Greetings from the Mesa
Last week was a bit of a bit of a… So you get two weeks in one, double the fun!
We finally made it into the vet. Turns out Tongy is diabetic, so the vet started him on insulin right away. Thankfully it’s easy to give the injections. The vet was pissed that the emergency vet didn’t start him on it earlier when there were indications during the episode that might have led to that diagnosis. Anyhoo. He is responding well so far, and seems to be feeling better. There may be something else going on, but we are treating this first, and may or may not treat whatever else there is… For now just keeping him stable and comfortable… he’s been enjoying the open window and the flock of white-crowned sparrows that have been pecking at the ground outside of it.
Otherwise life continues apace. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of some significant rains. Very needed! We’ve been eating a good quantity of asparagus out of the garden. Last night we made a pappardelle with lemon, asparagus, and goat cheese pasta dish which was delicious. We’ve been doing a homemade pasta about once a week – lasagna, ravioli, fettucine, spaghetti, pappardelle, tagliatelle… Need to try some shapes next. It’s been fun. The rhubarb is making a comeback since the heavy freeze so more rhubarb dishes coming soon – possibly a blueberry/rhubarb (blubarb) coffeecake.
I’ve been working in the studio (and rocking out) almost daily. KP is going to take some of the “garage” items to the dump and recycle station so I’ll have even more room in there. I’m still organizing and getting work stations set up. Creativity is coming back online big time, and i’m itching to write some stories. It feels good. Trying not to pay too much attention to the news, because it’s all a giant s&^tshow!
I hit 700 miles of “biking” this week. My “bike” is an under-desk bike that I got at the end of 2025. I started at 0 resistance for 10 minutes, and have been slowly increasing resistance and time over the past 4 months. I’m up to ~3-4 complete turns of resistance, and 60 minutes of daily cycling. I needed a fairly easy way to get strength back to my legs, and this is working great. I got back up on the walker this week and on Saturday made it down the entire length of the hallway. I finally hit my first walking goal – bedroom to lounge chair – 70 steps! Goal #2 next.
Curiosities
- Chris Burden’s Impossible Artworks – A new book reveals the dozens of planned pieces that the artist, known for his extreme performances and wry installations, left unrealized. (NYT – Share Link)
- We Need To Rewild The Internet – The internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using lessons learned by ecologists.
- Incredible Claims – Regretful MAGA, regretful comic legends, and the need for discernment in pursuit of systemic healing.
- The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA – Crafting a spacesuit demanded perfection from seamstresses to gluers to engineers — every stitch could mean life or death.
- A Swedish Library Forgot to Close Its Doors and Something Beautiful Happened – They say a reader does not steal and a thief does not read. In the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, that’s definitely true.
- Brainstorming a Book – Need ideas for your book? Unsure where your plotline is going next? Feeling stuck?
- I Am An AI Hater. Me too.
- Independent bookstores make quiet comeback as big chains dominate retail. This is great news.
- XOXO was an experimental festival for independent artists and creators from the Internet. They’ve put everything up on an archive site.
- David Hoyle, Supermodel – Seer, prophet, avant garde DQ, interpretative dance sensation and leggy legend models Mugler. Or is it t’other way round? David has been a huge inspiration for me.
Consuming
Currently Reading: Almost finished The Waste Lands (King), The Art of Death (Danticat), Claire of The Sea Light (Danticat)
TV/Movies: Still watching Hacks, finished the final season of The Law According to Lidia Poet, and we watched the bad/good shark/disaster movie Thrash because i’m a bad shark movie aficionado. But I also received the Netflix we’re increasing prices again, and I’m out. Value for $ is not there. We’re investigating other modes of entertainment. Sick of being nickel and dimed for subscriptions. Also LIBRARY!
Music: Still on shuffle in the studio!