We're coming down to the last of our seasonal leaves -- the hazel in the garden is bright yellow, its leaves fluttering down like butterflies, and the Japanese maple is almost completely bare, as is the walnut. When I took Olga to Fortune Green yesterday the ground was carpeted by the plane trees and the limes.
It's been a particularly golden fall. Yesterday morning, looking out at the garden, Dave said, "I don't remember there being so much yellow last year." Whether it's really different or we've simply forgotten is anyone's guess.
Olga had a little visit with the vet yesterday morning. We discovered two more lumps up near her shoulders -- small ones, but deeper than the superficial ones we recently had removed from her hind legs. The doctor felt them but said they're so small he's not sure he could even biopsy them, and given that Olga's last lumps were benign, he feels it's likely that these are too. We're going to just watch them and see if they get much bigger. I was worried they were lymphatic tumors of some kind, but the doc said he thinks they're just lipomas (fatty deposits). Why do we have such a lumpy dog?!
After the vet Olga and I had a nice walk through Cricklewood. Then we came home and I finished my Derek Jarman book. There's apparently another volume, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that -- it covers the years just before he died, and I feel certain it would be full of medical struggle.
On Friday night I went out to a bar in Soho with some colleagues -- a great place with a courtyard, perfect for an autumn evening. It's ostensibly an LGBTQ establishment, but either my gaydar is completely on the fritz or a lot of people there were pretty mainstream. Which doesn't mean they're not gay, I suppose, but one of the peculiarities of our sexually flexible and gender-fluid society is that gay seems much less distinct.
Anyway, after a few drinks, a friend and I peeled off and went to a gay pub nearby and joined the crowd on the sidewalk outside. We were talking about Trump when a British guy joined the conversation, and we were all complaining about the political state of things until the British guy got on a riff about convict labor in the USA and celebrities hiring private firefighters in Malibu. My friend, who's from California and who was also quite drunk, took umbrage -- I think he felt the British guy was mischaracterizing his home state and ignoring the travails of the common man. He got quite bristly and I was thinking, "Holy sh*t, we're going to be in a bar fight! In a gay bar!" The British guy -- who really had said and done nothing wrong -- moved away and I got us out of there and headed for home. Crisis averted!
a few drinks will do that to a person...crazy as it is.Taking umbrage about that sort of silly thing, maybe it was the British guy's perfume. Loving the gender fluidity and acceptance of it here! Very comfortable, finally! Gender fluid all over the place!
ReplyDeleteI have said to several friends that I think the trees are much more yellow this year.
ReplyDeleteMy schnauzer has several little lumps on him.... He had one removed a while ago....just a Cyst they said, it will possibly come back, and it has.....just small pea size! They do worry us though don't they, these beloved dogs!
Trump seems to be like marmite, some love him, some hate him, I try not to talk about him to anyone other than Tom, safer that way, lol
ReplyDeletePleased that the lumps are okay, our pets are such a worry to us.
Briony
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It has been a lovely autumn hasn't it? Extended by sunny, mild days with hardly a hint of frost. I hate it when complete strangers butt into conversations without being invited. I would have given that fellow the same treatment that I gave to Trump in my Miami Beach fantasy.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful photo of Olga, I love some of the terms you used in this post , bar fight avoided is always a good thing, I hope someday we will all say we have no idea if a person is gay or not and is rightly none of our business, no one should be judged on sexual preference, our dog had many lumps as well, we paid a force each to have one removed and biopsy done only to confirm the vets diagnoses, but I felt better, he lived to a ripe old age of 17 with lumps bumps and all, I completely understand when you said you weren’t sure if you were ready to finish that book series, I have been there a few times my self, we can save ourselves the discomfort or delay until ready the discomfort of how the story played out, life is messy sometimes and as a reader we can choose the pace we want to face it, on paper anyway, does that make sense, lol probably not,,
ReplyDeleteWhen our old girl Pearl died at the age of fifteen, she was quite lumpy. Just part of it for dogs and for humans too, sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI loved the part when you thought you were going to be in a bar fight...in a GAY bar! I am so glad you weren't. Perhaps it was one of those situations where you can talk smack about your family all you want but no one else better try it. Although it's hard to defend convict labor and/or celebrities hiring their own firefighters.
A few drinks and strangers barging in on conversations can make for interesting interactions. I'm glad you got out of there without a bar fight. Oy. The fall there looks like it has been so beautiful. My favorite season.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the leaves and stay out of those bar fights!
ReplyDeleteThat carpet of yellow leaves reminds me of when I visited London in November of 2013. It seemed like the quieter streets were covered with yellow just like your photo.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you avoided the bar fight. It seems they are getting easier and easier to ignite these days. Last season a new woman joined our little theatre group picking up the ticket of one who dropped out of the group when she moved. The only problem is, this woman is one of the blind-to-the-facts Republicans. You know, the kind that blindly follows whatever the party espouses. We try to steer conversations away from politics on Theatre night but last Sunday after the play, she blurted out a lot of stupid things and it turned into a shouting match. At which point I got up and said it was time to go. Why do these people try to pick a fight in a room full of liberals?
I keep waiting for the gingkos to turn yellow since our below freezing nights a week ago but so far they haven't. my sister's dog has those fatty lumps too. and you made me laugh out loud about the possibility of having a bar fight. I love gender fluidity or rather I love letting people be who they are/want to be and loving whoever they want. one more reason I disdain the Abrahamic religions with their sexual rigidity. and I didn't even know that there were private firefighters you could hire! I also read that convicts being used to fight fires won't get them a job as a firefighter when they have served their time. that is so wrong.
ReplyDeleteYour photo of Olga on that beautiful carpet of leaves is a calendar shot!
ReplyDeleteThe leaves here were much more golden than usual, too, and they lasted longer than usual as well. It was a really beautiful fall season. Now they're all gone and we have snow on the ground; seems too soon but there's nothing to be done about that!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Olga's lumps and bumps are just part of her. People can have that, too. Fatty lipomas are relatively common, I think.
You did good to get your friend out of that situation before something painful happened :)
I've seen fights at Gay bars. Not pretty. True story: I was searching for a friend, thought he might be in a SF leather bar; I went in and asked around; the dudes were not friendly or happy to see me there. Finally, a guy walked up behind me and said, "No broads allowed." Ouch. I got outta there pronto! Never woulda happened in my local lesbo bar. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo of Olga in the Leaves.
You’re a bringer of peace, Steve, good for you. Interesting thought that your gaydar may need fine tuning for these times.
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