If you can, look into local jewelers who can craft you something handmade with ethically sourced stones. I’m in Seattle and we have Valerie Madison who does great engagement sets and Everling Jewelry who uses recycled metals. A local artist will be able to recommend something within your budget, and your SO can and should be involved, as another poster mentioned.
I just finished both Tulipomania (about the Dutch tulip craze of the 1700s - not as exciting as I thought it would be, lol) and Inside Out and Back Again (about a young girl’s experience of fleeing Vietnam and landing in Alabama as a refugee). I really loved Inside Out and Back Again. I had been putting it off because I thought it would be long and/or heavy, but it’s all poetry and was a very fast read.
With poetry on the brain, I moved on to Milk & Honey, from “Instapoet” Rupi Kaur. It reminded me of the poems you used to find in zines in the 90s/early 2000s, but without any alt subtext. So…kind of basic “young woman finds out she has to love herself” poems. I guess I would have appreciated that earlier in life, but I found them kind of uninspiring.
Oh! I also just finished The Bear and the Nightingale - a really fun read I stayed up late to devour. It’s a Russian medieval fantasy/fairytale, set in a realistic-feeling household and wider Russian imperial and Christian context. There are spirits everywhere, but also tension with those converting to Christianity and neglecting the traditional spirits - which has a lot of unintended consequences. Spooky, funny, grim, and action-packed, all in one book.
This headline is bogus; the comparison to Brexit makes no sense here. Brexit was voted on in a democratic process (for better or worse), but all of these countries currently have junta governments that were not elected, and were suspended by ECOWAS because of it. Now they are unilaterally “choosing” to leave ECOWAS, but truthfully, ECOWAS considers them illegitimate and has considered military action (though done very little). It will be interesting to see if the threat of leaving finally prompts some collective action or not.
Ah, good to know.
I’ve been in a little reading slump which tends to happen when I am doing more art and writing.
I’m currently slogging through two books. One is Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. I guess it’s interesting because it’s written as a stream of consciousness novel, and it explores the absolute filthiest corners of 1930s Paris, but the narrator (Miller himself) is so odious. I don’t know why I feel like I have to finish it.
The second book is much better but just long, with a writing style that is also quite different. It’s called the Sympathizer, and it’s about a Vietnamese double agent spy who finds himself being airlifted from Saigon to the US…and everything that comes with that. It’s honestly a really compelling story, but the writing is much more unedited than I am used to. There are a lot of pages that have no paragraph breaks at all! So it feels dense even though the story isn’t.
I will wrap these up soon and then move on to something that’s a bit easier on my brain.
I loved the Dirk Gently show, I honestly forgot it was a book! Never read (or listened) so thanks for this reminder! Adding it to my list for sure!!
Haha, “Happy HONK” does mean something to some of us! Totally plausible that she’s already in a HONK band…
Ugh, yes. The joys of small businesses, alongside the rare spam call about “funding.” Thankfully these emails all go to my spam filter now! But it is super annoying.
That feels so quaint now. A weird scream was enough to tank a campaign. Or John Kerry being a “flip-flopper.” Our politics have gotten so much worse it’s kind of astonishing.
Yes! (Also, hi fellow NADDpole! There’s at least two of us here! Lol)
A great example of this is Not Another D&D Podcast, a comedy D&D podcast. The first campaign has a player character who sounds like she’s from Appalachia!
Oh, that’s so great that the dog is trained to signal to go out. I hope it’s an easier time for you, too! Best of luck!
We were just thrust into this scenario with an elderly family member, and now we have a cute senior dog. It’s going okay, but it’s been an adjustment.
First, get vet records and/or go ahead and establish care at a vet. Vets are extremely busy after everyone adopted pets during COVID - so better to go now, and make sure pup is doing okay.
Second, you’ll need the basics immediately - food, bowls, leash, collar, bags, etc. Hopefully your situation is easier and your friend can pass that stuff along.
You’ll also need to figure out potty timing. Dogs love being on a schedule. I don’t. So it may be a big adjustment to not sleep in, and to go for 5 walks a day at the same time every day. But congrats, that’s what you’re signing up for. Our dog is also a tiny breed and was never trained properly, so we are getting up at 4:30am to avoid accidents in the house. Does it suck? 100%. But we are still learning how long he can hold it overnight without an accident. We’re up to 5 hours now and we increase it a little bit each night. There may be a learning curve for you too.
Lastly, we also have an elderly cat and he’s fine as long as the dog stays ~3 feet away. The dog is terrified of him, so it’s usually fine. If he does get close, the cat hisses and growls so they mostly have a détente. I do keep any eye out on eating time, because the dog is scared to eat if the cat is like 3 feet away staring him down. We’ve also tried hard to make sure they get equal attention and love. Still, the cat isn’t thrilled about having all this hyperactive little brother energy around. We’re all just doing our best!
I think others have covered the economies of scale and niche products creating the disparity.
But I wanted to suggest that if your grandpa is regularly eating gluten free bread, we have found that making it at home is SO much more affordable than buying a loaf at the store. (Even though gluten free flour is also more expensive.) Most of the gluten free flours have their own sandwich bread recipe, either on the bag or their website. I don’t know what flours you have access to, but they can be wildly different blends, so using their tested recipes is always best.
We’ve mastered our favorite so it takes only 15 minutes of “work” and then just time in the oven. It’s also much better than store bought! I don’t know if that’s possible for you, but it could be a lovely weekly ritual for you and your grandpa.
Also, to anyone suggesting we just eat rice and beans, I’m an old celiac. We went without bread, pasta, cake, pastries, cookies, brownies, pizza, and crackers before these products came to market. These are mostly “fun” foods that I don’t eat regularly, but usually pop up in social situations. Do you know how many sad birthdays with no cake we’ve had? How often we’ve watched our friends and family eat things we could never have? I am so grateful to the “fad” gluten free people who made it possible to have culturally/socially important foods we were missing out on for decades!!