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Monday 26 February 2018

Working Backwards Through Sunday

A big thanks to everyone who offered information on recycling of plastic bags where you live, in response to my last post. It seems that every person who reads here is doing his or her best to reduce the use of plastic and that is very heartening! I'll let you know what happens in our province when the decision comes down.

*****

I'm writing this on Sunday evening, just to clarify the post title. Somehow I got sucked into the vortex of YouTube videos an hour ago and in that time I watched a baby elephant getting rescued from a hole, a bunch of puppies doing cute puppy things like trying to jump down a tiny step, and a steady stream of raccoons doing cute/evil things. I would post the raccoon video except right in the middle of all the cute things was a WHAT THE?! moment when the owner dumped a bag of tiny fish into a pool for the racoon to catch and eat. I was horrified and couldn't look away but I couldn't stop watching either. But I won't subject you to that. No, I'll just talk about it, which is almost as bad.

And yes, I know raccoons have to eat, too. And I know perfectly well that my cats eat cat food which is actually made of other living animals. I mean, dead animals. I mean, previously living dead animals.

This post is going off the rails pretty quickly, don't you think? Let us move on.

*****

Before I got sucked into the YouTube vortex, I spent an hour immersed in two articles, one about how liberalism may have led to the 2016 USA election results and what may need to happen before the situation can change ("Selfishness Is Killing Liberalism" - don't be put off by the title), and one on the opioid epidemic in America ("The Poison We Pick"). They were not meant to be related reading but it could be argued that they are more related than not. Both pieces were eye-opening and thought-provoking and I'm glad I waded through them, even if - by the end of it all - my remaining brain cells were threatening to go on strike and the twitch had returned to my left eye.

*****

Before I was reading about liberalism and opioids (why does spell check insist I am spelling opioid wrong?), I was reading poetry from a book my mother taught to junior high students back in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of it was shockingly dark, but I liked this one:

Earth
- by John Hall Wheelock

"A planet doesn't explode of itself," said drily
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air --
"That they were able to do it is proof that highly
Intelligent beings must have been living there."

*****

And before the poetry, husband and I ate sausages and pancakes for supper, and before that I went for a forty-minute walk in the cold, damp air, but the footing was good and when I hit the thirty-minute mark all of a sudden my hands started warming up and my toes did too. I've been picking up little sticks and evergreen cones along the way during my recent walks, with the thought of eventually doing a picture of some kind. However, the lack of variety of materials is turning out to be an obstacle. Now the challenge becomes not how to make a picture from nature's offerings, but how to make a picture from a narrow range of nature's offerings. A different challenge altogether.

*****

I think that's as far back in the day as I can delve before you all start suffering from droopy eyelids and half-asleep drooling, so I'll stop now.

A picture to wrap up today's offering:


Not an elephant, nor a puppy, nor a raccoon, nor a Martian ... but a darn good pianist, by the look of things. (Too bad pictures don't have a sound track like videos do.)


Hope you have a good week, all!




38 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

I like the way you wrote about your day in reverse. I spend way too much time on Youtube but not watching cute animals but videos featuring plane and car crashes, and lorries getting stuck under bridges and music videos where I enjoy the music but find the images a bit too x-rated for my liking. I really do need to get a life but first I need sausages and pancakes.

River said...

A squirrel playing piano! That's cute :)

Marie Smith said...

Such great variety in your day, Jenny. I have never been much of a Youtube video watcher. I would have cringed at the raccoons and the fish too,

Joanne Noragon said...

I have mostly nice stuff or nothing at all on hand for the week. Why not.

Red said...

Well, lots of opinions here. It's surprising how much goes on in day when we journal it.

only slightly confused said...

Sometimes a day can get away from you and you find yourself staring blankly into a screen watching raccoons catch and eat fish. A little recap can set you to rights again.

37paddington said...

Thanks for those articles. The US is definitely undergoing growing pains.

Martha said...

HAHAHA! The image of the squirrel playing the piano really made my day :) I can't play piano, so the squirrel is already much better than I am!

You are very brave to read that entire article about liberalism. I clicked to go to it, and about 1/4 of the way through my brain started to overheat and I started feeling pain behind my eyeballs. Perhaps it's just not the right time for it. I'm only finishing up my second coffee.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I love your line, my remaining brain cells were threatening to go on strike and the twitch had returned to my left eye.” I like to read articles like this to educate myself but half way through, I start to feel depleted of any good feeling I have left. Self medication follows.

jenny_o said...

Ha ha! I've gotten stuck watching those kinds of things, too :)

jenny_o said...

I suspect he/she wasn't REALLY playing :)

jenny_o said...

I don't watch often but when I do it becomes a marathon. Not in a good way.

jenny_o said...

I like the sound of both "mostly nice" AND "nothing at all" for a week's activities :)

jenny_o said...

There's never a shortage of opinions, is there? :)

jenny_o said...

It was a wake-up moment - I sat up and actually said NO a few times, but that didn't change the video . . .

jenny_o said...

And so is England, and I really feel Canada could end up going that direction, too; we are just not quite as far down that road yet.

jenny_o said...

Like you, I find timing to affect my reading of dry material. And mood. If I'm feeling too overwhelmed by bad news it's hard to dig in and immerse myself in it, even for an hour.

jenny_o said...

I really DO get a twitch in my left eye when I read too long or have to concentrate too much on what I'm reading, so that was true :)

I know what you mean - see my reply to Martha, just above ^^^ Often I have to bookmark pieces and try them again later.

Terry said...

Hi Jenny, I’m addicted to wartching youtube too What a huge selection of topics they cover
. I’m worried about this addiction. It’s not right we all coped without this internet years ago. We were better people because we had other things to do. What will be the next big thing?

Steve Reed said...

I've bookmarked both of those articles for later reading -- they sound interesting! And I love the squirrel photo. I wish our squirrels were that cultivated. Unfortunately they just want to destroy our potted plants.

jenny_o said...

I wonder that sometimes, too - and I know it's not good for a person to watch so much but it can be very educational too! (not so much the ones I was watching, though :))

jenny_o said...

I should have credited that photo - if I can find the info, I will. It's not mine, although I wish it were :)

Jimmy said...

Your squirrels are a lot more talented than ours ha ha, that is a cute picture.

Those two articles sound like some serious reading, no wonder you had a twitch in your left eye, I'm getting a twitch just thinking about them. I'd be more up for the breakfast for supper routine.

dinthebeast said...

I have to disagree with the premise of the article about liberalism. The generic term for the problem we're facing politically in this country is "lying."
And there is nothing conservative about the political right in this country, the conserving of norms and traditions have long fallen to the Democrats, who have simply added it to their job description along with other quaint ideas such as "governing" and "looking after the common good" while their counterparts in the Republican party try their hardest to strip the government to its component parts and sell them to their rich friends. "Privatization" and "the deconstruction of the administrative state" I believe were their terms for doing so in the last election.
But lying, and the acceptance of lying as the norm is the real danger rising in the political world right now. And the Republicans have been cultivating a following susceptible to it ever since the fairness doctrine was eliminated under the Reagan administration, clearing the way for Rush Limbaugh and his hundreds of imitators, and then Fox News.
We on the left are much weaker in the propaganda department, and it sometimes seems that we can never just get our message to boil down to a bumper sticker, but to easily identify the liberals these days, they are the ones who want to help those who need help, while the Republicans are the ones who want to hurt them for needing help.
And that poem reminds me of a Crack the Sky song called "Nuclear Apathy":

"Something's wrong from the moon, my friends
Something's wrong from the moon
As I look down at you my friends
Something's wrong from the moon
Poor little man
You been run down
Poor little man
You're all run down"

and:

"When they spit, do you wash their floors
And pray that they don't spit no more
Or, rise up children, life goes on and on
Wise up children, life goes on and on"

Nuclear annihilation was hard to escape, as a subject, back in the seventies and eighties when we were staring down the barrel of it every day.

-Doug in Oakland

Geo. said...

Delightful post! As you know, I am fond of squirrels --such mischievous and fearless little guys-- because they scold me and then become curious as to what I'm doing in their domain. They don't mind Norma (she can photo them at close range) but they have no such affection for me --unlike hummingbirds, who do touch-and-gos on my head.

jenny_o said...

Breakfast for supper is a nice break for the cook here :)

jenny_o said...

I hear you on the lying front, Doug. It staggers the imagination that the president can lie through his teeth a dozen times a day and be believed by so many. And now I need to go read about the fairness doctrine. So much catching up to do on U.S. political history. I never paid much attention until the last few years. There's a lot to learn. As far as that goes, I have a lot to learn about every other country, too, including my own.

jenny_o said...

You must be a hummingbird whisperer, Geo.! And Norma is a squirrel whisperer. I think both of those require a lot of patience.

baili said...

I wish you can avoid such "heavy readings which give you stress enough to make your eye twitch dear Jenny!

let us believe that our concern or worry cannot change the panorama of politics which is a game getting more and more complicated each day and players are inhuman and SELFISH MONSTERS ,so cheer up and do your part of duty in best way ,spread goodness around you and then rest leave upon God because he changes the destiny of any nation when nation wants that change and put effort to have it.


I am glad you and your hubby made dinner together which is nice as when my hubby helps me in kitchen i feel more happy and less lonely :)

thank you for this CUTE photo ,it made me smile for quite a time ,imagining the tune which squirrel is playing lol
take great care dear Jenny ,lots of love and a warm Hug!

jenny_o said...

It certainly feels like politics is a game to a lot of people, doesn't it? I like to stay informed about as much as I can, while realizing there is little else I can do most of the time.

Hugs back to you, baili! I hope you are feeling well these days!

Cherie said...

The little squirrel pic made me smile. I can no longer be bothered with politics as there is one rule for the rich and famous and another for the rest of us.

jenny_o said...

I hear you. And it's not what was ever envisioned long ago! Things have gone haywire.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I like the original perspective of that poem even though its author's surname reminds me of a motor vehicle security device.

jenny_o said...

It's an unusual name, for sure. However, what it reminded ME of was the same-named dining hall at the university I attended, so it didn't even sound weird to me :)

Diane Henders said...

"...highly intelligent beings must have been living there." Uh-huh. 'Nuff said.

Your squirrelly pianist made me smile!

kylie said...

The poem is great although I contend that an exploded planet is proof of a lack of intelligence in it's inhabitants.
I seem to spend a large proportion of my day watching funny or cute videos of dogs, I rarely even branch out as far as raccoons!

jenny_o said...

We really can't claim to be all that intelligent, can we? :)

jenny_o said...

Just smart enough to do ourselves in . . .

You're a dog-lover to the core, kylie!