Still getting there, with the aid of Patience and Astrid

The steep hill of recovering from this virus is still there to climb up. Or maybe die on. I keep having setbacks after a good day, poor me. I will get this.

Meanwhile I've been watching Patience

With some trepidation since I know the realities of the autism spectrum and I know the clumsy way it's seen by the neurotypical world. 

But Patience did a pretty good job, despite buying into the (vanishingly rare) autistic savant concept. Never mind, it's a police procedural and interesting as puzzles. 

Then having seen everything up to date in this series, until they bring out a new season, I thought why not check out the French original series, Astrid et Raphaelle, it was based on.

It's based in Paris, French production with English subtitles. And this, aside from seeking the origin, is where my own place on the spectrum shows up. So much more interesting to try it in French!

I found at first that I was baffled by the speed and slang of the actors, my once fluent French completely rusted over and dependent on the subtitles. Then, after a couple of episodes I began to regain some comprehension, but I'm still dependent on the subtitles, not there yet. 

I began to notice the differing accents and the degree to which English expressions have been adopted. I remember a French friend hating on the adoption on the French broadcast news of current English phrases. It's clear that it's more common now than when Dominique was getting all up in the air about it.

Oh, and the production is pretty good. The actor playing Astrid is indicating more neuro divergence, odd walk, sliding eye movement, but it fits in with the premise. 

Aside from being just murder mysteries, not a manifesto, it's still poignant to see how the producers still unwittingly present conformity to the neurotypical as success and an encouraging sign. 

They do, to be fair, have the principals come to understand the degree to which atypical people are forced daily to allow for a world that rarely allows for them.  Patience herself does get to point out that autism is not to be cured, because different brain wiring is not an illness. 

But I'm uneasy in both series about how the high intelligence and problem solving capacity of people like Patience and Astrid are exploited by the world, while their needs are often dismissed. It's a corporate mentality at work.

While I was wrestling with all these thoughts, my neighbors came over and here's the ready dug place for the echinacea to be planted.

And here's what I saw this morning 

I'm not sure if K plans to present me with another echinacea, or whether I should transplant some daisies now that there's a spot ready. I'll wait and see what she does next.

The Canada geese are continuing their evening flyby, and I prefer them up in the sky, especially now that I don't have a car to clean up after their passing over.

Here's positively the last daisy, after several frosts. And we have rain, great for the new planting and the chrysanthemums another neighbor gave me.

Among all this, there was an unusual Textiles and Tea with Kristin Columbano, who creates wet felting from roving.

She's a feltmaker, working with wool roving, and dealing with designers, on her large scale pieces, mostly for interiors. Her pieces are large, custom designed, and created entirely by her, by hand, wet felting being a long labor intensive process.

She likes the natural fiber colors but occasionally will use an acid, light fast dye if a commission calls for it.   In design, she experiments with concepts like the Fibonnaci sequence, and clouds, rock shapes, natural phenomena of all kinds, always curious.  

Her studio name, fog and fury, reflects her San Francisco location and the intensity required in felt making. I don't need to ask her prices because I know I can't go there!  Worth it though, with her meticulous attention from sourcing to handling, to designing works of felt art that will last.

Happy day, everyone! 

Hang in there, and remember Mississippi!