CHAPTER DCXXVI

A GOOD-HUMOURED MIDSUMMER CHAPTER, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF A SOLSTICE, AND SOME OTHER NATURAL AND CULTURAL PHENOMENA: WHICH ALTHOUGH IN THEIR WAY ARE NOT QUITE SO FAITFULLY OBSERVED IN THESE DIGITAL TIMES

As brisk as bees, if not altogether as light as butterflies, will the Parker clan assemble on the eve of the twenty-first day of June, in the year of grace in which their familial adventures will be undertaken and accomplished. Midsummer is close at hand, in all her bloom and leafy beauty; it is the season of hospitality, merrymaking, and kinship; the year is preparing, like an ancient goddess, to call this family together, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to mark the longest of days. Festive and joyful is the time; and right festive and joyful are the hearts that are gladdened by its coming.

And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Midsummer brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of affinity and mutual merriment, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight; and one so incompatible with the horrors and sorrows of the world, that religious beliefs and atheistic attitudes alike number it among the unique joys of human existence, provided for the blessed and happy!

How many old recollections, and how many dormant relationships, does Midsummer awaken. Happy, happy Midsummer, that can take us back to the land of our childhood; that can recall to the aging woman the pleasures of her youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, hundreds of miles away, back to her own clan, hearth and home!

Like you'll never see me again

Temperature: a sunny 17.5/63.5. May has been the perfect mix of sunshine and spring showers and everything is a fresh, lush green.

Eating: from Nigella Summer.

Drinking: the first batch of rhubarb juice any day now.

Listening: to our resident cuckoo vocalizing away. Have never seen him, only heard his calls.

Watching: out for those pesky roe deer wreaking havoc in the garden. What a menace you've become. Shoo, there's nothing for you here!

Reading: Haven't taken this one out for a while, don't know why, it's a pleasure and a treasure.

Writing: to wish you a happy Spring Bank Holiday, and Memorial Day!

Thinking: How are you faring, sweetie darlings? Hanging in there? Steel wire rope or shoestring? A bare thread situation? I'm at the equal intersection of oh-wow-spring-how-wonderful and there's-something-heavy-in-the-air-though and wtf-wtf-wtaf and deep-breaths-no-sudden-moves-just-keep-taking-deep-breaths. It's going to be all right, right? Right?

Feeling: Oh gods, I need a hug. Anybody wanna hug? I gotta warn you, I dive in, like really in there, so if squished-breasts-in-chest is not your thing, steer clear. *cheeky grin* (Oh, I know when and where not to, promise. But between friends? Consider yourself well and truly embraced.)

Tell me something good

Something. Anything.

I just learned my oldest cousin has died. Not old old. In his fifties.

Cancer. Fucking cancer.

Little wonders

If I've featured these tilt-shift, time-lapse plums by Berlin-based filmmaker Joerg Daibe in the past, it's time for an encore in the present because there are new episodes to marvel at!

This is our world, sweetie darlings, yours and mine, to enjoy and explore, to cherish and protect.

Happy Earth Day, wherever you are. 🌍🌏🌎

🪺

Temperature: a cloudy 12.5/54.5 degrees. We had some really warm days in March, like 19/66 degrees warm, which is the abnormal new normal for spring. (We also had the earliest forest fire alerts ever.)

Eating: rice and tuna salad.

Drinking: Yikes, it's time to get this year's Valborg mead going!

Listening: to the Eurovision 2025 hopefuls yet? You have one month to pick a favorite. Finland is tickled to have doubled their chances with force of nature Erika Vikman, and KAJ, Sweden's finlandssvensk sweethearts. And kudos to Sweden for finally daring to vote for something a bit silly and a lot of fun; they'll be the first to admit they have taken Eurovision and themselves far too seriously in the past.   

Watching: spring progress.

Reading: A Sociedade dos Sonhadores Involuntários by José Eduardo Agualusa. (Available in English.)

Writing: friends and family all week asking about their Easter/Passover/weekend plans. What are you doing, sweetie darlings?

Thinking: some rather unprintable thoughts. Let's talk about it some other time, when I'm not this...incensed.

Feeling: much better, health-wise. This year's flu shot didn't quite hit the mark; still, this bout was so much milder than the last one in...2014?

There's the sweetest spring at my door

And I'm down for the count, bedridden with the flu.

Be well, sweetie darlings, wherever you are. 🤒

Play dangerous games, win dangerous prizes

Temperature: a sunny 5/41 degrees. Where is that Föhn wind we were promised?

Eating: What would go well with some Irish stout? I know, it makes food redundant, but still.

Drinking: see above. Happy St. Paddy's!

Listening: to Trump's regime align with Putin's Russia makes you wonder what the Kremlin has on him. Is it about money and/or other favors owed? Something thoroughly, utterly humiliating? We all know The Donald, like his fellow autocrats, will not be laughed at. Imagine if the fate of Ukraine lies in the hands of a man whose greatest fear is not the destruction of American democracy or the dismantling of decades-old alliances but public, no-coming-back-from-that humiliation. Or is it just a case of sociopath recognizing sociopath? Expansive, extractive, exploitative cronyism?

Watching: In between shows, actually, because of the carnaval break. Any suggestions? (White Lotus is already on my list, and screw you, Max, for the glacial speed.)

Reading: something that'll put me out of work.

Writing: something equaling an attempt to hold onto said work. Decades of studying, honing craft, working, experience, and unique skills turning meaningless and worthless at breakneck speed. Time to go all-out Moomin, then, just plant potatoes and dream? People will always need potatoes, and creatives their vivid minds. Glad and sad I'm not alone, but we do support one another; maybe we'll even start something new together. We've talked about pivoting, all those parallel and possible careers. There's something there, don't you think? This is our cue, I think.

Thinking: please don't let Trump meet with/talk to Putin, or Rubio with/to Lavrov, without adult supervision. No, really.

Feeling: Trump is doing Putin's work for him, at home and abroad, and I don't know which is worse: that he does not understand who he's dealing with and what will follow, or that he's too greedy and corrupt to care.

Bora galera!

You can tell a lot about a person, any entity really, by the company they keep, who and what they associate, sympathize, and align with.

When faced with someone or something vulnerable or weak, a normal person feels the urge to help and protect. A sociopath, on the other hand, sees an opportunity to take advantage and abuse. So here we are, having to deal with sociopaths intent on making colonialism and imperialism great again while blaming and punishing the victims of their hatred and aggression.

What they want shouldn't even factor, because they want everything they can possibly get and believe it's theirs to take, forcibly if need be, and if someone gets hurt, well, that's what you get for being vulnerable or weak. It's up to the rest of us to say no, to say stop, to keep reminding the world that fascists and far-right ideas are the losers of history. Every time, everywhere. It's not and never was common sense, it's just the violent suppression of dissent, freedom and rights.

What a time to be alive, dearest denizens, and what a time to celebrate carnaval. Then again, carnival carries the spirit of rebellion and subversion, so maybe it is the appropriate, sane response to insane times.

Off to oppose, sweetie darlings.🎉 See you in March!

Dança comigo?

Four weeks from now, dearest denizens, carnaval will be in full swing, so start stretching those hips! And hamstrings. Glutes, calves, your back and neck... We've talked about this; you'll get a full-body workout, all in the name of good fun and great music.

Four weeks from now, sweetie darlings, I'll have switched winter for summer. No carnaval in Salvador without Ivete these days, so let's pay her a visit at Farol da Barra, the Barra Lighthouse, not far from where we used to live, and join the warm-up party. Let's go! 🥁

 

Cheer up, the worst is yet to come!

TGIF, sweetie darlings, how is everyone holding up in this grave new world of ours? Yes, I'm referring to him, and that one nation under Don, and the Lord of the Flies guys. (I'll explain in a bit.) No man should have that much power. At least you shouldn't give it to someone so self-serving, so undeserving. His mob-boss-like antics work against him, though. Overreaching and/or going all-out un-American will backfire. But first he'll have to double down on the lies to keep people eating his bullshit like it's chocolate mousse. That'll just make everything worse; the lying, the gaslighting, the total demonization of anyone working and speaking against them. Insulating their base is what they need to keep doing, and that'll just make everything worse; the confrontation, the hatred, the vitriol.

And now we're headed to an even more fact-free Facebook, and possibly both the platform previously known as Twitter and currently known as Shitter and TikTok falling into the greasy palms of a Lord of the Flies. (I'll explain in a bit.) That'll just make everything worse; the bot armies and other propaganda machines, the trolling and harassment, the disinformation and miscellaneous calculated distractions. Millions upon millions follow these liars on social media. That's their reality, but you don't have to defer to it or be colonized by it, you can reject it, always. Tens of millions voted for him, tens of millions didn't. Remember that. He got elected on lies, fears, gaslighting and disinformation, but he'll have to govern in the real world where we shouldn't inflate his influence or give him more power than he actually has; reach and clout works both ways.

So just do your own thing, keep living in the real world where hundreds upon hundreds of millions don't share those views or worldview, don't believe the lies being told or approve the policies being introduced. Reject the reality and future they offer, if it's not to your liking, and substitute your own. Go in search of safer and saner communities, alternative social media platforms and ways of communicating. Focus on productive groups and forums that are interested in more than barking and snarling and foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs; and right-wing rabies is all the rage, on X in particular. Don't validate them by participating. Going on those platforms expecting civility is like going to a rodeo expecting to see dressage.

If you insist on staying on, think of the trolls and extremists as deer flies: a nuisance for sure, but in the grand scheme of things, on a global scale, just a bunch of angry buzzing. Loud and abundant if all you are counting or looking for is flies, but easy enough to shield yourself against. Don't worry too much about having to deal with him, with them, those platforms, all of it. Turn the thought around: They will have to deal with us, and we are legion, after all.

Dogs, horses, flies...good god, woman, these are people, fellow humans! Yes, they are, aren't they, adults who should know better than to trust someone who has already shown them, repeatedly, who he is and what he stands for, so please do not plead ignorance when he betrays you. The algorithms made you do it? They try, and you should know better than to trust something that has already shown you, repeatedly, what it is and what it does, so please do not plead ignorance when it makes you angry, leaves you feeling agitated even while you're offline, or you end up radicalized in some way. You are not obligated to participate. There's no law that says you must. It's your life, your precious time, a competition for your attention, certainly, but you still get to choose where you direct it and how you conduct yourself, online and off.

Hold the line, Maria Ressa would say. Do not obey in advance, Timothy Snyder would say. Strength in numbers is on our side, I say. It doesn't have to be this way.

On the twelfth day of Christmas real life gave to me

Twelve baubles shining,
Eleventh hour cleaning,
Ten feet of cords,
Nine kind words,
Eight people calling,
Seven hours cooking,
Six hours baking,
Five different playlists,
Four aperós,
Three fir wreaths,
Two paramedics,
And a smile from baby D!