Thank you for all the kind comments on my Scottish trips last month and my Hallowe'en witch outfit. Gender euphoria is something that cisgender people (likely) don't experience but when you approach life as the gender you feel, and others accept that, then the feeling is as exhilarating yet peacegiving as it's possible to know.
I have a few days out planned for the end of this month, too. I mean, who doesn't like feeling good? And looking good is a bonus!
Allies
We've lost many wonderful cis allies from the world of entertainment recently. Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, and now Patrick Stewart, a very keen supporter of the LGBTQ community to the point where he was often taken as gay, which he said was something of an honour. Sometimes being an honorary member of a club is greater than just being a plain old member. Rest in peace, Sir P, and many grateful thanks for your public support.
Change
Last month Hungary abolished the transphobic policies of the previous government. Serbia changed its corrupt, macho (and of course transphobic) regime to one more geared to younger people. Voters in the USA seem have ignored the transphobic culture war funded with hundreds of millions of dollars and voted against that sort of distracting tactic. I have maintained for years on this site that the general public across the world has much more immediate worries than hating on a few trans people trying to get on with life. Indeed the hostility of governments against their people in recent years seems to be being pushed back on in real an effective ways.
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| The winds of change across the world? |
Melody time
Last month I was worried about redundant technology and the fact my walkman stopped working properly resulted in a lot of comments on that. I have managed to get a very Eighties-looking CD/cassette player that also has a USB port so I can play my cassettes again and it might be an idea to transfer them to ephemeral digital media. How long such media might last in their turn is anyone's guess. Thanks for all your thoughts and comments on that.
Harvest time
It's late autumn now, it's cooler and it's rained at long last after a very long, very dry summer. I'm so glad I invested in cactuses and succulents this year as they've really thriven in the heat. And I've seen a lot of delicate flowers on many of them.
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| Tiny delicate lithops flower after rain |
My little potted olive tree, Arnold the Olive, is five years old now and is growing into a big bush. He has a crop of olives that I've been harvesting, debittering and now tasting. Debittering mainly involves steeping olives in water, which is changed twice daily for a fortnight. This removes the worst of the bitter taste. Some of the ones left after this are not bad. It'll be a while before I'll be selling jars of cocktail olives but I'm getting there. I'm certainly proud of having brought my baby tree thus far.
Hettie Hopper, my resident Italian locust was last seen in August which is when adults lay eggs and then pass on. Adults have a life expectancy of merely three months. Thank you, dear Hettie, for honouring me with your cheerful bouncy presence this summer. If Hettie has laid eggs, will I have a biblical plague on my hands next year? I guess that would make up for the lack of frogs after all this drought!
Have a nice weekend.
Sue x
