I was going to write a whole long thing about how my “normal average” education turns out to be privileged and elite here in the midwest (and no doubt the whole of middle America), but never mind all that.

I’m too mentally exhausted by recent political developments and fallout to get energized enough to bother.  I think the repressive atmosphere itself is sapping all energy and motivation.  (Or maybe it’s the toxic water, who knows?)

At any rate, it would be more productive to get back to reliably mindless themes, like cute plants and ornamental animals.

Here are some artifacts from the crypt.  I’ve always been a big amphibian fan (though not much of a painter).  Those are genuine “real” animals from way back in history.  On the left is Bambi (I know, very original), and Cuddles from Saturn, my native planet, is on your right.  You could use him as a phone, back in the day, to communicate with Saturn, by holding his head to your ear and tail to your mouth.  Seriously.  Now he’s old, and just sleeps all day.

My son gave me the frogs and bear, sitting in the place of honor over the desk where I’m typing this.  They are among my most treasured animals.

Here are some more of our “pets”, lurking about.  My brother gave me a couple of them.  You can see some of them are out and proud!  If you look closely, there’s a human baby in the litter.  They never noticed!

Yes, we’re very pet-deprived.

Last but not least, plants!  As promised, here are my latest seedlings germinating!  These are a spicy mesclun mix (no, not a drug, although they do promote health).  Aren’t they cute?!  

And these are my perennial herbs being adorable in the late afternoon sun.