So, not as bad as I feared. Now feeling silly for having worried. Also, what I thought it was rather than anything worse.

I have a new piece up at Hilobrow on Ray Bradbury!

Please check it out. (We can always use the page views.)

Going in for hip surgery (labral refixation)on Wednesday Aug 27th around noon. If all goes well I have a good chance of full recovery in about 6 months. It'll be my first time ever experiencing the joy of general anaesthesia so smooth surgery~ma and quick recovery~ma much appreciated!

So I bought a Mostly Void Partially Stars Shirt from TopatoCo, hit the wrong button and got a Men's 4X. I won't try to return it because it probably has cat hair on it by now. Does anyone want it? Just give me a couple bucks for shipping it and it's yours. Otherwise I'm turning it into a pillow, cruel fate.

eta: Shirt is taken! Excellent.

So... I'm mostly a lurker (pretty much 100% these days) but I still think of y'all whenever I think of visiting somewhere new.

I'm heading to Portland (Oregon) for 5 days for a conference and wondering if anyone has suggestions (ie can't miss sights other than Powell's Books) or advice. It's my first time visiting the states and my first totally solo trip (ie don't even know anyone at the destination) so I'm feeling kinda nervous and could use some buffista advice.

Thanks!

(I'm also going to cross post this in F2F)

Minor boast. Naomi Klein really liked my 2012 book "Solving the Climate Crisis" and has cited it in her own upcoming book "This Changes Everythng". I've reflected the blurb page on my site to include her endorsement [link] . "A sharp, no-nonsense, and consistently insightful tour of the ways that inequality and injustice have shaped the climate crisis -- making clear why the robust solutions are inevitably those that invest in rebuilding our fractured societies."

The SO's father fell and sustained a head injury a few weeks ago, the day we returned from our summer fundraising trip. He had struggled with multiple diseases for many years. He is being moved from neurological ICU into "comfort care" basically pre-hospice tonight or tomorrow. We are on our way back from Arizona to Indiana now to be with the family. Travel~ma for us and soft passage~ma for the SO's dad, as well as solace for his immediate and extended family and extensive network of friends would be appreciated. At this point our stay length is indeterminate. We feel very fortunate to have just started sabbatical at this time so as to be able to travel freely.

Wish me low pain and easy extraction ~ma as I have all four wisdom teeth removed today! Perhaps there will be entertaining Percocet fueled posts later!

We put Marie, our 16-year-old Himalayan, to sleep yesterday. Her kidneys had failed completely. We both spent the day with her, and she had her best day in some time -- she walked around, she had an appetite, she even climbed into the litter box.

She passed away in her favorite bed, surrounded by her loved ones.

On Monday afternoon, my father-in-law died, with his oldest son holding his right hand and the SO holding his left hand. We sang to him, and he passed peacefully. It has been a privilege for me to be his daughter-in-law and to be accepted by this extraordinary family. We will miss him, but we are deeply grateful to have been able to have him in our lives and to have had this experience together as a family.

The memorial service will be this Sunday in Indianapolis. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the form of canned goods to the church's food pantry or in monetary form to its memorial fund. No ties necessary, jeans encouraged!

Those of you unable to attend in person, we would love to hear messages from you via the guestbook: [link] where you can leave notes, photos, or videos that the family will see.