To continue with the adventures of last weekend, I was on the forest crew down the street, wrassling black berries and ivy and other invasive stuff when my tenant called to say the water in the toilet and sinks was brown. Oh lordy. That doesn't sound good. I hoofed it home to investigate and because it was Saturday, I called the 24 hour people. A nice young man with a nose stud (!) came over and said I needed filters and my galvanized pipes were ancient and prolly my hot water heater would give it up in no time. BTW, when the fire department flushes the hydrants, it knocks out all kind of sediment, which is what we were seeing. Who knew. Anyway, I have some new plumbing in the basement for a mere $4000. And no, I didn't buy a new hot water heater. I mean, come on!

Then after a birth, I was hanging with Kenny and the big dogs when Kody, his big black goofy lab, ran into, slammed into my right knee, the funky one. I went down and lay in the road for a bit with concerned neighbors around me. 

I have to take ibuprofen before bed so I can sleep, which I'm not doing anyway. 

I sure hope the knee recovers cuz surgery is just not that appealing. Or necessary. 

My garden is bananas right now. 

Love forever,

Beth

 Felix got a bath and a haircut today. He sorely needed it. 

And the auto glass guy is finally here replacing ALL my car windows. When you have snow and ice on your car, DO NOT use a scrubby abrasive thingy on all the windows and then hope those couldn't be scratches on all the windows. 

How embarrassing. I should know better. Sheesh. 

Next week the car gets a new front end from the rear ender I had a few weeks ago. There is a shop story but not sure I wand to share. Suffice it to say,  the shop I hired went out of business, like, going over there and the door is unlocked and there are no people. There are a lot to cars in various stages of repair, parts lying on the floor. 

 https://www.peanuts.com/about/pigpen

Actually I put this here because Pigpen from the Peanuts strip is my alter ego Luminous Cloud. He is surrounded by detritus and happily so. I am inundated with mental detritus so when I see a bit of light shining behind the clouds, I also feel happy. Like tonight when I was meditating. There was a big puffy cloud with the later afternoon sun tinting the edges a creamy gold. 

I had the most lovely day. I sat early with my dear teacher Mary. Then me and the boy dog went to Cougar Mountain in the pouring rain. He got astonishingly muddy so I had to hose him off before he could come in the house. Then I met up with dearest Clark for a concert (?) of modern Swedish music involving two violinists. In an Episcopal church (shudder). My very childhood church. I just can't get a grip, so many memories from childhood. I almost genuflected when we left. Yikes. 

The concert was scalded cat level. Screechy and thumpy. I was very well behaved until after we left. We are inexcusably terrible together. I was laughing so hard I almost crashed the car. Clark is my brother, my companion, my dear queer beloved. We ate Indian food and blasted Swedish pop music in the car with the windows rolled up. Is this any way to behave when you're my kind of age? I believe it is. I mean, when will I laugh so hard tea comes out of my nose? When will I turn up the volume and car dance? When can I swim in the lake with the Clarkster so we can freeze our hands and feet and tell stupid jokes in the water? Now, I say, right now is the perfect time.

Has anyone seen the movie Summerland from 2020? Great for a good blubber fest. 

I had homemade granola and yogurt for dinner with a few strawberries. 

May we all be safe and well and may dear Sophie be home in her own bed NOW.

So here's my tentative title for my Master's thesis

Elder Women, Elder Trees: Making Interconnection Visible in a Fractured World. 

In case I haven't mentioned this before, Diane and I are going to visit the Bristlecone Pine forest in July where the oldest trees ON THE PLANET LIVE.  Some are more than 5000 years old. That's effing old, y'all. 

Who says writing a thesis is boring?