When AI takes over the world:
And that is often very difficult to do.
Unrelated note: I received a box from Jettie yesterday. It made me cry. I haven’t opened it yet because Jettie wrote in big letters in her impeccable handwriting “OPEN DECEMBER 1”. I’ve no idea why but I will honor her request. I hope it contains another handmade Blue Dog Christmas ornament. Prized before but now cherished.
Bless Kubla for mailing all of Jettie’s Christmas cards and packages. Wishing all a very good Sunday.
What the heck, we just got Trump elected, that’s enough for one week. But feel free to be an overachiever if you’d like
Ah, my heart is made heavy by the loss of our Jettie. To call our Blue Dog unique is an understatement. She was a one of a kind firebrand of good humor, honesty, justice and generosity with a healthy disregard for authority. And by healthy I mean she had none.
Sure, she could be prickly if you inadvertently hit one of her hot buttons but she calmed down as quickly as she went off. With nary a disingenuous bone in her body you always knew where she stood.
A true independent product of Alberta’s prairies she could have been a cowgirl. Instead she followed her dreams all over the world with career stops in New York, London, Thailand and who knows where else. Yet ultimately the prairie girl was lured home where she made it her job to harass the local bureaucrats.
We’ll all continue to benefit from her contributions to our vocabulary. While she didn’t invent them all she did introduce them to our collective blog-speak: plonk, fur mops, the infamous “fek” and hence “Justi-fek” and a lot more that I forget.
Her mailbombs were legendary and guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of the recipient. I was a frequent recipient of her thoughtful packages and cards. Here’s a birthday card she sent one year that still makes me laugh whenever I run across it. It’s just so Jettie:
I have mementoes from her both here and in Park City: beer mats, Iditarod paraphernalia, refrigerator magnets and most recently all purpose hand knitted potholders/cleanup mops. Not to mention the handmade Blue Dog Christmas ornaments which are magnificent and will always be cherished.
One year I got a birthday package containing canned salmon (which she thoughtfully translated into American ounces), Canadian dried dill and Jettie-grown dried parsley (for the sauce that goes with salmon patties), maple syrup, almond nougat and many other goodies.
This year’s package contained Japanese sweets and Canadian Cheezies, far superior to Cheetos.
So here’s to Jettie: one of a kind, kind-hearted and genuine. Her spirit burned bright, sometimes hot,but always lit our lives making them a little bit better for it. You will never be forgotten.
I think Betty Anne’s description was perfect:
A woman without guile, generous and loving, soulful and truthful and without compare. She lived her life without flinching, fierce as a lioness, gentle as a lamb to those she loved. She was the meter, the weight and measure of truthfulness and honesty. She's with Jesus now!
Having a bit of a rough week so you kids just go outside and play.
And while you’re at it maybe provide captions for the above photos. I’m pretty sure the first one has something to do with Elon Musk and the second with Donald Trump. Your thoughts?
These were waiting for me on Friday when I got home from my daily radiation treatment,
with a note saying “Fight, Fight, Fight! Love, the MOTI.” And I will. I can feel the love and encouragement that accompanies the floral arrangement and appreciate it more than you can know.
I’ve not done the colors justice as they are deep, vibrant crimson and royal purple. Absolutely gorgeous!A wonderful surprise and delight to the end of a long week. Thank you, all, for brightening our weekend and helping me get ready for next week. Thanks is hardly adequate for such a thoughtful and delightful gift.
Fall is slipping by all too fast but by all accounts it’s supposed to be mostly sunny and unseasonably warm around here all next week. Wishing you all equally fair weather and a wonderful week. Shore up your strength for election day, we’re likely to need it.
A Covid lesson
Like Marxism, stage 4 cancer is evil and never completely goes away. It lurks beneath the radar until such time as it raises its ugly head again and we must fight it, again. And so it goes. My last scan showed tumor growth in the esophagus which calls for another round of radiation beginning next week (if the techs don’t hold a walkout as they have threatened, but that’s another story). Of course there will be side effects including nausea and fatigue, two of my constant companions already so I’m well acquainted and can cope. I fear it’s worse for Raj. As many of you know only too well, being the caregiver is as difficult as being the patient. You sometimes feel helpless as you don’t have the power to “fix” things, something that real men are naturally inclined to do. I feel guilty because there’s so little I can do and Raj is left to handle just about everything. To say I’m lucky to have such a loving and helpful partner is a gross understatement. As I’ve said before, I don’t know what I’d do without him.
And so we soldier on; Raj keeps my spirits up and makes me laugh. I’ve learned to be grateful for the smallest gifts we receive each day. Life is very different now – I used to hike and ski, now I need a walker and my gait is unsteady and my pace is slow. Still, I’m standing, and very grateful to God for that as well as a good number of other things.
My Norway maple is turning gold, my Sunset maple is turning crimson and my neighbor’s maple is turning very orange. Despite a very dry end of summer it looks as if we’re going to have a glorious fall after all. May we all enjoy the glorious, deal with the inglorious and revel in the messy business of living.
Speaking of the glorious: my sister-in-law took these pictures of the Northern lights from her farm in mid-Michigan two nights ago
Maybe not so impressive to those in the Aurora Borealis belt, but stunning to us Mid-westerners.
Raj and I are celebrating our 52nd anniversary today and feel lucky to be doing so. May everyone enjoy a quiet, peaceful day filled with loved ones, either in person or in memories.
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