Like a rainbow

It’s the last Friday in Pride Month, and one day after the right-wing justices of the Supreme Court declared that it’s time to end the oppression of Whites in academia. So today’s earworm is Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors”.

I’ve only skimmed the decision—meaning, what Legal Twitter posted in the hours immediately following the release. How Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barratt can look in a mirror and see nothing of their hypocritical weaselry after benefiting from affirmative action their entire careers, I do not know. (Although Uncle Tom does indeed have a long history of pulling up the ladder after climbing to the next floor.) Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh—well, they’re the very personification of White male privilege; you knew they had it in them.

And invoking Thurgood Marshall in their defense…excuse me while I hurl.

As with their decision on Dobbs last year, I have no doubt in the world that this decision will be overturned. But—as with Dobbs—there will be a whole lotta pain and backsliding until that happens.

Meanwhile, Cyndi reminds us that it takes all colors to make a rainbow. And perhaps it’s good to reflect that rainbows appear when the sun breaks through a storm.

 

 

 

Border patrol

One of the neighbors has been sprucing up their front yard, delineating the planted area from the lawn. IMO, it’s an admirable goal, but I can’t get over the fact that the budget option for a border looks more to me like really bad molars than the stones I imagine they’re intended to replicate.

Viz:

By comparison, here they are abutting actual carbon-based stones.

 

 

 

Reading leaves

So, there’s this hosta in one of my neighbors’ yard.

Overall it seems pretty standard, but when I got up close, there were some interesting deviations. Like these touches of color (maybe some kind of sunburn?):

And these…slices in the leaf:

And this curled-up leaf:

 

Centering

I’m a sucker for hydrangeas, so I’m glad several of my neighbors have them in their front yards. Here are some shots from a week ago:

Just gorgeous.

Yesterday I took a slightly longer walk (trying to crank my steps up to 2K/day) and noticed that in this stage of their lifecycle (a different bush, to be sure), the flowers have tiny blue centers:

There’s always a new layer of beauty, if you’re willing to look.

 

 

Gratitude Monday: time

Three weeks out from knee replacement surgery and I’m making progress. But I didn’t really realize it until talking with a friend yesterday, who asked what’s different between now and February.

When I started ticking off points, I saw that I may be one week behind the last time, not the amorphous stretch of time that it feels like. In February I was driving at week two; this time it’s week three. Not so bad.

I haven’t made it to the floor yet (just consider what getting on the floor when you can’t fully bend a knee is like; then consider what getting back upright is like), so no yoga. Last time I had a lesson at week two, I think. But I’m aiming for it sometime this week.

I feel like I’m more tired, but it may be just that I’m not forcing myself to join work meetings and just letting my body take what it needs from each day.

So today I’m grateful for having the time to heal, and for being able to take the time to do it.