Stumbling Toward the Light

Not a great week. Many things to worry about. Spent a lot of time curled up on the couch wrapped in a fuzzy green blanket. On the other hand, I started the week by watching Flow, which I've had on my to-be-watched shelf ever since it arrived in July. (I'd pre-ordered the DVD in March, as a slightly-belated birthday present to myself.) Highly recommended. Sunday also has links to a couple of "making of" videos on YT. Note that it was made using the open-source 3-D animation program Blender. And I had a really good cancer support group session Wednesday evening.

On the gripping hand, Renee Good.

Breakfast this morning: Raisin Bread French Toast (for one person; scalable):

1. I started with two raisin bread buns, sliced vertically into about five 1cm slices. Use what you have.
2. Beat one egg with a little milk.
3. Pour the egg mix into a flat-bottomed bowl.
4. Melt a pat of butter in a non-stick skillet (cast iron counts).
5. Using a pair of tongs, dip a slice of bread in the egg mix, quickly flip it over to coat the other side, and transfer it to the skillet. Repeat as needed.
6. Use tongs to flip the toast to the other side and to transfer it to your plate when both sides are done
7. Add maple syrup, butter, raspberry jam, et. al. (I just used maple syrup this morning.)

Linkies: Pecorino Romano Recall Now Class I Over Listeria Grated Romano numerous brands, including Boar's Head, which was distributed throughout 20 U.S. states. "Dream Cat." Or how “Flow” reached the Oscars -- more under the cut on Sunday.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Hello love. Happy anniversary? I'm afraid I couldn't find anything to give you this year. I know you would have wanted us all to be healthy, happy, and safe, but, well... We're surviving -- things aren't nearly as bad as they could be. That will have to do.

Put in a word with Bast for our protection, please, and give hugs to Ame and cuddles to Curio and Desti. I'll always love you.

We were married fifty years ago today. This is the fifth time I haven't had her with me to celebrate it. See also, Song for Sunday: Forty Five Years

Well, it's a whole new year. Or it will have been, if we can make it to the other end of it. So here are some things I hope to get done.

1. I/we have to get the business up to the point where the authorities let us stay for another five years. Our understanding is that we don't have to be profitable yet, but we need to be able to prove that we're working on getting there.
2. I still need to make a will. The hard thing, as always, is identifying an executor. Al, maybe? No, he has health problems.
3. There are some accounts and other matters in the US that need to be closed out, and I need to set up an international banking account in order to make it easy to move money back and forth without having to use PayPal, debit cards, and wire transfers.
4. I need to get back to the US at some point -- preferably enough before my birthday to renew my driver's license.
5. I still need to release an album. It might just be cobbled together from old scratch tracks, but it really wants to get done.
6. I should finish getting all of my websites updated, and my software more thoroughly documented and possibly refactored. (Splitting up MakeStuff would be a good start, along with making it self-documenting independent of GH.)
7. I want to make some progress on my memoir. I owe it to my kids. I mentioned "introspective and autobiographical journaling" as part of a more general writing goal for last year. Maybe by making it more specific this year I can achieve more focus and make more progress.
8. There is going to be a total solar eclipse on 12 August, visible from northern Spain among other places. We have reservations. This probably be my last good chance to see one. I really don't have very many bucket list items -- it's not something I'm in the habit of thinking about. But this is one.
9. Physical self-care. I need to get myself to a dentist (and in general take better care of my teeth, which I haven't been doing for the last year), and connect with a source of CPAP supplies. Beyond that I'll settle for staying alive and in reasonable health for my age.
10. Acting my age is another matter. I don't expect to do that. But that would come under mental self-care, along with self-kindness and self-compassion.

I was thinking of making some predictions for the next year. Political, mostly. But sufficient unto the day... We'll find out soon enough.

Today I am thankful for...

• All of the many works coming (back, in many cases) into the public domain. See, for starters,

    @ Public Domain Day|Wikipedia
    @ European Public Domain Day – Celebrating accessible & reusable works
    @ What Will Enter the Public Domain in 2026? — The Public Domain Review
    @ 2026 in public domain
    @ Public Domain Day 2026 in Literature - Blog - Standard Ebooks: Free and liberated
      ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover
         

• A most excellent New Year's Eve filksing. (Which started at 10am CET yesterday, and may still be going on; I left a little before 2pm.) (I did get some sleep in the middle of it.)
• It wasn't exactly a video call with R, but it sort of was.
• Not being in a war zone, despite what the fireworks sounded like last night. Also thankful that they weren't as noisy as last year.
• Unexpected email from family, friends, and some of Mom's friends. Special call-out to C'.
• My family -- whatever their location or number of feet. In particular my brother Al, my kids R and E, sister-of-choice N, her husband G and kids j and m, fosterlings c and k, and the family cats -- Ticia, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Cricket.