Can't stay down for long

 Grief is a weird thing. I'll be perfectly fine for awhile than some silly little thing will spark a memory and I'll storm cloud for a short time. Grief rolls through me like the brief summer thunderstorms of my childhood in the hot dry clime of Eastern Washington. Here in Western Washington, they are much less frequent. The pines and grasslands are replaced with firs and maples.

It's so green here and Seattle having the nickname of "the Emerald City" made my dumb kid brain spin a whole new level of story building. I thought that The Wizard of Oz was a story of magical realism, and that Dorothy was picked up by a tornado in Kansas and dropped in Eastern Washington, outside of Ellensburg to be exact, with all their sleepy golden wheat fields. Then she was given her vision quest to Seattle, the Emerald city, where the wizard lives. Alas, it's just a man behind a curtain pulling the gears of capitalism. Had she come to Spokane I could have told her told her to never trust those city folk in their fancy suits and sent her home on a Greyhound bus. In some ways I like my version better even if it only amuses me.

I was wrong on every account, except that there are definitely shady men controlling the gears of capitalism and I'm still more likely to trust a man wearing jeans than one wearing a suit.

Transitioning to a completely different train of thought now in 3...2...1

We should give more respect to our middle school teachers! I forget what middle school translates to in Europe, but basically, we're talking about the teachers that must suffer the classes of newly pubescent boys that are still learning how frequently to shower and use deodorant as they walk around proudly displaying their little miniature baby moustaches. Aw, so cute!

I'd forgot to share this picture with you last month. My child so far seems to be cis hetero, but some of his classmates that I've known since kindergarten have come to redefine themselves. My love for them doesn't change of course and parents in this mostly blue liberal utopian nook embrace their children for who they are. A mom from the PFLAG group shared this wonderful picture of their pride float requesting a donation for new shoes to freshen it up a bit for this year.

 and finally...

I was at the grocery store yesterday and this wine gift bag made me think of ya'll. So yes, thoughts of our little blog ensemble have a way of cheering me up. 😆

It's currently mojito season in this house because it's hot, it's damn hot.

Stay cool friends!