A WTF in WF

I did a double-take in Whole Foods today. The whole range of open hot and cold food bars is back in business.

I'm in MA, where we were doing really well on Covid numbers until a new surge started creeping up last month. I think the decision to bring back the buffets must have been made during the optimistic lull.

I wish you could stop by and take some tomatoes.

I just picked these today, and the plants are still full. We give them away and make a lot of salsa.

Being atheist, I smile at myself for liking this song.

Surprise! You bought a Rio Wave Hi Boy!

How can a person spend $49.99 without knowing it, and not even get the item? My husband bought groceries and I looked at the receipt. He bought a beach chair! Only he didn't buy a beach chair. He just got charged for one...at the supermarket.

If my usual grocery bill is $50 and suddenly it's $100, I'm going to ask why. He didn't even think. So now he has another trip to make.

Zumba class cancelled due to baby raccoon

I drove here in heavy rain, walked in to this cuteness on the stairs... They're waiting for animal control. I kinda mind and kinda don't.

(They tried to get it, they said)

Small-town Saturday night

Waiting for the fireworks tonight in Grafton, NH

The curious evolution of my paternal relationships.

It has taken 76 years for all this to be sorted out.

In 1944, my mother the WAC had a one-night stand in the French Quarter and I began. She married another sailor and his name was on my birth certificate. They divorced in a couple of years and she remarried, and he adopted me.

He was not a good father. (Read into that sentence all the abuse you can imagine). I was grown and married with kids when he died. My mother ran into her first husband again and they started dating. He called me constantly and wanted to be my father. Luckily, they broke up.

She met and married a retired soldier 11 years younger than she, and they've been married 30 years. She's 98 and he takes care of her in their home. He cooks, cleans, and keeps her comfortable now that she is wheelchair-bound.

This man is the best father I've ever had, and if you knew him, you'd say I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel. He's a bigot because that's how he grew up. We argue all the time, about his stupid racist right-wing views. But he's improved a LOT. He hasn't used racist labels in years. He admitted to me (an atheist) that his piety is mostly for show, to make my mom happy.

He listens when I explain how letting people come into the country is the right thing to do. I got him to admit that TFG was not all he had thought he was. He's fully vaccinated. He's kind to people. He loves me, and says so.

So, I read people's tributes to their wonderful fathers and I'm glad for them, but in my quiet little space, I feel that I have a father. I joke about it and say I'm pitiful, but we make do with what we have.

Ticks on the dog...oh my

After walking in the woods, we knew to inspect our little terrier for ticks, and we found a couple on her longish hair. She gets monthly flea & tick treatment so we don't worry much.

Later we noticed her batting at her face with her paw. We found ten ticks just below her mouth and around her chin! We hadn't thought to look closely there. Luckily, none were embedded.

Remember this area when you check! Now I'm calling her ticky monster.

The descendents keep coming, and there's nothing I can do

to stop them. Great-grandchild #12 born yesterday, and #13 coming in a month. More sure to come, as grandchildren of all ages start and continue their families.

This was never my conscious intention, and I apologize to the over-populated Earth.

Look how pretty our wisteria is this year.

Last year my husband thought it was dead. I said do not lay a clipper on those branches or you'll be the dead one! Ha