Compostablespork @compostablespork@weirder.earth

A quiet woman from another floor at work passes me in the hallway, then stops a few paces behind me.

"Can I ask you..." she hesitates.

I turn back to her, "sure?"

"Is that.. is that a picture of your dog on your shirt? Painted to look like Wonder Woman?"

"It is!"

"Oh my god. That. Is. Awesome!"

On my way to work today, two vans in the line of traffic. I ride up past them. The first says on the side: "Hospital linens, scrubs, patient gowns."

The next one says: "Escalators, Elevators. We Specialize in Human Flow."

Which seems like it would have made a decent slogan for the first van too.

While I was busy grazing a serviceberry bush, doggo was straining her leash in excitement. I ignored her because she's been wild about squirrels and robins and bunnies lately.

When I was ready to go, she again darted for a nearby bush. I hauled her back and looked - it was a pair of the tiniest, fluffed-upest skunks I ever saw.

I'm very glad they were baby enough not to know what to do with their hindquarters yet. And they were apparently unsupervised by a big skunk.

The cutest!

Isn't it weird how you can resist knowing a thing and then once you allow yourself to know it, it's so huge?

A local primary is this week. I've got 5 candidates to choose from. Signs are carpeting the area. I've been like, "They're all fine. I don't know which one..."

Yesterday I stopped resisting. I let myself like who I like. Suddenly I'm his biggest fan.

Also I just learned that his daughter is trans and he's partly running to make her world safer 💚

My evening aspirations (with CW now for the ice cream)

Climbing shoe, climbing shoe, one pair of jeans, light cardigan, jog bra, second pair of jeans, dirty socks, clean tank top, scarf, heavy cardigan, chalk bag, crew neck sweater, climbing rope, quickdraw, bike helmet - wait, are people supposed to keep work stuff in their filing cabinets?

Morning acts of tiny rebellion:

picked and ate handfuls of mulberries and serviceberries on the verge of falling off and littering the sidewalks

rode my bike to work (4th time this week!)

watched a spotted fawn suckle its mother (as I pedaled up the hill past it)

decided to endeavor to not be a jerk in some moment where I might feel entitled to be a jerk

hoped I have raised a fierce and gritty child

thought about strawberries

Immersed myself in so many painful stories last night and this morning. Wandering through the kitchen wondering "what is this weight I'm feeling?"

"Oh self, that's grief."

The wave then of acceptance: grief is a completely appropriate response. It is right and good to grieve.

Also this sense of connection, through deep history because being lorded over, having the powerful toy with us is what humans have known for many civilizations. And still have found kindness and beauty in life.

Mi amiga recuerdame que yo viaje a Chile este invierno y necesito practicar espanol de verdad! Chile! De verdad!!!

Now pouring out. My weather app says rain stopping in 11 minutes. We'll see.

Not that it's all about me, but I splurged and bought a new raincoat and rainpants, justified by the idea that I could ride to work even in the rain. Have been itching to try them out, looking ahead to see when the next rain is due. Did not bring them today as rain not being forecast until the middle of the night. Rode my bike to work.

Current status: 16 minutes to 5pm with ominous black clouds overhead and rain now predicted for the next 35 minutes. Moral of the story: always bring the gear.

Great #podcast episode with Roxane Gay on her experience before and after her bariatric surgery:
https://medium.com/s/playback/roxane-gay-what-fullness-is-8efc5cab3daf

Haunting image - she talks about objective evidence that her body is changing (physically fitting into spaces differently) but having no ability to see it in herself. It creates this sense that the world is playing a trick on her - she's the same but everything's getting roomier around her. How hard it is to *see* ourselves/our bodies with any clarity.

My mom, her two older brothers and their wives are all in their 70's now. The oldest bro is pushing 80 and though they can barely tolerate one another they all gathered for a pre-80th surprise. Many fart-jokes, repeated stories, gory tales, bad manners, sibling one-ups-manship. Like they were all in grade school again. Trying to decide who looked most like their mom and who their dad.

Also my aunts insisting that I've grown taller, which is adorable since the last time they saw me I was 40.

@distel

Here they are! Not as pretty this week, I think. Also I keep getting my layers mixed up and this time had to put the greens in other jars because I ran out of room. So maybe each jar is too much food? We'll see! Anyway - it's done! Now for the clean-up!

I wish he could see the really timid women who come - young and old. The women who speak very little English. The woman who said to me, "I've been so intimidated about coming back. I know I'm not climbing well these days and I was so relieved to come tonight on ladies night."

Sure I wish we didn't need such an event. I wish everyone felt free and bold enough to come anytime. But that's not the world we live in yet. Whether men can see that or not.

I just worked a "ladies night" at the climbing gym - part of a small movement to create pockets of space where female-identifying people can work out in a place sheltered from the male gaze (and male "coaching.") This happens after hours - the gym would otherwise be closed, but still some guys don't like being told to leave and one guy tonight was giving another staffer pushback on the necessity of the event.

I wish I could show him how everything changes when the men leave.