Bolting

Traded yellow string beans for magic caramels.

Met up with my dealer in this impossibly cute café in Wappingers.

In the olden days, I did most of my writing in cafes.

Funny! When I write in the Patrizia-torium, I have to write in total and complete silence. But cafes are very noisy, and I ❤️LUV❤️ writing in them, eavesdropping in them. You’re never hard up for dialogue when you write in cafes! You can always plagiarize from someone sitting at an adjacent table.

The impossibly cute café is just a 20-minute drive from the house, and I noticed the tables were fitted up with electrical outlets, so I asked the adorable barista on my way out, “Do you encourage people to come here with their laptops and work?”

“Absolutely!” she said.

So!

A new hangout.

Maybe.

###

Second time this week I got to see my dealer, so that was a treat. He’s been reading Henry James. We chattered and gabbed and bantered for a couple of hours. I could feel the juice flowing into my batteries.

He reported that Flavia had observed, It’s not my battle anymore, with regards to the whole abortion rights political upheaval, and I realized with a start that Flavia (always so clearheaded) is exactly right: It’s not my battle anymore, either. I’m not gonna get pregnant plus I feel a kind of resentment toward young leftist women; I think they’ve been policing pronouns and pushing the inclusive language agenda at the expense of larger feminist issues, so let them deal with the mess. I’m out.

The whole point of language is to specify, you dumbasses! I feel like snarling.

###

And the magic caramels do help the remuneration process. Probably not as much as an Adderall prescription might, but hey. I was a productive little bunny when I finally sat down at my workspace.

###

The world at large continues to be horrifying. Five months in, and the Western world is growing kinda bored with the Ukraine War. Very few stories these days about plucky Ukrainian soldiers flipping off Russian tanks. The collective sunflower fetish has abated. American news media doesn’t seem so sold anymore on the narrative that of course, the gallant Ukrainians will roust the dastardly invaders.

The longest-serving former Prime Minister of Japan was assassinated with a handmade gun. (Three-D printing?)

And Boris Johnson is apparently out in Britain except he’s not out because he’s still in.

###

Shortly, I must transform into Mother Teresa and toddle over to the food bank to feed the masses.

After that, I must garden.

All my various types of basil have been trying to bolt very early this year:



What is up with that? I wonder.