Have you seen the news today? Oh Boy! (I know - let's look at flowers instead?)

[The title is actually a riff off of a Beatles song lyric, the song is entitled A Day in the Life written in 1967 by John Lennon during the Vietnam War. (Lennon didn't really write protest songs, he wrote riffs on what he observed around him.) A nasty war - and the last war that Americans were "drafted" to serve. A lot of folks fled to Canada during that WAR to avoid the draft. It lasted seemingly forever. They did away with the draft partly because of that War. My uncle was in it, and when I visited France in the 1980s, I stayed with a French family whose father had served in Vietnam, on the French side, when France was occupying it. We really don't learn from each other, do we? I also got to visit a bunch of WWII bunkers when I was visiting France in the 1980s. I was staying in Bretagne, and the bunkers were Nazi bunkers along the beaches, while the Nazi's occupied France back in the early 1940s.It's actually an interesting song.. and it starts with the following lyrics:

"I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad..." ]

I came back to work today and felt bombarded with information. I went on my personal email - and felt bombarded with information. I went on my Firefox Browser (which has various articles) and felt bombarded with information.
Most of it anxiety inducing, or just confusing.

I looked at the national news? And thought...ACKKKK! Then looked at the global news? And thought... ACKKK! Local news isn't quite as bad? But still...ack? ( A Mexican Navy Ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend, it was a lovely sailing ship, destroyed the sails and injured and killed a few crew members and passengers. And that wasn't the worst news (I won't tell you what that is - mainly because I managed to forget about it completely and do not feel like hunting it down). It was all over the local news (the Mexican Navy Ship accident - they are still trying to figure out why it crashed and why it lost control of its navigation, apparently). That and the NJ Transit Strike - which appears to have reached a tentative agreement, resolving the strike.) I just wanted the weather. The weather in NYC isn't that bad, it's 70F/21C at the moment. And it was 55F/12C this morning. With a breeze. A crisp spring day. I wore a sweater and a jacket. On the way home? Just the jacket.

It's also very pretty in NYC, especially in Brooklyn, which is heavily wooded and residential (or the area I reside in, is, not all areas are created equal). NYC has a policy - for every tree removed, you plant about twenty. It used to be two, now, it's twenty. So as a result, we have a lot of trees. Also flowers - due to the climate, which is relatively mild in comparison to 85% of the rest of the country, we have all sorts of flowers and they last for a long time.

See?

Some bearded irises of the purple variety...




Some of the orange variety - at least I think they are orange. I personally prefer purple, but your mileage may vary.



And...whatever this is...



Also, kind of sore today -( Read more... )

Anyhow.. I'm trying to avoid the news at the moment for my mental health (aren't we all? I'm sure you can all relate?). (Also it's not like I can do anything about it? Everyone wants money - I don't have enough to go around and still survive. Also, it feels a bit like I'm throwing it down a well. Conflict and protesting make me physically ill. So I guess I'll just keep muddling through and doing what I am doing? Also the news for the most part has been following a specific pattern, or so I've noticed? At the start of the week it is horrible, and then sometime around the weekend, it becomes rather optimistic. So avoid the news until well, the weekend?)

Makes me think of this Beatles album I linked you to? It ends with...George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun. (George was more optimistic than Lennon, who wrote Day in a Life.) Someone on social media stated George Harrison was banning the Republicans from using his music, and I felt the need to advise them that Harrison was dead. Long dead. Kind of impossible, unless it's his estate or he's doing it from the grave?

Anyhow, here's another iris..

May Question a Day Memage...

I got behind. Sorry about that. So you are getting 19 questions as opposed to four or five.

Brief whine? Sigh, FB at times pummels me with stupid opinions. Also it wants me to save the world? I cannot save the world. No one can save the world. It's not possible. Been there, done that, have the battle scars. I learned long ago, the only person you can save in this life is yourself and even that can be dicey, because let's face it the world is determined to kill us. Kind of hard to save something that is trying to kill you.

Oh, forgot, the Buffy Reboot has cast its Buffy - it's the female lead from The Skeleton Crew. (And yes, I thought she was a bit young for the role too. I've mixed feelings about this. But I'm also not the target audience?)

May Memage

1. The first of May – it’s Labour Day, also known as International Worker’s Day. If you’ve retired, how long (in years) did you work for before you stopped? If you are still working, how long will it be, before you retire?

Interestingly enough, it's not in the US, for various reasons they moved that to September. (I think it's because we have Mother's Day and Memorial Day in May, and that's one too many holidays? I don't know.)

With any luck it will be four and a half years. I plan on retiring at 62.
But we shall see.

2. Do you own a toolbox? What does it have in it?

I do. It's not a tool box though - it's a plastic container with various tools. And I can't find it - it's hidden in my closet. Handy - I'm not. That's my brother. The domestic, handy-man, gardening, and nurturing genes leaped over me and landed on him. He cleans, he makes maple syrup, he installs shelves and windows (even builds them) along with a loft space, he rewires his kitchen, he puts together his stove, he creates a huge five acre vegetable garden complete with a mini orchard, he takes care of his cats, his daughter, he outfits her car with a sink...the man is insanely talented. I'm lucky if I can assembly a table or a peddler that comes in the mail.

3. How old is the home you live in?

It's pre-war, so 1920s? Possibly earlier. It comes complete with a fall-out shelter.

4. Do you often wear shorts?

No, I prefer capris or pants that come down just below the knee, or long shorts.

5. Today, in 1864, Nellie Bly was born (the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane, an American journalist). An American journalist, she is widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg. Have you read ‘Around The World in 80 Days’ or seen a film adaptation?

Yes, I've seen the television series (with Pierce Bronsan and the one with David Tennant, the one with Tennant is better), along with the film adaptation with David Niven. If you want to see one? See the one with David Tennant, Bronsan and Niven aren't as entertaining. I may have read it - but can't remember.

6. Do you sit at a dining table when you eat a meal at home?

I don't have one, so no. Did that when I visited mother. At home? I sit and eat at my coffee table with a dinner tray.

7. Are you usually early or late to meetings/appointments?

Early. I hate to keep people waiting on me. I'd rather wait on them? Also, I have a fear of missing something or missing the appointment.

8. Do you know how to find the North Star (Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere) or the Southern Pole Star (Sigma Octantis in the Southern Hemisphere) in the night sky?

No. I used to, but forgot.

9. What was the first fandom you were ever involved in?

Buffy.

[I have to go to bed, so stopping there tonight. You'll have to wait to see the rest, I guess. Here's a picture from my walk at lunchtime today: