I haven't been to Illumination Night since high school, when it was mostly a night to get wasted and stumble around the Smith campus and ooh aah at the pretty lanterns. It's still just as lovely, middle aged and sober.

They're selling "hot priests" calendars at all the souvenir shops in Rome. I somehow failed to get a photo of the "hot priests holding cats/kittens" version I saw in one lucky shop, but these two were everywhere.

So. Much. Snow.

I’ve protested nearly every large scale military action this country has taken since high school, and I’m as scared as I’ve ever been about the future. We must, and I will continue to resist. However, in a small break from the horrors, I finally achieved ice. Rough but skatable. Kiddo in action.

I feel like I’m doing a science project in my backyard with this ice rink and I’m in danger of failing two years in a row. I didn’t adequately compensate for the ice expanding and it’s pushing the boards over in the corner where the ground is lowest and there’s the most water.

He was like, "that's unfortunate." And then together we put the whole thing together in less than an hour (I HAD already put some of it together and laid out all the wood in a frame). Anyway, now maybe we'll actually get a rink this winter. And my brother can gloat, but also can go to hell.

Aaaand, our boy with a large cat.

my pup and her eyelashes

I love how all the trees are on their own schedule. Most of the trees on the street have lost most of their leaves, party’s over, then this one shows up in a flame of color like, I’m ready, turn the music up!

View of the street and the house. I didn’t get a good pic of the crowds bc I was rarely able to get up from my front porch. There was a line to my door about 30 ppl thick steadily for ages.

Last year we had roughly 1000 trick-or-treaters. I’m not sure I’m stocked adequately this year. The staging area.

Good morning. Early hockey game followed by another hockey game for the kid and me. Meanwhile, my dog continues to enjoy her life of sloth.

My background pic. I consider most images of Wang Yibo looking at Xiao Zhan to qualify as #YiZhan, but he really outdoes himself in this one.

I've just been in Copenhagen - two bikes for every person (they say). Very few cars. It was fantastic.

Loving Copenhagen.

I love the pride flags, trans flags, ACAB sign, Palestinian flag combo. I was standing on City Hall steps to take this vid (pride flags lining the entrance to city hall) and behind us was the Nobel Peace Center, also flying pride flags.

Not sure how to add alt text to a video, but this is Oslo Pride, music blasting, massive crowd, flags waving. It’s been going strong for 5 hrs, the crowd never thinning.

Oslo Pride has really outdone itself.

Current view from Sognefjord Norway.

Not quite halfway to the top.

The spruce tree in the middle (we’re pretty sure 100 ft-ish) is very sick and has to come down. There’s a man climbing with a rope and a chainsaw. Terrifying.

Anyway, the actual reason I'm bringing this up is that season 2 has just begun and I've discovered that Julia Ragnarsson makes an appearance. I have no interest in this show but now I may be compelled to find out what happens in season 2.

biopsy for mass removed all clear - I wasn't too worried but still relieved. One more week of "bed rest" and in the recovery suit, which is really not her color. My mom did let her out once yesterday and swears it was an "accident." Otherwise, pup now seems resigned to her captivity.

Is your little guy stuck in a cone? We were lucky that this minor surgery only required a “recovery suit”.

Jeezus H. April 12th. Seriously? I know it’ll melt by the end of the day but I’m *truly* ready for spring. I haven’t experienced snow in April in 20 - maybe 30 yrs. I was really enjoying the snow this winter, and now I’m done.

This dog’s entire existence is made up of naps, attention, and snacks. She still acts like she’s not getting enough of all three. Esp attention and snacks.

Without downloading any new pics, where are you mentally?

I am not …handy, to put it mildly. I was SO proud of myself for constructing the frame for kiddo’s backyard ice rink with boards and a *new* drill and screws. Welp, my brother just interrogated me about my process and it turns out I didn’t need to hand screw all those screws with a screwdriver 😭😭😭.

This yr my resolution was to help L with the transition, and I think he’s doing really well. It’s been hard and mostly my role has been to listen when he’s sad. But I did build him a backyard ice rink this week! Ice coming this weekend (hopefully).