I am living in the future

From February 2016

I have been so busy! Yesterday, I had to pick Zupe up early from "kindy" to go to a feeding therapy session across town at 1:30 and then dash to his podiatrist at 3 PM. It is a 12 min drive. It was going to be tight and I sort of wondered while I was making the trip why I hadn't thought this through more carefully.

We made it only about 6 minutes late - which isn't bad considering we then waited for 40 minutes for our appointment. It was mostly an appointment to make an appointment - don't you love those?

 This morning my brother-in-law posted on Facebook that he was now engaged to his girlfriend. (Brother-in-laws can do that when your sister is deceased.) In my mind, at the time I thought, oh, Valentine's Day.

Later, this morning, sometime after mopping the kitchen floor and searching for the best of Robert Palmer, I thought, "CRAP! It is Renee's birthday! Why didn't FB remind me?" Then, "I didn't say anything to my mom this morning." Then, "Sam, you F****- announcing your upcoming marriage on Renee's birthday" - or one day off if you are in the US instead of Australia.

I went to FB and then to Renee's page and it does list her birthday on her page so it isn't that FB doesn't know it is her birthday.

Then, I note that the date today is the 16th.

Her birthday is the 23rd.

That might explain it.

 I went back to my FB home page where I once again forgot the date and thought, "Oh, crap! I still forgot to wish Renee a happy birthday." Went back to her page and saw the date (again).

 Then, I remembered. Our appointment with the podiatrist was for the 22nd.

I had to call "My Foot Doctor" and cancel......apologize and thank them for seeing us a week in advance.

Unfortunately, my two days living in next week did not reveal any winning lottery ticket numbers. All it did was free my Monday afternoon...next week.

I have discovered the limit of my horror

From February 2016

Zombies, monsters, serial killers, vampires.... Bring them on!

Stephen King has done it, pushed me to my limit!, in the last story of his short story collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. "Summer Thunder". A post-apocalyptic story about a man who has lost his family - they were unfortunately in Boston when the Eastern Seaboard was obliterated by nukes, his elderly neighbor, and a stray dog, Gandolf. This is all the life that is left in the corner of Maine in which the story is set. Everyone else has fled to Canada where it is rumored the radiation is less or has taken their own life. For reasons I'm not too clear on, maybe because they can't eat canned food and bottled water, all the wildlife save a loon or maybe two, is decaying in the forests. Radiation sickness is a powerfully bad thing - prolonged and painful. His friend has lost his intestine and 7 teeth but is now prepared with a gun with a bullet. And, he gives our protagonist a syringe of Demerol to use for Gandolf who can't get up to travel anymore. (Yesterday his hair started coming out and he developed lameness, weakness and pain. This morning he was having projectile bloody diarrhea.)

Just shove it deep into his neck. Hold onto the collar in case he flinches. Maybe he'll be gone when I get home. He was in pretty bad shape when I left...**** replies.

But, he's not. He lifts his head. He thumps his tail on the ground twice.


And..... I turn off the CD. I cannot go on.

My life is the limit of my horror.

 

From First love

"A little bit of grace. That is what a good dog is." Stephen King

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

From November & December

I sort of thought I'd get a holiday note written this year. Really. There were moments of composition in my mind. Now, as Chinese New Year is roaring past, I am starting to think that might not happen. Still, I do have our holiday greeting photo. You see in November the Jacaranda begin to bloom in Brisbane. Very pretty. And, there is one that lives at the corner of Beams Road and Carselgrove that I pass by multiple times daily above a nice little brick wall. I thought, "It will be so pretty with the red brick and the jacaranda and the scattering of purple petals everywhere." Then, I met with reality. My tripod which had been traveling around in the car since, yes, I hate to admit it, last year's Christmas photo ... well, a leg fell off. Still, we were dressed so I thought I could maybe find something else to prop up the camera. The stroller! Off we went. Kevin and James in their Hawaiian-esque shirts and me in my new - oh geeze - this top is a bit big - dress...into the gusting wind. That skirt. It really catches the wind. I had my arms wrapped around myself trying to keep whatever level of modesty I could maintain while Kevin pushed the stroller-cum-tripod to the corner. Did I mention this tree/wall/petal situation is at a busy street corner? I didn't think so. See, I wasn't thinking about that, either. So, you have the photo. Unless I parked the stroller IN the street there was no including the tree and the wall and the family. Oops. Anyway, I took 3 on self-timer (automatically). In each the level of the horizon became more and more steep as the stroller roof-cum-tripod sank a little bit more. It is not a great photo by any stretch of the imagination. But, I think you might see we were having fun, while trying not to flash any passing cars. Happy (post) holidays!

edited in 2022 -  Hey, Ann.  That wall isn't brick...