mumma yaga

june 29 was anyone else seriously underwhelmed by judge di luca's verdict and excuses regarding the miller-thierault case? he says he is "not there to conduct public inquiry into race and policing"! yeti, he himself says that thierault was probably not trying to arrest miller but administer street justice! isn't this illegal? to act as vigilant? how is it possible that three mature strong men had to use self-defense against a young light-weight man? judge di luca did exactly what the racist system keeps doing! pushing the racist violence to one side, saying, sure, he can't be certain that miller told the truth, because after all, he IS black and may be afraid of the police and the justice system so he could have lied. BUT a white cop wouldn't lie for fear of prosecution and jail (for blinding a man!!) the star is hailing this as a racial win! "legal experts praise attention to racism."* " yes." says the judge. "i am happy to assure you...

friday 26th. news.   first something good. toronto's mayor tory is proposing police reforms to be debated starting monday. among his suggestions are non-police response teams, and increased use of the police force's current mobile crisis teams when a situation does not require the heavier hand of the police. "sensible, meaningful policing change must happen." says mr tory. he is also asking that funding be prioritized for "social supports and services... in 'Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities' ". he also demands full implementation of recommendations from various past reports and inquests. well, yes! what are they waiting for?  the article i reference is on the bottom half of page 6 in today's globe and mail, which brings me to the bad news. why was this article considered to be so low down in importance? we are getting "bad news", if we are not hearing about events that we should be aware of. i talked about the papers dropp...

wednesday, june 24   for covid protection we could be wearing those old-fashioned gloves that women (and girls) wore to church when i was a child. once worn they could be popped (carefully) into a bag to be washed. i gave all but one pair to my children. (sad face)   in fashion news: i have seen two women in apron dresses and some frill-edged 50's aprons for sale in a card shop. am i observing a current trend in street-wear, or am i predicting a trend? i did get the idea from the card shop aprons, they were so cute, and plain enough to wear with any outfit. but were they thinking kitchen? or out-and-about?  there is a blustery wind today, tossing the trees. sun and cloud and sun...  on sunday i said, "maybe we need a second picnic table while i am using ours for my mosaic, a joke mostly. on monday i wanted to find something to mosaic with some of the leftover fish china. this morning i found a big fiberglass outdoor table put out to the curb just a few doors away. as...

solstice muse   writing and speaking words aloud are important, empowering, almost magical,    as when a thing's true name will invoke that thing. it is an idea that shows up in many stories, the ursula leguin young-people's series, the name of which escapes me; and there is rumplestiltskin, of course.   words have psychological power for the speaker, in that naming a human action or condition makes it real, concrete, both for bad and for good. saying aloud that you might have cancer is facing that fear head-on. but it also prepares you to move forward: there are actions you can take, and medical and moral support that you can count on. it means you can now move past the "out loud" acknowledgment, the "oh f***" and the "deep breath".  time is again our "moving sidewalk": inexorably we are swept into the future as in a river.]    words have psychological power in relationships, what we say to others will have emotional, intellectual and so...

june 22 good evening! thank you for visiting. there isn't a new post since june 19. but i have been recovering from my knee injury with "alexander's" help. i spent several hours yesterday looking at my mosaic for inspiration to move forward. the children played tide-pool with the china shells and fishes. i jotted down some interesting notes. mostly i walked about in the sun and wind and trees. angel clouds, yesterday. i should be "on my feet" again soon.

june 19 on wednesday my knee collapsed when i tried to run after fig. couldn't put any weight on it at all. i had to call k to fetch me from the field in the car. crawled to the roadside! i was able to move my knee and use it a little by the evening, so i decided not to have it x-rayed. it has slowed me down, though. i can't believe how much mental bandwidth an injury uses up! i have had trouble working just from the distraction of the pain, the difficulty getting about and how tired it makes me. spent most of yesterday staring despondently at my mosaic (partly because i am stuck in a "stall" - see below). but i am feeling better this afternoon, it's been more that 48 hours since the fall, and i can sit and work without any pain.  tomorrow is the summer solstice. this is an excellent time for reflection and journaling. looking back to the winter solstice, before christmas, write about how life has changed since then, not for the world but for you, your family and ...

love to be mosaicking again i am working on the porch so that neighbours can come by and see.  buddha, wild roses, by the front door monday, 15th june 2020   parenthetical. what would sr say about the use of parenthesies?    three senior moments: let's change that name!  1. i purchased a kobo ebook, it was only 99 cents. i sat there for a full 60 seconds wondering how much the delivery would cost....    2.  couldn't remember the word plagiarized: substituted purloined. thought it made a nice poetic variation!  3. two hours ago i took a large bowl out of the fridge. it was clean, having been catching melt-water from a defrost. i set it on the counter while i restarted the fridge. i returned to the kitchen just now and asked, "does anyone know where this large bowl came from?".   perhaps we miss rituals. earth and season and birth and death. we are missing our usual rituals because of social distancing, but also perhaps we neglect to celeb...

sat june 13.      covid notes:  in a rut? [covid day 97]   we've entered the "post-alarm-and-fear" monotonous phase of the pandemic, need a change. Need outside contact, need a safe party to attend that can last till the next day ... a ten-foot-pole party, or, a party where each invitee brings a pool noodle minimum length 6 feet, a "poodle" party, (and please bring your own chair, beer, opener and chips!)   is six feet enough?    why does the jogger think its okay to jog within 3 feet of us?   times i can't find my wallet, pre-covid, 12 a month: down to 2 times a month.       went to canadian tire to return a gift, and stayed to shop. i bought everything i could think of to see us through a year, so i wouldn't have to return. ...for a long time.  a tent, several kinds of tape, clear-packing, scotch and masking, furnace filters,trapeze swing, diamond cutting discs for my dremel, for mosaicking.   spent more t...

june 12  good morning! i have been away for days.   i began the mosaic on tuesday. it was actually indre who found the ideal spot for the dragon-head. i love the organic creativity of the process. i break a piece of ceramic and bring it to the log to find the right position and aspect, looking and testing for a match with other pieces and for where the broken end of the piece fits the shape of the wood. it's like finding the right note for the song, or the right word for the poem.  here, i collected the ceramics i wanted for the project.  below, the first fragments find their spot on the log. i want to call it waterlog. but i might become fishlog. the green tape is holding pieces in place while the mastic dries. mastic sticks the mass to the log.     yesterday was an errand day. i went to atms at both banks to get more small bills for tips for some of the delivery people and curbside helpers. then i stopped at the little cheese shop on norseman, then 6...

june 09 a plasticine project. the children went on to make nests and eggs storm clouds rain and tal's dogs: girl pup on top, long-suffering  "big brother" underneath. photo by rain. indre in the field. this is our wilderness. look gramma, your pimpernails are flowering. (scarlet pimpernel) rappelled pony-tail. our little yard under the maple. fences courtesy of neighbours  the kindergarten and the schoolyard abandoned. how the sun comes in.

june 6      in the days of covid 19 i have wondered if or when we would see riots and violence as fear and tension built up. in an april post,  200419 fear , i queried whether or not we might wake up to a new world of oppression and dictatorship following the pandemic. i did not expect to wake up to the reality that we  already have  oppression, which i, at least, have not been seeing clearly. it is the oppression of our countrymen and women who, because of the colour of their skin, or because they are women or because of some other difference, are denied choices, jobs, good wages and homes. (i also did not expect to see so soon the dangerous authoritarianism that our border-country's leader is spouting.)     because the pandemic has put our lives on hold and we have the time, or because the death of mr. floyd was the last straw, our world is awake at last. we are seeing protests of anger, not at the pandemic's impact but at another huge and...

recent picks: pun intended. white iris! our back yard under the maple the crowns we told robin that the usa sent a man to the moon in '68. he asked "was it bob?" the man in this book!   our field 

may 11 2020   i am my parents' child. of course, but look: every day my every action reflects something learned from them, a reminder of them. sometimes their presence is tangible, like seeing the kaleidoscope of human history, ancestry: like the seers of dune, or the shamans of ayla's tribe, (on drugs, both of them), i'm aware of my mother and father at my shoulder, their three-dimensional legacy of knowledge, skill and experience and my father's and mother's parents before them. how the wisdom tumbles down the generations like a waterfall, like stones into the path,  like a glacier. dune, frank herbert the clan of the cave bear, jean aeul

june 3 indre just came in to see me - "picky", the stuffed tarsier has broken his nose. i have admitted him to my "hospital": he will need surgery. i have to find the other half of the nose inside his snout and try and snap the pieces together again. or else attach an artificial nose in wool or cotton. the dolly doctor. (doctor's report: operation successful, was able to re-attach original nose, patient discharged)  i made a cake for robin's birthday. it shrank a LOT as it cooled. i used a cake mix, because i am not good at cakes. they require exact measuring, at which i'm not good. true, the cake is just the delivery system for the buttercream icing, but it has to be nice and moist.  indre and i will make the icing and tamar will ice the cake. she is the professional in this situation. how does she do it without getting chocolate cake crumbs all over the outside of the icing?!   today was a good day. in the morning i went to valley farms (l...

june 2    monday morning: took the kids to field. made bed. one thing done. well, two things: the walk counts.    but this bedroom! heaps everywhere! hands up if you have a dresser tray, a bowl? both? when did you last sort it? in the last week? impressive! in the last month, satisfactory. same question the bench/blanket-box at the end of the bed , and its pile of clean laundry, or last week's once-worn wardrobe? here's a heap of shoes too, where i was looking for a shoe-mate and in exasperation pulled out every shoe to organize the jumbled shelf. (that was thursday.) it's like a snowfall: hats and clothes, books, papers and staplers, earrings and t-shirts on every surface. except the bed, which i cleared of a bone and stuffies (fig's), and stuff tumbled from the blanket-box, so that i could make it. one thing. well, two things. i can count the walk! and the children's breakfast. i can count that, too.   tired. i'd like to rest today. weekends somet...