Feeling very Friday today

I'm feeling very Friday today. You? Coffee on the porch far too early this morning in my new mug from Lori.

Backyard vistas. I am crazy for solar lights.

Hates couch protectors. Ben is my interior decorator dog - he moves dog beds all over and removes as much of the couch covers as he can immediately.

I didn't make it to Thursday Thoughts yesterday, but I did get all my work work done, finally finish the 230498304 loads of laundry from the shore and home, returned two dresses, packed clothes and house laundry and food  and work stuff up to come back to the shore, picked up some of the shore shit I needed to replace in the house (and a polish, who can resist). Earlier in the week I completed the bloodwork for my physical, which I tend to put off. I'm feeling good about this week personally.

I'm back at the shore to stay for the first time since the beginning of June. I've been down and back three times since then to do turnovers, but I've missed being here. This will be a longer stretch for me and I get to see some of my favorites while here. 

I bought my stamps for holiday cards today because they're going up in two days. Thanks to Cory on Instagram for the tip off. 

Bruce is the laziest dog I have ever had.

Joy is in the smallest things. This week it's been dishtowels, getting back on the good book foot, finding that new lovely polish, not much traffic on the way to the shore. It is not in a clean oven. If you have any care about anything outside of yourself, it is so fucking hard to keep yourself on an even keel right now because you can do all the therapy, wellness work, personal inventory, boundaries, actual self care, etc., but the far reaching social issues that arise from massive structural inequality across every system in this country impact all of us and our mental and emotional health. Fight for yourselves and each other. We all deserve more ease in this life. 

And stickers. Since childhood and forever, always stickers. 

It's guns and...a lot of very American things tied up in toxic masculinity and white nationalism with a side of shitty social safety nets follow Amanda Faun on IG

Reminder: no one owes you a reason or a story for why abortion must be available to all pregnant people. People who are pregnant need abortions for medical reasons but also because they cannot or do not want to care for a child in the circumstance they are in, and before you go on about birth control or abstinence I will ask you what in the fuck you have said about men in regards to birth control and abstinence and the answer will be nothing so you can STFU about women and forcing birth on pregnant people and pivot yourself to responsible ejaculation. This country has zero social safety nets for unwanted children that are operating at the appropriate capacity and zero social safety nets for wanted children that people cannot afford to raise here that are operating at the appropriate capacity. This is about white men staying in control and THAT IS IT. 

How to help within the system we are currently operating in - carrying this over from last week for the resource links We must first take care of each other - fund abortion. Do not try to be a rogue actor because you feel the need to do something - I get the desire to be part of a "camping" crew but we must use the well established and networked organizations to safely help people. The best thing to do if you are able is open your wallet. Every organization below will take donations right now. If you are unable to donate, share these resources in your networks and encourage others to donate. Links:

Donate to abortion funds: National Network of Abortion Funds

Donate to organizations that provide travel to those seeking abortions: The Brigid Alliance

Know your digital security rights: Digital Defense Fund

Know your options: INeedanA.com, Plan C, Hey Jane

Support independent clinics: Keep Our Clinics

Support during or after a miscarriage or abortion: M+A Hotline, 1-833-246-2632 (call or text)

Legal advice: IfwhenHow - lawyering for reproductive justice

Take care of each other out there.

Thursday Thoughts - Reminded who are we by the girls of wild strawberries

I carried a watermelon. MFD wanted to run and get his camera to capture the moment. 

Pasta salad season. Mine varies but is typically a Barilla veggie pasta base, some type of cheese, and obviously veggies. I lean to cucumber, broccoli (I throw it in with for the last minute and a half of pasta cooking), olives (kalamata in here but open to all), grape tomatoes, a bit of red onion, italian salami, an orange pepper that was about to go down, garlic salt, onion salt, garlic powder, and Olive Garden dressing. It's like a complete meal for summer. 

Getting rental season ready by doing things we could have done all winter. Insert upside down smiley face here. Painting shelves, touch up paint, trim paint touch ups, having powder room sink braced by a local handyman, replacing broken trim pieces, dry wall repair, Mermaid surgery to reattach the hangers to the back, anticipating arrival of new bench and stools that will need assembly. When I paint furniture these days, I prefer the Heirloom Traditions All in One Paint. No prep aside from cleaning needed, dries quickly, and it lasts. This is it after 1.5 coats in Capri on the right, I left it intentionally distressed in spots. It is pretty impossible to fuck up. I am painting two dressers this fall, one in navy and one probably in tea rose. 

Multiple mass shootings since Uvalde - which I wrote at length about last week - we have work to do as citizens. We cannot accept strangled minority rule. We must become ungovernable in the current system, and everyone operating in it holding change back must go, regardless of who they are and what "side" they represent. Follow Emilyinyourphone on Instagram, who is bringing action items as they come. Follow Shannon Watts, who founded Moms Demand. Moms....demand action here. Please. I am sorry it is falling on you like most things do, but if you just continue the work school after school activity wash rinse repeat nothing will change and we really need it to. We're all being ground down to not have the energy to effect change, but we must. We cannot have kids dying like this in America when it is not happening elsewhere on the globe where there are also guns, mental illness, otherness, misogyny, etc. These shootings and this culture of violence is entirely preventable and all of us are responsible for breaking the broken system. Some thoughts that resonated with me. 

Reminder, especially to women who are chastised for being aggressive or too much when working for something you care about, like kids being safe in schools. 

General reminder.

Analog LOLs

My perfect iced tea is brewed in a maker, and it's Boston Mint-in-Tea with a smidge of sugar and some fresh citrus, whatever is available

Happy happy birthday to my lady loves of over 30 years, KVSR who had her birthday yesterday and Kim who celebrates Sunday. 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Girls of Wild Strawberries by Guided by Voices

Thursday Thoughts - So how many daughters, tell me, how many sons do we have to have to put in the ground

I don't even know what to say anymore. Living in this country is fucking stressful for me as an older white lady of privilege. I cannot imagine adding in the other factors - being Black, native, LGBTQ+, any other marginalized person, having less money, having less resources, being without family, being chronically ill, being a gig economy worker, not having stable housing, being of true childbearing age while the right to my agency over my body is chopped, having kids in schools, working in a school, being a nurse, being disabled, etc etc. This is not sustainable. It's like watching society collapse in real time and not being able to do anything about it. I wish there was a quick cure for Fox News indoctrination that has functioned as a lobotomy for a large portion of our population. The call is coming from inside the house. 

There are people out there trying to meet very calmly in the middle about mass murder of children by guns. I am not calm and I am not interested in a midway point. Today, news that the cops and armed security guard did not act. Today, news of a total abortion ban in Oklahoma while a nation sits and says it can do nothing about its actual living children being slaughtered in schools by people with guns. Today, news that the husband of one of the teachers who died protecting her students in the Uvalde mass shooting dead from a heart attack. Their four children left with no parents. And today is not even over yet. What next. What else. 

How in the fuck can anyone out there say, "I don't know what the answer is?" Really, everyone? At this point we are going to dance around the fact that other countries have mental illness, bullying, poverty, despair, crime, and other countries have guns BUT they do not have these rampant incidents of mass murder by gun. Hmm, I wonder why that is...maybe because it is not fucking easy or cheap to get them, they don't operate by "well criminals don't have to get them legally,"  you need to work to keep them, white supremacy and toxic masculinity and a sentence written in a document in the 1700s by people WHO OWNED OTHER HUMANS that people today have taken absolutely wildly misinterpreted liberties with isn't fucking strangling everyone and everything. America has a goddamn gun problem and common sense gun reform that the majority of this country supports is the goddamn fucking answer. Stop dancing around it. We have TRIED more guns, more cops, active shooter drills, locking fucking doors. Sit and fucking spin on the suggestion of arming teachers, you won't even let them pick the goddamn books, accuse them of being groomers which is absolutely unmistakably top level grade A tinfoil hat Fox News drivel bullshit, and you think YOU know more about curriculum than they do. So no, we are not going to fucking arm teachers and put another item on their to do list that you will not appreciate nor pay them enough for. They are already literally putting their bodies in front of the shooters YOU will do nothing to stop. Do we want fucking schools to be prisons kids cannot thrive in so people can buy a gun in under five minutes and never have to re-up their license for it or store it correctly or insure it? Fuck off out of here with the fucking bullshit. Common sense gun reform and stricter firearm ownership and use protocols now. Universal background checks now. Universal healthcare now. Republicans stop cockblocking everything using minority rule now. Gun nuts STFU now. Revoke NRA tax exempt status now. Kill the gun lobby now. Overturn citizens united and get money out of politics now. Kids and teachers are fucking dead, AGAIN. The ones who lived through it will be traumatized forever. No one wants your tired 2A arguments being trotted out and dumped on the fucking table urging sensibility and waiting and not politicizing. Stop asking people to air grievances over this civilly while you brush your hair back with blood on your hands.You are banning every other goddamn fucking thing you can certainly make guns harder to get. SHUT UP

Regular existence is dwarfed by daily tragedies and fascism. I'm tired. From talking to a lot of you, I know you're tired. 

I would rather talk to you about my weed killer, which is white vinegar, Dawn, and table salt. 

Or how my job is really cool sometimes, and I get to see dinosaurs as part of work, and how my nephew and I just the night before were talking all about dinosaurs and what a joyful dancer my niece is and how amazing she looked dressed for her dance photos.

Or how these pull shorts for $13 and these forever soft v-neck tees from Gap Factory are going to be my summer wardrobe. 

I'd rather campaign for pockets in everything, without exception. And tell you how I'm only wearing athleisure shoes forever. 

Or talk to you about the stack of books on hold that came in at the library and how I don't even recall asking for one of them...who put me on to The Good Left Undone? It does not sound remotely familiar.

Or how we're pretty ready for the shore summer season and are testing out a new drainage system a la MFD for chair storage and a new bag Aub found. First renters this weekend.

Wait, Ray Liotta died? Another WTF today.

Or how much I enjoyed my city lunch walk when I was in the office this week. And I survived the dentist and got to see my chiro.

Or how we all need to really try to do this as much as we can even when it is hard. Via Nadia Fisher

Instead, we are talking about a mass murder event of children that was imminently more preventable while the GOP and all of its echoes tell us that nothing can be done. 

This is motherfucking America. You are telling me we can't do something here? Are you telling me the entire American persona is a lie? That's what it sounds like. 

Everything getting banned and zero reform on the thing that really, really needs it - guns. This is a  hard pill to swallow on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend. Have we not sent people to Afghanistan and around the world under the guise of protecting the American way of life? Are bodily autonomy, schools as safe havens, the freedom to learn, the freedom to be who you are without punishment, the freedom to exist while Black, and freedom of religion not the American way of life? Is the only God your personal Christian God who you think belongs in all schools, when literally the country as it is today was forced into existence by people who did not want anyone else's God forced on them by the state? Do you even know "under God" was not in the original pledge? I could keep going.

 Are we only down to one freedom? Doesn't sound like the Land of the Free to me, which means the brave have died for what, exactly? Soldiers have died thousands of times over and we say they have died for our freedoms. The freedoms are as follows: kids can be murdered in schools, Black people in grocery stores, elders in churches and Synagogues, people at concerts in clubs just anywhere while we do absolutely fucking nothing so the GOP Senators can continue to swim in the blood money donated by the NRA and the NRA can run this country, not citizens and definitely not God. Oh and the freedom to ban books, control women, inject Black people in a school to prison pipeline, and legislate trans and gay people out of existence. Sounds extremely free. Pass me a Budweiser. Did I do that right?

Something to think about this Memorial Day Weekend, before you bring out the land of the free because of the brave sentiments. 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is The Killers Land of the Free. 

17 minutes.

We have failed an entire generation of kids from Columbine on April 20, 1999 to Parkland on February 14, 2018. Now they are taking matters into their own hands. I don't blame them.

But man, all the adults bitching and saying awful things about these kids for 17 fucking minutes out of the classroom to remember 17 lives cut short - some of the dead are younger than the kids who will participate today.

I bet the parents of those 17 kids wish their kids were alive today to argue with over 17 missed minutes of class.

17 kids at the end of a long line of gunned down school children but we want to tell kids not to dare leave class to say anything about it because they don't know what they're talking about and probably just want to get out of class and don't make it political. How dare they have an interest in staying alive in an environment that should focus solely on learning and growing rather than the now required active shooter drills? #neveragain

Civil disobedience requires no permission. You know the possible consequences when you engage in it but your cause is important enough for the risk. Staying alive is pretty fucking important. So is standing up for what you believe in.

It's hypocritical to have kids pledging allegiance to the flag every morning in school from age six up, way before they know what they're pledging allegiance to and why; to tell them they can enlist to serve and possibly die for their country and vote for its leaders at age 18; but expect them to keep their mouths shut in between because they don't know what they're talking about.

You can't want civic engagement and knowledgeable voters and community members at 18 without encouraging them in civic engagement before they reach that age. You can't teach kids that participation in community, government, politics, etc. is fundamental to the American way then ask them not to participate when you don't like their stance.

I support every kid that participates in the walkout today in support of common sense gun laws and in remembrance of the 17 kids gunned down at school in Parkland, FL, a month ago today.

This is your future. Don't let anyone tell you you don't have a say in it.

Thursday Thoughts - come Senators, congressman please heed the call

1. Philly took off its winter coat and sashayed itself around on Tuesday and Wednesday and I took full advantage. Tuesday I walked up to the Art Museum to see two of the MLK Keep Marching busts painted by students (I think these two are from CAPA and Overbrook School for the Blind) and what I consider to be one of the best views of the city.

2. I hit the library on the way back. Look at me with a nonfiction book! I started it Tuesday night and I actually love it - it reads like fiction. Sorry for the jacked up photo in which I tried to get Robert Indiana's AMOR as well as the library (the building in the background on the left) AND the books in the shot without standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Fail.

3. I didn't want to stand in the middle of the sidewalk because people forgot sidewalk etiquette over the winter. To review: If you are walking six people abreast on a large sidewalk and a person comes at you, you do not make the single person step on the freaking grass to go around. Some of you fall back. And if you are on a smaller sidewalk pushing two strollers side by side, same thing. One of you fall back into a single file line. Sidewalk hogs! Single file line!

4. Yesterday I walked 20 minutes down to the acupuncturist and 20 minutes back. It was sunny and glorious and I ran into some murals along the way on Pine Street, which are my very favorite things to run into. Both are part of the Mural Arts program. The left is Spring by David Guinn and the right is part of the Famous Franks by David McShane.

5. This week in dog town: Gus is snuggly, Mae is surly, and Bruce Springsteen really wants to drink out of straws.

6. I couldn't get it together to do this so thank you Kim. Please read Kim's post Safe, Loved, and Warm - where do the guns fit in? Also for your consideration, this post by a Parkland father that contains a quiz at the end to see if you are a gun fetishist or sociopath. If you are someone who regularly runs to the Internet to defend guns in the wake of a mass shooting, please, do take the quiz. 

7. Action makes me feel better, how about you? Things you can do: Write a letter to students (see below). Support them in any way you can by showing up on March 24 for the March for Our Lives in DC or a city near you (Sister Marches are still populating - this is student led action and a little slower to organize than adult action). If you are an adult, do NOT to take over and shape or direct this action from students but instead follow their lead. Be aware of/supportive of the March 14 National School Walkout organized by EMPOWER Youth, the youth component of the Women's March, that happens on the one month anniversary of Parkland. Be aware of/supportive of the April 20 National School Walkout on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting - many students are wearing orange so that's a good way to show support. On March 14 the plan is for them to walk out for 17 minutes at 10 am and on April 20 the plan is to walk out at 10 am for the remainder of the day. Get involved with your time or your money - check  out Everytown and Moms Demand Action (for non-moms too). Don't spend your week defending guns as if they are people when there are actual people involved here and they're children and some of them are dead and others watched or were crawling around on floors thinking they were going to die too. Just don't. If you want to talk to someone sympathetic to protecting guns over kids, call up a Congress person who's taken the NRA's blood money. They're not too hard to find. 

8. LOL and yes, true. 

9. Reminder. Thanks GenaHo! Breathe. Allow for a little space.

10. E-card of the week

Peace out.

Thursday Thoughts - even the losers get lucky sometimes

Thinking I have soup phobia. I swear to god every time I make soup I avoid eating it and I don't know why. 

Wishing I could get a grip on the state of my house. It is fright fest in there this week. There is shit everywhere. 

Hoping you've heard the Tom Petty song Walls (No. 3), and if you haven't, that you'll listen to it now. It's my favorite. Rest in Peace.

Wondering if people against common sense gun legislation recognize how circular their arguments are or how hypocritical they sound. Guns should be owned by people trained to use them, people who respect them, people who took courses and paid money to hold licenses. If you think for one second the 2nd Amendment is still about the ability to arm yourself against your own government, you are a lunatic, my friend. You and a few of your buddies with rifles are not going to defeat the tyranny of a war machine with a $600 billion defense budget. This is not Red Dawn. Why does anyone who opposes gun owner regulation never hear that I don't want to take their guns? I don't want to take your guns...until you act like a nutter in your insistence that ZERO additional legislation will help prevent mass shootings from occurring. Then I want to take your guns because you're mentally ill and shouldn't have them. Oh wait, trump overturned a mental health regulation on gun purposes back in February. Never mind. You're right! Nothing left to be done except send thoughts and prayers. Or you can call your representative and ask about what can be done to keep weapons designed to kill out of the hands of nutters and angry white men with a misplaced rage problem and a heap of insecurities. And I'm sorry, the NRA does not exist for you, they are not your tribe. They exist to protect and promote gun manufacturers. Gun users are pawns. Can someone start an organization for responsible gun ownership of people who don't fetishize guns but respect them and know their place? Can people also stop taking photos with their guns like they are toys or new shoes? They're not either. They are serious business. See also: how to call your representative about gun control reform (thanks Tiffany for the link). Things I would read again: No More Shootings That Follow the Rules (op-ed in the NYT), 15 Things that are Harder to Obtain than a Gun (blog post), and finally images from the Internet that unfortunately resonated this week:

Dreaming of a world where the interest in legislating guns was triple the interest in legislating women's bodies. If you don't think politicians have the right to legislate vaginas, please call your Senator about this bill. It passed the House. 

Raising money for pancreatic cancer research. My family is walking in the Purple Stride walk on November 4th in memory of my grandmother. We are Madeline's Marchers and you can donate to me here if you are so inclined.

Roaring with laughter that stirrups are back. Fucking stirrups you guys! I wore these in 1986. Stop it. They look terrible and it constantly feels like you're pulling your own pants down but not of your own volition.

Getting sick of the let them eat cake reaction to natural disasters in this country. Are you kidding me with the goddamn towel throwing in Puerto Rico this week? Disgraceful bully toddler impotent man. The best way to combat soulless life suckers is to donate - money, time, resources.
Evacuees of the Keys helps FL Keys residents, this is my first time sharing this link
Links to donate to PR in this post
Links to donate to TX & USVI in this post

Reporting in from Dog Town. Bruce is really good. He pees and poops outside and sleeps most of the way through the night. Any accidents inside have been because humans have not been paying attention. Mae is very pleased to have someone to growl at and lay with, but she prefers Bruce lay with her without walking near her so it's a delicate balance. Many people were asking about Gus's reaction to him, and the truth is Gus doesn't need anyone but Gus, so Gus does not feel left out or anything like that. Gus tolerates him which is all we can ask of Gus in any situation. LOL Humans are fighting over who will get up with the puppy in the middle of the night and happier than ever in their decision not to have human children. Excuse these photos, who knows what is going on with the camera on my phone.

Trying to get my shit together to put a blog together for tomorrow about the Pennsylvania Women's Conference I attended on Tuesday. Few words might be the best way to go.

Reading Poison by Galt Niederhoffer. Show Us Your Books is Tuesday! Third anniversary edition, which means prizes.

Reminding you 

Sharing an e-card like every Thursday

Happy happy birthday to Aunt Carrie today! 

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