It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon: the sun is bright but not harsh and the weather is cool enough to have the windows open, so pull up a chair and I’ll pour the drinks (elderflower G&T for me) and we’ll get caught up on the – checks notes – last two weeks!
Maybe you missed me last week and wondered what was going on that I didn’t write a blog post.
The long a short of it was that I came down with something that laid me out most of the day on Saturday and Sunday was spent in that weird post-sickness brain fog recovery time that I just didn’t write anything for the blog.
But I’m here now, so let’s jump right in!
Last Wednesday was National Tattoo Day, and I did this thing on my social media where I said to pick a number between 1 and 7 and I would share the story behind that particular tattoo.
The tattoos chosen were:
Tattoo #4 – I got this frog with a butterfly at a local flash event (the same annual event I got the rabbit/hare just a few weeks ago!) Krystal won’t get a tattoo (it’s a permanence thing) but if she were to get one, it would have been this one, so I got it for her. We also regularly refer to ourselves as Frog and Toad, but which of us is which changes from day to day.
Tattoo #3 – Terry Pratchett’s Discworld sits on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of Great A’Tuin, the Word Turtle. This sea turtle represents that – and just so happens to be the other tattoo I got at last year’s flash event!
Tattoo #6 – This is a mashup of Death of Rats from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and Pepe, the bandleader from My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade. It was last year’s birthday gift and was designed and tattooed by the incredibly talented @ghost_art_tattoos.
And speaking of tattoos, a good many folks have had kind words to say about my most recent addition:
I’ve found they often have two questions:
- Why this tattoo?
- What about a name?
First:
Rabbits and hares have taken on several different meanings for me over the years, showing up again and again in things love, especially literature, nature, and folklore.
For example, my D&D character Garrett was a Harengon, there’s a music artist I like called Rabbitology, and there’s even a rabbit sculpture on campus I say hello to every day (his name is Chauncey).
This design happened to bring a lot of those different threads together!
Second:
I haven’t quite settled on anything yet, but I have decided that they’re a solitary wanderer (a sojourner of sorts), close to the earth and known by the movement of the living world around them. They’re strange in the way of half-remembered things, moving quickly without being hurried, belonging equally to decay and growth.
Of course, I can’t let the opportunity go by to quote Watership Down:
All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
Richard Adams
There was a brief moment last Thursday morning where I thought it was Friday, and I thought the day was off to a rough start, but when I took my morning walk around campus I saw 32 geese (my favorite number) and said “Hello, goosers” and one of them that had been preening stopped preening, looked directly at me, and gave me two soft honks as if saying hello before returning to the task at hand.
Day made, right there.
Friday was National Cheeseburger Day and when friends suggested we go out for lunch I looked up the menu online so I would know what I wanted when I got there (because that’s the kind of person I am) and saw they had a cheeseburger special for national cheeseburger day, so that was easy.
Saturday I woke up not feeling well but managed to go grocery shopping and then Krystal and I went and did some shopping, including stopping at a few thrift stores where I found a small brass vase to support my Emotional Support Pickle.
Saturday afternoon is when it really all went downhill and I found myself moving from the recliner to the bed to the bathroom to the floor (in all manner of combinations) looking for relief and finding none.
Saturday night, Krystal ordered me a pepperoni and mushroom pizza (I think from Dominoes?) and it tasted SO GOOD and I managed three out of six pieces and then went to bed and actually slept/rested . . .
And then, as I said before, Sunday I was in that sickness hangover kind of day. Which didn’t help when we went to use our Hot Topic Hot Cash and the app malfunctioned and we lost all our Hot Cash without placing an order that then took me two calls to their service center (on a Sunday) to get it figured out – and I really hope the two folks I talked to had the best weeks ever, because they really helped me out.
Work has been work: I like the work I’m doing and it’s fulfilling and helps the college and apparently my name came up in some meetings leadership had last week – in a good, pointing out the positive effect of me in my position kind of way, is what I was told. But it’s also kind of boring, or at least I can’t find an exciting way to explain what it is I do.
Tuesday was the FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN and the weather acted like it, dropping from the high 90s on Monday to the low 80s on Tuesday and having the good sense to stay low since (at least compared to summer temperatures). I celebrated with a pumpkin spice/salted caramel coffee and a brownie.
Tuesday was also our friend Jamie’s birthday and we went out and met her and some friends for a social evening, and it was an absolute blast.
We may have found a group costume theme for Halloween, but I don’t know if it’s been settled or not.
Oh – I almost forgot! Sometime this week I had a headache and didn’t feel like going out but Krystal went to Five Below and got me the Candy Corn Pusheen figure! The timestamp on my photo says it was Wednesday, but I don’t believe that’s correct.
On Thursday the Hot Topic order arrived – or at least, everything except a Scooby Doo tee I ordered that’s shipping separately (which I knew when I ordered it).
There’s a wallet that looks like a book of fairy mythology and two blind box pins – one from Over the Garden Wall and one from Scooby Doo (and if I didn’t get the Hex Girls pin, Velma is may favorite Scooby character, so it all worked out).
On Friday after work we went to a new-ish dry goods/mercantile place downtown and I got some Cottage Orchard tea (which I haven’t had a chance to try yet) and a pack of birthday-candle sized beeswax candles.
One of the owners (maybe the owner?) was at the counter and we talked about the advertised forty-minute burn time, and being the kind of person I am I was willing to sacrifice one of the candles to time it out, and it clocked in at 37:38.53, so all things considered, I’d say the advertisement was accurate enough.
I also reported in to the shopkeep, who thanked me for product testing and sent a coupon for 15% off any one item.
I spent the weekend up until a few hours ago dogsitting my pal Luna, who is also LOVING the cooler weather.
Anyway, Saturday there was a Hometown Harvest Vendor Market that we went and walked around and Krystal found me this cinnabar maple leaf necklace, saying it “looked like me”:
I found her a bracelet with mouse and cheese charms, but I didn’t take a photo before writing this post.
Saturday I also made a soup for a potluck gathering and there was only one very small bowlful left over, so I’d say it was a hit. I don’t know if this photo looks appealing or not, but it’s the only one I have.
This morning I wrote in my journals and enjoyed a cup of coffee and then read outside for several hours with Luna before coming home.
I thought I’d be home for the rest of the day, but then a friend sent me a message:
My friend! I'm at TJ Maxx and they have a ton of Pusheen stationery!
I still wasn’t going to go out, but then I needed to make a pharmacy run, and TJ Maxx just so happens to be close enough to be considered “on the way” and, well . . . I came back home with medication and several journals.
And that brings us to right now, where I’m sitting at my kitchen table looking at the small amount of dishes that need doing and having reached the bottom of my glass at the same time I’ve reached the end of this post, which only leaves us with:
How are you?
What have you been up to?
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