Festive!

Happy erev Sukkot!  I love this harvest festival, as you can tell from my humble attempts to get festive!!  No sukkah again this year, so I just pretend and fantasize.  Thus, all these random shots of festiveness!  You can assume that the Harvest V-bar is open for the duration.  Think of all the harvesty components of beer and booze!  Hops, grains, botanicals of all kinds.  Hooray for Booze!

Look how festive the Skullies look!  Even the animals are getting into the act.  The big ceramic bowl is E’s new prized possession for bread-making.  We found it at our friend Ron’s little shop, The Bird Cage, so it’s special.  (The price was special, too; he always helps us out.)

Later, we’re going to our favorite (and practically only) farm market for some festive harvesty produce.  You can be sure there will be more photos.

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Sukkot in the Diaspora

Since I’m not building a sukkah this year, I thought I’d revisit scenes from the last one I built in the Vortex.  It was mostly for me to escape to for a few moments to drink a beer and daydream about a different life, not surrounded by demented zombies.  Anyway, it kept me occupied.  And now here I am, in the existential waiting room of Ohio, still awaiting our final destination, where I anticipate a few festive sukkot to come.  To many more harvests, in the land of the living!

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Dr. Tao Postscript: on Human Inequality

When I gave rave reviews to my doctor, it wasn’t quite full disclosure, an oversight I want to rectify.

E’s experience at medical facilities can be quite different than that of cisgender women.  Though the doctor herself is very tolerant and understanding, some of the staff continue to be very ignorant, phobic, and inappropriate.   They’ve had all the necessary medical and surgical documents establishing her gender status in their files for a while, but still they seem to purposely get it wrong, and do so in a publicly humiliating way.  So while I get treated respectfully and professionally, she leaves there in tears and shame.  She worries that wherever she goes, she will never be free to live as other woman do.  I felt it was only fair that I clarify that inequality.

Much like the case of privileged white people never fully comprehending the inequalities and humiliations people of color face every day, right under their noses, this is the plight of LGBTQ people in a straight society.  Because we white, cisgender women don’t experience this degree of civil rights violations, we can be blind to the reality.  Once we go through some of it with our marginalized sisters and brothers, we start to see what it’s really like outside of our insulated world.

I just wanted to set the record straight.

equal

 

Dr. Tao

I don’t know how I got so lucky.  When I could finally get health coverage through Medicaid, after years without any, I found the best lady doctor in the world.  Dr. Olsen will sit down with you and, with infinite patience, take the time to find out how you are really doing, and make sure your concerns are addressed.  She’s like this with all her patients.  It’s incredible.  She’s also trans-friendly and informed, which helps a lot.

I asked her point-blank, how does she stay so calm?  She laughed and said everyone asks her that.  She credits her now-28-year-old son for her inspiration.  He was seriously into zen meditation and philosophy, and turned her on to it.  It’s all about control, she says—admitting you can’t be in control of everything, whether it’s world politics, or personal issues, letting go of whatever you can’t control, but becoming an activist in whatever causes you can, even in small ways.  In her case, getting out going door-to-door for the progressive candidate.  She reminded me of the book, Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, which is her go-to source for clearing the head and letting go of stressing over circumstances beyond your control.  This is the kind of conversation I can have with my Medicaid-covered doctor, while having my annual body-cavity-search!  So different from my past experiences.

It also conveniently worked out that I was fasting, it being Yom Kippur, and could get my blood-work done!  Plus the fact that the our joint visits took most of the day, all-told, which kept me away from food!  And now we’re off to our Equitas meeting, further delaying food, unless they have some, in which case I’ll have to exercise my zen.  At least it’s more zen-like for me than a full day of torture in synagogue, thinking about food.  Yes, I’d rather have a medical cavity search and go to a gay healthcare committee meeting than endure the ordeal of religious calisthenics, go figure.  But then, isn’t health always the proverbial exemption?   😉

I hope this post doesn’t offend anyone, but it’s how I honestly feel.

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Fantastical Fungi at Russ Nature Reserve P.1

We hadn’t been back to Russ Nature Reserve in maybe a year, so we checked it out.

They’ve made many improvements, including expanding the children’s natural playscape, a great playground in the woods built completely out of trees and natural materials.  Beautiful trails wind through the woods and prairie, and many additional native trees and wildflowers have been planted.  We found another motherlode of spectacular fungi, including whole logs full of the huge bright orange ones.  We met a beautiful gigantic friendly blue pit bull named Sarge, dragging his young man around.  He practically knocked us over with his enthusiastic greeting!  There were still many wildflowers in bloom, along with stark bare locust trees covered with their huge thorns.

I’ve divided this into two posts.  See P.2 for Sarge.

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Into Autumn at Indian Mound

It was perfect fall jacket weather at Indian Mound.  We crossed an old covered bridge to get there.

Indian Mound features one of my favorite natural formations, what I call the “Rock Fortress”.  Towering moss-covered textured rock walls rise on either side of a narrow leafy passage, open to the sky.  Entering it, you feel like you’ve entered a native American holy space.  It’s quiet, insulated, and mystical.  Photos don’t do it justice.

There were still some asters, blazing red berries, and colorful leaves along the river.

The cabin restoration is almost finished.  We hung out on the porch, imagining airlifting the whole cabin to our future TN home.

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YS Street Fair

We had a blast at the Yellow Springs Street Fair, a big beer, food, and crafts extravaganza.  They close the streets and set up beer gardens, craft tents, ethnic street foods of all kinds, and lots of music.  There was a beautiful Alpaca mother and her baby, plus Alpaca fiber clothing and products.  There were all kinds of gorgeous handmade jewelry, Indian clothing, and fabulous crafty stuff beyond description.  We ate felafel and kafta with strong coffee at a Lebanese food stand, sponsored by St. Ignatius of Antioch Maronite Catholic Church, where the Lebanese grill guy was hamming it up for the audience.  He had me loudly announcing to the crowd (between choking on my felafel while trying to talk) how wonderful the food was, which seemed to draw even more customers!  Free advertising!  It was hilarious.  I got a Ye Olde Trail Tavern commemorative beer cup filled with a craft beer on tap, and a handmade pottery coffee mug that I’ve been looking for, on sale.  (A lot of my sentimental value one-of-a-kind china and pottery got smashed by the USPS en route to Ohio.)  E got a pretty blue Indian top.  We strolled around the streets and lanes with beer and drinks, admiring all the unaffordable shiny stuff.  There was a crazy old truck completely covered with iconic fiction figures and characters, including Stonehenge.  We stopped in at Ravenwood to stock up on smudges and incense, and talk to our pagan friends.  We watched a diverse cross-section of people from many persuasions and backgrounds out in force.  It’s one of the few chances you get in Ohio to mingle with people from more progressive lifestyles, and not feel like you’re an alien or freak.  There’s a certain freedom in being poor and not being able to afford much; you appreciate all the little things that money can’t buy.  A challenging but useful skill to learn.  All in all, a good day.

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