The Unemployment

 Here's something that I don't think is altogether fair and I'm wondering what you think about it. 

Please read, reflect and respond to the following.

I'm fully vaccinated as you know.  I'm also on unpaid leave this year because we're going to go to France if covid doesn't stop us in our tracks once again.  

Come to find out, my employer decided this week to start doling out 1,000$ checks to all vaccinated employees.  I technically still work for this employer, but because of my leave, they're giving me diddlysquat.  They say I "don't qualify." 

Is this whole France thing a bad idea? I'm missing my only chance at receiving 1,000 dollars for doing something that was quick, easy, logical, and beneficial to self and society. 

I'm having some worries that our trip might be cancelled again and I'll sit in this house all year long, jobless and penniless, drawing nonsensical pictures in my notebook. 

Daily drawing would be fun, but I'd rather be in France, with 1,000 dollars in my pocket, or even without 1,000 dollars in my pocket.  Either way would be fine when it comes right down to it.

ps Please only comment if you agree with me that this is unfair.

The CAFE

My big question today is this:  Why do some places know how to make hot tea, while others do not? Today I am in a place and I ordered tea and they put a big honking tea bag into a cardboard cup and poured water over it.  There was enough tea in the bag for about 7 pots of tea.  So obviously this tea that I bought and am being forced to drink is not good.  I feel like walking behind the counter and making the tea.  The next person who walks in this place and orders tea is going to see me jump over the counter and take charge. I'm not lying.

Here's another, smaller, question.  When people are in a new job, and they're learning about how to do the job, why does the person who's teaching them how to do the job just spout off about a million different directions one right after the other?   No one learns by listening to a long monotonic blathering of facts and figures.  I feel like jumping over the counter with my notebook and pen and taking some sketch notes with the newbie about her different roles and responsibilities, as well as our various products and picayunish protocols.  I'd ask questions, give her a chance to try a few things with support.   Even though I'm not going to be a teacher for a year, I need to keep my skills sharp, so I just might leap into action soon if the blathering does not cease. 

The Recap

We're sitting in the New Orleans airport.  We've been here for 7 hours because of our flight being "delayed."  It's not so bad.  We ate some beignets and worked some puzzles.  We've also been recapping the highlights of our 3 days in the big easy.

Some fine restaurants including The Bower, Maypop, and Nina Compton's American Bywater Bistro.  Ogden Museum of Southern Art.  Live oaks at City Park.  The new Nic Cage movie. Buying shoes and eating po' boys on Magazine Street.  Sculptures behind the Art Museum. Lots of chatting with #1 Son and RS, his fun partner in crime. Browsing in the Conjure Shop for dragon blood and old bones and grigri bags. 

The best of all highlight was watching #1 and his band play his new songs at Carnaval Lounge.  The joint was hoppin' as they say in my personal jazz circles. During the set, I yelled out gleefully a few times, but I didn't want to embarrass #1, so I mostly kept my spirit tuned to a joyful simmer. Be on the lookout for the new Quinn Sternberg album, Cicada Songs.  

On the flip side, we weren't crazy about the swampy summer heat, but you've got to take the ups with the downs, my friends, the ins and the outs, the goods and the bads. 

In short, New Orleans, we really do...

 

The Visas

The Fedex Delivery Woman came yesterday with our visas.  The visas come with a paper that said, "Welcome to France." The paper also provided information about various procedures that we will have to follow in order to ensure that we are registered as legal residents in France. I think it's really happening this time, my friends.  

Please, COVID, I beg of you. Don't wreck our trip again.  And if you're reading this and you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, could you please just do it?

It will be weird if we get to go to France, but when we reach Lyon the entire country goes on lock down and Husbandman and I have to sit in an apartment for months and can enjoy neither fun nor frolic.

This is one of the many things I've been mulling over these days.  I'm doing a lot of mulling and a bit of outright worrying.  I'm trying to remember to do my best and just forget the rest. Or as they say, clumsily, in France, 

Faites de votre mieux et oubliez le reste.

 

The Electricity

We've seen one mouse in our kitchen, but we know there are others.  

Lurking, lurking. 

I have purchased a new type of trap that will electrocute a mouse that wanders into its kill chamber.  We've killed one so far.  Husbandman emptied the carrion from the kill chamber and for that I am deeply grateful.  When I asked him what color the mouse was, he replied, "Green and white."  

Husbandman is afflicted with the disability of color blindness, but green and white?  Seriously? "I don't think that's possible," I told him.

"Maybe it was brown and white," Husbandman said, not looking up from his careful reading of the box scores on his laptop. He was probably trying to get past the memory of the corpse disposal. 

I could have gone on and on about the colors of mammalian species never including any shade of green, but instead, I let it rest.  Husbandman had emptied the kill chamber, and for that I say, "Husbandman, thank you for your service!"

The Father

 My brother is a good man. He takes care of my dad.  He does everything for him and our entire family is grateful.  That's why I get annoyed with my dad when he ignores my brother's requests.  My brother asks my dad to wait for him whenever he wants to get up and walk somewhere.  He wants this because my dad has had some bad falls that have landed him in the hospital.  My dad's 92 years old and, even with a walker, his walking is neither steady nor stable. 

I was talking on the phone with my brother a few days ago when he walked into the living room to bring my dad the phone. Lo and behold my dad had walked across the room to get something.  My brother exploded at my dad.  I hung up and called my dad a few hours later.  Come to find out, my dad was mad at my brother and considered his outburst an over-reaction.  

I disagreed with my dad and suggested that he apologize to my brother. "Dan does everything to keep you safe, Dad, and you need to cooperate."  He grumbled, but eventually acquiesced. Then he asked me to look up books by John Masters on the internet so he could review the plot lines with me.  Many of John Masters' books have to do with the British army and some people called Ghurkas. We've had several sessions of John Masters internet research in recent weeks.

Before we signed off, Dad was back to his old self.  "I'm going to apologize to your brother," he told me.  "As soon as I get off the phone with you, I'm going to walk into the kitchen and tell him I'm sorry and that I'll do better!"

"NOT FUNNY DAD!" I shouted at him, but his laughter got to me and I ended up laughing as well.  As per usual.

That was a few days ago and I never asked if an apology happened.  I have serious doubts, but I've probably done all I can do to make this happen.

The Dresses

We saw the movie clothes of Glenn Close yesterday.  The Dalmatian costumes were over the top.  Glenn has donated over 800 costumes to our Eskenazi School. 

I found out the costumes can be loaned and so I'm considering wearing one of these to Rosalyn's wedding next summer. They're from Dangerous Liaisons. 

The Wrapping

 In September, the Arc de Triumph will be wrapped up in fabric.  Christo and Jeanne-Claude made the plans for this wrapped masterpiece a few years ago.  Even though they've both passed on, the wrapping will take place this fall.   When their Saffron Flags were in Central Park, I wanted so much to go and see them, but I didn't do it.  So now, I'm righting that wrong and visiting Paris to see the final Christo/Jean-Claude outstallation.  

I'll probably bring a lawn chair and sit on a nearby sidewalk for a couple of days staring up at the Arc de Triomphe.  Maybe Husbandman will get some sandwiches for us. We'll be staying in Lyon in September, but we'll travel to Paris for a weekend of rapt up art appreciation. 

The Masks

I like some of these masks quite a lot.  Especially the jaguar mask from Guatemala. I wish I could take it and put it in my classroom.  Jaguar is our mascot.  I should at least take some photos of it to post on twitter on the first day back to class.  

Would anyone notice if it went missing?  I could pop it in my backpack right now.  I highly doubt they have alarms set up in this room.  The volunteers are yakking away downstairs.  They probably won't even say goodbye or thanks when I walk out nonchalantly.  

Could the guy who took my two dollars identify me later? It's possible.  But what's the worst that could happen?  With a good lawyer, I wouldn't do a day of jail time. 

 

The Stones

 I search the shelves for carnelian.  The internet said carnelian is reddish and helps with creativity.  I finally find the right basket.  These carnelians are more orange than red and not super attractive, but I need carnelian for my creative project, so I select a mid sized stone for 7 dollars.  This was less than I thought I'd spend so I look and listen for other stones calling out to me.  I see some fine stones, larger and brighter and more expensive than 7 dollars. How much am I willing to spend?  I select a purple stone from the basket labeled ametrine, (10 dollars)  a powerful combination of amethyst and citrine, two stones that are good for connection, calm & creativity. When I bring them to the cashier, she comments about the amethyst.  I tell her I got it from the ametrine basket.  "Amethyst and citrine together, right?" 

"No, this is amethyst," she replies while wrapping my stones in tissue paper. She says no more.

I'm tempted to argue, or ask her why her stones aren't properly basketed.  I already own an amethyst at home and I'm not sure I need two, but then I decide to go with the flow. Maybe this is the world's way of telling me to double up on my amethyst right now. Amethyst is a natural tranquilizer.  I'll pocket amethyst tomorrow for my dentist appointment.  I'm getting a crown on a cracked tooth.

The Creativity

We saw a lot of art on our various trips.  Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit in Atlanta.  In Seattle, we saw the cut outs of Barbara Earl Thomas and Monet's paintings of Etretat.  We also saw an exhibit about the Harlem Art Studio at the Frye Museum.  In Chicago we went to the Art Institute and checked out the quilts of Bisa Butler.  We also saw the Obama portraits.  

Now that we're home, we plan to check out the Glenn Close costume collection at the Eskenazi Museum.   

To sum up, we're creative people who enjoy looking at artwork. 
 

The Hotel

 There were 2 inconveniences at our hotel in Chicago.  When we entered the hotel lobby, we were surrounded by people with their dogs.  I saw nothing on the hotel website that told me the place was pet friendly.  Golden Retrievers, Poodles, Jack Russells. A veritable mardi gras of dogs.  I have a thing about congregating dogs. Congregating canines ramp up my anxiety.  I calmed a bit when I saw that the dogs didn't seem to be colluding, but were mostly interested in their humans.  I later talked with a man in the elevator with a Shih-Poo who said his dog had a great temperament and wanted to play all day long. Many of the dog owners were comparing their dogs' DNA results to share the different breeds that rolled into the making of their pets.  If I did have a dog, I definitely would get the DNA test going ASAP.

The second inconvenience involved a ransomware attack on the hotel that resulted in the keys to the rooms being rendered useless.  So every time we wanted to return to our room, a hotel worker had to accompany us in the elevator and unlock our door for us.  The workers were cheerful about the whole enterprise for the most part, but I did feel sorry for them.  Ransomware (from wikipedia) "is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid."  Ransomware also locks people out of their hotel rooms. The hotel clerk told us that the keys would be working in a few days, too late for our benefit.  Was a ransom paid by the hotel?  So curious about how much they had to shell out to unlock the keys.  These ransomware attacks are a national security issue and I hope ransomwarers knock it off PDQ. President Biden has his work cut out for him with these ridiculous ransomware attacks. 

The Tripping Around

We are back home now, after weeks of going hither thither and yon.  After the beautiful time with my dad and sibs, we headed west. First we went to the Kitsap Peninsula with Eve and Bill and nephew Eli.  We saw a baby sea lion frolicking in the waves and a bald eagle flying down to harass it two times.  We sat by Puget Sound and read books and drank some beverages and relaxed like people do when they take a vacation.  I collected some sea glass. Also, Heronswood Botanical Garden is a site to behold.  Then we went back to Seattle, one of the best cities around.  Rosalyn and Kyle joined us and we celebrated their engagement with a fun dinner.  We also saw some stunning artwork and more beautiful botanical gardens and the Mariners. We also talked nonstop for one week solid.  The Pacific Northwest has the best of everything.  I'm lucky to have relatives there.  I can go there whenever I want. 

Then we went to Chicago, just Husbandman and Me. We had to go to this Visa application office to get special visas so we can live in France for 7 months.  This was a stressful hassle.  But we think it all worked out.  We celebrated the end of our visa application meeting with lunch at Frontera Grill and a walk through the Art Institute of Chicago.  We got to see the Obama portraits.  So moving to see everyone waiting to take pictures of friends and family next to our beloved Obamas.  

Now we're home for a bit and that's good too.  It's time to catch up with the peeps and pals of BTown.