Life of Wry

Jim and I went to our second concert in three days. It’s the season for music, right? This one featured our cousin Monica, one of sixteen singers in Volti…a San Francisco ensemble of professional singers who “are dedicated to the discovery, creation and performance of new vocal music.”

In tonight’s concert, “Singing Puzzles,” the virtuoso musicians, “

screamed, cursed, imitated crude
sound effects, impersonated turtles, brutally
butchered IPA symbols, sang beautifully, and
conjured up just about every sound the human
voice is capable of into their recorders. Elements
of the choral experience — such as group
rehearsals, coordinated singing in time, visual
cues — remained, but deconstructed in bizarre
ways that only a year like 2020 could deliver.

The director was careful to point out: it was not Christmas music.

Here are a couple pics:

Jim and I assuming the now very familiar position (this is where we sit for all our Zoom events):

I liked this particular number…I won’t go into detail describing it, but just know that each singer, alone at home, sang their part without hearing the others. The director had them close their eyes, turned them into black/white, edited each individual’s recording, added graphics to represent the sounds and then put it all together. The singers heard the composition as a whole for the first time tonight.

There were 7 “puzzles,” in all — some more random than others — all an interesting blend of sounds, graphics and direction.

Like:

I think what went on here was each singer gave his/her sound impression of one of the images and the director mixed those in an artistic way.

I’m not exactly sure what was going on with this one….

… but they put those symbols to sound, as only Volti professional singers can.

All the numbers were interesting. The entire 25-minute performance was worth observing… because, number one, it’s our cousin who’s a major musical talent (all of the singers are) and, number two, it’s a style of music that is 100% foreign to me (save that one experimental music class I took at UCSD nearly a half century ago in which we did crazy things with our voices, embellished by skits, costumes, found objects and weird sound effects.. well outside my comfort zone, but a worthwhile class because it broke the ice on my uptight, self-conscious, late-teen self) and there’s always something to gain through that exposure.

I think it’s safe to say that grassroots activism is finally winding down.. again. We thought we had sprinted to a triumphant end on November 3, but we were wrong. We thought the Nov 3rd election would bring an end (for this round) to our collective, substantial work, and we could just celebrate our victories up and down the ballot. But not just yet.

While we won the big one, and held the house (barely), the Senate did not go our way.

However…

Turns out none of the four Senate candidates vying for two seats in Georgia earned the requisite 50% of the vote, and that forced two runoff elections, scheduled for January 5.

This presents both challenge (ugh! more postcards, calls, texts, money, time) and opportunity (dems could possibly win both seats, bringing the count in the Senate to 50-50.. a much better prospect for the Biden-Harris agenda (and of course a much better world for all of us).

It’s so worth fighting for.

Therefore… we are still at it.

But man…. having spent the better part of this election/pandemic year (not even counting the three before that) writing postcards ’til our hands could barely unfurl themselves, calling ’til our ears had turned to cauliflowers, texting ’til I don’t know what… the idea that our work was not yet done was not that welcome.

I personally have not yet been able to bring myself to make a single call. I’m not altogether sure the voters of Georgia can handle any more calls either. I decided I’d rather send postcards… this seemed less intrusive, less threatening, maybe more effective and, for me, a lot less stressful. I got a good batch out a couple weeks ago, and worked on another 35 today (one batch for Flip the West, one batch for Tony the Democrat).

Just two and a half more weeks ’til the election. We can do anything for just 2 1/2 weeks.. ya? Maybe even a phone call or two…

Add to the long list of things in our life that are different this year: the annual Home for the Holidays concert. The HFTH concert is definitely on our list of favorite annual holiday traditions; glad we didn’t have to miss it! This was the 17th annual, and we’ve been to probably 16, maybe 15 of those… including tonights online version. My old org stepped up and made it happen (good for them) and the production was quite watchable.. and thankfully familiar!

When Jim and I weren’t stuffing our holiday cards into, and affixing stamps onto, envelopes, we were doing this:

(That’s Dave Nochmanoff.)

Because it was online, Bill Fairfield had the ability to add a few musicians from faraway (like Marcia Ball who recorded her segments from Texas). But for my money, and Jim’s too, it was the regulars that we really enjoyed:

Missed Charlie Baty (Little Charlie and the Nightcats), who passed away this year (so sad) and the Mumbo Gumbo women–Tracy Walton and Chris Webster–who mix and match with numerous HFTH regulars, but who were not in the virtual version of the concert for some reason.

Anyway.. t’was a worthwhile couple of hours. Missed sitting in the front row of the Vet’s Theater with the Cavins-O’Hanleighs, (and Peter, of course), as is our tradition. Next year for sure.

It’s either Trump or democracy. These are mutually exclusive. It’s time for you people in elected office–who’ve sworn oaths to the constitution–to decide. You perpetuate this myth of a rigged election, continue your dependence on Trump for your political future… and our democracy is over. Because if we can’t even agree on the outcome of an election, we will never move on, we will never unite this country, we will never regain productive governance that will ever be able to address the real threats to democracy: racial injustice, massive income inequality, the climate crisis.. for three. If we can’t even have a functional democracy where elections are accepted as free and fair, where winners are acknowledged and the peaceful transfer of power is a given… there is no hope for addressing the bigger societal challenges.

I’m seriously afraid for us.

~~

From a sweet, less frightful Christmas, long ago…..

Our little family is struggling here…

On the one hand: Feel strongly we must honor the guidelines around travel. All of us — across the country/world — share in this responsibility. Of course it’s hard and a kingsize bummer. But we need to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. Every health expert and professional says no non-essential travel. We need to bite the bullet. We will look back on 2020 as a year of sacrifices and loss. It’s a history-book-level crisis. We are all in the same storm.

We do our part (not everyone will), we celebrate later. We deserve a great big celebration later. We look back on this year or two knowing we were informed, we were smart, we responded to the problem as asked. That’s a good feeling. It’s the right thing to do.

And we have fun with it. We Zoom a lot, we open our presents together, we play games. We are sending him his gifts, his stocking (at least we’ve got everything boxed and ready to ship)… we’ll do this and it will be a Christmas to remember. A Christmas like no other. Like everyone else.

On the other hand: What if he can get here safely? What if he were to drive, camping along the way? What if, when he gets here, he stays put? His finals end this week, then not only does the campus shut down and everyone goes away for a month, but his coop kitchen shuts down… no prepared meals, no community. He’ll have access to the kitchen, and will be able to cook for himself, but it will be a ghost town. Because of covid, he’s not been able to attend classes and meet other grad students, nor establish activities and social circles (beyond the coop and his small research team). While he’s enjoyed himself these last 4 1/2 months, it’s been different than it might otherwise have been (understatement).

So.. this mom worries about mental health. Is it really necessary to be isolated like that for a month? Before, we thought he was talking about a week-long visit. Now, perhaps, he’d consider an entire month. Does that change things?

He’s deep into finals and doesn’t want to deal. But, when not studying, he is bored and has pitched the idea of coming home after all. And… he’s considerate, smart, brave and willing to hang in his room, if necessary, for a long wintry month. (As, by the way, everyone he knows is able to get to their families.)

We’re in a holding pattern.

~~

Unrelated, here are a couple wintry photos from today’s burry walk around the arb:

I guess we have a lot of evergreen trees around here.. still green out there. But it was cold!!

The final, after every state’s electors voted:

In honor of yet another nail in whatshisname’s coffin, howza ’bout some memes and political cartoons?

Hee hee.

Last night’s rant was pictureless.. so here are a few photos from yesterday that remind me that the day was more than its rant:

I mentioned that I’d had a two-plus-hour-long Zoom conversation with Peter. A huge part of the conversation was about math problems and statistics because that’s what he loves talking about, which both amuses and fascinates me. I love screen capturing him in full teaching mode.

We get a lot of info on the ins and outs of his research, and I think Jim and I are learning a lot about fluid dynamics and turbulence. A skillful parent can also sneak in questions about coop life, their kid’s diet, his social circles, pronouns, driving in ice.. All the feels.

Yesterday’s conversation also featured a drama. Like his mom, Peter is deathly afraid of beetles, ESPECIALLY flying beetles. Apparently, there is a particular beetle, native to Michigan, that is quite common, and which flies [grammatical sidebar: I just used that and which in a single sentence and honestly don’t know which one is correct]. He noticed it while we were talking, leapt out of his chair and scurried to find something to contain it. This beetle cannot be smashed as it reportedly stinks to high heaven… so best to capture and release.

The whole chaotic operation of which I got to witness.

This wasn’t the first beetle he had to deal with on a Zoom call. The first time it happened, he had a small jar available (an empty edibles jar, as it turns out), which worked well (it would be way too up-close for me). This time, he had only the lid to a box available. He was so hysterical I’m not sure how he managed, but he got the beetle to climb onto the box lid and then he pitched it out the window (into the 30-degree air). (Then he had to go outside to get the box.) The whole thing was creepy, but entertaining (and hilarious).

~~

The latter part of the afternoon, what was left of it, was also pleasant… decided to bake cookies after all. While I won’t be mass producing and delivering, per tradition, I will make batches to include in packages I’m sending to family members.

T’was a much smaller operation than usual, but made about 7-8 dozen cookies.

And it felt Christmassy and nice.

It’s raining today, and I just could not be happier. Well.. I could be, I suppose, but I’m relieved. The backyard with its new plants looks all dark and moistily content. We’ve been in a long, record-breaking dry spell. I was reading up on La Ninas–since that’s the weather pattern this part of the world seems to be settling into for the winter–and learning nothing conclusive. Could be colder, could be warmer, could be wetter, could be dryer… I read all of that.

So. Rain today. I’ll take it. Super cozy hereabouts.

~~

Earlier this week, on a walk with Vicki, it wasn’t raining. We took a little time with our cameras at the lake part of our walk. Here’s a shot of me (thanks, Vicki!):

And here are the shots I was working on:

Funny. I have been in that state that has become so common these days: agitation, mixed with normal life. As I was reflecting on that — on how it’s so weird to be baking Christmas cookies, for example, as I listen to the news which is, of course, stunningly disturbing — and just now sitting down to write on that all-too-familiar juxtaposition, I opened WordPress and note immediately a blog post from a couple of months ago (I note it because it was among the blogs read yesterday by mystery people in my readership and I get notifications of such on my dashboard), entitled “It Was the Scariest of Times and the Worst of Times.” Which.. is about exactly that.

Well.. I thought it was funny (odd funny, not haha funny) .. in a frightening sort of way. We are in such weird (dangerous) times.

I think often — especially as I read the daily newsletter of my favorite writer these days: historian Heather Cox Richardson — about how we are living in a very historic moment. Not historic in any good way. Historic in the worst possible way: on the verge of the collapse of our democracy, combined with, you know, a deadly pandemic. A pandemic made worse by the very guy who’s at the root of our democracy’s collapse.

God, I hate that guy. I seriously hate him. I hate him for what he’s wrought.. here, globally… everywhere. I don’t care that we were maybe primed for this following a couple decades of republican shenanigans ineptly addressed by ineffectual democrats. I place the lion’s share of the blame squarely on the-man-I-loathe-to-the-depths-of-my-soul, aided and abetted by an immoral, corrupt, power-drunk, spineless, scaredy-cat congress.

I know. Rant alert. I can’t help myself. Feel free to skip (I mean.. of course).

So yeah.. I was making Butterballs and groovin’ on the tradition of it, the aroma, the holiday lights and cheer. I was in my happy mom place — having had a two-hour-and-twenty-minute Zoom conversation with Peter this afternoon. Beautiful, wonderful Peter (moms get to feel this way). And as I was in this nice, apron-clad place, sneezing on inhaled powdered sugar, I was listening (ill-advisedly) to CNN. There was good news: the approval of, and imminent release of gazillions of doses of, a proven-effective vaccine that will turn this pandemic thing around in the most profound way. So that was a great bit of yin. And then, of course, there was the yang: news of the destruction that a petulant, vindictive, aggrieved loser president is continuing to wreak. Sigh (because what else is new) and holy mf’ing crap (because this is really bad).

I care not one wit about him and his pathologies. And don’t even want to rant, yet again, about the insanity and danger of his every move. But here’s what I was thinking today:

How stupid are these congress people? Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s accept that for most of the 126 of them who signed on to the amicus brief to reverse the election results in four states, it wasn’t because they don’t believe that Joe Biden won. I’m pretty sure most of them signed on not because they’re buying the election fraud ruse that Trump is pushing (to save face), but because they fear Trump’s retaliation if they don’t. They acquiesce to absolute fealty because they are afraid of a mean tweet and the resulting effect on their careers. They fear him, period. They need to stay in his good graces in order that his base votes for them. His base. It’s all about hanging on to the Trump base and avoiding getting primaried. Trump put pressure on each and every one of them. They were told that he was scrutinizing the list of signers, that he would be “anxiously awaiting the final list to review.” (Seriously.) If their name was not on the list, there would be consequences. When the brief was initially filed, only 106 names were on that list. By day two, another 20 had added their names. We were told “a clerical error” was the reason behind the missing names on the first go-round. Uh huh.

Definitely, fear is top of list. But, actually, I don’t think they give a hoot about democracy either. As Heather said: “Since the 1980s, Republican leaders have managed to hold onto power by suppressing votes, promoting disinformation, gerrymandering states, gaming the Electoral College, and stacking the courts. Now, so unpopular that even gaming the mechanics of our system is not enough, they have abandoned democracy itself.”

And that’s where we are.

But what I don’t get is.. where are the real leaders? People like leaders, preferably inspiring leaders of integrity. These republican congress guys (and handful of gals) are, for the most part, smart and well educated. Most of them run circles around Trump, brain-wise. They know stuff, they know history. Not only are they smarter than Trump, they are way smarter than the people they are afraid of pissing off. They COULD be leaders. Instead, they’re being led. They’re allowing themselves to be threatened by the least qualified, least knowledgeable, least honorable person ever to lie and manipulate his way to the WH. And they’re allowing themselves to be threatened by a voting base that is hugely ignorant and misinformed, who seem hellbent on voting against their own interests. They, of all people, NEED leaders who will truly hear them and fight FOR them, not whip them into a frenzy of anger, resentment and distrust. And not trick them into giving their money to a [self proclaimed] millionaire. Trump’s got them knotted into balls of fear and hate, thinking only he can help them, when, in truth, it’s all a con.

Congress should lead. They should put their heads down and work for the people they represent. Instead they are afraid and spending all their time staying out of Trump’s crosshairs. Why are they allowing Trump to have that power over them? They are smarter than he is. This party of Trump, the cult of Trump, is so, SO stupid. They should have denounced him a long time ago. Still should. They don’t even have a party platform anymore! The platform is whatever Trump wants. And now they’re following him off the cliff. This is the real cliff, the democracy cliff. He never cared about democracy, but now THEY are walking right along side him.

They signed the brief. I just can’t get over that.

Congress: you are smarter than this. You took oaths. You swore to defend the constitution. You’re supposed to be serving the people. Instead you’re afraid. Weak, spineless, reduced to scaredy cats, signing ridiculous, embarrassing legal briefs. He’s controlling you and you’re letting him. You’re trapped. He’s also manipulating his base, the most ardent of whom are ignorantly following him, rejecting masks, rejecting science, rejecting vaccines (all at their peril), threatening democratic public officials, carrying guns into crowds and statehouses. Why are YOU at the bottom of this trash heap, a bunch of lowly sad sacks begging for a stupid president’s approval, doing anything to get it, selling your soul. It’s embarrassing to watch. You’re so afraid to anger him or his base you’ll sign on to a legal brief demanding the Supreme Court throw out votes you know were fairly and legally cast for Joe Biden. You’re so afraid he’ll mean-tweet you, you’re willing to completely undermine the election, the will of a majority of voters and democracy itself.

Real leaders are guided by principles, laws, facts, and govern in the best interest of the people they are sworn to serve. Like John McCain. So what if your decisions are not popular? In the end, you earn the support and respect of people if you fight for them. You’re supposed to be the bigger person. You were entrusted to make the hard choices and do the right thing for the PEOPLE, the COUNTRY. Not Trump.

You’re now all losers. History will forget about you in a millisecond. You stood for nothing and violated the people. All because you were afraid.

Exciting things happened in both the back and front yards today.

In the back, it was bark day. Ruben’s crew showed up at 8am and were done in a couple of hours. Nothing like a whole bunch of hairy bark to finish the look. Check this out:

Still details to come: some furniture on that mini-patio, including a neato handmade tile table, and a really cool looking screen that will support a flowery vine of some sort. Plus there are two fig trees in that corner that will ultimately grow tall and shady (and figgy… we ALL want some figgy pudding, ya?)

Here is the view from said mini-patio, back toward the house:

Lots to figure out here: there will be a small, colorful tree over by the irrigation valves (this is also where I planted a bunch of poppies last week). There will also be some deck furniture, large flower urns, and who knows what else to spiff up the deck. The barbecue will likely be relocated..

But it’s coming right along. Next big things are the patio (settled on color and concrete stamp today), raised beds (settled on a design today), arbors, another pair of vine-y screens and patio furniture .. all just out of view to the left in this pic.

Okay. And here’s what happened in the front yard this late afternoon: We got our lights up!

That’s Jim on the 16′ ladder. I’m ladder support and light feeder, way down below. And here’s the 8′ ladder part…

These are cool lights.. they attach individually with clips, rather than hanging on nails. Maybe that’s the way they all work now, I’m not sure, but it makes for a nice tight line-o-lights. These are blue-green-purple. I wuv them.

Both yard events happened seconds before the rain fell. Not big rain, but enough to be glad each chore was completed in a timely way. Yay weather karma.