#Oregon Thanksgiving Day | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jitterbugjive · 2 months ago

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Okay... I'll Accept Holiday Letters...

So, anyone who has followed me long enough knows by now how I get around the holidays. Seasonal depression kicks in, and bad memories of old toxic Thanksgivings and Christmases flood my brain any time I see or hear reminders of them. Plus there's some trauma from living in poverty and having very little around the holidays and the only people willing to exploit my mentally ill mother for work was the Salvation Army who basically pay pennies. And there's a whole lot more I don't like, like the cold, Christmas Carols, etc.

However.

The last couple of years I finally got to have proper family holiday get togethers since the toxic people in the family are gone now, and it was very healing for me. I still despise the holidays, don't get me wrong, they are mostly miserable for me. I generally tell people to not address the holidays with me.

But... I've been going through a LOT this year. Especially the last 6 months with my mother being manic and getting her whole life messed up. I've also been dealing with another family member experiencing psychosis on and off as well that I haven't felt comfortable talking about. The results of the election and things Oregon was voting on are not helping me feel any better, and I fear that winter depression is going to be hitting me like a truck. I can feel it creeping in already now that the weather is getting under 40F. On top of that, my family isn't in a state right now where anyone can feasibly host Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it's a bit of a lonely one this year. Sure, I have friends I can spend time with, but I was just getting used to the family dinners. Overall, this is just going to be a very hard winter for me.

And for once, I'm going to ask people to lend a bit of the Holiday Spirit (tm) my way, because I really need some pick-me ups to get through the rest of the year. Basically all I'm asking for is for people to send me letters of encouragement through my PO Box. Gifts and fan art are welcome too, I keep all my fan art safe. I'd prefer not to get flat-out christmas cards unless the cards are really nice or creative and have a lot of thought put into what's written in them. I could just really use some kind words and there's something that feels a lot more personal about physical letters that I can store away and pull out on a rainy day.

Please note I have a pea brain that can't read cursive very well, so if possible I'd prefer it be in plain print or typed out.

If you send treats they need to be shelf stable and properly sealed, no home baked goods.

My P.O. Box: (Can be addressed to Jitterbug or Jack)

16055 SW Walker Rd #274Beaverton, OR, 97006

And if anyone's feeling generous I do have an amazon wishlist that people should be able to buy and send stuff from without needing to be the middleman. I don't update it much and a lot of stuff is outdated but you should be able to organize it by priority to get a better idea of what things I'm most interested in. You can even add other stuff to the order that isn't on the list and it will still be shipped to my P.O. Box!

AMAZON WISHLIST

#po box #mail #gift

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covid-safer-hotties · 2 months ago

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Also preserved in our archive

Won't someone think of the egg prices!

By John Lindt

KERN COUNTY – The price of eggs is often used as a barometer for the economy, but this fall’s high prices are not the work of market factors, but rather migratory flights.

Avian flu is spreading along the path of birds’ southern migration for winter across California. As of Nov. 12, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that a large egg ranch in Kern County has been impacted by bird flu resulting in the destruction of 2.15 million egg layers. This is the first case of HPAI in Kern County during the 2022-24 bird flu outbreak as it spread south heading into winter. Kern County is home to some of the state’s largest egg ranch operations.

The same day USDA also announced that avian flu hit two Fresno County poultry ranches, one a broiler ranch resulting in the killing of 237,700 chickens being prepped for meat and a turkey ranch requiring the destruction of 34,800 toms, or male turkeys. The news follows recent reports about avian flu spreading to Kings County poultry ranches resulting in the loss of over half a million birds and at another Fresno ranch. On Nov. 14, USDA added three more poultry ranches to the list of affected including one in Merced County, a turkey ranch with the loss of 53,200 birds and another one in Fresno County.

The locations of the poultry ranches are not far from the Pacific flyway, a major migratory route in the Western United States. In the case of Kern County, the egg ranch was close to the Kern Wildlife Refuge as well as nearby dairies. This is worrying observers that there appears to be a connection between all three vectors for the rapidly mutating virus.

Northern California poultry operations have been hard hit as well. Nationwide, outbreaks have claimed more than 21 million hens, so far in 2024.

Egg Prices In California the impact on egg prices has been significant.

On Nov. 13, the USDA reported that a dozen large, white cage-free eggs cost about $5.26 per dozen in California. This is according to USDA market data for the week of Nov. 8. USDA says this is a “benchmark” price. The price is up from $2.81 a month earlier. That is almost double the benchmark, but may not reflect retail.

The last time California eggs were this high was in February when California egg prices – cage-free egg prices – peaked at $5.59 per dozen.

The cases of infected birds correspond with fall bird migrations that are spreading the virus throughout the state. Detections are higher in fall and spring as wild birds spread the virus when they migrate. This year the bird flu has taken its toll with the outbreak of H5N1, a highly transmissible and fatal strain of avian influenza, or bird flu. The outbreak started in early 2022 and rapidly grew into the largest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.

Most recently, outbreaks affecting more than 2.84 million egg layers were reported in October at commercial facilities in Oregon, Washington and Utah, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of Nov. 8, the virus has affected over 105.2 million birds in the U.S. since January 2022, according to the CDC. The California egg shortage will likely have a pocketbook impact on holiday baking activity as the nation prepares for Thanksgiving; however, a recent USDA analysis suggests consumers may not see a huge jump.

“Large volume grocery retailers across the nation have launched their shell egg feature campaigns targeting holiday demand at relatively attractive price levels. Much of this is attributable to changes in the way shell eggs are being marketed with an increasing share (estimated at over half of all shell egg volume sold at retail) tied to production cost agreements not prone to fluctuation common in formula trading.”

There are about 378.5 million egg-laying chickens in the US. As of last year, there were 9.4 billion broiler chickens and 218 million turkeys processed, according to the USDA. Advocates note the high cost of the influenza just in the egg market. “With domestic sales of shell eggs and products amounting to seven billion dozen, consumers paid an incremental $15 billion as a result of the prolonged and uncontrolled infection.”

While bird flu is impacting poultry farms, another strain of the virus has impacted Central Valley dairies as well, spreading quickly since September to 291 dairy farms as of press time. Unlike poultry, dairy cows typically survive the virus, although milk production is expected to be impacted.

Avian flu is a worldwide phenomenon. In the past two weeks, the first cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the fall season have been reported in Albania, Great Britain, Romania, and now regions of Germany and Ukraine.

Despite the increase in US egg prices this holiday season, turkey prices are down from last year when supply was also affected by bird flu. Across the country, a 15-pound turkey costs an average of $31.16 ($2.08 per pound) in 2024, compared with $35.40 ($2.36 per pound) in 2023. That price reduction represents a price decrease of 12% from last year to now,” a report said. The lower price comes even as a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed turkey production dipped more than 6% compared to this time last year.

Hen and Hoof The spread of this strain of the virus appears to be affecting both the Central Valley poultry and dairy industries at the same time.

Just before Sept. 1 there were no reports of the virus in the Valley’s dairy industry. But as of Nov. 15, there are almost 300 diaries, mostly in Tulare and Kings Counties, impacted with new ones being added every day.

The Valley poultry industry has been on a similar viral timeline which coincides with the annual bird migration along the Pacific flyway that happens each fall. H5N1 largely infects wild birds, with waterfowl such as ducks and geese being the natural reservoirs for H5N1 viruses. Most H5N1 viruses are highly pathogenic avian influenza, meaning spillovers into other bird populations can lead to high mortality rates, including domesticated poultry.

A compounding factor for the spread of the virus is that both livestock are often on land located right next door or just down the road. The Central Valley is home for both industries with animals, transported in and out, and service vehicles going in and out of these large facilities every day.

The industry website Egg-News this week pointed out that research shows that the infections can be transmitted over a distance of up to a mile while attached to dust particles. Fall is harvest for a number of crops, including the nut industry, sending up plumes of dust in the Valley sky, at times associated with winds.

Egg-News points out that dairy cow-associated H5N1 viruses have jumped back into wild birds, and recent outbreaks in domestic poultry resembled H5N1 in dairy cows.

In an editorial Egg-News said “APHIS Needs a New Approach to Control HPAIr.” They recommend that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) adopt vaccination as a disease control strategy for bird flu, with promising results from clinical trials. In May 2023, the U.S. authorized the vaccination of California condors against a type of avian flu.

Also, the USDA has approved field trials to test vaccines that could prevent dairy cows from getting the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The USDA approved the first field trials for the vaccine in September 2024. The USDA’s Center of Veterinary Biologics (CVB) is overseeing the trials. At least 24 companies are working on the vaccine, including Zoetis and Merck Animal Health.

If vaccines can save the U.S. poultry and dairy industry over the next year, the industry may have to worry about who heads up the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency which authorizes vaccines for animals and humans. Nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made it clear he is anti-vaccine but has yet to comment on the use of vaccines in agriculture if he is confirmed for the role.

#h5n1 #avian influenza #bird flu #mask up #pandemic #public health #wear a respirator #wear a mask

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months ago

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This day in history

#15yrsago Oregon Attorney General releases “copyrighted” Public Meeting Manual, will hold hearings on whether Oregon law is copyrighted https://memex.craphound.com/2009/12/02/oregon-attorney-general-releases-copyrighted-public-meeting-manual-will-hold-hearings-on-whether-oregon-law-is-copyrighted/

#15yrsago Inside the topsy-turvy world of record label royalty reporting http://www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397

#15yrsago Digital companies object strenuously to UK Digital Economy bill http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8390623.stm

#10yrsago When Ed Snowden met Marcus Yallow https://memex.craphound.com/2014/12/02/when-ed-snowden-met-marcus-yallow/

#15yrsago Wall Street phishers show how dangerous good syntax and a good pitch can be https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/12/phishing-scam-that-penetrated-wall-street-just-might-work-against-you-too/

#10yrsago Nature makes all its papers free to view https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2014.16460

#10yrsago FBI investigating Denver cops who erased citizen video of beatdown https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/fbi-now-investigating-alleged-incident-of-dpd-use-of-excessive-force/

#10yrsago Sweden awards Snowden the “Right Livelihood” award https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/01/nsa-whistlebloewer-edward-snowden-wins-swedish-human-rights-award

#10yrsago Long-forgotten plans for a Haunted Mansion boat-ride https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-haunted-mansion-boat-ride.html

#5yrsago Podcast: Party Discipline, a Walkaway story (Part 1) https://ia803106.us.archive.org/17/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_317/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_317_-_Party_Discipline.mp3

#5yrsago Behind the One-Way Mirror: EFF’s “deep dive into corporate surveillance” https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror

#5yrsago 92-year-old’s memoir tells the forgotten story of a German official who sabotaged Nazi deportations and saved more Jews than Schindler https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/decades-after-the-holocaust-92-year-old-seattleite-finally-tells-story-of-german-who-saved-more-jews-than-schindler/

#5yrsago After Trump reversed Obama’s restrictions on private federal prisons, states started banning them instead https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/1/20989336/private-prisons-states-bans-califonia-nevada-colorado

#5yrsago Veteran Boeing manager was transferred to 787 production; based on he saw there, he won’t fly in a Dreamliner and begs his family not to https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/john-barnett-on-why-he-wont-fly-on-a-boeing-787-dreamliner/

#5yrsago As news outlets were shutting down for Thanksgiving, the University of North Carolina quietly gave white nationalists $2.5m to settle a lawsuit that hadn’t even been filed https://memex.craphound.com/2019/12/02/as-news-outlets-were-shutting-down-for-thanksgiving-the-university-of-north-carolina-quietly-gave-white-nationalists-2-5m-to-settle-a-lawsuit-that-hadnt-even-been-filed/

#pluralistic

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strictlyfavorites · 3 months ago

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Marine Lance Corporal Douglas E. Parker (Portland, Oregon), of F Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, tears into a hefty drumstick while enjoying a real home-style Thanksgiving dinner. Marines throughout Vietnam were served a full course turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1965

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bubblesandgutz · 10 months ago

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Every Record I Own - Day 812: Willie Nelson Stardust

My father-in-law passed away on February 23rd after a long battle with Parkinson’s and various other ailments. Over the last six years, my husband and I made frequent trips down to central Oregon to check in on my in-laws and help out around the house. During some visits, it seemed possible that his dad would be around for another decade or more. And on other visits, we wondered if he would be around more than a few months. Things took a rough turn around Thanksgiving of last year and his health declined considerably. My husband spent most of January in Oregon while I’ve spent 2024 fulfilling tour obligations with three different bands and making trips down to visit them during any available downtime.

My father-in-law was a great guy. He grew up in the Bay Area and was around for all the excitement of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He was buddies with Pigpen from the Grateful Dead and attempted to go to the Altamont Free Concert but was stuck in the traffic jam when news traveled down the road about all the chaos and violence incited by the Hells Angels. He loved ZZ Top and Creedence Clearwater Revival and Tina Turner. But more than anything, he loved Willie Nelson.

Stardust, in particular, got a lot of spins around their house when I’d come to visit. In some ways, it’s odd that this was their Willie album of choice. After all, the ten songs on Stardust are all covers of old pop standards. Columbia Records was even hesitant to release it considering that Willie was riding strong on his outlaw country reputation at the time. But the album became a huge hit—a quintuple platinum album and a favorite among both fans and critics.

I won’t lie, I prefer Willie’s own songs, but the slow, sparse, and relaxed vibe of Stardust grew on me. I also appreciated how he chose songs with less conventional melodies (“Blue Skies,” “All of Me,” etc) and how his minimalist slow-hand style seemed perfectly suited to those compositions. The stretches of empty space, the chord changes that feel a little counterintuitive at first but then settle nicely into the larger song, the playful but rough-hewn quality to the vocals—it all has a hazy, late night, intoxicating vibe. I don’t even remember when I picked up my personal copy but it’s been a part of my collection for at least two decades.

Over the years, I heard less and less music at my in-law’s house. Television became the more constant companion, perhaps because the sound of people talking filled the conversational void stemming from the reclusive nature of my father-in-law’s disease. But when they began doing hospice at home back in January, they switched back to music. In his last days, we kept the stereo on throughout the day, switching between various CDs from their collection. I was occasionally tasked with picking out music, and I grappled with finding something that was familiar and comforting without running the risk of forever being tainted by the circumstances. Stardust was a family favorite but I never put it on for fear that it would render it off-limits once his father passed.

The hospice nurse called us on a Tuesday in February to say my father-in-law was near the end. He wasn’t eating or drinking and his breathing was labored. My husband and I drove all night hoping to make it to central Oregon in time to say goodbye. He was nearly unresponsive by that point, though he would squeeze your hand if you talked to him. Despite his condition, he managed to to hang in there for another week-and-a-half. In that time, I had to return to Seattle for rehearsals, then had to fly out to the East Coast for a weekend of shows, then flew back to Oregon, then had to fly back to Seattle to check in on a friend that was mentally struggling after being involved in a motor vehicle fatality involving an inebriated man that had been running across a busy highway.

The call came in the afternoon. My father-in-law passed peacefully. My husband and his mother had been listening to Stardust at the time, and he took his last breath during “September Song.”

The struggle was over. It had been a long decline and by the end it was hard to recognize the warm, witty, and vibrant man I first met nearly 26 years ago in the withered and incapacitated person we’d been tending to for the last few months. I was grateful to know my father-in-law for so many years, to have a stockpile of memories of him before things got so difficult. And in the weeks since he’s passed I’ve listened to Stardust a few times. The wistful nature of the album has an added element of sadness, but the memories of listening to it in happy moments outweigh its more recent association. If anything, “September Song” feels like an even more bittersweet reminder to savor the moment and hold your loved one’s close, because seasons change and all things must pass.

Oh, it's a long long while

From May to December

But the days grow short

When you reach September

When the autumn weather

Turns leaves to flame

One hasn't got time

For the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down

To a precious few

September, November

And these few precious days

I'll spend with you

These precious days

I'll spend with you

#everyrecordiown #willie nelson

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brookstonalmanac · 2 months ago

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Holidays 12.3

Holidays

Advocate's Day (India)

Alka Seltzer Day

Be a Blessing Day

Cedar Tree Day (French Republic)

Community Day (Navarra, Spain)

Day of the Secretary (Chile)

Day of the Unknown Soldier (Ukraine)

E-Discovery Day

Family & Consumer Sciences Day

Flag Day (Saba)

Flamenco Guitar Day

Heart Transplant Day

Inflatable Pig Day

Intellivision Day

International Baboon Day

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (UN)

International Day of the Basque Language

International Disabled Day (Nepal)

Jazz Day

King Tupou I Day (Tonga)

Lawyer’s Day (Russia)

Let's Hug Day

Make a Gift Day

National Doctor’s Day (Cuba)

National Dorothy Day

National Harley Day

National Heather Day

National Isaac Day

National Lisa Day

National Phenylketonuria (PKU) Awareness Day

National Pig Tail Day

National Ronald Day

National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day

Reinvigorate Your Brain by Reading Something Day

ROC the Day (Rochester)

Rocky Day (Philadelphia)

Saba Day (Saba)

San Francisco Javier (Navarra, Spain)

Takata no Inoko (Peace & Good Harvest Festival; Japan)

Telescope Day

3D Printing Day

Tinsel Day

Tree Dressing Day (UK)

Walt Disney World Day

World Coati Day

World Disable Day (India)

World Loyalty Giving Day

World No Pesticide Use Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Trappist Beer Day

National Apple Pie Day [also 5.13]

National Green Bean Casserole Day

National Ice Cream Box Day

National Peppermint Latte Day

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Day

Roquefort Day

Independence & Related Days

Edenia (a.k.a. Imperial Union of Edenia; Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Illinois Statehood Day (#21; 1818)

1st Tuesday in December

Crypto Giving Tuesday [Tuesday after Thanksgiving]

Giving News Day [Tuesday after Thanksgiving]

Giving Tuesday [Tuesday after Thanksgiving]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Takeout Tuesday [1st Tuesday of Each Month]

Target Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tater Tot Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Throw Out Your Leftovers Day [Tuesday after Thanksgiving]

To-Do List Tuesday [1st Tuesday of Each Month]

Tranquil Tuesday [1st Tuesday of Each Month]

Travel Deal Tuesday [1st Tuesday]

Trivia Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Two For Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

World Trick Shot Day [1st Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning December 3 (1st Full Week of December)

Clerc-Gallaudet Week (thru 12.10)

Holiday Ale Festival Week (Portland, Oregon) [Begins in late Nov/early Dec] (Postponed for 2023-24)

Festivals Beginning December 3, 2024

Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show (Amarillo, Texas) [thru 12.5]

Greater Peoria Farm Show (Peoria, Illinois) [thru 12.5]

Night of the Proms (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) [thru 12.4]

Feast Days

Abbo of Auxerre (Christian; Saint)

Abraham of Alexandria, Pope (Coptic)

Adrian (a.k.a. Ethernan; Christian; Saint)

Birinus (Christian; Saint)

Bodhi Season, Day 3 (Buddhism; Secular Date) [Leading Up to 12.8] (a.k.a. ...

Principles: The Three Jewels

Secular: A Bodhi Day Carol

Eightfold Path: Awakened Speech

The Heart Sutra: Space

Bogatir Svatogor Day (Asatru/Slavic Pagan)

Bona Dea Festival (Roman Goddess of Good)

Cassian of Tangier (Christian; Saint)

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (Artology)

Constantin Guys (Artology)

Copernicus (Positivist; Saint)

Cu Roi Mac Daire (Celtic Book of Days)

Daniel Seghers (Artology)

Emma (of Lesum or of Bremen; Christian; Saint)

Fairy and Goblin Taunt-and-Tease Saturnalia (Shamanism)

Feast of Cybele (Ancient Greece; Everyday Wicca)

Festival for Serket/Selket (Scorpion Goddess; Ancient Egypt)

Francis Xavier (Christian; Saint)

Gilbert Stuart (Artology)

Godzilla Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

International Say No to Selfies Day (Pastafarian)

Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer zu Gleifheim (Christian; Blessed)

Joseph Conrad (Writerism)

Kate O’Brien (Writerism)

Lucius (Christian; Saint)

Max Meldrum (Artology)

Mengloth’s Day (Pagan)

Motorettes (Muppetism)

Pompaia (Procession to Zeus; Ancient Greece)

Power of Three — Musical Magic Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Sola (Christian; Saint)

Vibrator Day (Pastafarian)

William Gropper (Artology)

Zephaniah (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 337 [68 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

The BBC Television Shakespeare (UK TV Series; 1978)

The Big Shrink, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S1, Eps. 21 & 22 1964)

Black Swan (Film; 2010)

Brown Sugar, recorded by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1969)

Bullwinkle Cleans Up or The Desperate Showers (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 236; 1963)

Camelot (Broadway Musical; 1960)

The Chanukah Song, by Adam Sandler (Song; 1994)

Concerto in F, by George Gershwin (Piano Concerto; 1925)

Confess, by Patti Page (Song; 1947) [1st Recording with Overdubbed Vocals]

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground, recorded by Blind Willie Johnson (Song; 1927)

Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Charity Song; 1984)

Elvis (Comeback TV Special; 1968)

High Note (WB LT Cartoon; 1960)

House of Flying Daggers (Film; 2004)

A Leak in the Lake or The Drain Maker (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 235; 1963)

I Love You Phillip Morris (Film; 2010)

Justify My Love, by Madonna (Music Video; 1990)

Machine Head, recorded by Deep Purple (Album; 1971)

My Generation, by The Who (Album; 1965)

The Oregon Trail (Video Game; 1971)

The Playful Pest (Phantasies Cartoon; 1943)

The Power of the Dog, by Thomas Savage (Novel; 1967)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Christmas TV Special; 1964)

Rubber Soul, by The Beatles (Album; 1965)

Spud (Film; 2010)

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams (Play; 1947)

Symphony #1 in A, by Edward Elgar (Symphony; 1908)

A Taste of Catnip (WB MM Cartoon; 1966)

Thanks to the Saint, by Leslie Charteris (Short Stories 1957) [Saint #33]

The Town Santa Forgot (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1993)

Unknown Soldiers, by Väinö Linna (Novel; 1954)

The Weapon Shops of Isher, by A.E. van Vogt (Novel; 1951)

Wild (Film; 2014)

You’re Sixteen, by Ringo Starr (Song; 1973)

Today’s Name Days

Emma, Franz Xaver, Jason (Austria)

Franjo, Lucije, Sofonija (Croatia)

Svatoslav (Czech Republic)

Svend (Denmark)

Leiger, Leino (Estonia)

Meri, Vellamo (Finland)

François-Xavier, Xavier (France)

Franz Xaver, Jason (Germany)

Glykerios (Greece)

Ferenc, Olívia (Hungary)

Francesco, Saverio (Italy)

Daile, Evija, Jogita, Raita (Latvia)

Atalija, Audinga, Gailintas, Ksaveras (Lithuania)

Svein, Sveinung (Norway)

Franciszek, Kasjan, Ksawery, Lucjusz, Unimir (Poland)

Gheorghe (România)

Oldrich (Slovakia)

Francisco, Javier (Spain)

Lydia (Sweden)

Javier, Malcolm, Malcom, Malik, Xavier, Xaviera (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 338 of 2024; 28 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of Week 49 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ngetal (Reed) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 11 (Bing-Zi), Day 3 (Xin-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 2 Kislev 5785

Islamic: 1 Jumada II 1446

J Cal: 8 Black; Oneday [8 of 30]

Julian: 20 November 2024

Moon: 7%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 2 Bichat (13th Month) [Halley / Kepler]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 72 of 90)

Week: 1st Full Week of December

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 12 of 30)

Calendar Changes

Jumādā al-ʾŪlā (a.k.a. Jumada I) [جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأُولَىٰ] (Islamic Calendar) [Month 5 of 12] (First of the Parched Land; Pre-Islamic Summer)

#Birthdays

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rabbitcruiser · 5 months ago

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Labor Day

Summer’s final fling has arrived in the form of Labor Day. Yes, most of us get the day off, but this holiday triggers mixed emotions. While summer still has 21 calendar days left, it’s time to get serious. School’s starting and there’s a sense that summer vacation is over. So what’s behind Labor Day — and how did it earn a place as a federal holiday?

Let’s take a look.

When is Labor Day 2024?

Labor Day always falls on the first Monday in September, which means anywhere from September 1 through September 7. This year it's September 2 in the U.S. and Canada. However, this is not the case for most countries — the majority of which celebrate on May 1.

History of Labor Day

Do you get weekends off work? Lunch breaks? Paid vacation? An eight-hour workday? Social security? If you said “yes” to any of these questions, you can thank labor unions and the U.S. labor movement for it. Years of hard-fought battles (and the ensuing legislation they inspired) resulted in many of the most basic benefits we enjoy at our jobs today. On the first Monday in September, we take the day off to celebrate Labor Day and reflect on the American worker’s contributions to our country.

Labor Day History

There’s disagreement over how the holiday began. One version is set in September 1882 with the Knights of Labor, the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations at the time. The Knights in New York City held a public parade featuring various labor organizations on September 5 — with the aid of the fledgling Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York. Subsequently, CLU Secretary Matthew Maguire proposed that a national Labor Day holiday be held on the first Monday of each September to mark this successful public demonstration.

In another version, Labor Day in September was proposed by Peter J. McGuire, a vice president of the American Federation of Labor. In spring 1882, McGuire reportedly proposed a “general holiday for the laboring classes” to the CLU, which would begin with a street parade of organized labor solidarity and end with a picnic fundraiser for local unions. McGuire suggested the first Monday in September as an ideal date for Labor Day because the weather is great at that time of year, and it falls between July 4th and Thanksgiving. Oregon became the first U.S. state to make it an official public holiday. 29 other states had joined by the time the federal government declared it a federal holiday in 1894.

Maguire or McGuire? Read more on this unusual coincidence in our FAQs below.

What is the Haymarket affair?

On May 4, 1886 — at a time when most American laborers worked 18 or even 20 hours a day — tens of thousands of workers protested in cities all across the U.S. to demand an eight-hour workday. Police in Chicago attacked both those peaceful protests and a workers planning meeting two days later, randomly beating and shooting at the planning group and killing six. When outraged Chicagoans attended an initially peaceful protest the next evening in Haymarket Square, police advanced on the crowd again. Someone who was never identified detonated a bomb that killed a police officer, leading cops to open fire on protesters and provoke violence that led to the deaths of about a dozen workers and police.

The Pullman strike

Ironically, Chicago was also the setting for the bloody Pullman strike of 1894, which catalyzed the establishment of an official Labor Day holiday in the U.S. on the first Monday of September.

The strike happened in May in the company town of Pullman, Chicago, a factory location established by luxury railroad car manufacturer the Pullman Company. The inequality of the town was more than apparent. Company owner George Pullman lived in a mansion while most laborers stayed in barracks-style dormitories. When a nationwide depression struck in 1893, Pullman decided to cut costs the way a lot of executives at the time did — by lowering wages by almost 30% while he kept the rent on the dormitories he leased to his workers at pre-depression levels.

Railroad boycott

These conditions ultimately led workers to strike on May 11, 1894. The walkout gained the support of the nationwide American Railroad Union (ARU), which declared that ARU members would no longer work on trains that included Pullman cars. That national boycott would end up bringing the railroads west of Chicago to a standstill and led to 125,000 workers across 29 railroad companies quitting their jobs rather than breaking the boycott.

When the Chicago railroad companies hired strikebreakers as replacements, strikers also took various actions to stop the trains. The General Managers Association, which represented local railroad companies, countered by inducing U.S. Attorney General Richard Olney, a former railroad attorney, to intervene. Indianapolis federal courts granted Olney an injunction against the strike, a move that allowed President Grover Cleveland to send in federal troops to break it up.

A few days later, Cleveland realized that he had to act quickly to appease the country’s increasingly agitated labor movement. But he didn’t want to commemorate the Haymarket incident with a May holiday that would invoke radical worker sentiment. So Cleveland harkened back to the first established September 1882 holiday and signed into law that Labor Day in the U.S. would be celebrated on the first Monday in September.

Labor Day vs. May Day

Communist and socialist factions worldwide eventually chose May 1 as the date to mark the Haymarket affair. A 1904 conference issued a plea that trade unions stage rallies on the first day of May — demanding to make the eight-hour workday standard. They organized the action in the name of “universal peace.” The 1st of May is a national, public holiday in many countries across the world, generally known as “Labour Day,” “International Workers’ Day,” or a similar name – although some countries celebrate a Labor Day on other dates significant to them, such as Canada, which celebrates Labor Day, like the U.S., on the first Monday of September.

Here’s the U.S. Department of Labor’s official tribute to U.S. workers on Labor Day:

“The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known, and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.”

Related Labor Day Content

1) Top Labor Day quotes for your social feeds

Can you guess which president said, “My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it”? How about the famous American who uttered “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity”? We have a list of Labor Day quotes to not only learn about the holiday but to also impress your friends at the barbecue.

2) Fire yourself from your own job

That’s correct. The makers of STōK cold-brew coffees have designed a contest — running through Labor Day — which will give three people $30,000 each in order to take a four-week “STōKbbattical” (from their dreary day jobs) and “make their dreams happen.” It can be anything from rock climbing in Patagonia to setting records for the number of tapas eaten in Spain. No matter what, STōK will help fund it. Unless of course, you’d prefer to spend the next four weeks filling out TPS reports.

3) 8 Labor Day Activities To Enjoy

Whether in the form of a leisurely barbeque, a relaxing swim in the pool, watching a film at a drive-in cinema, or even just relaxing at home with family, there are so many different ways to mark the occasion. We list some activities to try on Labor Day.

Labor Day timeline

1882 It’s Unofficial

10,000 labor workers march through Union Square in New York to protest poor working conditions and low wages.

1884 A Date is Set

The first Monday of September officially becomes Labor Day, with the Central Labor Union pushing other organizations to follow suit and celebrate.

1894 Congress Approves

Labor Day is approved as a national holiday by Congress, and President Grover Cleveland signs it into law.

2009 Let’s Not Forget Women in Labor

President Obama restores the rights of women to sue over pay discrimination with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Labor Day Traditions

Much like Memorial Day, which marks the traditional beginning of summer, Labor Day generally signifies that the season has ended — even though the calendar says otherwise. Holiday sales, barbecues, and travel tend to rule the day, while children finally adjust to the harsh reality of the “back-to-school” season. As far as U.S. sports are concerned, Labor Day weekend signals that baseball’s pennant races have entered their final stretch, and tennis fans get an extra day to watch the season’s last Grand Slam event — the U.S. Open in New York City. NFL regular-season games typically begin following Labor Day.

Labor Day by the numbers

162 million – the number of Americans (over 16) in the labor force.

40% – the percentage of U.S. workers who belonged to labor unions in the 1950s (that dropped to 11% by 2018).

1894 – the year Congress officially made Labor Day a federal holiday.

86% – the percentage of Americans planning Labor Day weekend travel who will do so by car.

41% – the percentage of Americans who plan to barbecue over Labor Day Weekend.

818 – the number of U.S. hot dogs eaten every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

$685 – the average kid’s back-to-school expenses.

$55,000 – the median U.S. household income.

705 million – the total number of U.S. unused vacation days (2017).

80% – the percentage of Americans who would take time off if their boss were more supportive.

Labor Day FAQs

What does Labor Day really mean?

Americans, as well as workers around the world, celebrate Labor Day by reflecting on all the contributions everyday workers have made to society. Not all countries observe Labor Day on the same date though.

When is Labor Day 2020?

The U.S. observed Labor Day 2020 on Monday, September 2. It’s a federal holiday. Financial markets are closed. There is no mail delivery. Post offices and libraries are closed. Most retail businesses will remain open.

Who invented Labor Day?

It’s more confusing than you might think. The Labor Department explains it this way:

While most sources, including the U.S. Department of Labor, credit Peter McGuire with the origination of Labor Day, recent evidence suggests that the true father of Labor Day may, in fact, be another famous union leader of the 19th century, Matthew Maguire.

Maguire held some political beliefs that were considered fairly radical for the day and also for Samuel Gompers and his American Federation of Labor. Allegedly, Gompers, who co-founded the AFL along with his friend McGuire, did not want Labor Day to become associated with the sort of “radical” politics of Matthew Maguire. So in an 1897 interview, Gompers’ close friend Peter J. McGuire was assigned the credit for the origination of Labor Day.

What's the difference between Labor Day and May Day (May 1)

May 1 (or May Day) is a more radicalized version of Labor Day in many countries. The date recalls Chicago’s Haymarket affair in 1886. American workers, tired of 18-hour days, staged a protest. Police eventually fired on the workers — killing eight. The following night, May 4, another rally turned violent when someone threw a bomb at police officers. An estimated 11 people died and scores more were injured. Communist and socialist political parties eventually chose May 1 as the date to honor the dead and injured workers.

Labor Day Activities

Read up on the history of Labor Day

Buy an American-made product

Watch a movie about labor unions

Labor Day has a rich history that directly impacts the working conditions we experience today. So in between rounds of BBQ at your Labor Day celebration, take the time to discuss the U.S. labor movement and its contribution to our country's current work culture.

When you're doing your Labor Day shopping, take the time to read the labels. Consider buying products that say "Made in the USA" to show your support for American workers.

Many of us get Labor Day off. What better way to relax than to stretch out on the couch and watch a movie about the American labor movement? There are tons of union-themed movies to choose from. "Norma Rae" ring a bell? Side note: Unions play a major role in the entertainment industry.

5 Labor Day Facts Everyone Should Know!

It’s on May 1 in other countries

Stores remain open

Third most popular holiday for outdoor cookouts

Labor Day marks the unofficial NFL kickoff

Union members today

Most countries around the world celebrate Labor Day on May 1, and it is called International Workers’ Day.

While most schools and offices are closed on Labor Day, retail workers and shopkeepers don’t get the same break, as the holiday is huge for sales and shopping.

Labor Day is right behind the Fourth of July and Memorial Day in being the most popular holiday for barbecues and cookouts.

99.4% of the time, the NFL’s first official game of the season is on the Thursday following Labor Day.

In 2017, there were 14.8 million union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while in 1983, there were 17.7 million.

Why We Love Labor Day

We're hard workers — we deserve the day off

It's one last chance to grill

It's the reason we can say TGIF

Statistics show that Americans work longer hours than citizens of most other countries — 137 more hours per year than Japan, 260 more per year than the U.K., and 499 more than France. And our productivity is high — 400% higher than it was in 1950, to be exact. So we totally deserve that day off.

Labor Day is widely considered to be the unofficial last day of summer. Before the air turns cold and the leaves start to fall, it's our last chance to grill some steaks and wear shorts.

Labor Day is a time to celebrate the benefits we enjoy at our jobs — including weekends off. The concept of American workers taking days off dates back to 1791, when a group of carpenters in Philadelphia went on strike to demand a shorter workweek (10-hour days, to be exact). It wasn't until 1836 that workers started demanding eight-hour workdays. So nine to five doesn't sound so bad after all.

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nfumbewalk · 2 months ago

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Dead Flowers & Tom 💀

Rodolfo's shrine. Last night, Rodolfo said he liked Santa Muerte's dead red roses and he wanted them on his shrine. Tried to give him live flowers before and he hated it! Plus they were yellow. He's not a fan of that color. Anyway, he got his wish. Sorry his table looks dirty. Its just fuzzies and other things that got stuck because that altar cloth is velvet.

Then I got The Rolling Stones song, "Dead Flowers," in my head at his shrine because he started singing it! One of my top favorite Stones songs! Lol.

I've noticed something - just started happening. I got that voice that ppl talk about. The one that warns you not to do or say something. I haven't had that voice...um..ever??! Since I reclaimed my gifts and true power, I got the voice. Think it may help negate fights between Tom and I. I keep forgetting that he had a serious brain injury at 3 years old.

He fell out of a third story window because his mom wasn't watching him. It still affects him. He accuses me of fucking with his mind and very well could be but do not remember. I realize now that I gotta fuckin stop it. Hopefully the voice reminds me. It did last night, of some other stuff. I'm gonna do my best.

Tom is my twin flame. Just about everything you read about twin flame characteristics is true for us. We do the same things at the same time! Like yawning or reaching for the pack of cigarettes. Saying the same thing at the same time, same emotions, simpatico sex drives, so much turbulence - bicker bicker, but it ends well. He feels like an extension of me, just male with typical guy thoughts. But we share the same likes, dislikes, kinks and thrills. Same poisons too.

We have been extremely close since 2019. Before that, I did my own thing. After jail, I changed. I got interested in Tom's video games. I didn't want to be alone anymore. So I stayed. Now, I'm back in my room but always with him still. I don't watch television. I watch Elder Scrolls Online. Forever Cyrodiil. 💖 I love PVP! Our toons kick ass.

Belial, Astarte, and Rosier brought Tom to me. It was SO fast and once we met, we both fell hard. So hard that we cried, holding each other. I didn't want to go back to Portland. The day we met, it was rainy. I planned on just spending the night. Guess those Demons had other ideas. When I awoke the next morning, everything was covered in white. Deep snow! We had not planned on this - I didn't bring my meds!! Oregon gets some snow in the central part of the state, but it doesn't always go to Portland. Everything was blanketed.

I had no choice but to stay a bit until the snow melted enough to use tire cables. I was in Eugene about 3 days. We had a lot of fun, like bunnies. I got so addicted to him. Love came fast for us. Going back sucked but Tom encouraged me to hit another trade school. College of Legal Arts had medical transcription. It was a 9 month program. I entered, got a 4.0 GPA and perfect attendance the whole time. Same day as graduation, I moved to Eugene. Sweet! Never moved back to Portland again!

My dad seemed to like Tom okay but my mom didn't care for him. Why? Tom is a stoner and she hated ppl who smoke weed. She thought that pot smokers were all lazy good-for-nothings. Not Tom! He is very intelligent. He was an electrical engineer and worked in the wood/mill industry (and others, like satellites), not to mention that he can fix almost anything. The head injury affected his learning but he still beat the odds and excelled. Unlike what his mom thought he'd do. Be a criminal and go to jail! She said that she gave up on him right at the Thanksgiving dinner table, after too much wine!! She wanted an abortion when she found out that she was pregnant with him.

So she ran away after Roe vs. Wade was enacted. She was going to Oregon for her wonderful plan to rid of her 2nd child. What happened? Tom's father, a Roman Catholic man, chased her up to Oregon with his buddy Gooch. They put a stop to it. That was 1973. Tom was born February of 1974.

It really is odd to meet your twin flame and be with them and stay with them. We never had any break ups like I read about in articles about twin flames.

I read a so called medical article about twin flames saying that those relationships are abusive, codependent, toxic, and should be discouraged. Bullshit. For Tom and I, being twin flames is spiritual. Brings us closer, giving us an intense loving connection and a deep respect for each other and our roles in our marriage. The medical article was utter bull-fucking-hockey. While not perfect all the time, Tom and I are happy. We aren't typical though. Definitely have mirror souls. And Tom agrees, too. He's not overly spiritual, but does believe in twin flames.

Well...done for now!

M.M. 💖💀💖

#witchy vibes #witch aesthetic #twin flame #love story #witchblr #intense love #goth

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slickshoesareyoucrazy · 3 months ago

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Samhain

So here I am at the cemetery on the Day of the Dead, A. It never gets any fucking easier coming here. Your birthday came and went and no one left anything but me. I don't think that's ever going to not make me sad, but it won't stop me from coming. Nothing other than like... disability is going to stop me from coming. One of those dozens (am I up over 100 now? maybe...) of books I've read since you died is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende and she wrote a line in it that was something like, "Home is where your dead are buried." Right, man. I have never been comfortable leaving Northern Kentucky for too long because that's where my grandparents are, where my aunts and uncles are...it's where you are. J talks about relocating to New Mexico or Colorado or Oregon or Newfoundland, Canada or Northern Ireland even, but we'll never leave. This is home. It's where our dead are buried.

We watched some crime/comedy show on Netflix and only made it through one episode (that happens often...I really have pretty much lost all patience for TV except Bake Off). But the one we watched talked about how dressing up on Halloween came from the Irish Samhain. Wear a disguise so when the veil lifts your dead won't recognize you, because if they liked you, they'll want to stay. Not that I was ever into costumes and shit but I'll probably never really dress up again now, even though I know you can find me anyway.

I brought your guardian bell this time. It matches mine. The one J bought me to go with the motorcycle he bought me that I was too nervous to actually ride. Remember when I got it and you promised when I got a real license and could take a passenger, you would come back home and ride behind me? 🤣🤣🤣 Shit, man. I'm sorry I was never brave enough to make that happen. 😥 Still have my bell though. It's on my dresser at home. Now you have the same one. And I'll quit worrying one day that the stuff I leave won't be here next time. The stuff I left in March is still here. But I wish something else would be here that I didn't leave. Or really I just wish you weren't here and I was meeting you for lunch instead of my mom, and as much as I love M, I wish I was watching a movie later with you instead of her. I wish the next time I watch Ghostbusters would be with you (again) instead of with my friend J for her first time, even though that will be awesome if it really happens. I wish I had a motorcycle license and could take you for a ride on the back and my bell would ring the whole trip and that you didn't have an un-ringing bell on your grave stone that matches my un-ringing one below my bedroom mirror.

Still miss you like crazy. All the time. Here's some Leonard Cohen and I guess I'll be back sometime around Thanksgiving before your death anniversary (what the FUCK, man? 😭) rolls around.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

#grief #personal #i miss my friend #I'm cracked now but I guess that's how the light gets in

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deramin2 · 1 year ago

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A very Eugenelandia story time:

A huge ice storm came through Oregon and this is the first day in a week the roads have been passable and the grocery stores open. The local-focused natural grocer lost the breaker panel to their refrigeration system. But the store is still busy. The butcher counter has resumed operation out of coolers. They have lost all their beautiful cheese.

This is one of the grocery stores in town favored by middle to upper class white people with anxiety disorders desperately trying to save the planet with their buying power as part of their praxis. Carefully curated to never get a bad score on Buycott. There is a beautiful mural of puffy white clouds painted on the barrel vault ceiling.

The store is small so there's one checkout line feeding multiple registers (it snakes past the wall of gourmet fair trade chocolate and the baskets of dented and expiring food that everyone bored in line rifles through for discount goodies). The line is so long it's spilling into a fork at the produce section. Word from the local farmers is this store gets second pick of local produce behind the all-vegetarian natural grocer down the street. Even without refrigeration the produce is farmer's market fresh.

Three old people (one of them my dad) converge at the end and a hot but jovial debate about who's first in line breaks out. Excerpt it's because everyone wants to graciously let the others go first. Eventually someone has to break the standoff by just talking it. Order is restored and the line continues snaking through aisles longer than the days before Thanksgiving.

This store is a parody of itself, but very sincere about it, and it's also the best grocery store I've ever been in.

#story time #Eugene Oregon #grocery store

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aclaywrites · 1 year ago

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How to fall in love via Deneuve Magazine Personal Ads Circa 1993

❖ Go to your mailbox and see that your latest issue of Deneuve magazine has been delivered. It’s in a plain brown envelope, but you still take it all the way inside the house before you open it.

❖ Take a moment to gaze at the cover and appreciate the fact that it’s named after Catherine Deneuve in honor of her sex scene from The Hunger which awakened us all.

❖ Flip past the first few pages of ads. Do I want to fax away for a brochure about the chance to go on a Kenyan photo safari with the world’s first out lesbian commedienne? What about the Olivia Thanksgiving cruise?

❖ Enjoy the Editor’s Column about how our new President Clinton has pledged to make real progress for the LGBT community. Bask in the warm glow of happiness knowing that the gay dark ages are finally coming to a close.

❖ Chuckle at Alison Bechdel’s ad for the Feminist Bookstore Network and wish you had one of those stores near you.

❖ Keep up with the state of the lesbian nation via the letters to the editor. Aren’t the repressive laws being passed in Oregon and Colorado shocking? Goddess bless that Kentucky baby dyke having to dodge the KKK at her high school 🙁

❖ Read the wedding announcements and get all choked up, remembering why you’re here. Resist the urge to flip to the end and see if there’s anyone new from last month. Hope springs eternal!

❖ Oh, the 20th anniversary of Naiad Press! I love their stuff! Especially how all the covers look like they’re printed with ink that was on sale. I wonder if they have any more copies of that Lesbian Queries book from 1990???

❖ Audre Lorde sure is gonna give them hell at the march on Washington, eh?

❖ So many bookstores. So many books.

❖ An article about Safe Sex! Hell yes! Even though lesbians don’t get AIDS because we’re God’s chosen people, this will be fun to read about in theory! “After all, aren’t we told that lesbians and priests are in the lowest risk category?” lol people thought priests weren’t constantly having gay sex. Simpler times.

❖ An interview with Alison Bechdel! She’s so swoony.

❖ Articles about soap operas, speculation about Hilary Clinton, gossip about Madonna and Sandra Bernhard. And what about Whoopi Goldberg? And that Ellen lady? She’s been on Arsenio Hall acting all cagy about the men in her life. A list of women we wish were gay, including Joan Jett? Didn’t she sing Crimson and Clover without changing pronouns like waaaaay back in the 80s

❖ Music reviews: Sweet Honey in the Rock and Alix Dobkin! We’re almost to the ads…

❖ Labrys jewelry, freedom rings. C’mon, let’s get to the good stuff!

❖ Here we go! Classified ads– 30 words for $20! Queer personal finance, we buy used computers, a lesbian resort in New Hampshire.

❖ Personals at last! Is my woman here?

❖ Hey there’s that woman who has an ad every month expressing her ‘complete and sincere respect for’ women in military, fire, police, private security, corrections’. A gay male ad would say ‘Uniform fetish’ but apparently we’re too delicate.

❖ Bisexual boston babe ‘femalely handsome’ looking for someone who’s ‘nice to look at, not a feminist and not a bitch’. Next!

❖ Lonesome in Wyoming, Bisexual Bodybuilder, Softball is over, time to find someone warm for winter, Reubenesque Arkansas Buddhist…

❖ Find a girl who sounds promising– seems interesting and is not too far away. Spend a day or so composing a letter with a pen and piece of paper introducing yourself. If you don’t have a photo of yourself that you like, have a friend take one. Then finish the roll of film and bring it to the Fotomat and wait a day or so and then pick up the prints and hope you like one of them. Choose one anyway, and put it in the envelope with your letter.

❖ Get a stamp, hang it on the mailbox, never hear anything ever again.

❖ One month later, go to your mailbox and see that your copy of Deneuve has arrived.

#lesbian queries #lesbian query of the day #Deneuve magazine #personal ads #lesbian love #lesbian sex #yay lesbians

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kaseycarroll · 1 year ago

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To Mom on Thanksgiving

Hi Mom,

It's my first Thanksgiving without you. I always hold onto every holiday we had together though. Since none of us could cook, you always picked up a Thanksgiving feast takeout from Mimi's Cafe. Excellent turkey, delicious cranberry sauce, and my favorite -- sweet potato casserole. Even during the hardest times, you took care of your son, Tanner, and I.

He is in Oregon today with your brother, Doug, who tried taking a picture of Tanner throwing leaves in the air but failed. You would've laughed. You saw the light and laughter in everything.

If you ever wondered if I would think about you every day after you were gone, I have. Every day. I wait for signs and at times, I receive them. I love you and I feel loved. And I still keep missing you.

#writing #poetry #poem #spilled ink #thoughts #me #prose #letter #love #mom #grief #thanksgiving #holidays #loss

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sabineelectricheart · 2 years ago

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The Good Ends to a Long Engagement

Summary: The Wards receive a visit from a few Oregon friends and Baxter comes to a very important decision.

Rating: K - Intended for general audience 5 years and older. Content should be free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.

Words: 2400

Notes: It came out as Main Character Bashing Week, but that’s not what I meant with it. I don’t think Cove would be a deadbeat, but, well, that isn’t any help against being eaten by a shark or something.

The summer was upon California once again. Days are getting longer and the extra sun shoots up the temperatures, a nice day to spend on the beach or by the pool.

Jamie is lounging on the kitchen table after washing up the lunch dishes, as her fiancé prepares a pair of cups of coffee for them to share. Baxter has sent his stepson upstairs to prepare for receiving visitors anytime soon, so the couple has a few moments of silence between them, something that rarely comes by when there are children involved.

"It will be good to see Frankie again, huh?" The woman says, conversationally, as she wipes the back of her neck with a towel.

He hands her the cup of coffee and takes the chair next to her.

"Yeah. Yeah, it should be interesting." He responds, not very enthused.

Jamie laughed softly. Although the people coming over were his childhood friends, coming from his hometown, she knows that the only one happy about the development would be herself, and maybe River, her son, if he is sufficiently convinced by the prospect of playing with the closest thing to a cousin he has.

Liz never got around to motherhood, being more than happy as a cool aunt, Terry and Miranda still had not found a footing, financially-wise, in expensive South California to apply for an adoption and the Adams had a little baby girl, who was adorable, but could not play with a ten-year-old boy. Neither his father or step-father had any siblings, so his closest friend in age amongst extended family was Asher Second, and they got along famously.

She and Francine Second had bonded over the experiences of single motherhood over the time they spent over in Golden Grove for Thanksgiving. The pair exchanged numbers and talked at length over the months, culminating with an invitation for them to come down to Los Angeles for a visit. The Oregonian woman asked her friend, Renee Murray, to come along for the ride and share the drive, so the Wards would be hosting four people for a couple of weeks, along with baby Sawyer Second.

Baxter detested going back to Oregon for visits, but he disliked it even more having Oregon come down to California. He likes Renee well enough, and does not particularly dislike Frankie, but he is certainly indulging his fiancée and step-son on this one.

“Don’t be sour, love. It’s going to be fun!” She said, lifting the cup to her lips, then made a face. "Ugh. This is yours."

"No, I don't…" Baxter tried the cup in his hand, sure his face was unintentionally mimicking hers. "Yeah, this is definitely yours."

"I bet Sawyer is so big by now!" The seamstress said as she took her cup from him. "I remember how big River got during his second year. It just seemed like I'd blink, and suddenly he was reaching for things he couldn't even see a week ago…"

She shook her head, smiling at the memory. Her little boy was so cute as a baby! A little head of blond hair he got from his granddaddy, those chubby little fingers reaching for the seashell mobile they made for him…

Her fiancé hummed his acknowledgement, but he elected not add anything to the conversation. He does not understand much about children that young, even if he is good with River these days.

“Every new job I took, I had to make sure I could child-proof it. He was always getting into things, always so curious…" She trailed off. "I wonder how Frankie is getting along."

"I heard that she had to stop working on a project she was making a lot of leeway on when Sawyer got sick last year." The ma said. "I know how that feels, to an extent, but I'd imagine being a single mother would complicate things."

The other mother nodded. "I'm sure she didn't mind, though. You realize pretty fast that putting your child before your career isn't a decision you have to make, it's the thing you just do. When River was born, I had to put a lot of things on the shelf."

River, while a well-loved and much-anticipated child, was not a planned one. She and Cove were not even twenty when he was born, and they both understood that they had to make sacrifices for the life that was coming to them. For him, it was pro surfing, and for her…

"Your singing?"

"Yeah. Couldn't play around with that when I had a newborn crying for me every few hours." She said, smiling softly. "There was college, too. Our disposable cash vaporized overnight, and we depended on Mr. Holden to pay our bills… I wouldn't have had that big wedding that every girl dreams of."

"You and Cove ever talk about getting married?"

Jamie shrugged. It has been so long since she thought of that, it feels almost foreign to think that she was once engaged to someone else, even if she loved, and still loves, that person dearly.

"I mean, after a certain time frame, it comes up in most relationships. We loved each other very much and, if we had the money for it, I’m sure Cove would go along with it, but, well, we never discussed it seriously. We were too young, just taking one day after the other, and then I popped out a kid! We figured we'd keep existing, keep putting River first, keep doing what we had to do. Besides, he was never one to want to agree to some big fancy party anyway." She said with a little laugh. "I don't think I was ever able to picture him at a wedding, even ours."

Her phone began to ring, or, rather, Baxter recognized it as her alarm tone.

"What's that for?" He asks.

"Ah! It’s two already? Frankie and Renée never drove in LA, so they’re a bit spooked by the heavy traffic. I proposed meeting them on a gas station off the freeway, so I’m heading over there." She explained, pushing her chair, picking up her purse and keys and walking over to the bottom of the stairs. “River! Come on, it’s time!”

“I’m coming, mom!” He called from upstairs.

“Would you like me to come with you two? I can bring your car back and you can drive Ren’s?” He offered, calmly.

She turned to him, smiling. “Ah, thanks for the offer, but I thought you’d have an appointment this afternoon, so I asked Miranda for help. I’ll pick her up on the way.”

A ten-year-old boy stumbles down the stairs and off the door. “I’m ready!”

“Say goodbye to your step-father before you go!” The woman shouted from behind.

“Bye, Baxter!” He says from the driveway.

“Bye, buddy!” The older man shouts back, laughing. "Between Renée and Miranda, how are you possibly going to entertain all those excitable kids?"

Jamie grinned at her fiancé.

"I’ve had plenty of practice, this will be a piece of cake. See you later, okay?" She said, leaning over to kiss him. "Love you."

"Yeah, love you. See you."

*_*_*_*_*

Still exhausted from the previous day's hair-raising client, all Baxter wanted was to rest for a while before his house was taken by Oregonians, preferably on the company of his lovely fiancée. Alas, no hope there.

So, he went up to his study and settled on the couch. His attempt to read a book under the cool hum of the AC turned into an unplanned nap.

When he awoke, more than an hour had passed, and he could tell from the sounds downstairs that the house was definitely up three kids under the age of thirteen. And judging by the crying that suddenly wafted up from the bottom floor, Sawyer was definitely one of them.

"Oh, oh, hold on there, little baby." He heard Jamie say from the other room. "Come here, lay down."

Baxter rose automatically, but he stopped, unsure of what he could really do to help. He was good with River. He was good with Asher. He had met Sawyer only once and was still very unsure of how to act around toddlers. Better to leave that up to the resident child expert.

He eventually wandered down the stairs anyway when his fiancée’s voice shifted out of speaking. He found her sitting on the couch with all three kids around her, smiling at them as she sang some song he did not recognize. The scene gave him pleasant domestic feelings, which he was slowly growing used to experiencing.

The event planner leaned against the wall, watching. She was smiling, her arm around River, Asher sitting on the ground in front of her, and Sawyer laying on her back, her head tipped to the side to see her as she sang.

" Close your eyes, have no fear. The monster's gone, he's on the run and your mommy’s here. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Beautiful boy.”

Asher was subtly rocking from side to side with her lyrics. River was smiling, looking at her in that quiet, contented way he always did whenever she sang. Sawyer was, for once in his life, still, as if mesmerized by Jamie's voice.

"Uh, Baxter?"

The man jumped.

"Renée." He cleared his throat. "Didn't see you there."

"You never see me coming when you’re like that, with hearts on your eyes." She said, teasing.

The man narrowed his eyes at the cheap shot. “Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical of you bringing that up, huh?”

“That’s what childhood acquaintances are for, love. Besides, Frankie and Tamarack turned out to be great friends to me when I needed those, so rest assured I ate my words heartily.” She smirked. "But, being perfectly honest, you did look particularly deep in thought today. What's eating you, my friend?"

Baxter looked back toward Jamie. She smiled when she sang. She made one believe that the lyrics coming from her were the most profound words in existence.

He bit his lip. "Renée?"

"Yeah?"

Baxter waited a moment, thinking, then shook his head, turning to leave. "Never mind."

*_*_*_*_*

"That was a good day!" Jamie said as they ascended the stairs. "I just hope I wore them out enough that poor Frankie isn't exhausted trying to keep them entertained before bed."

"Frankie expressed a clear interest in having them for the night." Baxter pointed out. "It isn't as if you passed them off onto her. Plus, this is good. Because I, uh, I need to talk to you. We-We need to talk."

The woman cocked her head. "Like, we need to talk? Or we need to talk?"

"I don't know what that means."

She let out a quick laugh.

"I'm sorry." She sat on the edge of the bed. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" He said quickly. "I mean, no, not nothing. Nothing is what I did… Mean to say, I guess. Jamie?"

She tipped her head forward. "Yes?"

"I… You, you said to me earlier that you'd given a lot up when River came along, because he came first." He frowned, uncomfortable with his staccato sentences but unable to transition into a more efficient method of speaking. "You gave up things. Singing, vacations, free time, a big wedding. All of that."

He cleared his throat, hoping it would reset his speech. It is a difficult thing he has to say, but still, he would think he got the worst part down a long time ago.

"And I know nothing… Nothing has come up with us, really, we have work, and River, and work, and I know I said work already but we work a lot." He paused for breath. "I can't give you a singing career or all those hours you worked that second job back. I can't give you… I can't bring Cove back for you. For you and for River."

"Baxter…"

"Please." He said quickly, firmly. "Please let me finish."

She nodded.

"I know our relationship is… It is different from what you may have expected when you were younger, it is different from most, and I know I can be a bit challenging sometimes with this feelings stuff, but I know how I feel about you, and I don't see that going away, and…" He paused. He really should have thought this through. He knew what he wanted to say but it is hard to get it out. "I want to marry you, Jamie."

The problem of how to say it sorted itself out, in the end.

“Not as in getting engaged. I remember that we are engaged, that we’ve been engaged for well over a year at this point.” He said, with a bit of humour in his voice. “I want us to go on to the next phase, I want to plan our wedding, I want to call you my wife.”

Jamie blinked in surprise, her mouth falling open just slightly. She is not sure where he had been going with his speech, but she had not been expecting that, he was certain, but he forged on.

"Together, you and I, we made so many beautiful weddings, we made sure many a couple had their dreams come true, and I want that for us. A big party, with everyone we love, with all the little silly details that we find so beautiful, something that we will remember and tell our great-grandchildren. No expense spared. That last job we took, well, you know what it paid, and we have no greater need for it."

He dropped to the ground, he was several paces from her, and walked on his knees to her. Her own knees were a foot or so apart, and he pushed them to their respective sides so he could scoot closer to her, simultaneously and awkwardly shifting to rest on only one of his.

"So, what do you say?" He asked, giving her a small smile. "You and me? Big party?"

Jamie smiled at Baxter, amused. Ah, her silly little man, how she loved him.

"I think I'd like that big party." She said, her voice full of emotion.

He held up a finger. "Only if you spend the rest of your life with me afterwards."

Tears escaped her eyes as Jamie grinned, giving a happy laugh and kissing his face all over. She leaned forward, whispering his name and curling her arms around his neck.

*_*_*_*_*

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