For some reason, last sleep I had a wyrd dream about cassowaries. Even in my many shamanic vision dreams over the years, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I can remember any cassowaries in my dream space.... 

I was wandering through a densely forested area of dream space when three of them (one white, one male, one female) came and found me and circled me chiding me like a lost hatchling strayed from the group, "There you are, _______!" (They called me by my spirit name) "We have been looking everywhere and everywhen for you -- we're late for the next lesson for you hatchlings!"  Then they herded me to the secret place off the path deeper in the forest for the next teachings on fate/free will and the dance of time.

Now, I know that in real life, cassowaries are shy loners but extremely stubborn territorial with deadly claws so they can be dangerous become the big baddies of the avian world if confronted. And they are the closest thing we still have to dinosaurs and you do NOT mess with them as they will gladly eff you up if they feel threatened. If you are ever on a beach in Australia or New Guinea and a cassowary takes over your umbrella and blanket area, you just let them stay there as long as they want until they decide on their own to leave. And that they are also the only animal that can spread the seeds of a large number of rainforest trees so they are forest creators/protectors.

BUT my dream cassowaries, the nine of them were super friendly with me like we were the oldest of friends and (re)introduced me to the two young hatchlings who were there to learn along with me. The adult cassowaries were all very nice and protective of me and were trying to fluff my hair and clothes like I had baby hatchling feathers. And they all enjoyed getting scritches under the chin and on their head where their adult feet couldn't reach to scratch without causing damage from their sharp claws. Even the three white regal ones enjoyed the chin scratches while the other six (three male markings, three female markings) were rather more muppety personalities/movements. 

Then all the adult cassowary started speaking in prophecies of what MUST be, what MAY be but could be altered, and what is entirely a choice of free will. Like a lecture of fated events and possibilities and we had to try to figure out by the quality of the prophecies as they were spoken which of the three categories it fell into. (But I'm not supposed to talk about the content of what they saw/shared.) They spoke only in prophetic perhapses of what WILL be, what MAY yet be but is statistically most likely, and what paths can still be CHOSEN if action is taken. And they moved their necks a bit like the fireys dance from Labyrinth (only they never took their heads off or exchanged them or anything liked that) 

It all ended in a weirdly cryptic ululating song/dance about what they do and don't know and the relation of free will to fate and a coordinated very avian circle dance number that they taught me and the hatchlings then demanded we get up to dance with them to learn what scratches can't be crossed and what patterns can be reworked in the dancing and how to use scratch-dance patterns to always protect the egg and the forest. It started by singing a ululating song about the cosmic dance between fate and free will which turned into a singing circle dance to teach us hatchlings then after the first round of them dancing it around us was finished, they told us hatchlings to come join them in the circle dance so we could learn the dance to honor the scratches that cannot be crossed, how to alter the scratch patterns you may as you dance, and where you can draw any path of marks you please, and the importance of weaving a dance to protect the eggs and the world forest. And then for the third round of it the adults removed themselves out of the circle to observe us singing/dancing this part of the time dance and then gave us prophecy worded critiques afterward and then we all sang/danced it for a fourth and final time at the end of which point I woke up.

I can't share the individual names or the collective name they gave themselves in the dream when I respectfully asked them what they wished to be called, but my brain translated the collective name as something akin to the fates/norns only more so, because they don't just deal with fated things but also what free will can still alter. 

I don't actually know what language the cosmic cassowaries were speaking/singing in the dream to teach me and the two hatchling cassowaries -- in spirit dreams, it's more thought/intention and the spoken language(s) translates no matter the species or how the spoken/sung words sound. It ululated a lot though.

So anyway. Today on New Year's Eve, my thoughts have been full of dancing cassowaries and enigmatic prophecies and contemplating the interplay of fate vs free will, in individuals and societies, and how to think of it all as a cosmic dance and how our place in the dance affects the whole.

 So I'm currently at Cath Cath's sipping on Barry's Gold Blend tea, munching candy cane kisses (I don't know why, but I find them the most delightfully addicting of holiday candies and I have little to no self control with them once I open a bag), cuddling with Morgan (a cat), and reading (switching between a Jane Yolen trilogy I never read and a reread of Oliver Sacks case studies) while Cath Cath went to go pick up her car at the mechanic and then to a PT appointment. I found these paragraphs from The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat to be insightful and want to come back to it later for further contemplation. (context: the man has Korsakov's due to excess alcohol consumption, so functionally he doesn't retain any short or long term memories past 1945.)

~*~*~*~

So I started writing that on Monday and then of course Cathy came back from her appointment and we headed to Wonka. (Which I thought was absolutely AMAZING whimsical musical, but Cath was put off by the excessive chocolate eating makes you fat jokes about the corrupt police officer which I understand why she didn't like that felt it was politically incorrect, but also it served a symbolic purpose about corruption showing on the physical form and was a sight gag very much true to Roald Dahl even if fat shaming is frowned upon in modern society.)

I've been very busy, I rarely have unclaimed moments when I visit my sister's family except late at night and early mornings, and haven't yet had the time to write up the quote for here and don't want to do it right now since it's midnight and kiddos are allowed to leave their bedroom at 7:15am (when their nightlight turns green.) But, here's a picture of the paragraph that I liked so well and hopefully the upload won't compress it too much so you can't read it.... 

That's their cat Chicken in the background. She's as attached to me as the kids. Especially since I seized a brief opportunity when my sister and brother-in-law went to pickup the kids from school left me and the cat alone so I gridded energy cleared protected AND put a merkaba barrier so no malevolent attachments can enter in both of the kids rooms (the two oldest kids share a bedroom still until the house renno to add an entire extra floor and some other things is done so they move back home instead of this rental house they're currently in) as well as the entire basement where the spare bed is.) I had gridded protected the kids rooms in the old house, but honestly my use of Metatron mediated/guarded merkaba boundaries to disallow malevolent attachments from passing is a new technique I developed this year so hadn't put into their home.  When Chicken isn't right near me or on my dining room chair, she's mostly napping on Monroe's bed or sitting on Mo's chair or sitting on my sister's lap. Interestingly, Mo (who is a strong empath as well as other gifts despite her parents anti-spiritualism rational explanations only atheism) decided on her own right after I laid protections on the kids rooms to tuck her magic wand that has a snowflake shaped like a Star of David between the slats of the bunk bed right above her head and this afternoon she made a point of pulling it out and showing it to me while her parents were out picking up Ellie and Jack was in the bathroom and she whispered, "I put that there to protect me at night while I sleep. Because it looks like the ones you put everywhere to protect us." Then she whispered happily as she tucked the wand back between the slats, "The stars you see and I see but my parents and brother can't see." Then she heard the bathroom flush and said quickly, "Don't tell Jack. He'll make fun of me. But I know they're real. And they feel like YOU do." Then she ran over hug tackled me with the sort of giggle only very happy five year olds can giggle. She also decided tonight that one of her gnome sugar cookies was going to be a Channukah gnome cookie and asked for help drawing a "Hanukkah star" on it.

I haven't done anything but protection works here nor have i taught her anything about how to use her gifts. She's too young and doesn't need it yet and I don't think her parents would approve until she's old enough to choose it for herself. My sister suppresses her gifts though they wake up more around me and they both just roll with teasing me about my witchiness. But they're still both logical rational explanation seeking anti-religion anti-spiritualism atheists though they have mellowed a little bit from their older stance of thinking all spiritual matters to be delusions and brain washing.... So I don't know if Miche can feel what I've done, but she REALLY wanted me to come visit while they were in the rental as soon as I could (me being able to visit was one of the factors of choosing a house not apartment) and very obviously relaxed after I protected the kids rooms (didn't do theirs, didn't want to do the whole house beyond gridding the entire property given it's a rental and might affect future renters if I did my full treatment to block all malevolent attachments, y'know?) Also, Jack's behavior issues immediately improved and I need to pursue that deeper but haven't had a free opportunity to myself to do so.

The only others who noticed were the local ravens and crows who have taken to roosting nearby, generally outside whatever window I'm near and following whenever we go anywhere. They followed us the next day, Friday the last day of school before winter break, to pickup the kids and the most massive murder descended on the green space next to where our car was waiting to creep forward to the pickup spot. The longer we stayed there, the more of them there were came swooping chattering away and clearly playful happy welcoming. 😂 I definitely said delightedly, "o hey friends! Just look at you beauties!!!" And Miche just quizzically looks over says, "Huh. Never seen them do that here before. I don't think I've ever seen crows or ravens at the school before." And Jon glances over to our side of the car just starts laughing says, "Look Dani! Word must have passed down the corvid gossip line and they know you've arrived."

 Anyway. Past my bedtime. I need to be up in like 6hrs or so to get myself ready and introvert charged enough to go upstairs to be bright eyed bushy tailed for the morning. Bonne nuit. And happy solstice!!!!! From here, there's more and more light every day, y'know? 

Uncertain I'll get a chance to write again with the kiddos off school AND the holiday. But it's also only a week now til I head home again. Fly out of SeaTac night of the 27, then like a 5 hr overnight layover in Denver before flying to Milwaukee in the morning. If I don't write here, dont worry and I'll catch you up on whatever words I want to share as soon as I have time for it. Or I won't. On verra.

 It's very weird being somewhere without snow for solstice/christmas (southern WI is still without snow and long forecast doesn't show any until after I'm back) and I definitely have the dread upon me because every solstice/Christmas I've had in this life that wasn't white, someone in my family has died.... 

It's been a good visit so far, but very Mercury retrograde.... Surprisingly, all my travel related things went great but things have been a bit roll with the punches here with it. When I got here, Monroe (middle child, she's 5) was sick that night stayed home from school the next day and so I spent the next day with her. Elliot (the youngest, she's almost 18 months now) got sick and the daycare/preschool called for them to come get her. Jack (the eldest, he's 8) has been having behavioral issues and boundary pushing both at school and at home then plays the victim martyr card when consequences happen and that's tiring and makes it hard to do fun things with him and bond this visit. Jon also has been sick with whatever Mo had -- so far I haven't shown symptoms despite spending her sickest day snuggling with her and reading to her and watching Encanto with her. (I rarely get upper respiratory sick, a cold is a once in seven month event with me -- but I have a glass stomach will get stomach bugs easily.) It's mostly been fun, but also some stressful parts. But I bring out the goofy ridiculous side in my sister and having an extra adult helps with the three kiddos and their ages. But also, my sister and I had a Wrapapalooza on Thursday and finished up the last on Friday got everything for the kids (including wrapping all the holiday gifts from both grandparents), Jon, Cathy (from her family and my parents sent with me), and all the gifts I brought for the Keslin's. I actively love wrapping gifts, so I did the bulk of it, but my sister helped out between meetings and she derived great joy from wrapping the oddest shaped things and using up the scraps with as little waste as possible. (She has a math puzzle engineering brain.) Which was fun and it felt good to have that done so immediately. We have one more thing last minute ordered for Jack that will be arriving to wrap and something I forgot to wrap for them. 

Tomorrow's plan is: breakfast --> morning zoom with my parents --> Packers game -> lunch -> Costco trip -> dinner with Cathy (my mom's best friend since high school, like a bonus aunt or godmother) --> I'm going back with Cathy for overnight and to see her cat Morgan. Tomorrow afternoon she and I are going to see Wonka (we have a family tradition of her and my parents and me seeing a movie when she's home visiting her mom at the holidays, but this year she isn't going home to WI so was very excited to holiday time movie with me when I suggested it.) After that, Cathy is bringing back to my sister's family (big kids are going to a summer camp that also runs over breaks on Monday while I'm gone since their school break starts Mon) at some point in the evening, unclear to me rn who I will be having dinner with.... 

I do have to pack a smaller bag for visiting Cath Cath still, and I'm debating if I should do it now at midnight thirty or in the morning.... (This household is up at 7:15 on weekdays and 7:30 on weekends. Because young children.) Jon made us cocktails tonight after the kids went to bed for us to drink while watching the Barbie movie (neither of them had seen it yet) now it's on Max. So my body has a lot of energy hasn't quite crashed from the sugars yet. (I'm like a hummingbird when you give me sugar or anything that metabolizes directly into sugars, lol. I should just go take care of it now I'm done showering, especially since I'm still waiting for my hair to dry..... Finish this chamomile tea, see if it knocks me out to sleepytown because it might (I'm VERY sensitive to chamomile, it can literally be liking somebody took the batteries out and allt he fatigue of lack of sleep weighs heavy on my limbs so I collapse and sometimes fall asleep sitting in a chair or aomething-- chamomile followed by excessive quantities of caffeine are what knock me out, melatonin and sleep meds dont do shit for me) and if the chamomile doesn't work I will pack my small bag for tomorrow night and brew another cuppa chamomile tea... 

Let me introduce you to the featherweight queen, She got Hollywood eyes, But you can't shoot what she's seen. Her momma was a dancer, And that's all that she knew. 'Cause when you live in the desert, It's what pretty girls do. I'm throwing caution, What's it gonna be? Tonight the winds of change are blowing wild and free. If I don't get out, Out of this town, I just might be the one who finally burns it down.

 Miss me much recently? 😘 Sorry bout that, but also you'll have to keep on missing me for a bit as tomorrow is a travel day then I will be syncing my life into the schedule of my sister's household for a couple weeks.

It never fails me that every time I fly somewhere, one direction or both ends up randomly being triple Star days for me from Starbucks. And I mean never fails in a good way. In the best possible way! (In the best of all possible worlds! Hey there now Leibniz, slow the fuck down from that conclusion....this ain't Candide and I'm no Pangloss and there ain't no way in hell THIS could be the best of all possible worlds.....let's just rest at  my initial premise stating I meant it never fails me in the best possible way, m'kay?) My flight out to Seattle via Vegas tomorrow is apparently no exception!!!! AND ITS STILL CHESTNUT PRALINE LATTE AND CRANBERRY BLISS BAR SEASON!!!!!! 😁

Does this happen to everyone? Or is it just Luck o' the Dani that it's been my truth for like 5 or 6 years now? Because it happens to me every time I fly or at least one day on lengthy road trips. 

Also, I am somehow "everything packed except my laptop bag and purse" levels of prepared. (Well, the pizza and gifts second suitcase is all packed except the Rocky Rococo's sausage and pepperoni pizza in my freezer. Yes I love my sister enough I'm brining her pork on Chicago style pizza she has childhood nostalgia for and you can't get anywhere else. But flying Southwest so checking a second separate suitcase from anything of mine except my extra two pairs of shoes.) And all the laundry was done by 7pm on Sat and I had both bathrooms cleaned by 10p Sat.  I still need to go buy more cat food then buy me some airplane/airport snacks so I don't buy a $20 bag of shelled pistachios the way those little convenience stores always get me.... (I LOVE pistachios quite passionately, and cracking open the shells is half the fun. But not on planes or in airports. In communal places like that, has to be pre shelled pistachios.) Then tonight is Packers game and a deposit for checks and watering all the plants. Then home to sleep and shower in the morning and get ready for an early drive to MKE. But I'm very confused to already have everything packed and so ready for me to be heading out.... Waiting for the other shoe to drop on something I'm forgetting lol.

Also. My sister has been texting me excited countdown memes every night since we hit the two week mark. She's very excited for my visit, lol. And that was before she knew I was actually bringing her childhood nostalgia in a pizza box. (She has asked before, but their sausage is part of her nostalgia love and with my pork allergy, both carry on and in my own luggage were not happening. But southwest means I can dedicate a second suitcase for pizza and gifts/things not for Dani.) Today was multiple times in the day meme-ing excitement, lol.

P. S. 3:14pm addendum: cat food acquired! Neither Spock nor Crissy will be annoyed when his current bag runs out!!! Different formula, same brand. Fromm grain free. Surf & turf instead of game bird. He loves surf & turf, I just don't love his fishy breath from it. But they were out of the 10lb bag of game bird and the 4lb bag is more expensive per oz AND I'll be gone the next two weeks soooooo..... 

[Post title: lyrics to the song Caution by The Killers. This song has been in my head allllll day.]

O thinking of which! I ought to be more precise about what I said about the new neighbor down the hall....

I haven't ACTUALLY met the new neighbor yet and don't KNOW for certain what dog or how many dogs they have or if it's a family member's dog or a significant others dog....

What I DO know is:

~when the people unloading the moving truck were doing so, they had a too large for the condo rules white and light brown pittie who was running around inside and outside on the truck completely off leash and I watched out my balcony door window as the off leash pittie left the moving van while the humans were carrying something bulky, ran over peed on another neighbor's outdoor furniture on that neighbor's patio space, then run back to the ramp down from the truck bed.

~while moving things in, they were VERY loud in the hallways and I could hear EVERY word of every conversation they had including somoene asking about if the dog was allowe and a male voice saying, "that neighbor and that one both have dogs on this floor, so I would assume it's fine."

~Last Friday as I drove into the lot when Waffles and I came home, there were three people walking dogs that looked like the pittie that I had seen running around off leash while they were moving stuff and came whenever they called, eventually. One of them was walking away towards the parking lot or to the sidewalk along the street, the other two (each with a pittie, but on leash at least) unlocked and entered the door to my building

~Multiple times coming home late at night with Waffles, a very large dog, sometimes two, have started barking from that end unit. Not every time we come home late at night, but multiple times.

Those are the actual observed facts. As opposed to the conclusions drawn over the last week or so.

I felt bad about stating as fact my conclusions I inferred from the observations -- the new neighbor may not have any dogs and just know several people with large pitties who bring them to visit him?... I do think it's a male neighbor though since it was a male voice pointing out the other two units on the floor with dogs. Although maybe I oughtn't to assume that either without having met the new neighbor.

I do TRY to be clear, with myself and others, over whether things are observed, learned, assumed, or concluded. It's important to be clear as to which it is.... Especially if new data contradicts old "knowledge" to be clear as to when/where/how that "knowledge" was derived. I just think it's an important mental health habit to be clear about such things. Or maybe it's just having spent too much time in the hard sciences during formative schooling years. Whatever the reason, I do think it's an important mental health habit to know/assess when/where/how you have accepted a bit of "knowledge" or "truth" or "belief" that you hold onto. Clarity always helps dispel potential confusion or future problems, y'know?

Gotta run! I need to water allllll the plants at work -- the green babies have been sooooooo thirsty since the heaters came on! The melodramatic mfs (hibiscuses, fig trees, bird of paradise plants, nightshades that are still inside haven't yet finished fruiting) are needing water every 3 days as opposed to 3-4 and the rest have the soil drying out after about 5-6 days not their normal 7-10 days. So everybody is getting watered tonight so that I can water them next Sunday/Monday right before my flight next Tues morning out to SeaTac to visit my sister's family. (flight out there has layover in Vegas, flight back has like a 5hr middle of the night layover in Denver, but it was also like $79 between Christmas and NYE so I'm not going to complain -- I can spend the time reading if nothing else....)

Okay. Right. So why I was having such a gods awful morning on Tuesday.

But first, with the caveat emptor that I've warned you before, I don't carry anger hurt. I GET angry, and certain things I have a hair trigger temper for (specifically injustice/bullying/intentional cruelty), and it burns super hot and truth speaking WHILE I'm angry -- but once I've worked through all the anger it releases completely -- I don't ever CARRY the hurt of anger. I carry negative emotions of betrayal or hurt or sorrow for a very long time, but my anger/frustration burns hot (especially when it escapes my control) but burns itself out entirely. So I'm writing this no longer in any way angry or frustrated about it because past is past and it's been sorted.

So Tuesday morning I woke up with an absolutely TERRIBLE migraine and even a sore throat due to my neighbors. You see, my neighbors downstairs who moved in a couple years ago, they use a LOT of products with synthetic perfumes that give me instantaneous migraines that are motion sensitive once they start. Cleaning products, personal care products, but especially Glade style plugins can all be really bad for me, even just strangers sitting by me in a theatre with intense synthetic perfumes can be a problem for me if I don't put on a mask like it's 2020. I only use the free & clear versions for laundry (now I use laundry strips as well to cut back on plastic usage) and such and then I use as natural/organic or home-made as possible for all personal care and cleaning products where possible. It's bad in the hallways when they do it. But by far the worst is that their vent fan in their bathrooms (but especially the master bathroom) doesn't vent OUT of the building, it vents into the space between their ceiling and my floor which means ANY time they do anything in their bathrooms with synthetic perfumes in their bathroom WITH the vent fan running, it makes me incredibly sick. I can make things a little better by running my own vent fan which pulls it out of the master bathroom up into the attic space of the building BUT I only run it in the mornings when they might be showering (thus running their own vent fan which makes it bad in my condo above them) because that helps compared to them running their vent fan when I don't BUT if I run it without them running theirs, then it pulls up the air from their unit and thus the perfumes of their Glade plugins which makes my bathroom/closet/bedroom worse than without it.  Tuesday she plugged in a new one that was particularly intense and noxious and not only made me sick and turned the light of the HEPA filter always running by my bed from blue to red, it also made my cat throw up. Anyway, it was a truly awful start to the day starting at 6:30am when they showered (and ran their vent fan) and I was so sick with motion/light sensitive migraine but I made me get up and flick on my vent fan and turn up the air filters in my bedroom and living room up to max and take some pain meds and two different brands of covid tests (just in case it was sick not just migraine from the scent; both negative) and make coffee.  And I was able to hold down MOST of the pot of coffee and finish getting ready until the new neighbor down my hallway propped open the front door and door on our floor to move in some things which flooded my living room front area with the odor coming up the stairs under my front door and I started gagging almost threw up and dumped the remainder of the coffee and just finished getting msyelf ready and left to take the dog to work... (the new neighbors moved in where the large diabetic with the cats used to live, the new neighbors seem to have two VERY large pitties bigger than the size limits of the condo association when dogs have been allowed in the past, yes in the plural, and doesn't always have them on leash and they bark a lot; but they just moved in last weekend so I will give them slack though their size is a concern given the continuous changes of policy for any dogs in the building but this makes three units with dogs in the upstairs and two units with dogs downstairs in my building.) I drove the whole way to work then to my grandma's even though it was about 9F outside for the fresh air and to try to get the cloying synthetic perfumes off me and my coat and scarf and things....

So that's how I started the day.  And it's been an ongoing issue since the neighbors moved in downstairs who use synthetic perfumes.... And I don't have a solution other than selling my condo and moving... But, there's some work that I can't afford to pay someone to fix and don't know how to do on my own before I could even consider selling it. And then I don't know where I would live or if I could buy anywhere else if I sold my current condo because anything but a house might have the same issue or synthetic perfumes and cleaning supplies causing me migraines form neighbors in the same building complex.... But I don't have a better answer than enduring the bad days/mornings when the neighbors give me migraines or moving but I don't know where to or how to make it work.

Then on my way to work I got stuck by a utility truck doing something on a residential street with no warning that blocked one entire lane and a third of the other and they had a guy letting people past but he was letting people from the other direction past but not ours and it was backed up further than the traffic circle and just a fucking delay and mess and I couldn't turn around or do anything til he decided to let our direction go because of all the cars queued up....

Dropping the dog off with my parents at work wasn't bad. But then I got stuck behind not moving vehicles and then I got to my grandma's and it was VERY crowded busy time at the front desk of people coming and going that day. And everything just took longer than usual. And then I got upstairs and my grandma wasn't ready and she was TERRIFIED to leave her unit (apparently she got locked out of her apartment somehow on Friday beforehand and that's was why the fear about going anywhere.) She was just having a bad day generally (she has dementia and while it's been only mild it is progressively worsening) so it took a while to talk her fear down promise her I would take care of whatever happened whoever we encountered. And then right before leaving as I'm about to put her coat on her, she suddenly needs to go to the bathroom even though I had asked her multiple times since arriving there. So like, I'm not going to tell her no because that's cruel to anyone but especially elderly and children, who tend to have more explosive continence issues, even if they take significantly longer in the bathroom than anyone else and can't be rushed. So I let her go and while she's in there I take care of the burned bagel smell that I could smell through my kn95 mask (I always wear a kn95 at my grandma's building and at the various medical/dental appointments I take her to because I spend so much time in theatres and music venues and old people don't DESERVE to be put at risk by my choices) by checking her toaster which was flashing all the lights on all the buttons which no combnation of hitting cancel could turn off. Then I saw the charred pieces of bagel in it -- she had torn half a bagel into quarters and put all those little quarters into the toaster and then G-d only knows what button combo she had pushed trying to get it to give those small pieces back.... So I unplugged it and then dumped it over the trash bin and shook it over and over to dislodge any deep down burnt crumbs in the toaster.... And then I put away the cream cheese and bagels in front of the toaster on the counter that had been out for I don't know how long and she had no idea either.... Anyway, after emptying out the toaster of its very charred contents, when I plugged it back in, only the normal start light was on.And my grandma was still not out of the bathroom. EVENTUALLY she came out, very confused, visibly startled that I was there, then asked me what I was waiting for and what she was supposed to be doing.

So I finally got her in her coat and ready, then down to the front desk to sign her out after waiting for several more people to be signed out (and you can NOT move slow old people faster than they are willing to move and just asking them to stop chatting get out of your way makes things WAY worse. So I just waited to sign her out because we were already running late enough that the argument of trying to hurry old stranger along was not worth the effort.... Then getting her in the car, her right knee that she didn't have replaced when she was younger, was extra clicking/grating and painful for her so it took her even longer than usual to get in the car. More time eaten up.

So we get there 1 min before her appointment. But there are only two handicapped parking spots and they're both taken (so grandma's handicapped tag was no help) and the ENTIRE parking lot is on a 10-15 degree slope which is fine except this is a PODIATRY office on the fucking fourth floor of the building (with the slowest elevator known to man.) so due to the intensity of my grandma's fear earlier that day she refused to let me load her out at the TERRIBLE AWFUL front walk ramp for me to go park the car then walk up to the front. (even if we had been able to park in either of the two handicapped stalls, she would have had to walk back across the parking lot to get to the too steep no rail ramp up to the cracked sidewalk in front of the door.) So I parked as close up the hill as I could given all the parked up stalls but then I had to escort my grandma up that damn hill with her walker and bad knee at slow old person walking speeds. Then we get in the front atrium and she needs a rest so she sits down on the very low wooden benches that have anything for her to hold onto. And then when it's time to get up, with her bad knee, she cant' stand up because it's bent more than 90 degrees and there isn't anything but the bench for her to push up off of and FINALLY she stands and I hear the clicking of her bad knee and she was in so much in pain.... And then I finally get her in the slowest elevator ever and we get up to the fourth floor and navigate her to their offices in the building only to be told that we were 9 mins late so the doctor won't see the 86 year old patient I dragged all the way to see him because they considered us 19 mins late because they apparently wanted us there 10mins early for the paperwork but that was never told to me.... Now this is the podiatrist she USED to see at her primary doctor where he came in certain days a week but GHC decided to stop having dedicated offices in store for podiatry and to just approve specific in network podiatrists. (My grandma has every 4 month relatively standard foot care maintenance for nail trimming and calluses which she can't do on her own due to intermittent lymphodema issues, it's covered by medicare and her supplemental coverage.) So we had seen Dr. Merckx many times across many years, but at her primary care clinic not at the offices of Associated Podiatrists. 

Anyway. So they said we were too late for her appointment and I agreed to fill out the paperwork required and to wait until she got a chance to talk to the doctor find out if he could make room to see her. And mind you, we were 9 mins late to get to check in even though we got to the office with 1min to spare BECAUSE of their accessibility issues.... And the lady at the desk apologized for the accessibility issues, said she knows it's an issue and has asked to have the accessibility improved but we were still late etc etc. Firmly polite but laying the blame on us for being "over 15 mins late" getting a frail elderly 86 year old with a walker assisted mobility issues up their fucking steep hill and 4 floors to their office... FINALLY after the paperwork was all done and signed and we'd been in the waiting room over half an hour, the lady at the desk talked to the doctor and he couldn't get her in at all so she rescheduled us told us the soonest she could do was January (which had me VERY terrified at the thought of navigating getting my grandma in/up there with ANY amount of ice or snow especially not knowing how well they plow/de-ice and I just kept getting all these contingent precogs of her falling and hurting herself badly breaking a hip falling on the ice or something) but there was nothing more I could get from than the new appointment and the promise that with the paperwork done, she would be able to get in even if the lot delayed her.

So I opted to leave rather than put up any further stink about how unsafe their lot and "handicapped accessibility" or the way an 86 year old lady was treated by them or anything like that. I wanted to get her back for lunch and for Kayla coming to help her if I could -- and I had every intention of siccing my aunt on them and hoping that we could find a solution for her podiatry needs that did NOT require me navigating that fucking mess of a lot with any ice/snow....

I convinced grandma to wait in the lobby for me to bring the car up to load her in because she had such a hard time going UP the hill, that down to the car would be far harder and she might slip or lose her walker going DOWNHILL instead. So of course, of fucking course, she sits again down on the hard wooden bench in the front lobby... So I move the car to block the top of the circle and leave my flashers on. And then it takes another five minutes to get her up off that damn bench (pulling her up to help hurts her and she hates it so she has to have something she can push herself up from or tall enough she can use her walker to push up on it) and her knee made the most appalling bone on bone clicking noises to get her standing. And then I got her to the car (which I had to move a bit forward because of how narrow the no rails and no warning bumps ramp is and otherwise she couldn't use the ONLY "accessibility" ramp to get to the lot/car with the car door open) and then she had to sit again on her painful right knee.

Anyway. I got her back uneventfully and Kayla got there soon after I got grandma settled and she was going to change her outfit and help her with some personal care things then take grandma down for lunch and clean/vacuum her place.

So then I went to work and got in on a lunch order and told my mom all about it and after I ate, we talked to my aunt who was angry at me not making grandma move faster or something but then she called Associated Podiatry and they were awful to my Aunt Linda on the phone about it which my aunt does NOT take that sort of thing well. (Taurus sun, Sag moon, Leo rising.) So before my aunt called us back, while she was talking to the manager of Associated Podiatrists, my maman found a nearby podiatry clinic (4 out of 5 female doctors) all on the first floor with a flat parking lot whose site said they were in network accepting GHC patients. So my mum talked to them and they said yes they would take her, they are accustomed to elderly patients with mobility issues, and they could definitely get her in within two weeks as long as she was okay with whoever they assigned. And when my aunt called back so angry about how Associated Podiatry treated her, my aunt gave me the green light to get an appointment at University Podiatrists instead and all she asked was if we could get that appointment and they would see her, then my aunt wanted to be the one to call and fire Associated Podiatrists. so on Weds (when my grandma had her every 4 month optometry appointment with her glaucoma specialist, but at a nearby clinic not downtown) I got my grandma to sign the new paperwork and the appointment with the new podiatrist is this coming week on the 7th, the first night of Channukah, in the afternoon (before I head downtown to see a production of All Is Calm, a musical  about the 1914 Christmas armistice.) And after we got that new appointment set, the contingent precogs stopped of me trying to navigate that damn accessibility nightmare of a parking lot during ice/snow season and my grandma slipping and falling and hurting herself incredibly badly.  Thank G-d the contingent precogs stopped upon making that change!!!!!

So anyway, that is the story of why that morning was so gods damn awful but after lunch and playing with puppies the day improved significantly by finding a way to solve the podiatrist problem (and the precogs they created) and to never have to navigate that place or those people again. And then we went and had a girls night at Grape Water (my mum, me, Crissy, Sarah, Karissa) drinking wine and eating pizza from Salvatore's Pies in the evening. And then my mum and I had more wine and watched dvred figure skating with the doggos til my da got home.

So that's the story of why I had such an awful morning on Tuesday and was so upset. and I have no idea what can be done to help OTHERS with accessibility issues who schedule to see that podiatrist office.... I cannot imagine trying to go see a fucking FOOT DOCTOR while on crutches going up the slope of that parking lot hill.....I have removed my grandma from those fatelines where it would have caused her physical harm in January navigating that location's idea of "accessibility for those needing to see foot doctors" but I feel twinges of guilt at all the other potentially handicapped individuals who have mobility issues thus are in need of podiatry services who don't have someone along to help them or who can't move to another clinic for whatever reason.... My aunt wants to warn people about how they mistreated my grandma to warn them and is hellbent on being a petty karen and reviewing them publicly and at state level somehow so future people will know about how they treated an elderly patient and her family, what my aunt is most upset about, but my concern is the safety hazard for those who most need to see a foot doctor dealing with that fucking sloped lot... It's just hazardous. Not just for an elderly person's mobility issue like my gran, but for all sorts of reasons people would conceivably need a podiatrist, y'know? It makes me feel guilt to know people could be hurt and hurt badly if they don't know about how bad the accessibility is there with that lot layout and lack of proper handicapped parking and the angled slope of their entire parking lot and every stall in it...With any ice, it would be dangerous for somebody healthy but I certainly don't want anyone being hurt navigating their lot when already injured in their feet/legs so they need to be using a walker or wheelchair or crutches especially.... It's physically unsafe for the people who need those medical services most...

I should head home soon (Waffles and I are at work getting hours in preemptively for this coming week) before the rain turns to snow --  I still have to carry up the three buckets of firewood from my parents garage that are in my trunk since Friday night. And then in the morning, I will be meeting Crissy at my parents house to drop off Waffles at 11am before heading downtown to meet Karissa and Denis at Cento for 11:30 boozy brunch before heading across the street to Overture Hall for the December Christmas symphony at 2:30. Then back to my parents house for dinner and the Packers game (my da will go work while we watch the game) and maybe knock out some more of the dvred Grand Prix of figure skating events.

P. S. 2:22am addendum: 

We did not head home before snow started. But it's still above freezing and heading home now. Will add another PostScript when I get home if I remember. And. Also

 THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SNOWFALL SO FAR OF THIS WINTER!!!!!!! 💖❄️😍❄️

SO FLUFFY!!!! SO SPARKLY!!!! SUCH HUGE SNOWFLAKES!!!!!!!! I AM 100% STAYING UP ALL NIGHT TO WATCH IT!!!! AND THEN WAKING THE DOG UP AS SOON AS THE SUN IS UP TO GO ON A WALK IN IT!!!! (no idea how Waffles will feel about that idea -- she was on in Texas and lived all her recent life in Kirkland WA. This is her first northern midwest winter. Luckily for her it's an El Nino year, but no idea her feelings about deeper than an inch or two of snow, lol.

P. P. S. 2:42am addendum: 

Made it home!!! Beautiful drive, but very slippy. Going to go haul wood now, then make tea. More another time. 

 My Churchill's Tea Advent calendar arrived yesterday, a day earlier than promised, even with how late I ordered it so I had it up on my non-fiction unread shelves last night and first tea on Dec 1 proper! Also, look how cute this year's Advent calendar is -- instead of plain numbered envelopes full of tea and a description card, the envelopes are numbered doors. So fucking CUTE!!!! I'm saving these envelopes in my holiday decor boxes for a future Advent project of some sort! They're too cute to toss! 

 Spent today at home with Waffles and Spock and Mikaela was dropped off around 10:30ish after M's Botox migraine in sections. As soon as she got here I laid a fire then made me coffee to go with the bagels M brought for us. Then we we unwrapped put all my collection of ornaments on the tree. then spent all the rest of the day reading sprawled near the fire (Mikaela was on the couch, but me and the dog were floor sprawling by the hearth) and light snow lightly falling all afternoon/evening. Then this evening had dinner with my parents, drinking wine and snuggling sleeping doggo's while catching up on figure skating with my mama while my da plays poker online with his buddies. Aurora borealis is dancing right above me since about 6pm, but I'm in the snow cloud belt (enough to cover everything make it sparkly white beautiful!!!) so you need to be up at least Wausau/Appleton north of here to see them. But my friends with cabins up north and who live up in like Hayward have posted some AMAZING pictures and the allll the pictures posted in the Northern Lights of Wisconsin facebook group are incredible, some gorgeous gorgeous shots from when the x flare hit this morning (1a-6am) and then again starting about 6:30pm tonight!!!! So I'm in a very good tranquil happy space here right now tonight after such a cozy hygge day.

Mostly this post is a reminder to my future self that I need to go listen to everything I can find by Jean-Michel Blais. He's a Québécois pianist-composer based in Montréal and Lajoie & Lagha (Canadian ice dancers) are skating to his composition Roses this season and it's such a beautiful piano piece it brought me close to tears just at how beautiful parts of it is. You know, when something is so beautiful your heart gets so full of the beauty and wonder you tear up at how happy you are such a gorgeous beautiful thing IS. It's such a gorgeous piece. Very Chopin meets George Winston's Spring Into Summer. It's been a long time since a new to me pianist/composer has moved my heart so deeply with its beauty. 

So this is a love note to myself about that piece of music and to go look up everything else I can find by Jean-Michel Blais. 

Also this is a promise to explain later, not tonight, about why Tues was a rather rough morning/day in my life. 

But yeah. Jean-Michel Blais! So excited to discover more of his music later tonight or tomorrow!!! 

To make up for how short this update is and my recent quiet here, have some pictures from today of the  tree and my dog and the fire (including my purple-y aura whenever my hands or me trying to get pictures were too close to the heat of the fire)

Waffles has been extra EXTRA clingy and snuggly the last couple days since being told that in two weeks (one a half weeks now) I'll be leaving for two weeks. I've TOLD her she's going to stay with my parents and Sophie and they will spoil her with lots of delicious meat scraps from their meals. I started teasing her that maybe she'll love their table scraps dog spoiling so much she might prefer living with them over me. And that's when she got super clingy to me, when I started teasing her she might prefer living with my parents and Sophie, instead of Spock and me. Life lesson: don't tease a Cancer pup that they might be happier with someone else instead of you -- they bond even more deeply clinging to you once they choose you than your recently deceased emo Pisces princess pup who still comes to visit you in dream space bonded to you. Although, I never once teased Audrey that she might want to live with anyone other than me -- the moment I showed up at the rescue after the lady thought our personalities matched based on my email, Audrey came running to me immediately and the first time I said "I was thinking to call her Audrey" after being told she never responded to the name jenny, Audrey Puburn came running and sat at my feet knowing she had been called. Spooked the shit out of the lady at the rescue. So Audrey was always mine and she visited me in dream spaces before she was born to tell me she was coming soon and so I needed to look for her. So I never once in our nearly 15 years teased Audrey about maybe she'd rather live with anyone but me. I teased Waffles about it because when the prospect of rehoming her first came up, it was unclear if she would be living with me or my parents. That was before she setup SUCH a ruckus about me forgetting her after my visit last November, lol.

Hope you're also having a lovely Friday night however you're spending it. Though good luck having quite so cozy hygge as my day and night have been!