Goretti and Global Madness

Yesterday morning was truly miserable weather-wise. It was cold and rainy, but thank goodness not snowy -- although one of my coworkers said she would have preferred snow to the blustery rain. We got some wind but nothing too severe. I don't know of any downed trees or other damage comparable to what Storm Goretti brought to other parts of England.

I put an extra strap of duct tape around the avocado and hoped for the best.

Tonight is supposed to be our last freezing night for a while. I think I can unwrap the avocado tomorrow and give the poor thing a week or two of fresh air, sunlight and moisture. I'll probably have to wrap it up again before winter is officially over, but coming from Florida, I find this perfectly normal winter gardening. We cover and uncover plants all the time in the American South, depending on what the weather does. Dave finds this rather mysterious and labor-intensive, but that's beause he's from Michigan, where no amount of covering will protect a plant from winter so they don't even bother.

Anyway, I did walk to work despite the weather, mostly because the Jubilee Line wasn't running. I had actually planned to take the tube but walking was forced upon me! (I could have ridden a bus but that takes ages. It's faster to walk.) On the positive side, the parent organization at the school gave us all hot chocolate when we arrived.

Bonus points to the first person who can figure out what this is!

I feel like I should be writing something about the madness engulfing the USA's current government, but I'm just not sure what to say except this is NOT normal! And Americans can't allow it to become normal. This period of aggression against our allies, violence against our own citizens and others who are legally entitled to reside in the USA, international land and resource grabs, and glorified toxic masculinity is an outlier. We just have to get through it and survive it, which is not a foregone conclusion, and then we have an opportunity to right the ship. To the government and people of Denmark and Greenland and the rest of our NATO allies, I humbly apologize as an American citizen for my country treating you so awfully. I don't think this will last forever. Just treat us like we have gone temporarily insane -- keep your distance, try to avoid our flailing limbs and ravening jaws, and try not to take too much offense at the outbursts we seem unable to control.

The thing I don't understand about Trump's rhetoric on Greenland is, America already controls it -- jointly, through NATO. We (and Europe) are already responsible for its defense, there's an American military base there, and we are in a position to negotiate the use of its natural resources as needed. What does occupying it achieve?

As for the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it reminds me of the Kent State shooting in Ohio in 1970. Harmless protesters and trigger-happy, nervous gunmen are never a good mix, and the ICE agents shouldn't be there in the first place. Who are these guys who work for ICE? Who could do that in good conscience?