The Fluffbucket Diaries

February photoblogging challenge, Day 3: REFLECT.

We adopted Winter last Super Bowl Sunday. We are celebrating appropriately.

Seeing a stray lightning bolt logo and players I once cheered for (Seau, Winslow) in the 100 Greatest Players tribute brought me to tears. I miss having a team to root for, and I miss the blissful ignorance of the brain injury consequences that may await some of these players.

February photoblogging challenge, Day 2: SIGHT — that is, a sight for sore, winter-weary eyes in the middle of our kitchen clutter.

The first daffodils of the season are early, but couldn’t come soon enough.

I’m a day late in getting my stuff together for #InCoWriMo (or #LetterMo). Let me know if you want a little snail mail this month!

After creating two politics-related posts in the past 24 hours, it’s time for me to cleanse the palate and start over this month. Happy February.

“Getting rid of Trump means taking seriously ‘shit-life syndrome’—and its resulting misery, which includes suicide, drug overdose death, and trauma for surviving communities.” (Huge H/T to @egelwan)

“It is challenging to explain how Trump’s policies are Christian. It is far easier to label his opponents as pagans, and thus align the president with Christianity by default.”

Now I know why InCoWriMo sounded familiar but not quite what I did a couple of years ago. I went the LetterMo route, which is looser than InCoWriMo in that it just encourages mailing something every day: a letter, postcard, clipping, picture, whatever. Regardless, I’m still in.

Giving this February photoblogging challenge a whirl. Happy February!

Day 1: OPEN.

Between the impeachment hearings and coronavirus, I’ve grown weary enough of the world to do a lot of muting of the noise on social media. All that’s left are faith, food, and baseball. And that makes me happy.

Of course I’m posting this on my phone (but I print it out to read, like our ancestors did):

“Screen reading can wreck your attention. Here’s how to save it.” (Washington Post)

Inés Sainz, reporter, Mexico’s TV Azteca Deportes: “This Super Bowl is going to be very Latin. The most Latin yet.”

“… the Christian faith is far too often subordinated to ideology, to tribalism, to dehumanizing those in the other tribe. Faith is an instrumentality, something to be weaponized. That’s bad for politics; it’s worse for the Christian witness.”

One reason I stay on Twitter: Too many people I like remain there. Case in point: Lin Brehmer, my favorite deejay in town, is there. It’s his last day on the AM shift before he moves to middays next week. To be able to connect with him, however slightly, is pretty cool.

I’m pretty sure the writer of this enormous Washington Post thinkpiece on Iowa is trying way too hard on the lede alone.

Been trying not to get panicky about all this coronavirus business, even with a panicky email from my sister in California urging me to wash my hands. Now I hear this happened close to home, so I guess it’s time to wash my hands.

This “turmeric bliss” tea (not to be confused with the Tazo Tea variety of the same name) has been a godsend.

I’ve been turning to regular and herbal teas in recent weeks to (1) replace my coffee habit, (2) help me get through my intermittent fasting mornings, and (3) settle my stomach. So, I have peppermint green tea in the morning, and some sort of herbal tea in the afternoon/evening.

Lately I’ve grown fond of this turmeric blend, which includes apple and mango bits, ginger, and peppercorn. It’s tasty (even when not sweetened — I forego sweetener in all my tea drinking), relaxing, and one side benefit is that I’ve found some pain relief in the process. It’s been a delightful surprise to be able to reduce my ibuprofen intake, and I credit the turmeric.

InCoWriMo! I did this a few years ago, and I’m itching to do it again (except I didn’t know there was a no-typewriting rule then; maybe that’s new). I’m in.

Another reason I want my campaign contribution back.

I was dumb enough to contribute to one presidential candidate who washed out early after demonstrating little substance for all her flash. Then I compounded my stupidity by contributing to another who clearly states there’s no room for people with my views in his party. My deep disappointment with the latter candidate is immeasurable. (And I wish I could get my money back, frankly.) I think I’m done with wasting money on political campaigns.

Although I am not a single-issue voter, the Democrats' insistence on abortion availability without limits keeps me from being enthused about any of the existing presidential candidates. I don’t see any of the candidates being willing to make room for pro-lifers in their party, except to dismiss them as “anti-choicers” who don’t belong.

I can say unreservedly that I will not vote for the White House incumbent in the fall. Whether I can say for sure that I will vote for the Democratic candidate remains to be seen.

The old “make abortion legal, safe, and rare” stance from the Clinton era doesn’t quite align with my beliefs, either, but at least I could appreciate the “rare” part. Sadly, even “rare” is not acceptable anymore in the Democratic Party.

I’m not much of a basketball fan, but the untimely deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter saddened me deeply. And reading about how much he loved being a dad, especially of daughters, made me cry.

Posting this here for my reference; I’ll revisit this, with my self-indulgent answers, in a later post. (Retrieved from Fr. Tim Grumbach’s Twitter feed.)

Content moderators at Facebook and Twitter “are being asked to sign forms stating they understand the job could cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to reports.”

Time to cleanse the palate after too many political posts this morning.

“A Navajo baby’s first laugh is sacred — it is a symbol of welcoming the child into the greater Navajo community. The person who makes the child laugh for the first time has been chosen as the one who welcomes them with a feast for them and their family.”