Life Lately March 2019

Thinking:
About politics of course. I think after the first six months of the Mueller investigation I knew that it was not going to be the linchpin to get us out of the course we’re heading in. From time to time I’d be swayed into positivity by someone about the report, or even when we’d see arrests and indictments, but I would keep tabs on what Sarah Kendzior and others who are scholars on authoritarian regimes said—and she’s always been pragmatic that the Mueller investigation would not be saving us. I highly recommend Gaslit Nation podcast.

On a lighter note, I am now a super fan of Mayor Pete. That link goes to the first interview I heard of him on the show 1A. He’s been several other places in the last month as well. Considering he’s of my generation I’m definitely rooting for him. Even if he doesn’t end up on the ballot I hope he finds a way to get on the cabinet.

I’m also glad Beto is now in the running but I honestly thought he wasn’t going to run. And I’m not getting the sudden backlash on him, though. I know there was that Vanity Fair article, which I didn’t read, that seemed to upset a lot of people but I think many people who are upset were really thinking this was going to be a woman’s election and were upset about that. Yes, we have many women in the running but only two that I see viable as getting far: Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. And I love Elizabeth Warren but her heritage issues are going to hound her and I just see her as being Hillary 2.0 and moderates or conservatives who aren’t on the Voldemort train are going to be voting for her with their nose held again…or voting for a third party or Bernie or something.

I guess I’m being pragmatic. We’ve got to win 2020 or it is going to get super dark really fast. Because it will be an acknowledgement that the country is ok with what has been going on. And I’m not ok with that. There’s been plenty written about a general rise in authoritarian and extreme right wing regimes world-wide. It’s going to get messy if we aren’t able to course correct ourselves.

Oh, one last thing: I’m still holding my opinions of AOC to a year or two from now to see what she actually gets done, but I’m increasingly loving how she’s pushing the buttons where they need to be pushed without giving in or even caring what people say about her.

Gardening:
Lots going on out there! I took macro photos around the yard a few days ago and I need to process those and get them posted soon. I’m still waiting for the leaps of growth on some plants. I feel like the flower garden is behind in some aspects and ahead in others. I’m slowly getting on top of the weeds in the edible garden. I really need to get some mulch for the beds out there and the pathways soon. I had been using some mulch (of random things they’d shredded around the city) that our community had put on an empty lot a few doors down for our paths but they started piling up non-safe debris up there, such as old painted wood signs and stuff like that and I really don’t want to use that even on our paths. I’m sure I could move around and get some of it but honestly the oldest stuff is probably more like compost now.

Loving:
+We went to the first Budding Out Festival at Peckerwood Garden today (well, yesterday when you read this). It was a much better experience than when we went the first time when Forest wasn’t even 2. Though, it was a bit difficult trying to keep a 4.5 year old not to play under trees and tell him this wasn’t a park but was instead someone’s private garden! The festival was wonderful though, reminding me a bit of the ones we would go to at the Fruit and Spice Park in Florida. I hope they continue it from here on out!
+iNaturalist: it is seriously helping me improve my flora and fauna identification skills.
+Making art again!
+How interested Forest is in dinosaurs! Earlier today (aka: yesterday) he was making an Earth and asteroids with playdough and explaining how this one portion of the Earth covered in brown was where the asteroid hit and the dinosaurs died. Why yes, he watches dino documentaries on Netflix and Amazon! We also checked out some hardcore dinosaur books from the library a few weeks ago—they are more encyclopedias than anything!

Reading:
A few too many things at once. A book report is due here so I’ll try to get that up this week, too.

Making:
After seeing several people doing the 100 Day Project the last few years, I decided I was going to participate this year. I’m setting the bar low so that I actually complete it: 100 days of blind contour drawing. It will be a good practice for simple drawing skills and to draw what I see. I ended up starting on Thursday instead of the official project date of April 2nd. When I finish I’ll share here.

Forest and I are also getting over to the studio a couple of times a week so I’m working on finishing a few projects there and also doing some quick pieces of art over there in a sketch book or on scrap art paper. It’s fun to spend an hour or so over there with him while he plays or draws something himself.

Watching & Listening:
+The OA is back on Netflix for Season 2! 8 episodes of OMG where is this going?! So good.
+More Downton Abbey reruns when they show up on my DVR. I miss that show but we have a movie to look forward to!
+This is Us and Grey’s Anatomy, of course. And I know there is just a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory left but I’m trying to figure out when they are going to air them. Seems like over a month since the last one.
+Good Girls: I can’t remember if I wrote about this in last month’s write-up but I found season 1 on Netflix and thought it was Netflix based. It’s not, it is NBC based. So I’m watching those as well as season 2 just started. It’s Breaking Bad adjacent.

Where did March go?