elainegrey

Post holiday social: Friday noonish i met up with someone in Carrboro i know from the national advisory board i used to serve on and from conferences. It was wonderful and must do again. I also feel i can write it off as work for Reasons.  And, she and her spouse might be interested in playing poker with Christine and i sometime, although likely to be better players....

Friday evening i drove to Hillsborough to see my sister in law in a gallery opening that turned out to be a bigger thing than i expected and met up with a friend. I hope we will see each other a little more this new year.

I was, however, up late, and could tell. I was very weepy around the vet report about Luigi's probably myocardial something or another: enlarged heart? The good news is that the hormone that signifies this issue causes increased urination. Would treating this reduce the hormone, reducing the urination? But the vet bills. I was very invested in making sure Christine and i were on the same page about goals. Luigi is such a sweetheart and companion, but such an old little man cat. We need to let him go at the right time.

Saturday midday i had a good visit with my sister and went through my great grandmother's jewelry (most of which was clip on costume earrings, ohmigod ouch).

Then Christine and i managed to finished wrangling family for invites and in the evening hosted my brother and his daughter for poker. It was fun. I also made a little booklet with the hands for reference and put the date and a cool Las Vegas inspired "[our home] poker night" logo on it to make it special for S--. My sister has told me in what way S-- is not like most people (while expressing anger at my brother's family for how they don't help her navigate things).  I feel more connected to S-- than to the older boys, perhaps because she seems enthusiastic about visiting us. On the other hand, she's not quite a teenager yet at twelve. So, who knows when we will no longer be cool.

Today i worked on the new computer. I am so thankful for ChatGPT today, because troubleshooting getting a remote window connection going and working would have taken me far more energy than i had. It was still hours to get done. ChatGPT was helpful, i think, because of the vast amount of documentation for linux administration on the internet and the interconnection across different systems (Xwindows, vnc servers, the systemd automation, the weirdness of new fangled things that weren't around when i was using linux mumblty decades (what? that long?!) ago.

To reward myself i sat down to play with the new ham radio thing, but it didn't work, and then the original config didn't work, and then i realized i must have had something working in membor but changed something else and after -- maybe rebooting? -- the eariler state is gone and now i need to figure out how to start over. Bleep.  I don't think ChatGPT is the answer there.

It's been a muchness of socializing for this hermit. Good, but muchness.

I have had some ADHD reflections. I'm a little more clear why i am stalled on replying to some things. Part of it has to do with the distraction/interruption and trying to stay on task -- and i really don't have time set aside well for correspondence.

And i wonder about the Quaker sense of being led bu the Spirit, and how differently that might be perceived by neurotypical folks and neurodivergent. Wish i had time to go more deeply but it's bed time.

Quaker notes: I made it through the week with a Thursday evening given over for hours to writing up comments about the organizations' structure, naming the two persons who are difficult to work with. I posted it to people who i had asked for personal support, people with whom i was in discussion, and others involved with the business meetings.  I think i was fair.  On Friday evening i had a very long phone call with one person, and then found i had received a lovely supportive email from another.

Thursday there was yet more evidence of people who just aren't organized  -- which, you know, i am one of too - -showing up for a nonexistent meeting on Thursday night. I think one of the hard to work with people had triggered this by assuming there was a meeting.

But maybe they're not merely disorganized. Some aspect about this is that a number of us have email that gets flagged as spam, it seems. I am not sure i understand why. I've done what i could for my own domain name, and almost everyone else is a gmail account. I suppose some folks have very long signatures.... it's not a help when communication is fraught.

--== ∞ ==--

Yesterday i worked in the yard, clearing a thatch of stilt grass, pulling up honeysuckle and young autumn olive, and revealing ferns, moss, and some patches of a wild grass i like.  I think i could mow this area of stilt grass come fall: claiming one more stretch. I realize it's time to plant potatoes and the whole garden plot is still a thatch of stilt grass. I am glad i decided not to veggie garden so much this year.

--== ∞ ==--

Yesterday afternoon i read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I was struck by the four names that Tchaikovsky used over and over to identify the persons in the evolving species: Portia, Bianca, Fabian, and Viola.   I checked, and yes, they were names Shakespeare used. Viola is in the same play as Fabian; Fabian resonates with the plot for me. I understand the cycle of names starts with Portia for a different reason. It was hard to believe the names were coincidence, so i asked! And got a quick answer! "I was mostly guided by my subconscious after starting with Portia and deciding to pillage Shakespeare for names. Although Fabian has always been a favourite bit-part for me."

--== ∞ ==--

With a good time in the yard and then rest reading, i am hoping to get a bunch of little things done today - and to go through the 100 plus things on the todo list and purge/reschedule.

Christine has apparent gastroenteritis with her fever at 100°F last we checked.

I have now worked in the yard! Sunday afternoon and  -- i took time off -- today. The eastern part of the yard, including the mossy glade is raked, letting the moss and the Dichanthelium species native grass get plenty of light and air as we go through this coming week  and unusually warm weather. I've lots of leaves piled in an area that became too much stilt grass and i intend to nuke from orbit -- i mean flame weed-- when the stilt grass begins sprouting. I'll eventually move these leaves back to where we had many trees cut down. Thickening the mulch will be useful as i suspect stilt grass seeds got spread around whit the work.

Today i cut down autumn olive and some sapling sweet gums. I was thinking we'd have our tree guy come cut down three more large-ish sweet gums, but i think we can wait a few years: i think they are short enough that the pines and tulip poplars will be more of a shade issue -- and those stay,

While i was out, i selected a top of a sweet gum to bring inside and decorate with LED fairy lights. Thanks for the encouragement, tamena https://tamena.dreamwidth.org/! It's mesmerizing to watch the lights change colors in waves . Without knowing, i seem to have gotten the right number of lights per branch to have a single color segment on each branch. I'd not been precise, but i decided the shorter branches should have denser lights, which ended up with each branch having a similar number of bulbs. I don't know how i realized that would look  more balanced, but it does.

One  colleague in Ohio was exposed to COVID this weekend, another colleague in Sheffield England has tested positive. It's his third case?   I suppose Christine could have COVID, too, so we'll probably test her tomorrow.

Retreat planning is also taking mental cycles.

I'd hoped that work would settle with Friday's deadline, but the  new director is now all about taking the plan and pulling it apart and reassembling a couple different ways. Fiddlesticks.