Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

Thoughts on An Act of God

Irreverent. Heretical. Fabulous.

Those are the first words that come to mind after seeing An Act of God at the Copley Theatre in Aurora, the latest show in their Bold series. The basic premise is that God is delivering a message directly to us, rewriting the Ten Commandments to clarify and modernize them, with the assistance of archangels Michael and Gabriel. That’s the entire cast, by the way, just those three people. God does most of the talking.

A three-person play is always going to be challenging, even with a short run time of 90 minutes. I suspect a three-person comedy where half the audience isn’t laughing is doubly so for the actors. Early on in the performance, I noticed that there were loud pockets of laughter in some parts of the small theatre (ourselves included) and other pockets of stone-faced theatregoers. At the end of the show, the artists received half a standing ovation, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before. I suspect many of the sitting half would have walked out had there been an intermission.

Live performances in particular are supposed to make you think, so hopefully those people who weren’t laughing were at least given an interesting line of thought to pursue. As to whether you should see it, I suppose that depends on how literally you interpret the Bible and whether you’re comfortable looking at it from a different perspective. Obviously, I quite enjoyed it.

A stroll down memory lane

Cover of spiralbound journal titled "Mom Share Your Life with Me: A Daily Journal of Childhood Memories"

‘Well, that’s a cute idea,’ I thought, when I spotted journals for childhood memories labelled for parents and grandparents. It’s not the first time I’ve bought something like this; I gave my father something along these lines a couple years before he passed away. I don’t believe he used it, so it’s my mother’s to fill in now. This is, however, the first time I considered buying one for myself as we were picking up two Grandma ones (same questions!) to share.

A page of the Childhood Memories journal with 4 questions (in 3 sections): What were your Halloween traditions as a child? What were your Halloween traditions when you were too old to trick or treat? Do you have one especially memorable Halloween to tell about? What was your best costume ever?

Since I bought it in September, it made sense to start at that date, rather than filling in from the beginning. Oops, I cropped the dates out when I took the photo… rest assured, the questions about Halloween are around that date, not back in January. I’ve taken to reading a question ahead, then setting the journal down to think about it for a while before answering. The questions for September are largely about school, all the way from elementary to high school, and I’ve found myself thinking about things that while not forgotten, are rarely reflected on in my current life. Oddly, it has a bit of a calming effect in what has been a chaotic year of home improvement, convention planning (huh… apparently I haven’t written about co-chairing next year’s Capricon yet), and changes at work.

Whether you find a pre-printed book, one of those online options that provide a prompt every day, or just a blank journal, consider writing down your memories to share with your family. Our lives have changed so much with the advent of household technology that our reflections on the past will be a window into how life has changed.

Sharing a friend’s podcast

In the interest of full disclosure, podcasts aren’t really my thing. I prefer to read material rather than listen to it. But when someone you’ve known for two-thirds of your life starts a podcast – with the bonus of it being an interesting subject – you listen to it.

It’s still early, two episodes in, so hop on over and listen to my friend Lya’s Memoirs of a Neurodivergent Latina. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder that there are many different paths for our brains… the way I think through things is probably not the way you do.

If you’re as excited about those two episodes as I am, check out her Patreon as well.

Well, sh…

I flushed the toilet. Well, I tried to. The flush lever was suddenly loose and not doing what it was supposed to. When I lifted the lid, expecting to find a broken or loose chain, I was surprised to see a broken plastic stick instead.

The inside of a toilet tank with a hand holding a broken stick which should be attached to the flush lever.

Oof. It was a busy work day though, and I had another bathroom, so I postponed dealing with it for a day or so. And another day when I realized I couldn’t loosen the old lever to replace it. And as long as we needed to get one thing fixed, it seemed like a good time to get my shower faucet, which drips for a bit after a shower, corrected as well. Oh, and the kitchen faucet, which no longer swivels and the rubber bit to switch to spray mode has long since melted… might as well get that replaced too.

I reached out to a handyman on a non-urgent basis about getting those fixed. And then I attempted to turn on the hall bathroom shower, which went click, turned loosely and left behind a steady drip with no way to adjust the water flow. This suddenly became more urgent, and the handyman’s schedule wasn’t opening up for a couple weeks. (He’s good, that’s why we like him, but it means everyone else does too.)

With the exception of one other project, all of this was plumbing-related, and fortunately, the company we’ve called before was able to fit me in within an hour of calling them. Whew.

Chock this one up to the joys of home ownership.

Interesting times with cats

From left to right: Arwen (in motion), Zuko (getting up), Diane (has lifted her head to see what's going on), and June (not moving, doesn't care, it is definitely nap time)

Many times, we just have to coo at how adorable the cats are, particularly in the rare instance when three or more are in the same general space. In this case, I was summoned to see three cats peacefully resting on the bed, only to have the fourth cat – Arwen in this case – jump up on the bed to join the rest. Of course, that didn’t last – Zuko immediately got up to give chase, quickly leaving just the two elder cats to their cat nap.

Arwen, who is mostly definitely on the kitchen counter where she's not allowed, lounging by the kitchen window.

And sometimes, we have to groan because the cat is both adorable and misbehaving, as is the case in this second photo, a view of the kitchen window, slightly open, from outside. Not open quite enough for Arwen to sit in the window, she decided to lounge right next to it, which means she’s hovering on a small sliver of counter next to the dish drainer. That is not generally where we want our cats hanging out, mostly for the obvious reasons of “get your butt away from our clean dishes” and “don’t put your butt where we set any dishes”.

And then there’s yesterday, which was more of a “how in the world did you…” moment and did not involve a photo. In the early mornings, before work, I typically let the cats play in the garage. I was doing something in the living room when I heard a strange thumping from the garage (through the shared wall), so I looped through the kitchen to see what was going on. Zuko dashed out from behind the dryer as I arrived, but I couldn’t see Arwen. I could hear her though, from somewhere near the dryer. Somehow the laundry basket that was on the dryer had gotten knocked off to rest in the corner between the dryer and the freezer. Upside down. With Arwen under it. I have no idea how they managed that. (Obviously, I freed her immediately. Didn’t even grab my camera.)

Taking the week off…

Picture Kermit the Frog flailing his arms wildly about. That’s how my week has felt, between work (somehow more hectic with Monday having been a holiday), medical appointments (physical therapy sessions for osteoarthritis in both knees), and trying to pick all these tomatoes (two for the bowl, one for the mouth…) before they go bad.

A large strainer filled with bite-sized tomatoes, a good selection of yellow and red.

So I’m taking the week off, at least in terms of meaningful content. I need to blend the tomato soup now. (Quick recipe: 2 cups of bite-sized tomatoes, 1/2 a sauteed large onion, 2 small sweet peppers, a handful of thyme, single sage leaf, some minced garlic, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a handful of cashews, left in the slow cooker all day with a carton of vegetable broth.)

My Thoughts on Politics

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m following the upcoming United States presidential election with great interest. I commented on the Republican candidate during the last election cycle, which thankfully he lost. That said, poetry is not my usual medium, so it was a bit of a surprise Saturday morning when this got stuck in my brain and insisted on being written.

The energy is good, the message is better:
we must save our democracy together. 
Talk to your neighbor, talk to your friends, 
let it not be how this government ends. 

We will not go quietly into the night
while those men, mostly white, cancel our rights.
Forty-some years of these trickle-down tricks
have made the rich even richer and the middle class sick.

When the middle class struggles, the country does too.
Watch your officials, see what they do.
If they try to divide us with a message of hate - 
stop and think, how does that really make America great?  

Do they want you to vote or want you to hide?
Are you too different from them, so not on their side?
Or do they truly believe that each voice should matter?
I can’t choose the former, thus I must choose the latter. 

Every person that chooses to call the United States “mine”
must now make a choice, they must draw that line.
If you value each person for their friendly face,
regardless of religion, gender, or race,
Harris and Walz are the choice you must make,
for your brother, your sister, for everyone’s sake.

This was followed by posting a recording of it to TikTok on Sunday.

Check your voter registration, check your early voting dates (where applicable), and research the candidates before our November 5th deadline. While this poem is specifically about the presidential race, your local races are equally, if not more, important.

Traveling with a giraffe

When our dear friend Marinda travelled, she took her plush giraffe, Russell, with her. When she passed away, she had booked a Christmas-time cruise with her partner and had already purchased a membership to this year’s WorldCon, hosted in Glasgow. Russell collected several bracelets (necklaces for a smallish plush) during the cruise Marinda missed, and filled almost a page of his plush passport when he travelled with Cassandra and me to Glasgow’s WorldCon. These are some of the photos capturing his adventure in the UK.

The plush trio on the way to the Heath Robinson Museum: Menta (a bear), Francis (a macaw), and Russell (a giraffe).
The plush trio exploring the Heath Robinson Museum: Menta (a bear), Francis (a macaw), and Russell (a giraffe).
Russell (a giraffe) sitting on a wooden chair as several plush (owned by the Story Museum) sit on log pillows watching him. Well, except the wolf, he’s looking at the alligator.
Russell (a giraffe) by a thought bubble that reads “No-one must know… no-one must ever suspect… my shocking secret!”
Russell (a giraffe) hangs on the lampost in the Narnia story room at the Story Museum.
Russell (a giraffe) on a replicate Iron Throne (Game of Thrones) in an Oxford shop.
Russell (a giraffe) near a full-sized giraffe at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.
Russell (a giraffe) near the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland.
Russell (a giraffe) near the Kelpies in Scotland.
Russell (a giraffe) watches the Opening Ceremonies of Glasgow’s 2024 WorldCon.
Russell (a giraffe) watches the Hugos awards ceremony on a phone.
Russell’s passport page with his adventures from this trip recorded.

If you’re wondering about the blue bag that Russell appears in most of the time, that’s his crocheted travel pouch, which includes an inside pocket for his passport.

Garden update: summer 2024

This gardening season has been… strange. You may recall I started the season with sixteen eggplant seedlings. We have no eggplants. Early summer saw an unusually high number of rabbits in our garden; I’m guessing they enjoyed the seedlings. That or the burst of exceedingly warm weather around the same time, followed by a temperature drop, and fairly sparse rain throughout the season killed them off. Given those choices, I’d prefer if the rabbits ate them.

A sunflower plant past the flowering stage surrounded by the lush green of tomato, cucumber, and pumpkin plants.

Fortunately, some of our other plants thrived. Not surprisingly, we have tomatoes again – all volunteers from seeds dropped in previous years – along with small pumpkins (a volunteer from the composter in the keyhole bed), and three varieties of cucumbers that I planted. The strangest of those are the lemon cucumbers, a round yellow variety that have a delightful crunch to them.

A mix of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from an early harvest. Two of the oblong cucumbers are a mix of orange and green, just barely overripe, while the others are green. The one round lemon cucumber is yellow, just ripe.

This was our first sizable harvest, a few days before we left on a trip to England and Scotland. Cucumbers, like other plants in the squash family, have a tendency to spread their vines under (or over!) other plants, resulting in what I refer to as stealth fruit, which are ones I don’t find until they’re either larger than usual or otherwise overripe. The two cucumbers pictured above with yellowing (orange-ing?) skin are examples of stealth fruit. We made an effort to finish our early harvest before leaving on vacation, knowing that we would likely be coming home to more ripened fruit.

A basket of cucumbers. All of them have yellow or orange skin indicating that they are overripe. Most of the cucumbers are round, about the size of a tennis ball.

We were not wrong. There are a handful of green, of varying shades, cucumbers on the vine; we picked every one that looked ripe or overripe, including a couple lemon cucumbers that had been partially eaten. The eaten ones were left in a garden bed, so someone can finish eating them or the seeds can have a chance of germinating next year. We did find that the skin becomes less edible at this stage, so the lemon cucumbers will likely be peeled before eating. Unfortunately, it didn’t rain much while we were away, so many of the cucumber vines have dried out, which means they’re not likely to produce more flowers or fruit.

A collection of bite-sized tomatoes. Most are red, a mix of round and pear-shaped, with a round yellow tomato sitting in the center.

Of course, we also have an abundance of tomatoes! Amongst the traditional red cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, I found the occasional batch of yellow cherry and red pear, a consequence of growing the two varieties side by side for so many years. We have the usual sprawl of tomato plants, refusing to be contained in their beds and cages, so I expect we’ll miss some during the harvest process and have volunteers again next year. Fortunately, the rain has arrived, which should keep the tomato plants happy for the next few weeks. At some break in the rain, we need to harvest raspberries and strawberries too.

Thoughts on Peter and the Starcatcher at the Copley Theatre

If the title Peter and the Starcatcher brings to mind Peter Pan, you are on the right track. This was my second time seeing it, and while I recall enjoying it the first time, I didn’t recall just how… Ren Faire it was. Or maybe that’s just the Paramount’s presentation, with ladders on the stage, model ships representing The Wasp and The Neverland, and a general air of snarkiness from the characters. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, it’s based on a book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, so maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I first saw it nearly a decade ago.

Peter and the Starcatcher is a prequel to the classic Peter Pan, exploring how Peter came to Neverland and received both parts of his name. He teams up with Molly when pirates – lead by Captain Black Stache – seize The Wasp, the ship her father is sailing on with a bounty of “starstuff” to dispose of for the Queen. Except the captain of the Neverland switched the trunks, so the starstuff, which grants some magical abilities, is actually on Molly’s ship, and when both ships face off in a storm, the Neverland’s wreck and leaking starstuff result in magical hijinks.

This is a delightful story and a truly enchanting performance. Be prepared to laugh for an extended period.