Is it just me, or is something odd happening here?

Dear you,

Wednesday, the Democratic Women's Club of Walton County met the Northwest FLA representative for our Senator (Marco Rubio) at the local Chamber of Commerce.  I was there with four other members.  Everything was just ODD:

1.  I entered to find an employee of the COC offering to pour water for attendees.  No, that is not odd.  What was odd is that she was wearing this huge flowered dress, black socks with sandals, and white MIME makeup.  What was that all about?  Perhaps she would prefer I see it as Kabuki-drag.  Maybe it was mime-day at the COC.  I still don't know.  However, I did stare.

2.  During the meeting, a couple of the senior members were all freaked out over ROBOCALL SCAMS.  Seriously, is this the most pressing issue of our day?  I kept having to talk over people to get heard and tried to insert questions about election hacking, affordable housing shortages, and environmental dramas unique to FLA.  And I might as well have been speaking Greek.  Or better yet, just miming my message.

The meeting was a drag.  But the odd mime-face woman was at least interesting, unexpected.

That's all I got for now . . .
Love and kisses,
Joyce

Hot, flat, crowded . . . Happy Memorial Day!

Dear you,

Apparently the beach of your dreams awaits, but it is NOT here on 30A in the Panhandle of FL.  I expected tourist action and jammed periods such as spring break when I bought this condo, but this Memorial Day thing is the worst.  Big trucks.  Massive families sleeping twelve to a three bedroom unit.  Screaming kids.  Drunk adults sitting in the parking lot (literally on the asphalt) smoking cigarettes and talking to themselves (angrily).

I have already come to grips with the fact that I cannot live here and am regretting the purchase as residence.  But the hoards are getting bigger and bigger and I don't know why.  We have no entertainment, really, and the roads are a nightmare.  30A itself is moving at around 5 MPH because out-of-state-gawkers are traveling in golf carts, gawking at 5 MPH.

Still annoyed over this situation in Florida.  Our coastal regions are being sold off to out of state folks who rent to the "sleeps twelve to a unit"-golf cart gawking folks.  And I am supposed to be grateful for the business?  Not grateful.  Just cranky.

That sorrow aside, I am thinking about all those who served us and serve us now, those who protect and defend.  Cheers to you.  Perhaps you can help Floridians recapture their invaded territory?

Leaning in nevertheless . . .
Forcing myself to claim my space in the pool and the shoreline . . .

Love,
Joyce

Aiming for chill...

Dear you,

It is a hot Sunday in Seagrove Beach and this is only May.  The parking lot here in condo land is full.  Children are screaming. The living is not easy and the cotton is not high.

So, the remedy is to be chilling like cat Vivo pictured on the table. Enjoy a lunch of fresh tomato slices and tuna salad . . . And do not think about how those fish were caught.

Yes, even as I try to erase concern and have a thoughtless Sunday, my lunch poses an ethical challenge.

Sigh.

And the advice of Marcus Aurelius is in my head too:
So we need to hurry.
Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding - our grasp of the world - May be gone before we get there.

Cheery thoughts, no?

Love,
J

Welcome back to shock and awe!

Dear you -

I am a very undisciplined blogger.  It seems whenever I post I refer to time passed since last entry.  Whatever.  Let's just say I have been busy adapting to life as a resident in a tourist district (30A they proudly call the zone) and just knocking out some work for my online gig and maintaining fitness (and cats).

But attention must be paid.

Alabama just passed a law making abortion illegal.  Physicians who perform the procedure will be charged with a felony and face up to 99 years in prison.

As if this is anyone's business other than THE woman, the girl, who is IN the situation.

Yes, this is life in Trump-land.  Resist and persist as we can, the onslaught continues.

And now this.

No wonder so many lit teachers were assigning The Handmaid's Tale to students and no wonder too that the recent televised version resonated with so many . . . in terms of dystopian relevance.

A woman's body is her business.
A woman's body is her business.
A woman's body is her business.

This is NOT debatable.

Shut the hell up, those of you (male or female) who have your views on when "life begins" or are serving your "faith".  Attend to your body.  And leave other people's bodies alone.

I can only sign off with a base-line non-eloquent declaration:  fuck these controlling, Puritanical freaks.

And how was your day dear?

Love,
Joyce XO