November 18, 2021 - We Knew That Already -

We came back from the UK with five boxes of oat cakes, because we can’t find our favorites here. The boxes proclaim proudly that the oat-cakes are plant-based.

I am never sure why makers decide to tell me things like this. Do other people think oat cakes are made from chickens? What fears are the oat cake makers trying to calm?

Similarly, I bought a new linen duvet which wants me to know it contains organic fiber. Yes, I assumed as much;  linen is made from plants! It is therefore plant-based! Plants are carbon-based life forms, meaning they are “organic.”

ALSO!! The plant that gets made into linen is FLAX, and I knew that, too (not to boast, or anything).  I think that factoid came up in grade school, and it has mainly been useful in crossword puzzles, trivia moments, and Scrabble games.  But the important thing is: it stuck!

(You know what’s good, clean fun? Do an image search on “flaxen hair.” I don’t know what you thought it was, but the majority vote is that it’s a not particularly yellow form of blonde, maybe best likened to beige. This ties in to the image search on “flax,” which yields fields of  beautiful blue flowers and green plants, but occasionally shows the dried stalks, which shade from beige to brown.)

The guy who dressed up as a QAnon shaman during the January 6^th insurrection was sentenced to 41 months in prison yesterday. He sounds pretty wound up, but apparently wasn’t loopy enough to escape trial.  The judge was gentle with him (at least as I read the remarks), but sentenced him anyway, saying, “What you did here was horrific.”

We knew that already! 

Well, some of us did. But I really liked hearing someone say it. Clearly, I am not desperate to hear that oat cakes are plant-based, but I am very eager to hear anyone in authority say the insurrection was horrific. Thanks, judge.

Today, our water is turned off for 8 hours. I know this. I know it already. I knew it was coming. The city is working on the sewers in our neighborhood, which are ancient. My self-imposed goal is to act like I know the water is off, and not to turn on the taps. So far, so good! I’ve made it three hours, primarily staying upstairs. Now, before I blow it, I’m leaving the house for a few hours. That may be cheating, or it may be wisdom.