The Mandelbear's Musings

Done Since 2026-08-16

2026-08-23T09:57:46Z

Kind of a nothing week. I guess after a vacation like the one the week before, a week of recovery is probably about right. Rather little work got done, but I did (finally) finish writing the Terms of Service for Naomi-Rivkis.com. I also found several things that had been missing on the trip. The extension cord, the absence of which caused the most trouble, turned up in my damned backpack next to the CPAP and its power brick, right where I put it.

On the other hand, I didn't do any work on the eclipse post until last night, when I pulled down the part I'd done on my phone on the trip back. But didn't do any more than that, probably because it required a DECISION - whether to start with the DW post, or the Going-Sideways post. I have now decided -- it should be the former. The latter will require more work: it ought to cover the entire trip, because GS is a travel blog.

Note in passing: the TravelPro backpack, purchased because it was a precise fit for the under-seat space, is a bit hard to find things in (see above), and one strap kept falling off my right shoulder (as mentioned last week). It will see very little use between trips, and may get pushed aside completely. Where it will join the other not-quite-right luggage. Partly due to airlines changing their carry-on size requirements, and partly to me not paying attention. And partly, I guess, because right now my injured right shoulder makes it harder to put on a backpack than a sling. And I have a near-perfect sling.

Also, (main laptop)unSable's "m" key is broken. Probably due to my bad habit of eating at my desk. And my Samsung watch frequently fails to connect with my Google phone.

Linkies:

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Thankful Thursday

2026-08-20T14:06:15Z

Today I am thankful for...

Having seen a total solar eclipse. (Hopefully there will be a full post about it, but...)
N and G, without whose help I couldn't have made that trip.
Iberostar Selection Jardín del Sol Suites, for a very pleasant stay in Mallorca. NO thanks to Transavia and the PMI (Palma de Mallorca) airport, which did their best to make both ends of the trip miserable.
The amazing astronomical coincidence that makes total solar eclipses such a magnificent spectacle on this planet, in this era.

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Done Since 2026-08-09

2026-08-16T11:00:56Z

On the whole, a very good week. There were problems, some of them serious, but they were worked around, and the eclipse more than made up for the rest.

Eclipse notes (copied from Wednesday and Thursday under the cut): (See more detailed post probably later this week.)

N and I left for the beach, much earlier than it turned out that we needed to (which was very hard on N and pretty hard on me.) We changed location a couple of times; the spot we wound up at was, however, perfect. Couldn´t have made it except that we'd rented a mobility scooter. Thoroughly worn out, very dehydrated. but....
>>> WE SAW THE ECLIPSE <<<
Perfect sight-line from a fat crescent down to sundown a few minutes after totality. Having forgotten my glasses I only saw the inner corona, but that was enough. Diamond ring effect before and after, the latter reddened because sunset, so it was more of a ruby ring.

I forgot to look up to try to see stars. Not really a problem. I also fumbled with my camera trying to get a shot of the corona, but gave up. I found out later that I had in fact captured a video, which was a perfect way to remember the beach-party atmosphere, as well as the corona. Not complaining.

Eclipse Links:

Travel notes: (See eventual post on GoingSideways.blog.)

The missing extension cord turned up in my backpack (after the trip); it went into the CPAP bag where it belongs. Next time I have to leave the CPAP bag behind, I'll remember where I put it.
The Travelpro backpack has a major flaw: the straps are too far apart and one kept falling off my right shoulder. (OTOH it held everything it needed to and fit perfectly under the seat in front of me.)
Transavia and the Palma de Mallorca airport are both unacceptable for invisibly-disabled passengers. Avoid if possible. We never got wheelchairs and had to stand in line for an hour to check in.
There is a ferry to Mallorca from Barcelona. Take that next time. If there is a next time.
My stool-cane was clumsy to carry around, but a life-saver on the beach and in the airport.

Other links:

( Notes & links, as usual )

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River: RIP Bronx: 2017--2026

2026-08-14T15:16:10Z

On Thursday, August 6th (yesterday, as I write this), I held our dear pocket panther Bronx in my arms for the last time as he crossed the Rainbow Bridge, after a fierce battle with an illness that started as an ear infection and ended up as meningitis and encephalitis.

The first time I noticed that there was a problem was Tuesday July 21st; he had hidden under the bed instead of spending at least part of the night with me; the next morning he had trouble walking -- his hind legs kept going out from under him. He also had a runny nose; we thought maybe that was affecting his balance. We called AniCura Haaglanden in Rijswijk and got him an appointment for 4pm.

As we were getting ready to leave, he flew into a rage when the vet tried to give him one more shot (for nausea). I'd never seen him that angry. He had another appointment the following Friday, for an MRI and more bloodwork; we came home with an antibiotic -- he was going to need it for another six weeks -- and an appointment for the following Thursday.

He seemed almost himself Monday morning, but sometime in the afternoon he went into his carrier, which has been his safe place for the last few years, and turned away from food, even tube snack (laced with antibiotic) on my finger. I left a bowl in front of him, but it was untouched in the morning. They admitted him, and he was not happy about it. When we went in to visit him he bared his teeth and snarled.

Wednesday during visiting hours, he did the same, but seemed to calm down a little when I sang to him. Thursday he just lay there in his kennel and let us pet him. He hadn't eaten since Monday. They asked if we wanted to have them in a feeding tube, through a hole in his neck, but that would have meant more suffering, more rage, ... and he would have to come in for another surgery to drain his ear, and still might not make it that far. We couldn't put him through that.

A little while after we bought our house on Whidbey Island, N and I went to the local shelter in search of a cat. Usually we would go into a room with a few cats, and wait to see if one wanted us. This time was different, because there in a large cage were two recently-arrived kittens curled up together. One was black, and the other one was a tuxedo. We were told that they were three and two months old respectively; the older one was called Bronx, and the younger one was called Happy. N and I looked at each other and N, a former New Yorker, said "We'll have to change Happy's name to Brooklyn, you know." And that was that.

When we brought him home Bronx had a bit of a cold, which soon got worse instead of better. His stay in the animal hospital, just as he was starting to bond with us, gave him a lasting fear of being abandoned.

He was always an "up" cat, seeking out the highest places to hang out. On top of my wardrobe was one of his favorites. He didn't use the top of the cat tree as much, possibly because Ticia had beaten him to it the day it was installed. (The wardrobe required two leaps of about a meter; Ticia couldn't manage that, but she could still climb.) He would also nip occasionally, and was sometimes careless with his claws, but he was also cuddly and would let me carry him and sometimes sit on my lap. Not when I was trying to type something, though.

He and Ticia usually slept on my bed; after she passed there was no-one to chase him away from the coveted spot next to my face.

As the sedative started taking effect we slid him out on the towel he was curled up on; I gathered him into my arms and N and I stroked him and said our last farewells. All the fear and fury was gone, all the pain and confusion, leaving nothing but love to carry with him on his final journey. I think -- hope -- the last thing he heard me say was Ï will always love you.

He finds himself curled up on a bed of grass - something he hasn't felt since he was a kitten. He can't feel the needle that was attached to his leg a moment ago. He stands up, takes a few steps, and shakes his head experiimentally. His legs work. His balance is back. He can LEAP! onto the bridge, because way up high he can sense rather than hear Colleen calling him, and Ticia meowing for him. And UP is his favorite direction.

Links:

More details in the notes on last Sunday's post, as things happened.
The Rainbow Bridge
Bronx's page
(Photos: moved to the web page; will be available next week)
AniCura Haaglanden in Rijswijk
Dierencrematorium Haaglanden/

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Done Since 2026-08-02

2026-08-09T12:59:48Z

Bad week. CW: pet death. Bronx crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Thursday, Details in the notes, more or less as it happened. For more, see the next post or visit his memorial page (which will get finished sometime this week).

But meanwhile, we are in Mallorca, taking a long-planned vacation that will include watching the Total Solar Eclipse Wednesday evening. A year or so ago N asked me what special thing I wamted to do for my 80th birthday. I replied that I had no idea, but "I know what I want to do for my 79th." A couple of hours worth of research later, we had reservations, for Iberostar Selection Jardín del Sol Suites in Majorca.

And a year or so later, here we are.

And at least we won't be leaving our cat sitter with a sick cat, or worring about how he would fare in the hospital, and having flashbacks to three years ago when we lost Desti while we were on vacation in Amsterdam.

Travel notes:

Naturally, a few things got forgotten. I think some, like the extension cord, simply fell out of the bag while it was sitting on the couch waiting to be zipped up. My glasses, which I don't use much, simply got left on the shelf.
I did take the eclipse glasses, though, which was lucky because N forgot the ones she bought.
Transavia: the seats were about a decimeter too close together.
The new Travelpro Platinum Elite backpack fit perfectly under the seat, despite being stuffed full enough to require force to get the laptop into its (separate, fortunately) compartment.
The hotel is beautiful. Majorca is beautiful. Majorca is also very hot.

Linkies: The Polytope Wiki is a very deep rabbit-hole. It also has files that my viewer can read. Copilot worm can spread through Microsoft Word docs

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Thankful Thursday

2026-08-06T17:24:33Z

Today I am thankful for...

My family, especially for support, help, and hugs during a very difficult week.
AniCura Haaglanden in Rijswijk, who took care of a very sick Bronx and helped ease his passage across the Rainbow Bridge.
N, who was there and helped me through it.
Compassion. Also, oddly enough, grief.
The ~~people~~ person who will be taking care of our (remaining) cats next week.
Physical therapy helping a little. I know, I have to give it more time. I HATE exercise, except for walking. The PT is supposed to be helping that, too. I am an impatient bear.
Better than being an inpatient bear, I suppose.
Gin.

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River: Ame 36, et. al.

2026-08-04T17:40:40Z

Today is my late daughter Amethyst's 36th birthday. And it's exactly two months since my cat Ticia crossed the Rainbow Bridge. And Colleen died on July 12, five years ago. Curio crossed over on July 15, 2015, and Desti on July 30th 2023.

And my other cat, Bronx, is fighting for his life at the AniCura animal hospital in Rijswijk. It's been a very rough two-months-and-a-day, and I fear there's another bad one around the corner. I'm ready for it to be over.

Amethyst, Colleen, Desti, Curio, Ticia -- I'll just repeat the promise I made to Colleen: I will always love you. Bast, please watch over Bronx.

I'll just leave you with a couple of songs:

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Done Since 2026-07-26

2026-08-02T09:33:59Z

It's been a long month this last week. Bronx had another vet appointment, this time with a specialist, including an MRI scan. (A CAT scan would have been more appropriate, but not as informative.) He has a severe ear infection, which we should have caught sooner, and will be on antibiotics for about the next 6-8 weeks. Fingers crossed.

We crush the pills and mix them with tube treats. For Reasons.

It's just barely possible that my lower back exercises are already making a difference. I'm not shuffling as much around the house. OTOH my right shoulder is still in bad shape; I don't think the PT is quite getting to the right spot.

Linkies: 15 Kitten Photos That Will Make You Feel as Warm and Fuzzy as the Tiny Felines Themselves. The World's Only Klein [bottle] Train Station Arnhem Centraal -- more links Tuesday.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Rabbit rabbit rabbit!

2026-08-01T06:03:42Z

Welcome to August, 2026!

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Thankful Thursday

2026-07-30T19:36:15Z

Today I am thankful for...

More vet care for Bronx. Referral to neurology, tomorrow morning.
N. More than I have words to express.
Slightly cooler weather today. I'll take what I can get.
More PT exercises. I'd considered doing a PTuesday post, because that's when my appointments are, but ran short on round TUITs.
Desti, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge five years ago today. I am grateful for the time we had together, and can only wish that it had been longer. There's a lot of that going around this month.

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Done Since 2026-07-19

2026-07-26T10:36:41Z

Not a good week. I've had worse, but that's a very low bar. Between Bronx's illness(es?) (See Tuesday, Wednesday, and the last two posts) and my right shoulder (see under Thursday), it's been rough.

OTOH, progress has been made on N's author website (which isn't ready yet, so if you follow that link today you'll see the old one). Our designer is working to set it up. And I went for five walks and a st/roll.

And on the gripping hand, the week had a couple of good anniversaries: The Day the Earth Smiled (2019 Jul 19) and the first Moon landing (1969 Jul 20) -- see also Hope Eyrie | Leslie Fish and "Houston, Tranquility base here."

Saturday I fell down a very deep rabbit-hole on Isaac Asimov - Wikiquote because I wanted to verify the Salvor Hardin quote: "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -- I wasn't sure whether it was "refuge" or "resort". You are warned.

Linkies: here's Kipa - a playground in Rotterdam mostly made out of old wind turbine blades. And The Rock That Killed The Dinosaurs Was One of The Rarest Types in The Solar System – Which Made It Even Deadlier.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Songs for Saturday: Rambling Boy

2026-07-25T14:38:09Z

My cat, Bronx, is sick. Tuesday night I noticed that he hadn't eaten, and was having trouble walking. Wednesday I alerted N, and we called the local animal hospital, because our vet is on vacation until the end of the month. He also had what looked like a severe cold. He's now on a daily dose of metacam (meloxicam suspension). Hard to say whether his balance is improving, but at least he seems to have his appetite back.

But Thursday morning, a verse and chorus of Tom Paxton's song Ramblin' Boy [lyrics] got into my head, so I sang Bronx as much of it as could remember -- which wasn't much -- because he's my dear little boy and I'm worried about him.

Late one night in a jungle camp The weather it was cold and damp He got the chills and he got 'em bad They took the only friend I had So here's to you my Ramblin' Boy May all your ramblin' bring you joy So here's to you my Ramblin' Boy May all your ramblin' bring you joy

I hope he sticks around to ramble with me for many more years. I'm not ready to lose anyone else right now.

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Thankful Thursday

2026-07-23T14:08:46Z

Today I am thankful for...

AniCura Haaglanden in Rijswijk, because our regular vet is on vacation.
N, who provided calm advice, transportation, and support (not to mention paying the vet bill) while I freaked out over Bronx, who is having trouble controlling his rear legs. He also has a runny nose and a fever. We don't know at this point whether the two things are connected.
G, for additional support.
Bronx, who appears to be managing despite his problems. He made it onto the bed this morning. Can I be cautiously optimistic at this point? Please?
The Dreamhost support tech who helped me get our web designer connected. Actually, I diagnosed the problem myself while we were in the chat, but the tech was able to confirm that I'd done it successfully. Plus serving as a reasonably effective rubber duck.

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Done Since 2026-07-12

2026-07-19T15:09:29Z

Not a bad week. Missed a day of walking due to time confusion. Two days if you don't count the roughly .6km going to and from PT. Got a new set of exercises - these are supposed to be three sets each, every other day. I had to buy 1kg dumbbells and a set of resistance bands.

On the other hand some things, mostly paperwork, got kicked down the street for another week. But on the gripping hand I got some things done! In particular, setting up WordPress for the new version of N's author site. (It won't be up until next week sometime. Or later. I'll let you know. Meanwhile consider buying her book.)

I also wrote about five years without Colleen, but since you're reading this I assume you've seen it.

Linkies: When Germany Built a Flying Train 125 Years Ago, a City Coalesced Beneath It. It Has Moved Royalty, Commuters and Tourists—and One Elephant—Ever Since Enthralling: An interactive introduction to the terrific experience of rendering Arabic typography and its technical debt Legendre Transform Explained: One Picture, Five Fields APOD: 2026 July 18 –Shadow and Rainbow - APOD is often beautiful, but this is one of their best.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Thankful Friday (Thankful Thursday addendum)

2026-07-19T11:17:06Z

~~Today I am~~ Friday I was thankful for...

My sister, housemate, bandmate, and business partner, N.
Additional thanks to N for a nice walk and conversation this morning.
Buttondown.com, soon to be N's newsletter platform.
My old titanium camping cup, which is just the thing for icing down a bruised finger. NO thanks for my carelessness putting on a compression glove. Which it now hurts to wear. Also no thanks for trigger finger(s), which is why I was using the glove in the first place.
Strap-on finger splints. See above.

(Written on Friday, but I didn't notice until today that I hadn't actually posted it.)

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Thankful Thursday

2026-07-16T15:36:36Z

Today I am thankful for...

A fridge with a functioning ice maker. (The cold-water tap hasn't worked since before we moved in, but of the two I'd rather have ice.)
Dishwasher-safe, double-walled, stainless steel drinking vessels (coffee mug and water tumbler).
Physical Therapy. (Though it really falls more into the category of things I would be thankful for having done.)
Still being able to walk. Way less time and distance than I would prefer, but it beats the alternative.
lwn.net and DistroWatch.com (the latter subtitled "Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.") Part of my regular Thursday tab set.

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Public Service Announcement: US cyclosporiasis outbreak

2026-07-13T10:38:04Z

TL;DR: If you live in the US, stay away from raw leafy greens, herbs, berries, snow peas, and scallions. Maybe other produce. Cooked is okay.

See siderea | ALERT: Cyclosporiasis outbreak nationwide [pestilence, US, Patreon] for a lot more information and many excellent links. Probably the first link to follow (well, okay, the first link I followed) is Your Local Epidemiologist: Explosive foodborne outbreak - by Katelyn Jetelina. I'm assuming that the ambiguity of "explosive" is deliberate.

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River: Five years without Colleen

2026-07-12T14:24:51Z

Sunday, July 12, 2026, is the fifth anniversary (is that the right word?) of Colleen's death. (I'm starting this on the Friday before; don't know when it will be finished and I'll probably edit this out anyway.) We had been married fpr 45 years, and a couple for 50. Best friends for longer than that.

I'm torn between wanting to tell a story, and wanting to say what things are like for me now. (Of course, to do the latter, I'd have to figure out what I'm feeling, and that's always been difficult.) Maybe I'll start with a story. Sort of a story.

Back when we were living in San Jose, we used to love going for a drive. Sometimes it would be to get someplace -- a convention in LA or Portland, a restaurant in Monterey or Big Sur, a show or the zoo in San Francisco... Sometimes it was a late-night drive trying to get a baby to go to sleep. That worked with our older kid, but not the younger -- everything was way too exciting. Oops.

The longer drives had a sound track -- Oak, Ash, and Thorn; Stan Rogers, Dave Clement, The Grateful Dead, ... I'll save that for another time, maybe a Saturday.

But eventually Colleen told me what I should have figured out sooner: that she just liked sitting next to me when I wasn't distracted by a book or a computer. Sometimes we'd talk; sometimes we'd get into an argument, but mostly we'd just look at the scenery and quietly enjoy each other's company. Often we'd take SR9 over the hill to Santa Cruz, North on Highway 1, over 92 to the ridge where we could turn onto SR35 and go home. There were redwoods at both ends, the ocean in between, and a conveniently-located fruit and vegetable stand somewhere between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. Sometimes we'd just turn around at Santa Cruz, or turn South and go to Gilroy or Monterey.

After we moved up to Seattle, we could circumnavigate Lake Washington, sometimes after a trip to our dentist in Bothell, and after moving to Whidbey go up over Deception Pass, South on I5, and back using the ferry from Mukilteo. It was always the journey that mattered, and the coming home.

I miss those drives.

I'm on a different journey these days. At least three journeys, actually: one literal and two metaphorical. And unlike my drives with Colleen, my immigration journey, my life journey, and my grief journey are both one-way. One foot in front of the other. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." I often wake up with a quote or a bit of a song in my head. Sometimes I recite it to Bronx before I get out of bed, but I don't think he pays it much attention.

Recently, increasingly, the poem fragment I wake up with is the last verse and a half of Yeats's "Sailing to Byzantium":

Consume my heart away; sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is; and gather me Into the artifice of eternity. Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enamelling To keep a drowsy Emperor awake; Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

That's going to be a Songs for Saturday post as well some day. I'm not too happy with my body these days. It works even less well than it ever did. I'm not too happy with my brain, either. At least they're both still working.

I don't have any illusions about immortality -- eternity scares me -- nor any kind of afterlife besides the one I imagine in my memorial posts, which you can find in my Rainbow Bridge pages. But when I'm gone, I'll live on with her there as long as our friends, our families, and the Internet Archive remember us. That will do.

And somewhere over the The Rainbow Bridge Colleen is sitting, surrounded by cats, and holding a tall glass of gin-and-tonic. She raises her glass in the general direction of Midgard and takes another sip.

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Done Since 2026-07-05

2026-07-12T09:19:50Z

Not a great week. Among other things, I missed a day of walking, and my laptop's audio has been flaky. And Colleen died five years ago today, but I'll say more about that in the next post. On the other hand, Monday was my son's 41st birthday.

On the gripping hand (and things attached thereto), I had my second shoulder PT appointment on Tuesday. No idea whether it's really helping (though I'm told that recovery takes time). I did get a new exercise to replace the one that hurts too much to do (and probably made things worse by trying).

Linkies: ELIZA wins Peabody Award | MIT CSAIL; Count Binface: The intergalactic warrior who could upend Britain's strangest election. And in other Good News! Turns Out the Earth Will [probably] Never Be Swallowed by the Sun. Maybe. Depends on the Sun's mass balance during its red giant phase. I'm not going to lose sleep over it either way.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Thankful Thursday

2026-07-09T12:33:14Z

Today I am thankful for...

Compression gloves and socks, diclofenac topical gel, and associated equipment and exercises. Now if only I could see some actual results.
Still being able to walk, at least a little. And having a physical therapist within easy walking distance.
Finally getting one of my prescriptions un-screwed-up.
A good, long video chat with my son on his birthday. NO thanks for crappy audio in Discord -- we had to switch to Zoom. Also no thanks for Zoom's UI, though most of my problems were probably due to unfamiliarity.
Electric fans; the one on my desk in particular.
The indoor/outdoor thermometer that G bought recently.

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Done Since 2026-06-28

2026-07-05T14:46:16Z

A very mixed week. Wednesday, and to a lesser extent Thursday, spent the morning in an exceptionally good mood. "Cheerful." I even upper-cased it. Tuesday was my first real PT appointment, concentrating on my shoulders. It seemed to go well, but one of the exercises seems to have made things worse, not better. Paracetamol may be helping a little, but it's hard to say. The fact that my refill for Buspirone (for both anxiety and depression) got screwed up hasn't helped at. all.

My right shoulder has deteriorated to the point where I can't lift my arm high enough to play a full-sized guitar. Plink to the rescue. And my mood has deteriorated as well -- I understand that chronic pain will do that. It may also be behind my declining interest in cooking and trouble deciding what to eat for breakfast and lunch. (G usually makes dinner, saving me the trouble of havng to decide about it.)

A lot of my reading has gone over to dead trees lately. Not sure what to make of that. Seeing a review of Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson, and going from there to her translation of the Iliad, probably had a lot to do with it. There may be some reviews in our near future. But don't hold your breath -- I'm not a very reliable blogger these days.

Linkie: Keeping the Internet Human: 25 Years of Choosing to Share - Creative Commons It's too late for you to get in on the Goodreads ebook giveaway, but ebooks of The World As it Ought To Be, by Naomi Rivkis are still on sale for $2.99 until the end of this month.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Thankful Thursday

2026-07-02T11:57:10Z

Today I am thankful for...

Feeling cheerful yesterday morning. I can't explain it. I think the effect was still present this morning, but less.
Bronx, who may have something to do with the above.
My compression gloves, which seem to be helping with my trigger fingers, and definitely protect against accidental Bronx bites. He also likes to nuzzle them. He's a good nuzzler.
Finally getting PT for my shoulders. Although I'm not sure the exercises are helping all that much yet.
Plink, my travel guitar. NO thanks for my right shoulder, which won't let me lift my arm high enough to play Flame.

NO THANKS for my body's ongoing deterioration.

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Rabbit rabbit rabbit!

2026-07-01T07:59:22Z

Welcome to July, 2026!

This one's going to be a roller-coaster for me. Wish me luck. (Details to dribble out as they happen.)

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Done Since 2026-06-21

2026-06-28T09:08:17Z

A mildly productive week for once; see the last two s4s posts. I have also gotten back to working on my memoir, also at N's suggestion. And I went for a walk every day, for the second week in a row.

I have also been somewhat busy with immigration stuff, having received a huge stack of forms to be printed out (done) and signed (today), except for the ones that need to go to our bookkeeper first.

On the gripping hand -- well, that's ironic, because one of the things I'm worried about is my hands, and in particular trigger fingers. I'm not sure it's RSI this time. Also pain in my shoulders and feet, and lower-back pain from walking (improving a little?) or standing. I have a PT appointment scheduled for Tuesday, but they say they'll only work on one thing per session. We'll see. I'm thinking the shoulders this time.

Last Sunday of course was Father's Day, and I heard from both of my kids, which made me happy for a while. But I'm worried sick about R -- neither he nor his partner can find work, and while I'm okay with paying their rent, I don't think I'll be able to pay their health insurance if Medicaid drops them. I HATE the current regime in the US.

Pundits are predicting a Democratic landslide in the midterms, but that assumes that the elections are actually fair, which the fascists are and will continue to be doing everything in their power to prevent. I'm pessimistic. Which is ~~probably~~ affecting my health as well.

Thursday Ticia came home, or at least her ashes did.

Links: The Best-Designed Town in the Netherlands (and therefore, the world) - YouTube, A Handy Guide to managing everyday activities with one hand (see Monday for more), National Heatwave Plan to be activated on 18 June | RIVM. Quite a few good links on Saturday; the best may be Dr.Seuss and the Call of Cthulhu - Adult ReadAlong.

This one is infuriating (see Saturday for title and quote), though maybe not enough for a separate post. It advocates team sports as a way of preventing depression and other mental health problems among teenagers. Correlation is not causation. I'm not sure I have the energy for the full rant today; I'll just mention the current moves to block trans kids, who are most at rist, And to say that I found middle school and high school PE particularly loathsome.

Have a good week, and stay safe in the heat. Maybe by next year the AMOC will have shut down and we'll have an ice age.

( Notes & links, as usual )

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Songs for Saturday: Unlinked

2026-06-27T12:36:15Z

So... last week's s4s post was about songs of mine that haven't been recorded. This week's post is somewhat sideways to that: I need to put links to my s4s posts into the corresponding Songs directory. Directories, since I have them in not only steve.savitzky.net, but Lookingglassfolk.com and KaleidoFolk.com.

And, while I'm at it, cross link those, and make sure that all the recorded songs (that we have rights to and have decent-enough recordings) get tracks on Bandcamp, and link those.

If I'd thought of it earlier, I'd put a list and/or a script down below under a cut, but in fact I don't have one yet. I just thought of putting this on my to-do list about half an hour ago. And writing the scripts might take a few days.

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