up. 

They married in 1918, after he'd been wounded in the battle of the Somme, then spent long months in rehab learning to walk again. He was in a country house, as described in The Hazelbourne Ladies, where the family home is to be used as a rehab hospital. Downton Abbey likewise, if you remember.  Except my dad did it in real life. Aged 22.

Happy day, everyone, enough looking back, now it's looking ahead and working for better days. Starting for me with a message to the Attorney General of Wisconsin asking about the illegality of M**k's offering money for votes in the upcoming Supreme Court election.

And yesterday I was looking for a way to message SecDef Hegseth, ended up reporting the intelligence blunder as a technical problem! And got a solemn acknowledgment. I was thinking of the old mechanic joke about the car, needing to fix the nut behind the wheel. 

Honestly, if you can't have a bit of fun with resistance, what are we fighting for?

Tuesday, Textiles and Tea, accidental art

Tuesday brought a very good physical therapy session, interesting stuff including a balance mat, that was fun, and I need resistance bands. He's an imaginative practitioner, creating new interesting moves for me.

Then on to Textiles and Tea with Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, a Kentucky-based artist whose work involves weaving, along with other approaches.  He uses mylar film, holographic material, novelty fabrics, microfilm, aluminum flashing and all kinds of unlikely materials. He creates enormous works, including two story high installations. 

He addresses politics, religion, COVID losses, computer hardware, light and color, and you'll see how exciting his work is.

Behind him is the beginning of his next series depicting stained glass 

This is a detail of the slide two up from here, about the losses from COVID 

And this is about a computer motherboard 

At the right is the maquette of the main piece

This on the left is about terrorism, from the Munich Olympic massacre, to 9/11. On the right is a commentary about the Confederate statues removed, the Confederate flag,  and the stars and stripes in distress position 

And here's part of the the studio where this work happens. 

He's a powerful artist, with a huge voice, needed now more than ever.

At home I caught this little accidental art shot in the kitchen last night 

Happy day everyone, better than yesterday around here

Ted sez