Words, Ocean Life and Self-Care

Word for the Day:
Bricolage
     noun
: construction (as of a sculpture or a structure of ideas) achieved by using whatever comes to hand

Bricolage is a French word meaning, roughly, ‘do-it-yourself.’ In art it refers to creators who use a varied range of non-traditional art materials. Someone who engages in bricolage is called a bricoleur.

My brain is, essentially, an ever shifting bricolage in its structure, functional capacity and general appearance. It’s a good brain but it probably looks and works as efficiently as a Rube Goldberg self-operating napkin.

I woke up from some kind of heavy anxiety/major disappointment/heartbreaker of a dream and I can’t remember AT ALL what the damn thing was about. Not even a wisp of its essence remains in my bean. HOW can I work through the dream’s meaning (or understand why I woke near tears and in a pool of sweat) if I can’t recall a goddamn thing?

This, THIS, seems like a big fucking glitch in my basic operating system. Clearly I need to call in IT or some other cerebrum specialist.
~~~
…on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.
~ Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Dolphins aren’t wrong. Neither are my aggressive, playful Orca buds. Yes, I bought the shirt and will proudly wear it in support of southern resident killer whales. There are only 73 remaining in the U.S. and that’s majorly fucked up.

Get your goddamn yachts and pricey pleasure boats out of the orca’s homes!!! How would you like it if a party of killer whales barged into your home while you’re trying to set the table and make dinner, hmmmmmmm?
~~~

Today I’m staying off Threads, Substack, blogs and the news in general. I need a break from the mainstream media’s transparent, disingenuous, weasel shit efforts to sabotage Biden (and democracy) in order to fluff and install their clickbait, reality show, mob boss styled candidate. 

Unsurprisingly, the let’s-make-this-a-horse-race crowd is made up of primarily of white billionaire penis proprietors whose only concern is making EVEN MORE insane amounts of buckos. Their gaming of the race and destroying democracy? The fact that SO many of us (who neglected to be born wealthy, white, straight and male) will suffer and die under Project 2025 (AKA Agenda 47)? It doesn’t matter to them. Only money matters. The dictator worshipping, thoroughly unhinged treason, tangerine twat is their cash cow.

I did peek in on Jeff Tiedrich though who neatly wrapped things up in his post chill the fuck out, Joe Biden’s got this:

last night, Joe took an hour-long cognitive test on live TV
     ~~~
goddammit, foreign leaders — the American media has a Narrative to push and every one of you is fucking it up by refusing to play along. the press is pining for a return to the days when the Real U.S. President brought the bubble-headed daughter he wants to quote-unquote “date” along with him to such meetings and set her down, front and center.
     ~~~
I would fucking love for our worthless media to start demanding that Donald Trump face an hour-long unscripted press conference — because Donny could absolutely not answer a single one of those questions. he would be fucking lost. (source)

Yeah, I’m done with the news for today. Not being taken for a hell-ride by self dealing, gaslighting, rich white fuckers who won’t feel so much as a shiver if Donnie Demento and his Heritage Foundation puppet masters take over is self care.

Goth Birds, etc.

Did you know? There’s a goth parrot living in the mountains of New Guinea. It’s called the Dracula parrot for its devastatingly attractive danger-birdy looks (also, their call, which is said to be haunting. It's been described as harsh, raspy, and growling—cool!). These creepy beauties are also known as Pesquet's parrot or Psittrichas fulgidus.

Despite their commonly referred tp name and vulturine appearance, these babies are frugivores. They eat figs, mangoes, softer fruits, blossoms and nectar. Blood and meat are not on the menu. They can live up to 40 years if they’re not hunted down for their gorgeous plumage or skin (which is used to make tourist tchotchkes) or meat OR they croak because they’ve lost their homes to deforestation.

Why is New Guinea being denuded?

The development of some countries often takes place at the expense of others. In New Guinea, many forests are being looted illegally to cover massive demands from the booming economies of China and other countries.

Traders and loggers use “gloves off” methodologies to access timber at all costs. Illegal logging involving intimidation and corruption is widespread, which can cause resentment, strife, and encourages further bad governance.

In addition, forests are being converted to large-scale commercial plantations, often using unsustainable practices. (source)

EVERYONE, PLANT SOME DAMN TREES! 

WHY do property owners feel the need to have golf course-like lawns and grounds? For starters, these abominations are sterile looking—just ugly as hell. Also, the high water use, displacement and general agitata of the local critters (in their own damn HOMES!) and all the poisonous bloody pesticides are killing the goddamn planet.

All so you can play some inane game? Play a round of chess or Go and then take a stroll through the Public Garden or just around your own damn block. You’ll get the same amount of exercise, see more real-life greenery and wildlife and, BONUS, you’ll use more of your brain.

I knew an otherwise sensible, intelligent man (NOT a high powered, corporate-ladder-climbing, weasel dicked networker) who claimed to golf because it was a nice walk in “nature.” That’s like saying your trip to Disneyland Paris is just like going to actual, real world France. Nah, it ain’t—not in any fucking way, shape or form. Stop it.

Get outside
Get outside
Get outside
Get Outside, Robert Palmer 

Randomly, my latest favorite comic (I want t-shirts with these!): 

Still Burning

My Adirondack chair made from 100% recycled plastic

More than 74,000 fires have sparked in the rainforest so far this year, compared to 40,000 total fires in 2018.

The Amazon rainforest, which covers 2.1 million square miles, produces 20 percent of the oxygen in our planet's atmosphere. It’s been called "lungs of the planet.”

Rainforests are being destroyed at a pace of 8 million hectares per year. (source)

While there are natural fire starters, such as lightning strikes, three quarters of cleared forest has been from farmers, purposefully setting fires to the rainforest to make more room for cattle grazing. The rest is from infrastructure projects, logging and mining – much of it illegal.

NOT that legal or illegal OR the death of the planet much matters to Brazil’s Trumpian President Jair Bolsonaro He’s made it clear that protecting the rainforest is not one of his priorities

 Bolsonaro believes that an excess of protected land has hampered Brazil’s economic development, and he supports development projects like a highway and hydroelectric dam in the Amazon.

Sound familiar? 

What can I do? I'm not Brazilian – I can't vote this planet assassin out. I can't fight the fires down there. I feel helpless!

There are things we can do from here like:

• STOP eating beef or, at least, limit your cow consumption to once a week. If no one’s buying the meat, less forest will be set on fire for those poor future Big Macs, etc. to graze on.  If you abso-gotta have that burger, try a turkey burger (less fat AND turkey is a great source of B6 and niacin, fuel for energy production) or even a black bean burger. Honest to fuck, veggie burgers have come a long-ass way from their near tasteless McBurgeresque beginnings
• Use wood alternatives for your flooring, furniture and other timber “needs.” There’s hemp, bamboo (it’s a grass, not wood), plastic ‘wood’ (made from recycled plastic), Cork (made with bark rather than the core of a tree) and nutshells (really!).
• Plant some damn trees. Don’t got a yard? Consider sending a few shekels to the awesome org’s who will plant ‘em for you like One Tree Planted (One dollar. One tree – A non-profit organization focused on global reforestation) or Trees for the Future.
• Don’t use paper OR plastic to tote your groceries home. Bring a reusable shopping bag from home. Don’t have one? BUY one. They’re cheap and wicked fashionable. Coco loves them and not just because her pic graces one of 'em (thank you Celeste!)!

There really IS stuff we can all do to help stall the destruction of the planet BUT we gotta do it and start NOW.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

~ Wendell Berry

Fluff

Did you ever have Fluffernutter sandwiches as a kid. Ya know, Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter on white bread. Dunno why this disgustomundo, HOW-could-you-feed-your-kids-THIS delight popped into my head. I totally fucking LOVED these. This divine sticky goo of a thing was a rare treat – more of a desert. Now the very idea of it brings me to the edge of sugar shock AND gives me a serious crumble belly.

My idea of a heaven on earth treat now? Grilled asparagus and brussels sprouts. Christ I’m old!

Related, sort of, why is it that when thin people get sick, they’re never hungry. Donna the Perpetually Peckish on the other hand is never NOT interested in food. Is this fair – I ask you!

While ellipticalling my ass off (trying to at any rate) an episode of Friends  came on the view screen. It was the one where they all bought lottery tickets together when the jackpot was up to 10 mil. I tuned out on what those very irritating chums would do and began imagining what I would do.

After carving up the pot so’s loved ones got a share, I’d likely start buying up land and, yup, planting trees.

There are respectable groups which already do this, like The Nature Conservancy which has a section, named Plant A Billion devoted to planting trees. There’s also:

The International Tree Foundation
Tree Aid
Trees for the Future
Global Trees Campaign
Trees for Change 

And, sorta, kinda locally, in Shelburne, Vermont there’s One Tree Planted.

One Tree Planted is a non-profit environmental charity on a mission of global reforestation. We plant trees in North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

So, there are good folk already in the reforestation biz! If I won the lottery, this is where a good portion of my win would go. For now, I believe I can spare a fin to One Tree Planted – one dollar plants one tree. I'll plant five...for now.

Of course, getting back to LotteryVille, as we barked in my carnie days, “you can’t (or “ caint “) win if you don’t play!” Yeah, no. I do NOT buy lottery tickets. Why not? For the same reason gambling holds majorly negative appeal. Throwing away hard won, UNdisposable income on a crap shoot is NOT an option.

Who has disposable income anyway? Ya know apart from Jeffrey Epstein who spends his wads on enticing teen girls into his web so’s him and his rape-y buds can have their way with young nubile flesh. Ain’t that right Mister Disgusto Prez?

I do realize that buying lottery tickets is more about hopes, dreams and that you can’t win if you don’t play thing. With odds to win at 1 in 292 million (as in 2016’s NY 1.5 billion Powerball), I’d rather spend my two bones on one of Ginger Betty’s big chocolate drizzled gingerbread cookies. That'd be guaranteed joy for my bucks.

Invest wisely…and shit.

In The Woods

Ten and I tried a new route to Caroline's Cannabis down in Uxbridge yesterday and got kinda lost. Poor man never loses his bearings but, now that he's living with me...my talent for accidentally going astray seems to be contagious.

It was a beautiful day for it. The trees were all wearing their summer finery, there were gorgeous flowers in full bloom AND it wasn't painfully, oppressively sunny. Good motoring weather.

Now then, as much as I love my seaside cottage, I fantasize about a cabin in a forest, jam packed with towering oaks, chestnuts and maples. There'd be teams of magnificent spruce and pines too. I'm not looking to relocate BUT, if I was Romney rich I'd have a home in a happy dense forest.

This new way to Uxbridge took us through cute, untouristed towns and down lanes absolutely, magnificently rich with trees. We had pulled over to get our bearings (WHERE are we?) when I spied this sign.

Had the woods grown up and around an old, outdated advert? Had the sign fallen off a truck on its way to some in-town location. Was the hoarding only meant for elves, fairies and other forest dwellers? I really wanted to hike in and get a closer look. Was there a phone number that would lead to smart, slick rentals in the Hundred Acre Wood?

 So, I'm back to fantasizing about being a recluse, buying an old one room schoolhouse (SUCH a great studio this would be!!!), in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a mountain, surrounded by a mega-ton of tall trees. Realistically, I'd make a crap hermit AND I must consider Ten's wants and needs (only fair since we'd be co-hermits and all. HEY, that's a thing, right? "co-hermiting" Right!?).

This summer we'll motor up to the White Mountains and into Vermont's Green ones. Ya know, have a look see and get more fuel for the old imagination.

Spring haz Sprung

 WBUR tells me that Boston had the most days of rain in any month since record-keeping began in 1872….21 days of measurable precipitation. Pretty sure it rained most of this first week of May too.

Ten’s first month here at sea level (versus his high desert’s 4,000 foot elevation) and out of his all-sun-all-the-time arid home, was spent in near constant drizzle, fog and drenching mist. There were extra added econo-sized buckets of rain just for good mesure too. Hello Honey, welcome to the rainforest!

If April showers bring May flowers, what do April monsoons bring? For all that sogginess I want way more than pretty flowers, dammit! How about April unending rain and gloom brings snicker doodles, pear "martinis," dark chocolate and effortless weight-loss? Sounds fair, right?

Yesterday was the first sunny day in forever and a half. You’d think I’d have spent it beach-walking and just sitting outside happily drinking in the glorious rays. Nope. Yesterday’s a mystery to me now. I believe I was in a serious funk, worked a lot, ran errands, did housework shit and just generally kvetched, pissed and moaned. Yup, I was a real fucking treat.

I suppose it takes a day or two to recover from a month of dark, wet days, eh?

Between my moods and April’s deluge, I’m amazed that Ten’s still here…BUT he is! Am I lucky or WHAT?!

We did take a very short ramble on our home beach and wandered around looking at flowers and trees. Sunny day walks out in the brill beautificness of nature (ˈnāCHă as it’s pronounced around these pahts) always put me in a better frame of mind. Now that spring has sprung, I MUST take more of those suckers.

Here’s some of the calmly stunning eye candy that we came across yesterday.

I Often Dream of Trees

Just LOOK at that gorgeous, handsome as all hell, bark!

Thieving from Mister Robyn Hitchcock:

I often dream of trees when I'm alone
I lay underneath them, reaching another zone
I dream of them constantly
Standing tall into paradise or Brattleboro or Quincy

I often dream of trees when I'm awake
They reach the sky beside a frozen lake
And there in an upper branch
I wait for eternity or Brattleboro or Quincy

Drake Park in Bend, Oregon has the most fabolicious trees. Tall, tall Ponderosa Pines. Ten has a post up over at his place about one of them – a three hundred year old babe who had to, molto sadly, come down.

Me, the tree worshipper, immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was taken down for some no good, nefarious-fucking, blindingly selfish, it-ruins-my-view, bullshit reason.

Ah…no. Ten filled me in:

It’s a public park, the threat to the many outweighs the nostalgia of the few.

Those Ponderosa Pines, being a desert species, don’t have a tap-root per se, but a system of shallow spreading roots that don’t hold well in the wind. The butt six foot or so was about a third “punked out” as well, not necessarily rotted but not the sort of thing you would want to build a house with. That tree, back in the day, would have provided enough lumber to frame out one of today’s McMansions, and would’ve probably been worth in today’s dollars ten thousand.

Not a question of if but when it would blow over. It needed to come down. One of those things.

All the same, I haz a sad.

There are some stone beauties here (particularly right here in Valhalla) BUT we’re not quite as tree-rich as I’d like. I am greedy for trees!

Home

Away

The TP Conundrum

According to National Geographic, analytically verified by the Math Encounters Blog, toilet paper wipes out 27,000 trees a day.

Toilet paper, NOT just wiping yur butt.

Now then, popping up on my ShoutyFace feed lately have been ads and promos for a new toilet paper company, Who Gives a Crap. They’re very witty, funny:

Sure, we love puppies and sunny days and walks on the beach, but our real love is toilet paper. Why, you might ask?

They’re planet friendly – it’s made from 100% post consumer waste (recycled books, office paper, etc.) I can even get bamboo* bum wipers from them.

They’re human kind friendly, donating half their profits to help build toilets for those in need.

Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes. Luckily, toilets are proven to be a great solution—they provide dignity, health and an improved quality of life. And in case that wasn’t enough, it’s been shown that a dollar invested in sanitation yields $5.50 in increased economic prosperity. Toilets are magical!

also, they’ve:

started working with Sanergy, who build and franchise toilets in the slums of Nairobi, and then collect and convert the waste into agricultural products for Kenya's farmers.

This all sounds wicked fabola BUT their vastly amusing, earth friendly products are not available in stores. I can only purchase online and have it shipped. That means more packaging (transport boxes) plus the gas used and exhaust fumes emitted by the lovely delivery trucks. MORE carbon footprinting.

Would it be better to just pick up a six pack locally and send a donation to a worthy bathroom cause? I went out to my local Stop&Shop as well as the nearby hippy/groovy grocery to research.

The only TP not made from trees, available at Stop&Shop, is Nature’s Promise. It’s free from added dyes, added fragrances and chlorine whitening. They say that No new trees were harvested to produce this product. Yea BUT that doesn’t tell me how much is pre or post-consumer waste though. The plastic bag it’s wrapped in is made with a minimum of 51% Recycled plastic. That’s good.

The hippy/groovy has a few selections. Like Nature’s Promise, they all eschew added dyes, added fragrances and chlorine whitening. What else they got?

Seventh Generation boasts 50% post-consumer recycled paper minimum. As for the plastic it’s wrapped in, the website says “packaging is recyclable at store drop-off in many areas.” Nope, not good enough.

Field Day is made with 80% post-consumer content. Can’t find info on their wrapping material though.

Green Forest wins the post-consumer waste race using a whopping 90% but their plastic packaging is not made from recycled plastic.

And then I spotted Caboo. It’s made from *bamboo and sugar cane.

It's touted as more planet friendly because:

• Bamboo and sugar cane grows within three - four months versus 30 years for a tree
• Sugar cane – the dry fibrous residue that remains after the extraction of juice from the crushed stalks – is what we use to make our paper. Wow! That's some serious use the whole beast action.
  
• Bamboo can grow in environments with depleted soil and little water and actually returns nutrients to the soil, which improves degraded areas. Bamboo also doesn’t require fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides.

And more people friendly than recycled TP because:

Recycling or processing a tree into tissue can take much more water and energy than the minimal processing necessary to turn bamboo and sugarcane into paper. BPA can also be found in recycled tissue after deinking and cleaning recycled paper. Caboo’s sugarcane and bamboo paper is 100% BPA free.

What the hell is BPA? ACK!

Too much damn information/TOO early in the damn morning. Maybe I should just get a Bio Bidet instead, huh?

Oh, Xmas Tree

It’s that time of year when the sidewalks are littered with dead blue spruce and Douglas firs. This, as an Arborist Avenger, gives me a sad.

Not everyone has land or space to plant live, handsome beauts. I get that. There are alternatives to killing oxygen giving greens.

You can go all DIY fun…wacky even. This link is to a YouTube vid which shows how to make your own tree from recycled soda bottles.

A town in Lithuania went full metal beautiful, fun and brill:

Last year, the city of Kaunas, in Lithuania, decided it would be in the Christmas spirit to kill two turtledoves with one stone. Instead of cutting down a tree to decorate, the city enlisted artist Jolanta Šmidtienė to dream up a holiday decoration where no plants had to die. And, at the same time, it reduced waste by finding a new use for nearly 40,000 discarded plastic bottles. (source)

Lesse now, the burg:

• gave a local artist a fab gig – that’s good!
• the artist recycled a shit-ton of plastic – that’s good!
• and made a glorious, ethereally awesome, luminescent stunner – that’s good!

Even more better:

The tree left Kaunas’ funds earmarked for Christmas decorations essentially untouched, since the whole tree came out of the trash. (By contrast, New York City’s Rockefeller Center tree costs tens of thousands of dollars.

They saved a big wad of dough. This is so full of WIN!

Not everyone wants to funk up the place around the holidaze. What to do, what to do?!

I looked on line for realistic looking artificial Christmas trees made from recycled materials. The company Oncor makes ‘em. They’re also committed to donating at least 1% of gross annual sales to 1%FTP-approved non-profit environmental organizations.
 
Way cool. BUT the recycled plastic is PVC which ain’t good for children and other living things.

The Soft Landing site has a great post up, How to Find a Non-toxic (i.e.: not PVC) Artificial Christmas Tree. FYI, it ain't easy. They also go into the care and not-feeding of a PVC tree.

What about us’ns here in Valhalla? Eh, we’ve run outta space for planting trees but it’s not like I’m a Christmas tree sort of broad. I like the pretty colored lights and the ornaments. They look way cool draped around my gryphon.

Emancipating the Ashes

The wee one in the back is from the first, broken shipment.

The cherry trees got here yesterday and in one piece this time. They arrived in the late afternoon as Jen, Oni and I were relaxing on the porch, reading and enjoying the sun.

Turns out, the company gave me an upgrade on both the Tartarin and the Bing. Both saplings are taller than me. The Amazing Bob would love them.

This afternoon we’ll plant them. TAB’s ashes will be at the base, mixed into the roots of the Black Tartarian and Rocco’s in the Bing.

My beautiful man’s been gone for nearly ten months now. Today feels huge. I’m letting go of his last tangible bits. He won’t be sitting atop my dresser anymore. I’m setting his final elements free to join with the earth, the air and his birdy friends.

Rocco shuffled off this mortal coil one month ago – March 24th. He’ll be, once more, resting in the grass, watching the passing wildlife, snoozing in the sun.

Letting go – this is BIG.

Daddy reminded me that cherry trees bloom in the spring. I’d completely forgotten. Every April, TAB and Rocco will announce their presence with authority. Yeah, I rilly needed another reason to be impatient for the end of winter. //snort//

We are but dust and shadow.
~ Horace

Dust, shadow and beautiful blossoms.

Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.
~ Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons 

Yup.

Two Eyed Jack

Somehow that lacks the mystery, grit and danger of One Eyed Jack/Donna. Nonetheless, I’ll take it!

Got my left eye back yesterday and I am SO damn relieved. I can now drive, walk a relatively straight line AND I’m not tripping or banging into things nearly as much. YES! I still look like I got into a big ol' bar brawl but Doc Yoon said the puffy funk will fade in a few days.

The downside of having full vision action is that now I don’t have an excuse for staying away from the Y. I feel good, great even, while I’m elliptical-ing and doing my pool laps BUT getting to the gym is a hurdle. Why?! Newton explained it best in his first law of motion:

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Inertia – nails me every damn time. Puttering around the house, painting, reading my latest ripping yarn and napping with Coco – escape velocity is mega hard to achieve. The unbalanced force that gets me up, outta my comfy reading chair, suited up and off to the gym? That’d be my own internal nag-arific voice. Get UP you lazy, fat slag! Do you WANT to look like Jabba after a Fratellis cupcake bender? C’mon, that extra weight’s not gonna lose itself! Yup, I am SUCH a bitch to myself.

My inside TAB voice, on the other hand, says, You work so hard. Cut yourself some slack! Here, have a cookie. He's countered by my inner nursie who calmly chimes in with Exercise lifts your mood and clears your sinuses. You’ll be a lot more comfortable (physically and emotionally) and have way more energy afterwards. GO!

Nursie always wins. Also too – yes, there are a lot of voices in my head.

Yesterday’s other bigness was that the cherry trees arroved. I’d ordered them on line from a place in South Carolina who used FedEx for shipping. The worker bees there had FOLDED MY BOXED TREES IN HALF! Yes, they broke my babies in half. I was near tears. Oni and I took pics. We envisioned disbelieving, uncaring and obnoxious customer service types. We imagined having to go all Perry Mason on their asses in order to get unbroken saplings or my money back. Braced for battle, Oni called. He spoke with a wonderful, brilliantly customer oriented dude.

The company, Fast Growing Trees, is sending two more beautiful, leafy darlings right out, today! Plus, I'm getting an upgrade to a more mature cherry on one – not sure if it'll be the Bing or the Black Tartarian. Hoping it's the Black because that's TAB's cherry. I want to see him big and tall NOW. (Be patient? Trees grow? Shut up.)

They MIGHT even be here by Saturday which'd be awesome+. We’d planned a small tree, Amazing Bob and Rocco planting ceremony for Sunday. Obvs, that’s on hold until the fresh, unmolested saplings arrive.

OK, time to suit up and brave the Y. *sigh* I CAN do this and I WILL feel so much better afterward!

Tux Tyranny and Trees

She looks sad, right? It's not just me – right?!

My angelic princess Coco’s neediness seems to be growing – she requires near constant lap time. Is she depressed? Maybe, this is just a phase or possibly she was always like this BUT it was The Amazing Bob’s lap she commandeered.

It could be she knows that, in my dark mourning over TAB and Rocco, I’m in big need. She’s doing all she can to provide comfort and support.

Probably it’s a little of everything.

Yesterday morning at 2AM, I woke to find her settled in on my tummy. I don’t usually sleep on my back – how'd this happen? Either she saw a rare moment and snatched OR she craftily, clandestinely tipped me over from side to back. Coco’s a talented, sly thing – she could pull this off. Rilly!

When our girl noticed that I was semi-conscious, she began her meticulous bathing rituals. Afterward, she curled up right over my kidneys and began purring like a freight train. Wonderful – yes. By the time she nodded off though I was wide awake, doing my usual o-dark-thirty fretting (followed by endless rounds of deep breathing exercises) and HAD to wiz. I really hated to displace her but…no choice.

Rocco came home in a box this week. Dr. Jo had brought my poor, precious warrior king’s body to Angell Memorial, the big animal hospital in Boston, to be cremated. Is this what’s unsettling my girl or is that just me? Projection – damn, I’m good at that shit.

My paparazzi avoidant, beloved boy

It’s tree planting season here in Massachusetts. I bought a Black Tartarian Cherry tree for TAB. We’ll plant his ashes at the base so he’ll grow into and become a part of it. My man was big on feeding the birds. He always made sure we had plenty of black oil sunflower and Niger seeds in the house. While I fed the stray cats, he fed the birds. The Black Cherry is very popular with birds so, in death, TAB will continue to care for his feathered friends.

The Black Cherry isn’t self pollinating so I bought another cherry, a Bing. Plus I’ll be planting a lot more bee attracting flowers and herbs to surround them. Rocco will be under and within the Bing. He’ll enjoy watching all the wildlife from the safety of his bark covered new home.

From her indoor perch, Coco will enjoy watching all the cherry gobbling blue jays, cardinals and sparrows – Cat TV.

We don’t have much of land here in Valhalla so these are, most likely, the last trees we can plant. Seems appropriate.

Arboreous Sea Monsters of the Cape

sand shelf – wasn't there last year

When I think of the Cape, especially the lower Cape, around P-town and Truro, I never think of forests – just beaches and ocean, ocean, ocean. Jen and Oni, generally, spend a week down in Truro each summer. They camp (yech), bike and hike around the great dunes, swim like dolphins and hit the fab galleries and shops in P-town. Apart from the sleeping on the ground and having to hit an ill kept head //shudder// or *gasp* a porta-potty, the vaca sounds perfect to me.

The grey swarming, stormy sea

You might be thinking, But, but you live on a beach. Why take a holiday on one? Well, you see….not every beach is alike. Ours is small and kinda urban in that we’re in a thickly settled neighborhood. Nantasket, which I LOVE, is similar to us but the beach is a lot bigger. Truro? MONDO sand dunes, no houses right nearby, trails, trees and scrub abound. Oh yeah, and sharks. (this being a plus NOT a minus!)

Recently, Cape Cod's great white sharks and gray seals have gained local and national attention. Both species existed long before Cape Cod was settled or became a popular destination, and in recent years their numbers have increased. Sharks have existed for more than 400 million years.  As top predators, sharks are critical for maintaining a healthy and balanced marine ecosystem.
~~snip~~
While it is rare for a great white shark to bite a human, it did occur in Truro in 2012. (source)

Sea monster masquerading as tree

And then they offer handy dandy safety tips (available at the linky).

While folks fish off the pier on Nut Island (a mile down the road from us), we don’t get shark or seal action.  No whales or sea monsters either. *sigh* We should have sea monsters!

Another sea monster tree – Truro seems to have a whole herd of them. Cool!

So then, just as all cities are different (e.g., if you want a holiday in San Fran, Chicago wouldn’t be a great alternative and vice versa), so are all beaches. If you’re a surf and sand person, as we Valhallans are, the perfect vaca is one where we go to a stretch of shore that we’ve never visited before OR just hitting a beloved, fave strand.

I’m envious of their Truro sabbaticals but I just can’t see being on the Cape, especially not in P-town, during the height of summer. The place is jampacked crowded in high season. Of course it is – the place is beautifully idyllic…’cept for all the people. So then, maybe late this fall, before all the galleries shut for the winter, I’ll toodle down there for an overnight at one of the lovely B&Bs. Yes, while I walk the shoreline and up through the forest of sea monstery trees, I’ll be wrapped in sweaters and scarves instead of shorts and tank but that’s a tradeoff I’m cool with.

The pics were all taken by Jen. By the by, the beach was closed, OFF limits while they were down there due to Hermine induced mega waves and currents. This, barely a month after swimming was ixnayed due to shark action. Sounds exciting! Maybe they have sea monsters too.

The forest before the sea – looks magical, don't it.