Year: 2024

yellow-black-orange

Photo of a fuzzy bumblebee feeding on a raspberry blossom, with green leaves around it.

I have an energy impairment so i am always on the lookout for chill, seated projects you can do in brief sessions. Lately I’ve been trying to identify my various yard bumblebees .

I think this one is Bombus mixtus, the fuzzy-horned bumblebee. Their butt stripes go yellow-black-orange, they seem to be passionate about pollinating raspberries, and last year they nested under our compost heap.

These Bee ID Cards from the BC Native Bee Society have been the most helpful bumblebee field guides so far. I *love* focused guides for small regions, rather than wading through an encyclopedia of North American Insects.

I’m also very into these bee bingo cards from the BC Native Bee Society, because they have a separate card for wannabees. Yes! I wish all field guides included lookalike info.

Accidental pandemic art

This has been hanging on my wall since at least 2012… Staying tender under these particular apocalyptic conditions used to be just a cute proposal, but I think it actually was helpful to prepare an emotional stance ahead of time 🤷🏻

Photo of a framed illustration by Justin Madson that shows a person wearing a futuristic breathing mask and air tank. They are holding flowers and tiredly wading through a flood with mist and mountains in the background. Their sweater has a heart on the sleeve. I think it's from the comic Breathers.

Weird smells time again

Aww yeah it’s time for my favourite part of any [online] experience– using the #WeirdSmells hashtag. I managed to forage some hawthorn (Craetagus crus-galli) flowers to dry for tea, and now my kitchen smells like it is trying to attract flies for pollination…

Photo of flowering hawthorn tips on a tray-- clusters of simple white flowers with a few dark green leaves attached.

Because I always like to include an ethical note about foraging– these Eastern hawthorns are invasive here, cultivated as public boulevard trees, and the city has a commitment to avoid spraying them except in a few circumstances. Perfect urban foraging conditions?

Something that helped me to process a divorce and then later to transition into long covid and disability life is a dance theatre performance I saw in 2016. I mention this because it is streaming on Marquee.

It’s about trauma and grief, so use your judgement. But even now i exhale so much tension when I remember that second half, how the giant pillar is still there on stage.

An old practice from AIDS movements that I think we should try out for this pandemic: at the beginning of events, inviting audiences to call out the names of people who aren’t here because of the virus. Covid deaths, long covid, people sick today, immuno-inaccessible events, caregivers, etc. It’s so hidden, people think they don’t know anyone despite the huge numbers.

Unsolicited tea recommendation

Photo of a tea label that reads: Parlour Room Blend. Black Tea. Evoking the atmosphere of a Victorian sitting room, perfumed with rose, lush fruit, and an alluring note of smoke. 2oz/56g

Unsolicited tea recommendation for goth tea lovers, tarot readers, and people who like whiskey in their tea… This Murchie’s number is smoked black tea with roses and fruit (strawberry and black currant). Tea is usually cosy or maybe herbal– this one is moody and horny. I’m having it while weeding the garden on a Saturday afternoon and it is intensely not the right tea for this despite being very delicious 😂

This touristy English-style tea shop went full Wouldst Thou Like To Live Deliciously?

Thinking about squirrels…

I don’t want gardening to be a reason I hate other creatures so I am trying to cultivate more positive feelings about squirrels.

Firstly, is there some reason we are so sure that when squirrels plant seeds it is an accident? This person observed that squirrels did a better job of growing trees than humans did 😂

Maybe the squirrels are right and I should convert my asparagus patch to an oak tree surrounded by peanut plants.

On what patients know

How patient-led research could speed up medical innovation, with examples from long covid and ME/CFS, including Solve M.E., PLRC, and MEAction

Of course they mention the speed of patient-led research, but I also love to see the recognition that patients help design better experiments and especially better controls. It’s hard to control for dynamic conditions and lack of diagnostic lab tests, but patients have expertise.

My favourite fedi thing might be seeing all the domains people have registered for their servers. It’s been ages since I encountered this many urls with actual human flair. Sincerely welling up about jorts.horse and butts.team

Seed starting, seed saving

My peppers are sprouting, Aleppo peppers from seeds I saved last year. I started growing these because the plants were facing extinction due to the war in Syria. There was a push to steward the seeds for when Syrians could return to farming them. (Also the peppers are delicious.)

I remember Cheryl Bryce talking about how war and colonization doesn’t only happen to humans, it happens to the rest of the inhabitants of the land as well. That invasive species are a form of colonization. I started growing qʷɬáʔəl (kwetlal, camas) because so many people in that podcast emphasized that settlers can and should learn to propagate Indigenous plants.

Bonus pronunciations:

It’s interesting to me that with all the complications of power dynamics and cultural appropriation, it’s so common to encourage allies to do seed keeping work. Yes, grow the seeds in your garden. Yes, save the seeds and trade them around. It isn’t only hobby gardeners who want to share seeds and cuttings and harvests. (Disclaimer that each plant has its own discussion and context.)

Now that it is seed starting season in the northern hemisphere, I wonder who is growing Palestinian plants, to keep the seeds for when Palestinians can grow them again. This episode of Seeds and Their People from a few years ago is an interview with a Palestinian seed keeper in Philadelphia, growing molokhia (jute), kusa (a summer squash), and zaatar (a savoury herb), and it includes links to buy seeds from the True Love Seeds network of small farmers.

Millions Missing and counting…

Photo of a 72-cell plug tray with camas seedlings emerging like thin blades of grass

I’m posting these little camas babies for #MillionsMissingFlowers , a monthly chance to talk about ME/CFS.

This month I am thinking about how long it takes to get an ME diagnosis, 5+ years or more on average. ME is already listed as a common (5%+) outcome of covid infections, and we’re just finishing year four. I wonder how many people will realize this year that they got ME from covid in 2020. I wonder about Omicron in 2022.

Sources:

I really appreciated Bea in this episode of Death Panel, talking about the process of self-diagnosing before deciding to see a doctor.

She spent a year thinking she was just reading too much, before realizing she was going blind. Different conditions, but that’s so familiar to me– I spent a year thinking I was just sleep deprived or stressed before realizing I had cognitive and energy impairments.

Notable typewriters of the Saanich peninsula

FirstVoices had a 20th anniversary event last week and I learned something that melted my mind a bit. Dave Elliott invented the writing system for the SENĆOŦEN language on a typewriter. (This typewriter!)

Creating new symbols for the sounds he needed by backspacing and combining marks on top of letters. It’s so smart and simple! I keep thinking about it.

The alphabet