Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

The lyrics to Bob Dylan's " When You Gonna Wake Up ?" go a long way towards capturing my current angsty sense of the absurd amount of pure shitasticness going on.  Hug your loved ones tighter every day. Nothing is guaranteed, but we have to keep going. C

I see so many organizations that I know do good work struggling for money. Global, national, local-- every good group is hurting, especially due to the federal funds being cut. It's not fair, it's not noble, and it's just plain dirty pool-- but here we are. I can't afford to give money to everything, so what do we do? First, act locally-- food banks, soup kitchens, little free pantries. Small museums are feeling gutted-- they already run on a shoestring, but now, with no grant funding (or having their grants rescinded in the name of ...waste? fraud?), they are hard pressed to stay open. And we need these little museums, because they are the keepers of local history. And if the Smithsonian must operate (at least for now) as a collaborator with the regime, we will need a lifeline to our collective past, one small historical society or library at a time. We may have to put the pieces back together someday. And what then? People are already hungry, many are one or two paych...

I went to bed at 9pm, and slept relatively well. I still feel like crud, but I'm an impatient patient-- I hate the inconvenience of being sick, even if it's just a cold. The temps should rise to low 70s today, so that'll be nice. I think I've finally convinced G to take the A/C out. I hate being cold.  It is 34 degrees this morning. I'm glad G covered the tomatoes and squash-- while I've been inundated with tomatoes, I understand that putting food in the freezer is a good plan, and letting them freeze would be wasteful. I think we'll get those apples picked this weekend. Time to start the early buttoning-up, too. Gotta protect what you need from the impending cold. That all said, here we are. Predictions for an icy stretch in Boston. I just wonder how the fine folks in Southie will deal with it.  Hug your loved ones, C

No sleep again. Very restless-- and I seem to either have miserable allergies or the onset of a cold. Either way, my ears are plugged and I have a sinus headache. Yay. I hope the cold meds kick in-- I can't get sick. There's no one else to do Holly duty. Sigh. I may shift some of my week's plans, too-- we'll see. I don't have a lot for stuff at home, but I've packed the week in my classes. I'll give it a look and see if there's some flexibility in there.  That said, we had a super nice day yesterday-- we went to church (G, Meg, and Holly and I), went out to breakfast, and then Meg, Holly, and I went to get some early apples and cider. I watched a little football (dang Pats dumped it), picked two huge bowls of tomatoes (again), and roasted a chicken. Not bad. G tells me that our own apples are ready to pick, too, which will require some processing and so on. I'm pre-tired thinking about it. I just wish I felt a little more on the ball. It'll be ea...

A really restless, bad dream --almost nightmare-- last night. I sure hope it's a one and done, and not the start of another series of these stress dreams I'm often subject to. This time, the national situation had made things impossible to do anything other than survive each day, and I forgot about Christmas. I noticed on Christmas eve what day it was, and I looked around: no presents, no holiday anything, no tree. I hadn't even gotten a yearly ornament. I felt like I'd been gutted. I woke up desperately unhappy. Those who know me best know that Christmas is extremely important to me. Faith, family, friends, food-- the gathering, the love, the sparkle and joy. To have been so immersed in mere survival that I would forget this? Wow.  I guess that explains how I feel about all of the turmoil. I'll try to re-set my day, starting with going to church. We'll see what comes up after that. Hug your loved ones. The abyss is before us, I fear. C

So, nudging the economy to crash is going to make America (great)? By dismantling the medical establishment --one of the largest employers-- this will come about? This is a plan?  When people are starving, scared, sick, and desperate for relief, this is how we make a country strong? By slapping new door plates all over the place that declare we are war-like, that is going to ensure peace? (Not really a good way to earn a Nobel-- just saying.) And here we are. And it's your dollars and mine that are funding this intentional destruction.  And we'll be the ones who are suffering-- not those with multiple homes, lots of fake-ass money (crypto? what?), and a clear escape plan to another country to live in (Mars ain't open yet, yo).  Gas isn't cheaper. In fact, it's gone up 25 cents in a week, locally. Coffee is expensive. Food is expensive. Clothing --hell, kids' sneakers-- are outrageous. Medicines are going through the roof. So when I hear over and over again that ...