My eyes are filled with gods

Wow. No posts since August … Apparently I’m officially back in hedgeturtle mode* (which demands a mascot, yes…must work on that).

Things that have happened since my last post, in no particular order:

• We drove 2,300 gloriously winding miles to New England and back, and saw mountains and fall foliage and stayed with Will’s grandmother in a lovely Maine fishing village. Sadly, the moose avoided us. This time.
• The new school year started, and we have a temporary but thoroughly awesome marketing and communications specialist on board for the new year. If they don’t let me keep him, I will cry great tears of fury and then the revenge plotting will begin. Just you wait.
• My personal laptop had decided its screen looks FABULOUS in rainbow-colored vertical stripes, and so it keeps acquiring more. And more. And we’re quickly reaching the point at which the pretty stripes are making it sort of impossible to read/watch anything.
• A new season of MLP:FIM has begun, and I’ve not seen any of them. (See FABULOUS rainbow-colored stripes.) Yes, I could watch them on Will’s computer, but I have to wait for him to go to bed and then sit in an uncomfortable chair instead of my comfy couch-nest, and I’m sure I could probably come up with something else to whine about if you give me a minute…
• A squirrel got stuck in our family room chimney a few weeks ago. It’s still there, as the critter catchers couldn’t get to it without either removing the back furnace or the fireplace itself. So huzzah for space heaters! Boo on  contractors and critter catchers not returning calls! [Filed under: The House Is Trying to Kill Us.]
• Samhain quietly came and went. Peace to all who observed third harvest, and spent time remembering their Honored Dead. Blessings also to the Honored Dead among us. May we make you proud, and be always mindful of those who have gone before.
• We spent fourth harvest (Thanksgiving) with Will’s family. It was both delicious and entertaining, as expected. I was most impressed by the small child who clearly preferred cheese over cookies. Cheeeese. Smart kid.
• I voted in our local elections and was cheered by the staffers and saluted by a veteran for taking the time to do so. (Next time I’ll ask where the cookies/massage line starts. I bet you’d get a lot more voters…) This particular vote was important to me, because I very badly wanted to see some city council members replaced — specifically those who kept blocking gender-based anti-discrimination policies in housing, employment, public facilities, etc.
• Collaborative yoga is on hiatus because we lost our teacher and couch-nesting season makes me not want to go Out There unless I absolutely have to. Also, hedgeturtle. I rest my case.
• We discovered a sushi/boba tea shop at the southern end of downtown St. Joseph. As much as I like Sweet Moon Tea, this other place is kind of awesome — they don’t use powders, but fresh ingredients. The taro was kind of amazing. If only I could remember the name.
• Skyrim and Saints Row: The Third came out. I have mixed feelings on both games, though SR3 might warrant its own post. I’m replaying SMT: Strange Journeys on the DS. Maybe I’ll finish it this time! A girl can dream.
• We are now in the “consume ALL the things” phase of the “holiday” season. November is almost over. Seriously. When did that happen?

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I slept for six hours straight through — no tossing and turning, no waking up at every little sound, no dreams that I recall,  just switched off and then startled awake from a deep sleep by the alarm.

I blame the yoga for this one. (Status report: Still no furniture casualties. Still awkward getting up from the mat.)  We had our session later in the evening than usual because I’d had to take Mom up to visit my uncle in the hospital after work, so I was still feeling pretty relaxed by the time I got home. I’m trying to be more mindful of my posture and breathing away from class as well, and it seems to be having an effect — when I remember to pay attention.

We are lucky to have access to the perfect teacher, for us — she is patient and relaxed and moves us forward at a nice, steady pace without making it seem like our awkwardness is an affront to everything she holds dear. Also, she bemusedly puts up with our smartassery and occasional giggle fits, which I appreciate. This sort of thing is much easier to enjoy if you’re allowed to have fun rather than treating it as Serious Bidness at all times.

1. Bones. Mom’s hip surgery went well yesterday, although she reacted strongly to the anesthesia again; she was freezing the few times she did wake up, kept setting off the oxygen level and pulse alarms every half hour or so, and didn’t really regain coherency until late afternoon. It still amazes me that they can get someone up and walking the same day after a joint replacement surgery like that.

Sadly, she did not demand feature upgrades, as I suggested. Nary a hydraulic or storage compartment to be found. I mean, technically, yes, being able to walk is useful and all, but really – if you’re going to let someone cut your bones apart and cement metal bits to the ends, why not make the most of it?

It was a Very Long Day: bed at midnight, up at 3:45 AM, at the hospital by 5 AM, surgery at 7:30 AM, recovery at 9:30 AM, semi-coherency at 4 PM,  ran home to let her dog out, napped from 5-6 PM, did laundry, etc., finished the book I’d started that morning (Deathwish by Rob Thurman), and apparently passed out on the couch sometime between 11 PM and midnight. Will noticed the lights on at 1AM or so and shooed me off to bed proper — and thank goodness, or I would’ve had a wicked crick in just about everything today.

Roughly three nights in a row with 3-4 hours of sleep. Nothing terribly new, but yesterday drained out the last of my reserves, I think. I’m bone tired today; tonight, I visit the hospital and then spend a few hours with Will before the weekend spins us off in different directions.

2. Books. It’s been ages and ages since I read a novel for fun, and the stack that awaits me is at least a year old, I think. Many are borrowed. I know there have been several books released over the last couple of years by my favorite authors, and these books remain sadly unpurchased, although I did finally get copies of Caitlin Kiernan’s The Red Tree and The Ammonite Violin & Others. I completely missed the release of Kelly Link’s Pretty Monsters when it came out in 2008, so I’ll be tracking down a copy of that in the near future. I admit, short stories are typically not my thing, but Kiernan and Link are definite exceptions.  So many good things waiting … but at the moment, the Cal Leandros novels have just the right mix of mythic WTF, darkness, cool and snark that I sailed through 340+ pages yesterday and now feel obligated to pick up the next one before the coming weekend. (I’ll be staying with mom for a few days when she comes home from the hospital).

3. Yoga. Auzumel and I started yoga lessons on Tuesday. We’re starting with just the practical basics: breathing, posture, how get up and down from the mat with a modicum of grace. And by that, I mean: not killing ourselves or the surrounding furniture. We’re still working on the “grace” part, but so far there have been no casualties, furniture or otherwise.

Also there was tasty, tasty homemade hummus and veggies beforehand. Edige assures me that the hummus recipe is insanely easy … now, if only I had a food processor.

4. Texts. Cleared out my text messages at the hospital yesterday while I was taking a break from reading. Kept two from Will, which I couldn’t bring myself to delete. They do kind of sum up our relationship nicely:

• I love you.

Yes. This is one of many reasons why I keep him.

• Got the vampire bastards!

This refers to a co-op match on the Magic: The Gathering X-Box game that pitted Will and Matt vs. the vampire deck and the black deck. That duo had been their brick wall for quite a while, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I received the victory text.

Sharing your victories is important. Sharing them with someone who gets why they’re such a victory is even better.

5. Lammas. Although we’re sliding away from the brilliant full moon of earlier this week, August 1 is the usual calendar date for Lammas/Lughnasadh, the first of the autumn harvest feasts.  This really is the best time of the year for night drives, around here; if the weather stays warm and humid into the night, the country explodes with delicious perfumes, especially if you drive past blueberry bushes, pine groves, or (fittingly, for the feast of grains) cornfields.

There’s always a part of me that sighs when I realize we’re this far into the year, though. A new academic year will be starting soon, the days are already shortening, and each summer day seems more desperately precious and inherently nostalgic — even though the brutal heat and humidity have kept us hiding indoors for most of the summer.