Many Returns

                                            Scotland Out The Window, 2018

I have been gone, as surely I have been gone before, and surely gone again.  We have been sheltering in place, only going to the grocery store for necessities, and even then masked and gloved with clorox wipes in a zip-loc baggie in my pocket.  My mother was with us for two months.  She talks incessantly when she's stressed or nervous.  As soon as was allowed, I sent her home.  Her county was/is very low risk for exposure to covid-19.  Rural with a high rate of diabetes and other underlying issues, those people self isolated and masked up right away.  But now, we are free again.  Freed from quarantine, able to go to the liquor store and buy more than one bottle at a time.  Interestingly, toilet paper is still being rationed, one package per customer.  I don't need it.  Before the pandemic hit, I was at Costco and bought enough tp to last a year.  Why not?  I was at Costco and that's what that place is for.  Disaster prepping for the price conscious dwindling middle class.

The Mother and the Wren

Buffeted on all sides by streaming code, the mother mourned the wren.  Later, as she laid her head down to rest, she thought, We are the wren.

Dried Magnolia Bud Tea

Magnolia Tree In Bud, Pittsburgh, 2020

The magnolia tree in our front yard is richly budding out, but when it comes time to bloom, some of those buds

will be missing.  I'm harvesting the buds and drying them for tea and extract.  It's supposed to be good for allergies and sinus inflammations - the latter of which I get yearly.  In fact, I discovered upon a visit to MedExpress 28 April 2019, that I had also been there 28 April 2018.  There was some confusion over whether my insurance deductible had been paid already, as I was using the same credit card.  It wasn't until an eagle-eyed office manager spotted the year that it was resolved.

Anyway, here's what Chineseteaculture.com has to say about magnolia bud tea.  I can't say how effective it is, but it's gotta be better than nothing.  Yeah, I set a pretty low bar.

Name: Magnolia Bud Tea
Health Benefits May Help:
• Nosebleeds
• Prevent & Treat Allergic Conditions
• Reduce Nose Inflammation Due to Allergies
• Relieve Headaches
• Reduce Body Fats & Toxins
• Reduce Inflammation
• Remove Phlegm from Throats
• Keep the Liver & Lung Healthy
• Treat Rhinitis and Sinusitis
• Treat Stuffy Nose and Runny Nose
• Treat Pollen Allergies
• Lighten Facial Dark Spots

* Decaffeinated - Import from China

* Ingredient - Magnolia Bud

* NOT For Pregnancy

Preparation:
• Bring water to a boil;
• Use 1 TABLESPOON per 8oz of water;
• Pour boiling water over the tea;
• Steep 15 minutes;
• 1oz tea makes approx 6 cups.

* Recommended: For best results, drink at least 2 cups a day. One cup in the morning and one cup in the evening. Drink as needed. Once health effect is achieved discontinue use.

* Best if Used By 12 Months

Dollar Store Barbie Pop Art

Dollar Store Barbie + Lobster Bisque, Pittsburgh, 2020

Dollar Store Pop Art 2020

Dollar Tree had condensed lobster bisque on their shelves.  I thought I'd try it.  It was not good, and is indeed lobster bisque in name only, not in any sort of reality - even a trumpian reality.  I did save the can, though.  It is the absolute height of plumping the depths of pop art as envisioned by Andy Warhol.

Blizzard!

Blizzard of 2010, Pittsburgh

Yes, ten years ago today, a snow squall sat over western Pennsylvania, and dumped three feet (1 meter) of snow on us.  Good times.  In the last few years we've barely gotten any snow in this area.  Now it's all rain.

We Are The Ghouls

Horseshoe Crab, Primehook Beach, DE 2011


I collect their discarded molts and dead remains while the tide retreats and the sun bleeds across the bay.  Some mornings the beach is littered with horseshoe crabs stuck on their backs, their pointed tails trying to gain purchase in the sand so that they can right themselves, their 8 legs blindly stabbing at a distant sky.  We flip them over.  But others gather them up and they are drained of their copper-based, blue blood.  Not drained until death, at least not intentionally, but drained to sate medical research needs.  It's ghoulish and cruel, with no international standards.

Repeating Form

Viola soroia Root Network, Pittsburgh, PA, 2013

While doing some research into neural networks, I was struck by the similarities between that system and root systems.  But nature is quite like that, repeating form over and over.

Through the Trees

Connoquenessing Creek and Water Treatment Plant, Ellwood City, PA 2020

Peering through the naked branches of many trees is like trying to make out form in a scribble. 

Block & Tackle, A Study

Block&Tackle, A Study, Fombell, PA 2020

Thinking of Others

Sunday Paper w/ Bird & Cicada - or - I Know Why The Caged Bird Doesn't Sing


Yesterday we got the news that the husband of an acquaintance killed himself.  He was 38 years old, an Army war veteran, receiving treatment for PTSD and depression, successfully running a contracting business, seemingly happily married...and yet...
The first thing I wondered was whether or not his wife found him.  The trauma of finding someone who's committed suicide never leaves you.  Though I am not speaking with first hand knowledge, I well remember my father relating the story over and over how he, as a child of about 8 or 9, was sent out with his grandfather to a neighboring farm to check on someone who hadn't been seen in a day or two.  They found the farmer hanging in the barn, his tongue black and protruding from his mouth, his body bloated and grotesque.  Imagine if you'd loved and cared for this man and found him like this.  That twisted horror your last memory of him.  I wonder why planned suicides don't just go directly to the morgue and kill themselves right there, to save the people they leave behind further grief, and expense.
It's all awful, and I don't mean to be glib.  The simple fact is that when you kill yourself, you condemn that person that comes upon your corpse.  You leave them with something they never asked for or wanted.  I wonder if that's why Virginia Woolf filled her coat pockets with so many rocks before she walked in to the river, to remain swallowed up by the cold, dark waters, to save someone the terrible burden of finding her.

Where The Wild Things Are: Godzilla Edition

Her favorite book.

Assemblage #1