Upon leaving for London in 2014 several people were ‘temporarily gifted’ with possessions which were to be retrieved upon my return – envisioned to be in a couple of years after graduation from Uni and the expiration of the student visa. The return was not as speedy as anticipated, but now, back in Marin attempts are being made to gather together my life, including my possessions. The outdoor chaise lounge offered but the inconvenience of the pandemic made such transfer difficult. But there was a Kitchen Aid – the magical machine featured in television cooking programs. Beginning to feel the need to reciprocate, desserts and food had been heaped upon me by Personal Driver’s family and Kim. I had to contact the recipient, received a response from a most helpful daughter and now it sits on a place honour on my kitchen counter. A photograph shall be attached so that you may admire the fine piece of sculpture. Hahaha. Plans have also been made to retrieve Ikebana containers temporarily in the possession of my former Ikebana instructor. Perhaps we shall resume instruction in this fine art form but now she has a major role as caregiver to her ailing husband.
Yesterday was a most strange and unusual day – not sure it will be necessary to stray to the horrors. Will begin with the good, in my typical fashion, I fashioned two or three flower arrangements using the stems from the Marin Farmer’s Market. Some, but all, of the masterpieces will be pictured. It felt so freeing, so liberating, to be back at it again after all of these years. I was justifiably proud of my creations. I soon shall be expanding the score of my creativity. An old (actually rather distant) friend) is a superbly talented photographer who reached out and was able to get at me through the blog. We are planning on taking photography excursions together – he is safe having a double dose of the vaccine. We are planning to await my second dose – we shall adventure together. I did explain my Virgin Muslim status to me – he took it in stride. Do remember from the good old days in London that Dinham and I would discuss the ‘advantages’ of not having a sexual union – we explored other ways of being intimate together. We thought about transgressing, even made plans, but that was a mistake. (In retrospect). It ruined it all. Oh well! Wonder if he is back in Jamaica, no way of knowing.
But back to bigger and better things (or perhaps smaller and worse things). The New Yorker is most incisive about the whole impeachment trial. The subtitle a recent article proclaimed: “Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s attorneys, addressed the Senate. What looks like incompetence by Trump’s legal team may be better understood as contempt for the process. A ridiculous ‘argument’ put forth by one of the two incompetents was cited with this concluding sentence: “If so, the nation is in for a strange few days as Trump’s defense unfolds, or rather unravels.” These guys, these so-called attorneys sound like total idiots. Here are other examples: Schoen’s problem is with the Constitution: he said that the Framers’ wariness of mobs and potential dictators, which the managers had cited in a pretrial brief, was really just evidence of their “élitist political view.”
The President’s argument on the question of jurisdiction was, in short, messy, bitter, and at times incomprehensible. At one point, Castor lashed out at Ben Sasse, but exactly what he was trying to say about the senator was hard to tell—it had something to do with Nebraska being “quite a judicial thinking place.” The final sentence written by Amy Davidson Sorkin is classic. “In his presentation, Schoen said, “I can promise you that, if these proceedings go forward, everyone will look bad.” Not everyone.” All I can say: I do not know about this country, or about democracy in general. Give me Qatar where it is possible to throw one in jail for not wearing a face mask.
But back to rather mundane matters. Mundane, the word of the day means: lacking interest or excitement; dull. Used in a sentence: Hers is a mundane, humdrum existence. (By the way we are not talking about Alexis (aka Ayla) McBride at this moment. Mine is the antithesis, well some of the time. The synonyms are: dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, tiresome, wearisome, prosaic, unexciting, uninteresting, uneventful, unvarying, unvaried, unremarkable, repetitive, repetitious, routine, ordinary, everyday, day-to-day, quotidian, run-of-the-mill, commonplace, common, workaday, usual, pedestrian, customary, regular, normal; unimaginative, banal, hackneyed, trite, stale, platitudinous; typical, vanilla, plain vanilla, hacky; banausic. The antonyms, which generally describe my life are extraordinary, and imaginative. But here is a run-of-the mill, humdrum, stale and trite event. The last blog spoke of my adventures with the clothes moths. This in an excerpt from Computer Guru Chris.
He: OMG, we’ve been blighted by moths for like 3 years at least, what a pain, why do they always go for my shiny new sweater, and right in the middle of the chest, not somewhere less obvious! We’ve tried spray, balls and sticky pads… we’re really hoping to leave them in London when we move! cheers, Computer Guru.
Me: Damn! I love you even more now that we share this blight in common. I hold no hope for the future Guru. Haha Alexia (aka Ayla)
Today is an energetic day commencing with physical therapy for the much improved sciatica, then to Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase inflatable pillow for bathtub bubble baths, then to the Marin Farmer’s Market for flowers, good food and the knife sharpener guy – my Ikebana sheers are rusty and dull.
What will tomorrow’s blog bring? A tale of woe, on Tuesday evening Alexis McBride was attacked verbally, threatened and almost run over by a parrot wielding man on a motorcycle. Where is the man now, probably still in jail. The whole community so supportive, the police so protective, polite and supportive. The poor guy found out that one does not mess with me – as echoed in the halls and lobby of the former Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Dnefwmmcb Do not Ever F**k with Ms. McBride) Whatever happened to that formerly snazzy Trump Hotel? It is either closed completely or being used as a homeless shelter. I was messed with at the conclusion of my stay at that hotel. There were intervening factors, such as the bankruptcy of the owner Joo Kim Tiah and the pandemic resulting in no tourism, but nonetheless……
Snazzy is quite the word and look at its synonyms: smart, attractive, lovely, glamorous, gorgeous, stunning; fashionable, dapper, debonair, dashing, jaunty, rakish, spruce; chic, modish, elegant, trim; trendy, cool, sharp, snappy, with it, swinging, nifty, natty, groovy; North kicky, tony, fly, spiffy, sassy, stylin’on fleek; swagger. Antonym: dower. One might call Alexis McBride dapper, dashing jaunty, rakish and snappy but never dower. Also perhaps nifty, natty and groovy. I do love words.
