whale dreams

Impeachment is done.  I never said Christmas wouldn't come, and it hasn't yet, but you don't hear me commenting every day that Christmas isn't here yet.  I think it's a Christmas favor that Nancy has done us, so that our yuletide season is not spoiled by the sight of snarling republicans one after another, hysterical to a man.  It's probably good for them too, some of them looked like their tickers were about to tick off. 

Looks like it has also snarled the snarler in chief and now he is back to having a circus instead of a stately bit of pomp.  Good.  It will keep us warm through that slow snow slog to Groundhog Day.  The Solstice is tomorrow and the days will be getting longer and we our on our way to spring.  And you'll notice that I won't be noting every post until then that it is not yet spring.

I have been painting alleys lately, and have been getting a few comments about how I should put rats or cats or worst of all, people, in my alleys.  If it's not a painting of people I never put people in it.  You can paint purple mountain majesties, golden plains, skies abrim with combating cumulus clouds; you can skew perspective amusingly, make a symphony of textures, use your burnt sienna more deftly than ever before, but if you put in even one tiny, barely more than a stick, person, way over to the side in a part of the painting where nothing much is going on, that will be all that people will see.  Gone will be the purple and gold, the skew, the elaborate pattern of textures, and that deft burnt sienna, because all they will be seeing is that guy and wondering if his girl dumped him just as their girl dumped them, or if he had his candy bar not drop after he put in his 85 cents just like happened to them.

I had whales on my mind, glorious leviathans, sailing from pole to pole like we step out to the Seven Eleven to get a pack of gum, and all Beagles has to respond with is some obscure biblical fable. 

I meant to do a bit of reading on those fantastic baleen whales but the candidates were debating, felt it my civic duty, you know a democracy if you can keep it, and all.  Seven of them, fighting it out to be the one to slay the dragon and bring peace to the kingdom, and even in the midst of a bit of petty squabbling I have to say, how much more pleasant to behold than the Trumpists.  Folks you would be pleased to invite into your home for a cup of Joe or a cold one, whereas if one of those reps came walking across your lawn, and they would walk across your lawn even if they had to go out of their way to do it because Goddammit, that's why Goddamnit! you would be pounding nails into the board you put across the door and calling the cops.

I used to be a Warren guy, and I guess I still am, but not so gobsmacked.  I don't like Biden much, four years of listening to his self righteous bogus tough guy talk, not appealing, but whatever it takes to win.

Got in some baleen wiki-ing, not much, but enough to discover, as I always do, that it is more complicated than I thought it was, so I think I will just go with how I thought it was.

More on the baleen whales next week.