hello!

-i haven't blogged in some time, so will check in now. am looking at how to build a boulder retaining wall. interesting stuff! there are lots and lots of rocks and boulders around here, but i don't have a skip loader or anything like that, so need to think on it some more. railroad ties would be dramatic, but they're not common to locate. -anyways, mama gave me this computer w a larger screen, so it's nice to use tho it's old & slow. i was shocked by how many old photos are on here of us all, seeing how everyone's aged in 10-12 yrs, realizing tho i don't have my looks much anymore, i'm much more satisfied with how life is now. but man, we had some adventures! i wouldn't changed anything.

-school has resumed & i really enjoy being a kindly cornball there. i know every kid's name & walk the halls greeting & hugging, even. it feels just fine to be warm & friendly w them all. our school is the prettiest you've ever seen, an old mission-style complex nestled right beside fort tejon, with mountains and blue skies all around. every day i drag my lazy butt out of bed & get to work & then am reminded of how lucky i am. -tomorrow's a gig at malainey's with lee campbell on drums. that will be super fun! the one show w lee went really well. everyone was comfortable & happy. looking fwd to it. -last night we watched trainwreck, a doc about woodstock 99. what an aptly named picture. am reminded of a quote i read yesterday: "american life is unbounded promise and hypocrisy, faith and greed, new spectrums of joy and self-doubt, freedom enable by enslavement. all of these things at once." (my dad & curt cobain, hua hsu, new yorker aug 22 2022) & that leads to a profile of the biden family i just read in that same new yorker issue. biden sr (biden's dad) told his family little of his life, having had a history that recalled (for me) that of bill wilson: striving for fortune, hit by the depression, alcoholism, illegalities, madness, disappointment. i am moved by families blighted by addiction, like mine is, like my life has been, like james's has been. and i was moved to read biden has been sworn into office for the past 50 years using a bible that belonged to his "aunt al," the wife of his dad's best cousin. joe's mom would go pick aunt al up every day & she would sit on the left side of the couch, & then every evening, his mom drove her home. their loyalty toward aunt al remained, but the families in general by that time had called it quits. too many sad & difficult days. - in the article, a child of the cousin's family concluded, "they ended up in the white house; we ended up in the trailer park." families are complicated. i loathe some of mine, avoid others, am wary of a few, yet love & cherish many. i would lay down my life for some. that bible still means sometime to joe, & i'm not religious, but i understand. - well, this has been my boring entry. certainly lots more has happened, my trip to texas, the end of summer, stepwork, better health, but that's it for now.