Fireworks

Bailey and I discovered this mural yesterday, tucked into a corner of a housing estate near Kilburn. It's kind of cool but also kind of creepy. Purple, mottled skin is a little off-putting, not to mention the blue eyeballs, though that's probably supposed to be eye shadow. The whole thing is very "RuPaul's Drag Race."

I worked more in the garden yesterday morning, raking up debris from our tree-pruning experience last month. It's remarkable how many stray sticks and branches are still out there. I'm not a super-tidy gardener but I don't want too much mess. I filled two yard-waste bags, and we already had an extra one full from last week, so we now have our quota -- after they're collected on Tuesday I can do more. I wish I could just rake it all into a big pile and light it on fire like we used to do in Florida, but I'm sure that must be illegal here. (It's unthinkable in any case.)

Many of our neighbors still have their jack-o-lanterns out. This one is pretty amusing -- and quite meticulously carved. I wondered if they'd made this up on their own, but no -- it's a Disney-sanctioned pattern, known as the "Cheshire Cat." Still, they did a good job! Looks like they messed up the right eyebrow, but that's minor.

Considering I didn't even attempt a pumpkin, and haven't for years, I can hardly be critical. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, or something like that.

Last night we got a surprise when a barrage of fireworks began going off across the street. I think they were associated with one of the athletic clubs -- there's a tennis club and a cricket club over there. Probably if I were better plugged in to social media I'd know whose they were. Anyway, I went out in the garden to try to see them (see video) but Mrs. Kravitz's house was in the way, so then I stepped out onto the front porch and got a better view. These were much more intense than anything we experienced the night before, but once again, Bailey didn't seem put off. She barked, but she wasn't fearful.

I see from my right-wing "news" source that some extremists are already peddling the fiction that the American election was stolen. They're trying to cast doubt on the numbers -- for example, they ask how so many more Texans could have voted for Talarico than for Kamala Harris in 2024. (Here's an explainer from a legitimate newspaper.) It doesn't seem inconceivable to me that voters might like Talarico more than Harris; also, a different mix of voters shows up from one election to another. They're also questioning why all the statewide California races broke roughly 53-to-46 percent in favor of Democrats.

So in other words, if results aren't consistent, people must have cheated. But also, if results are consistent, people must have cheated!

Honestly, I shouldn't even be amplifying their absurd claims. Democrats were highly motivated to turn out in these midterms, and Republicans weren't.

And now we have Susie Wiles out (because she's a woman and thus expendable in Trump's White House) and the awful Stephen Miller being elevated. Clearly Trump did not absorb the message of the voters.