Cerridwen

THIS ^^^^...times infinity. Let me tell you.... the reality of having Covid,... being intubated and in ICU for a length of time plus all the indignities and gross-out things that will happen to you including the diapers you'll be wearing 'might' help sway a person or two....there ain't NOTHING pretty or nice that is going to be happening to you if you end up there.

Almost 18 and half years....been LOTS of changes over that length of time!! (This is an admin-approved second account, btw)

Gad. I just love Claire's comments. I followed her on Twitter during the US presidency we don't talk about and clips of her commentary on certain things during the presidency-that-shall-not-be-uttered-aloud. She is hilariously funny at times and bitingly witty at others while calling things out for exactly what they are. (Even if it IS a typo!! )

Takin' a little stroll back through the 70s....

I had flipped on my TV while I made coffee and thought I was watching a movie trailer...then I realized it was CNN and I recognized the Twin Towers as I'd been in Manhattan only months earlier and had taken a picture from the top of the Empire State building. To say I was gobsmacked is the understatement of the century...and then I remembered that my brother had an appointment in Manhattan that morning. So I called him....and of course there was no answer. So the family from around the province rallied....the family in Maine rallied and we waited....and waited...and waited....and watched as people jumped, and flames poured out of the holes left by the aircraft....and then news of the plane hitting the Pentagon and the plane crashing into the ground in Pennsylvania came out and a sense of real dread set in... Still no word from my brother... The day went on....and the Towers fell....and you could hear, in the background of some news footage, the bodies hitting the ground... and I was just sick and couldn't stop watching... still in my housecoat....calling my brother's number with still no answer. I received a call from a dear friend who'd been in NY a week earlier and they were as full of disbelief and horror as I was...so many calls came that day...from those I know who had recently been there, extended family and friends asking if I'd heard from my brother. The answer was still no.... Stories and pictures were pouring in and I don't think I had ever felt so helpless in my life because I knew what happening at Ground Zero and as a nurse, I felt my duty was to br there, to be helping...because they would need all the hands on and feet on the ground they could get...and then news of all the planes being shuttled to Gander and the airspace being closed...knowing that much help would be needed for those folks stranded with no idea of when they'd be going home or if there would even be an airport to land at. We finally were able to get in touch with my brother just after midnight...as it turned out, he'd put off going into the city that day and had rescheduled his appointment for the following day. There had been no phone service available where he was as all the lines were jammed..... he had driven to Maine in order to call his Canadian family members. Every single person I spoke to that day and in the days following were in a state of shock even though we still had to carry on with OUR every day lives knowing that life had just changed drastically for so many people. Canadians were also killed when the towers came down...so many folks seem to forget that.... To hear, yesterday. that in the last couple of days that 2 more people who died at the World Trade Centre were identified through tiny fragments of remains via DNA has brought it all back as the 20th anniversary approaches. I am as sad and horrified today as I was the day I watched it all unfold on TV... the second tower was hit just as I sat down on the couch to watch... My heart hurts for those who lost someone that day...the families of those in the towers, the family of firefighters, members of the police department, every single first responder who was right there...the hospital workers who worked to save those with injuries horrific...every single person who was touched and scarred by what happened that day. It ripped the scales off our eyes to a certain degree...because every single person with a heart and a brain suddenly realized that if this could happen in the USA, it could happen ANYWHERE. Even now, 20 years later, it resonates within me...I have been accused many times of wearing my heart on my sleeve, but I wear it there proudly. To feel empathy and horror and sorrow and anger that such a thing should have happened in this day and age is to be human... to have a heart...to care.

No doubt a lovely evening repast upon the Royal Doulton china with the hand-painted periwinkles!! (I actually own a couple of the tea cups!)

"&^@# me sideways" - usually heard as a response to the latest stupidity from anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, COVID conspiracy theories and Republican idiocy.

Finally had the data issues cleared up about half an hour ago...was beginning to think an epic meltdown was in order!

What a crap time in the music world.... I suppose this could have gone in the country music thread but.... RIP in Tom T Hall.... what an incredible body of music he had, really...he also wrote hits for other artists but who doesn't know Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine?

RIP Don....

Almost a full Blue Sturgeon Moon....dance, anyone? (Yes, it's Dolly Parton but damn it, she sings the &^@# outta this song!)