The Giving of Thanks

 Just because the world's coming to an end doesn't mean we have to shut down this phenomenal blog.  I'm getting straightened out over here and stepping up with the blogging for my readers who have been with me through thick and thin lo these many decades. If you are reading these words at this moment in time, I thank you both heartily.  You're the reason I do this grueling work. 

Here's the latest with leeway:

Last Sunday I broke my toe.  I was walking down the stairs, carrying sundry objects, and I skipped that crucial last step.  Hard to understand how or why that happened, but it did. Lots of things are hard to understand right now and this is one of them. I just have to deal with it.

In the slippage I came down hard on all the toes on my left foot. Sprawled on the floor, screeching in agony, I feared the worst, but X-ray technology showed that I broke only my large toe, also called the great toe, or the hallux.  When Orthopedist Pal JR, disclosed that my hallux was cracked, I complained, "Rats. It's one of my favorite toes."

JR commiserated, "It's the one that goes to market."  

Truer words were never spoken.  

I have to wear the boot for one month which seems excessive for one toe, but the good news is I had a boot in the closet that I wore last time I damaged my left foot by breaking it in two different places when I fell in the backyard on my birthday after challenging Husbandman, "Race you to the car!"  

The boot is cumbersome, but I'm tough and I rarely complain about stuff like boots. Not thrilled to be wearing the boot on the 5 hour flight to Seattle tomorrow, but maybe I can take it off and leave it in the aisle when people aren't up and about. 

In conclusion, today I give thanks to readers, doctor friends, boots in closets, and vacations.  Soon we'll be making the hand turkeys of 2024.

The Misunderstanding

 My belief that everyone is "unshakeably good" has been tested severely this week. 

 It now occurs to me, plain as day, that some peeps are "shakeably good," and a whole big bunch of others are unshakeably bad. 

  This is a significant shift in my perspective about my fellow citizens.  

 I hoped beyond hope that "joy (would) cometh in the morning," but I woke up on Wednesday in a joyless place with much weeping and worry and it looks we'll all be living here for the foreseeable future. 

I'm developing a plan for a life of isolation and ignorance and I now present it to you in a bulleted list. 

•  I'm not going to read or listen to any source of NEWS.  Good riddance. 
• We will probably also move to France, where I can walk around in a blissful bubble while HM works,  unable to communicate with others, unable to understand what's happening around me. 
• Moving back with the BLUES people of California also appeals. 
• The plan includes near constant collage and notebook doodling. 

 That's all I have of the plan right now.  

The "Offerings"

Someone keeps putting ridiculous objects on my front porch Buddha. Useless coins and small bills appear no matter how many times I remove them.  

Today I threw away this inexplicable offering of a blue letter A birthday candle put there by someone clearly making a mockery of my Buddha in order to get on my last nerve. 

Not sure if it's the mail carrier doing the defacing, but I highly suspect it is because no one else comes to my house. I also suspect the college kids across the street.  I've called the police about their loud parties four times and I know they're not pleased about that. Well, too bad. Have some respect for your neighbors!  

I'm having a small sign made professionally to put in front of my Buddha.  It says:

Keep AWAY.  

 My Buddha neither needs, nor wants, your trash.  

He's doing just fine.  

Thank you.  

The sign arrives next week.  Let's hope it puts a stop to this nonsense. I'm at my wit's end.