Eat Eat

 Tomorrow is National Squirrel Appreciation Day. If you have a gingerbread house left from Christmas I can tell you from experience squirrels enjoy using it to sharpen their teeth. There was a planned, "Journaling in Nature" programme about squirrels scheduled at DeSoto Wildlife Refuge but now with the government shutdown, it isn't clear if it is still on or not. If you're planning to go, I'd call first in the morning. I feel terrible for the people who are going to be furloughed without pay-they have bills just like the rest of us and it is reasonable to expect your employer to pay you. Anyway, playing with people's lives for what's essentially a political pissing match is unforgivable and I hope they put a stop to this nonsense. *steps down off soapbox* Anyway, spare a thought for the squirrels tomorrow, and for all the government workers that aren't getting paid.

 I caved, and bought the shoes. It isn't every day you find squirrel shoes, you know! It is difficult to see in the photos, but their bellies have a fuzzy fabric. The knit acorns are detachable. I wore them out today and heard quite a lot of, "Oh my god that lady has squirrels on her shoes!" One woman requested a photo. I have some nice shoes, but no one has ever asked for a photo of them. These were fun, and I was pleased to be able to spread a few smiles around town. They hurt like the dickens , but they looked great. "Yeah, well they look like dinner  as far as I'm concerned." I knew such special shoes would require a nicer-than-typical dress. This wild 60's number was begging to be worn.  The dress is a shiny, textured nylon material that was popular when I was a child. I bought the dress with the original tags from Goldblatt's on it. I had to laugh at that as I wouldn't have been caught dead near Goldblatt's when I was young (it was chea...

I had written this post before the latest terror attack in the UK happened, so I wanted to point out that the whimsical tone isn't exactly syncing with my mood at the moment. To be honest, I don't know if I'm angry or sad. I'd hope it is the latter, but it is difficult as a parent to once again watch young people out living their lives being targeted for violence. I don't know why it makes a difference-murder is murder, but it seems so much crueler directed at people just starting out. I want to try and understand how hopelessness turns to murder, but I can't. I do know it isn't something inherent in an ethnicity, religion, or economic status that persuades people  to carry out these acts-and that's terrifying. We want simple explanations of the sort we get from politicians (which have become all that much simpler in both senses of the word thanks to the limitations of Twitter) so we can be reassured these actions are the behaviour of a cultural and ideo...