stunningflowermachines

The sky was dramatic all day: intense blue with racks of broken cloud lines overlaid with whisps like arcane symbols. It was never intensely hot and this evening became cool enough that I closed windows against the chill; most days the a/c has been firing up in late afternoon, causing me to close them and then later reopen them. But the forecast is for a heat dome next week, although we should be on the edge of it and less baking than across the Bay. Here's hoping.

weofodthignen

The dog took me on a long walk today: all the way to the park and looping back through part of it. That was after insisting on lying in the grass for much of the afternoon.

No cat sightings, unfortunately.

weofodthignen

The dog didn't get a walk yesterday, though she did muck about in the back garden for extended periods (mostly lying on the grass; this is why we have grass). Today I managed to take her for a walk after my and her dinners, when it was pleasantly cool and not too windy. She led me quite a way up the block and back.

weofodthignen

The family across the street have moved out. Odds and ends, like garden furniture and a couple of carryon bags, keep appearing in a pile in the gutter and people take what they want. There's a house a few blocks away that does this every few weeks anyway: a couple of weeks ago, cheerleader pompoms, today a box with 4 pairs of kids' sneakers.

weofodthignen

I totally do not understand cat politics. Mama Violet haunted the driveway all day. She was there when I took out food and retrieved the newspaper. She was there when I brought out and refilled the cleaned dry food dish later that morning, and when I changed the water in the water bowls in the afternoon, and when I came back from walking, and when I raked the grass in front, and when I checked after dinner for any sign of Monty and Prudence, who I hadn't seen yesterday, when Mama Violet had also been hanging around. She hissed at me a lot. But she didn't eat much.

Then as the sun was going down, I saw Prudence sitting outside the side door. I put out food for her and Monty, then checked the back yard; and there was Monty sitting behind the garage. I'd been starting to wonder whether their mom had run them off. Glad to see she hasn't; or that they come back. But apparently they aren't hanging out together. I do not understand cat politics.

weofodthignen

Mama Violet appears to have decided she lives in the driveway. I go out ... she springs up from behind a bush.

weofodthignen

This week, another sighting of a Tesla with an apologetic sticker. And two sightings of a dark pink Cybertruck ... the second one with the graffitiesque logo (which I understand derives from some video game) on the side rather than the back end. I'm afraid they may be metastasizing.

altamira16

This is a weird slipstream book that feels like it is trying to horn in on Nick Mamatas's territory sometimes.

Jonathan Abernathy is a lonely adult. He is an orphan, and his life is going nowhere. He goes and begs his old manager at the hotdog stand for a job because he desperately needs the money.

But he is working on a bigger project where he is a dream auditor. At night, he enters people's dreams and sucks away the bad parts so that they can be more productive. (This is the thing that feels Mamatas-like. People are doing weird things because of capitalism.) There are all sorts of things about the dream world that are unclear. What happens to the parts of the dreams that are sucked away? What happens to the lives of the people whose dreams have been changed?

He has a neighbor named Rhoda who has a daughter named Timmy, and sometimes Rhoda asks Jonathan to watch Timmy.

He likes her. He starts seeing her in dreams, but whose dreams are they? Which dreams are real?

weofodthignen

After dinner I was headed out to the driveway with some recycling when I looked straight down the garden path. There was Monty, who I hadn't seen for a couple of days, sitting under the plum tree, bolt upright, staring at me. So I provided the requested dish of food.

weofodthignen

Got my new glasses, much quicker than expected. Thinner frames than I've been getting, so I must be careful not to drop 'em or fall off a ladder or anything. Sunglasses are black (with polarised lenses), indoor are darkish red. I can see better with the new ones.

weofodthignen

Grocery store trip: Nob Hill. They were out of an awful lot of stuff. I had difficulty getting three different round loaves of sourdough. So in case it's even worse next time we're there, I nabbed the last unexpired bag of our preferred ground coffee, and stocked up on wine for blót.

weofodthignen

The Chronicle weather guy is saying this week will be above normal temps, except maybe tomorrow. It was indeed pretty hot. The a/c came on in late afternoon. At dusk, after I finished my dins, I took out some recycling and Monty and Prudence were sitting in the driveway, apparently waiting for me. I saw their mom several times earlier; she's been hanging around halfway up the driveway as if she wants something, but it's certainly not a special feeding or any other attention from me. Maybe she just takes some pleasure in acting put out by my going to and fro, and hissing at me.

weofodthignen

The lovely, not too hot weather continues. This afternoon was very breezy. In the morning I started giving the privet-like bush a haircut, avoiding the sprigs of flowers. The greenwaste bin is nicely full, with room to add sweepings before I put it out.

weofodthignen

Two pairs of glasses ordered, and special eye vitamins purchased. Walgreen's was again almost deserted.

weofodthignen

Found a Sunday New York Times lying unclaimed in downtown Sunnyvale, in mid-week. Mine now. Strange to see how it's changed. And they seem to have shrunk the text size even further. So I finally got my eyes checked and I need new glasses, and sunglasses. The ophthalmologist is either from here or well acculturated. I walked in in sandals and a tie-dye T-shirt, with a rainbow bandana on my head, and she asked me whether I was "still" working on the computer in retirement. I eventually figured out she assumed I was a techie. Me. ROFL.

And today I blóted for Midsummer, although the wind meant three tries hallowing the drink. Monty turned out to have been watching me; I'd already fed Prudence in the driveway but I took him out a dish of his own.

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stunningflowermachine

Reading

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Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

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May 2012

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