This car has a lot to say:
I think it was in the Whole Foods parking lot, which kind of tracks. My attention was grabbed by the Jesus sticker, on account of it being directed at all the evangelical Christian white nationalists who apparently stopped reading the Bible at Malachi (and then somehow unaccountably picked up again at Revelation).
But—given the attention to running, I thought it especially
appropriate that the vehicle is a Honda FIT.
©2026 Bas Bleu
Okay, I’m not saying that there’s a movement afoot, but I found a second sign for a jumped-up townhouse development in The People’s Republic defaced. And in pretty much the same way that the first one was:
I don’t think the developers much care, so I’d be surprised
if they replace the signs. I mean—by the time they notice, they’ll have sold
all the units and be moving on to their next cookie-cutter “luxury” project.
Still—I kinda admire the commitment of the graffiti artists.
©2026 Bas Bleu
A small gratitude today.
A small gratitude named Champagne.
I’ve been having some issues with inflammation across what
I refer to as the hip delivery system; diagnosed as arthritis and bursitis, it’s
literally a pain in the ass. It turns out that any movement you want to make
with any part of your body passes somehow through the hips/butt, and you don’t
notice it until it’s painful. Also—your body starts to conform to misalignment
in order to reduce pain, and trying to reconfigure the muscles to where you
should be is also painful.
So I’ve struggled with my morning walks. Saturday was the
first time in a few days that I did the circuit, and I was worried that—even after
a couple of weeks of PT—I’d have repercussions. I was just about 75%
through it when I spotted this guy dancing through the parking lot of a
micropark:
Yes, that’s Champagne. Seems like some dogs wear Halloween
costumes; Champagne lives the costume.
But he also has the personality behind the coloration—bright,
happy, friendly. There were many scritches and a few kisses, which made the
entire walk worthwhile. No walk, no Champagne.
And that’s today’s gratitude.
©2026 Bas Bleu
So, one standout from this week down the rabbit hole is the Kleptocrat announcing that—along with higher prices on everything—having Iran take out San Diego and Los Angeles would be “a small price to pay”.
I don’t hold with trying to sort out meaning from the
elided and jumpy word salads that shambling orange carcass spews out, but I
think the object for which the destruction of two large coastal cities that
reliably vote Democrat is Iran not having a nuclear weapon, since that’s the pole
star he always returns to when he’s floundering for a response to a question on
this war. So I’m really confused about how, exactly, Iran would “take out” LA
and San Diego, because he’s also told us that the US “obliterated” the Islamic
Republic's nuclear capability more than a year ago. And—even if they’re somehow miraculously
“two weeks away” from developing another one, I’m not seeing how they’d deliver
it across the Pacific Ocean.
But the goobers in Nebraska, where Cadet Bonespurs first
invited a country he considers a blood enemy to attack US territory, positively
ate it up. So, he’ll repeat it (as he did Wednesday in San Antonio).
And today’s earworm is “California Dreamin’”, of course by The Mamas and the Papas.
©2026 Bas Bleu
Yesterday I made an emergency run to Trader Joe’s after my PT session and getting my Covid shot. I don’t like to go after around 1030 because just the parking lot becomes a war zone the closer you get to noon, but I had absolutely nothing on hand to use to make a salad, so I bit the bullet.
The bag I pulled out of the pile in the car to hold my
groceries happened to be one I got from a community-building group I belong to.
Here are the two sides:
©2026 Bas Bleu
Okay, I just thought this was funny because it is so obviously not a yellow cab:
©2026 Bas Bleu
It’s been my observation that chiropractors are the most venal of healthcare professionals—they always have something to sell you, from supplements to pillows—to add on to their adjustment services.
However, I’ve noticed that the dentist who took over the
practice from the man I saw for thirty years after he retired seems to have
kicked up the heat on “extras” that start adding up.
And—this is a first—when I was in the new ophthalmologist’s office a couple of weeks ago, they had these posters all over the place:
©2026 Bas Bleu
I sometimes walk through the Charter Oak cluster as a way to bump out my step count. The townhouses were built in 1969, which makes it deeply established in the People’s Republic, and I often find things in their individual gardens that fill me with joy. Like the front yard with purple flowers beloved by bees. There are others that go big time (townhouse edition) for Halloween. We’ll see them later this month.
But what’s sparking my gratitude today is the tree house
that the community built in one of the two central green areas:
They had the rope swing for years, but they added the
platform last year, and it just invites you to climb up the ladder and survey
the world. It kind of makes me think of the forecastle of a pirate ship, but I expect
that it can become whatever the kids on it want it to be.
What sparks my joy, however, is the dedication plaque:
Not (as my cluster’s tot lot is signed) for residents and
guests; for all children.
That’s community. Gotta be grateful for that.
©2026 Bas Bleu
The People’s Republic was founded as a planned community, with a focus on “community” and a respect for its natural surroundings. However, we are in the 21st Century, and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors never met an upscale development plan it didn’t love, so the natural surroundings are retreating under the onslaught of “luxury” townhouses at a rate of knots.
What once was a community swimming pool across the street
from a friend of mine is currently being converted to 28 cookie-cutter
townhouses jammed together, with no yards and tight turn ratios to get your two
SUVs into the garages. Here’s one of the road signs touting it:
I noticed last Sunday that someone had defaced it—just the
black spray paint. But a couple of days ago someone (else?) had added a message:
©2026 Bas Bleu
Last week I went to a new medical provider and so entered the building’s elevator for the first time.
Let me just say: wut?
©2026 Bas Bleu
