Putting the washing in the freezer
This stunning sculpture by Bruno Catalano is one of a series called “Les Voyageurs” designed to make us wonder what we’re missing or what we’ve left behind — something I think we can all relate to right now.
Yesterday I tweeted that my husband had just looked for a bottle of cold wine in the boiler cupboard, and that earlier in the day I’d tried to put the washing in the freezer. #LostThePlot
I was very quickly told that far from losing the plot I was in good company.
Karen reported she’d taken some half cooked chicken out of the oven to turn it over and instead of putting it back in the oven, put it in the fridge. Laurence had twice *twice* squeezed crushed garlic directly into the bin instead of the cooking pot. Sue had just discovered the towels in the washing machine that she’d put on for an extra spin - six days earlier.
I guess that’s what happens when most of your headspace is taken up with figuring out how to stay safe when the world appears to have gone nuts.
My normally unflappable husband woke up the other day muttering about “how fucking awful everything is, there’s a bunch of corrupt fuckwits in charge and no-body knows what the fuck they’re doing” … and he usually swears a lot less than I do!
In real terms our lives haven’t changed that much but when normally equable people start to show the strain it’s somehow worse than the catastrophising in the news.
While we’re trying to cope with indecision, corruption, and incompetence we’re taking a lot of pleasure from talking to our son, Adam, from his new apartment in Canada. He moved in while we were out there just before the lockdown and is enjoying growing plants and herbs in his lovely light rooms. Last week he went on a hike to the beautiful Silver Springs Lakes where he took the picture above and where he did some cliff diving. Summer temperatures in the Canadian Rockies can often get up to 32 degrees.
Canada, at least in the backwoods where he lives, appears to be relatively normal, and this weekend he and about 25 friends are camping and creating their own mini-festival to compensate for their beloved Shambhala Festival at Salmo River Ranch being cancelled. Shambhala is unique in its groundbreaking work to help reduce the harm caused by illegal drug use at festivals — more about that here.
What’s worth shouting about this week?
This week I — and millions of others — have been set alight by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district.
This is the full transcript of the speech she gave in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 23rd following an incident in which Congressman Ted Yoho, called her a “fucking bitch” in front of members of the press on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_incident_this_week
Stop funding hate
On the continuing battle to make brands aware of what is happening to their advertising dollars, Claire Atkin and Nandini Jammi published another update on Branded, their newsletter that explains how extremist groups and publications like Breitbart continue to collect brands advertising dollars through a shady ad revenue-sharing ring of propaganda sites on Facebook and other outlets.
In the meantime Nandini got blocked from LinkedIn for criticising Deloitte’s role in keeping immigrant children locked in cages and separated from their parents while their CEO told his employees and the New York Times: “We’re not doing anything related to family separation. It’s against our values.”
Full story here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/deloitte-stop-caging-kids-right-now-nandini/
The world may look pretty awful a lot of the time but as I was reminded this week there are good people doing extraordinary things to make it better.
My own little corner of happiness as always is my garden and this week the crocosmia montbretia flowered — a sign that the year is turning into its second half.
More soon. Thanks for reading.
What I listened to while I was writing this: Nina Simone “I put a spell on you.” https://youtu.be/4JJfIxS8ce0
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