I had a GP appt today, and we were comparing notes on treating my POTS and I mentioned the new hives thing maybe indicated MCAS and said “I know you must dread people who did their own research.” Doctor: oh, no, you’re okay; this is great.” Me: really?

Canada passes a budget (narrowly) - play by play of how it actually went down.

#sketchbookdiary about some powerful television we’ve seen this week - the first three episodes of #pluribus and the first four of #hurricanekatrinaraceagainsttime

Small things are the best things - a sketchbook diary page about the small pleasure of the past two days.

Sometimes I spiral. The spiral is called the “I need to - I want to - I can’t” aka “is it ADHD or do I just suck?”

It’s hot chocolate season! I love the drinking chocolate from Soma chocolate makers in Toronto.

First snow - a big snowfall on top of unshed leaves, like autumn throwing on a winter coat. Lovely but it made a mess of travel. My flight to Boston got cancelled and I had to do my school visits over zoom. So disappointing.

We showcase Drawdown’s “Climate Solution of the Week”, reminding us all that we already have everything we need to stop climate change. We just need to *focus on the right tools* — not greenwashing or science-fiction tech toys — and *get busy scaling them* as quickly and effectively as possible.

You wouldn’t think so, Coach, and yet ….

If you haven’t started reading @shvetathakrar.com, start here ….

Today’s sketchbook school assignment was to draw what you buy. And to quote the red text “oh boy. I didn’t want to do this. For me, money is stressful, private. “For me, spending = shame, even if it something as mundane as a pillcase.”

This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...

One of the less-noted awesome things about getting older as a woman is the way escaping the male gaze changes the import of how one cultivates one’s own appearance.

Today’s @sketchbookskool.bsky.social prompt was a collection — so here is some of my most-worn jewelry. My clothing tends to “black tshirt” but my jewelry helps me feel eccentric and glorious. I want to look like the main character in my own life.

#Gerrymandered and fired up? Fight back—run for office, even when the map is rigged. Can’t Win Victory Fund helps “can’tidates” in impossible districts make noise, grow the vote for up-ballot races and push for fair maps—and yes, we make it fun. Apply to run: cantwinvictoryfund.com/run

Yesterday’s #sketchbookdiary entry — MY CHILD tURNED TWENTY. We went to Toronto for a special meal.

too big to fail speedrun

Let’s go #BlueJays Love, Canada

We had to take down the weeping cedar immediately outside the big front window. We miss it, but there are some upsides - better view of birds and light and sunnier spots on the couch. #sketchbookdiary

Please give us a movie about the RMS Carpathia. Carpathia was a solid little passenger steamer, nothing special. She got the Titanic’s SOS in the middle of the night, and even though she was not the closest ship, even though it was not clear what was happening, put everything into a rescue.

Time consuming, but a good survey to fill out in the next 24 hours.

Today’s @sketchbookskool.bsky.social assignment was a nature study. It makes a difference to draw from life rather reference photos.

America, PLEASE stop making us root for Doug Ford.

I have exactly ONE free day in Boston coming up. (School visit scheduling blip). I have never been to Boston. What should I do?

I heard Subway was hiring too...

More “Help Wanted - Female@ from 1969. Girl Friday, Clerk-Typist, Teller, Claims Calculator.

Help wanted—Female Toronto Star 1969

The hardest part of clearing out the once-and-future gym /doom room is all the stuff that’s meaningful, but doesn’t have a use. What do we do with this stuff?

This @sketchbookskool.bsky.social assignment was to try to capture emotion, so I wrote about the song that made me cry that day. I still can’t draw people but this isn’t a terrible sketch of my dad.

Today’s #stetchbookdiary documents a day spent cleaning out my ex-gym, which descended into an #ADHD doom room during my couple of years with Long Covid. It’s time to get it back. We are NOT FINISHED but we have made some progress and it feels good to be unstuck.

On our anniversary yesterday, @bowjamesbow.ca and I saw this excellent show from @lukehathaway.bsky.social and friends. If sea shanties and cowboy music were EVEN MORE QUEER, with some dream of a narrative and some original work. Really lovely.

Here’s the ungainly scale of the new White House ballroom (foreground, right) versus the actual White House (mid ground, center). There are some weird AI renderings of this around that make it look worse but this is bad enough. This one Via @cbsnews.com

I am literally in an isolated cottage in the forest.

I finished the last spread in my first #sketchbookdiary today. I am taking a class from @sketchbookskool.bsky.social and the assignment of the day was “lots of words” so I wrote around why I am trying this practice.

Hey guys it's FINALLY infrastructure week!

Filling up the last page of my first #sketchbookdiary. Should I do a flip through or something?

Today’s #sketchbookdiary assignment was “no words.” Capturing I hope a grey day with bright leaves

Folks who are at @canconsffh.bsky.social : if you would like to find the panelists, vendors and volunteers on here, behold a starter pack for just that purpose: go.bsky.app/UXVrVHZ

Senior citizens wearing no tyrants crowns with real Where The Wild Things Are whereby. #nokings

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

#sketchbookdiary - writing the acknowledgments for a novel, aka there are so many people and it’s not organized and inevitably I will leave someone out.

Today’s sketchbook diary is copied from an image of a dam silting in by YouTuber Practical Engineering. The text reads : “All Dams are Temporary” and “This one is about grief.”

A sketchbook diary that records actual writing news: I finished a first draft of a new novel!

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military. If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Writing research question for everyone: do you have a word for the object -- like a stuffed animal or a blanket -- that a young child latches onto and takes everywhere? What is that word, and where are you from?

Guys guys guys, today I learned: A “baseline” is the BASE of a surveying triangle, the first step in measuring and mapping a place.

Today’s assignment at @sketchbookskool.bsky.social is to document a process. This really wasn’t working until I added the yellow but now I kind of like it. Anyway, this is how I write a first draft.

Yesterday I listened to the cover of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Home Free and had a good cry. Here you go! youtu.be/Um1PCCkyYHE?... But the thing that moves mr most the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald isn’t in the song.

Executive Function: Okay, troops. We have a meeting in four hours. But it’s chill. We are all prepared. ADHD Brain: got it. we should do nothing at all until then. EF: no, we could work on Brain: puts the hold music on speakerphone.