Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: July 2026

  • Gary’s latest health update

    The receptionist at the gastroenterologist said that either Amber or Aqua would be out to walk us to the exam room, and Gary asked if they’d be dressed color-coded by name. I had argued with Gary that I should be in the room for this visit, because there have been a number of visits in…

  • Why is blue blue?

    We have many means to make colors. Indigo is a plant dye. Purple comes from sea snails. Carmine red is from beetle shells. Dry it out, grind it up, mix it with linseed oil. Paint. The earth tones are literally earth. The reddish-brown umber colors started out as the dirt in Umbria, Italy, where the…

  • TWIL: Downtown Chemicals

    My mother said something once about how my Dad was sprayed with chemical agents when he worked downtown in the ’50s and ’60s. Mom made that comment in the ’90s. I believe I said, “Wait … what?” because I was about 30. Had I been any younger I would have just taken it at face…

  • Beautiful

    I think I said something this week I’ve never said before. I met a friend for lunch, and she greeted me with “You look beautiful.” Without a thought I automatically said, “Thank you.” It felt weird immediately. This is not my typical response. Usually I furrow my brow, roll my eyes, say that you need…

  • Minnesota starvation experiment

    I don’t remember how old I was when I read about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Thirty-six young men starved during WWII so the War Department could understand the best way to bring starving people back to health. Here is a really interesting article in which the now-elderly participants remember what it was like. What I…

  • Thursday Paint Progress: 7/16/2026

    It’s been a long time since I brought a painting into Photoshop to see where things went wrong. That was what I painted. I’m not going to perfect it because frankly, my mistakes were grotesque. That dog — compared to the original – looks as if he were hit by radiation. He’s doubled in size.…

  • Gary has turned

    If Gary ever gets a new love I will know how I will be treated. He will be treat me like trash, an impediiment to his happiness, a nuisance getting in the way of his new love. How do I know this? I see how he treats the raccoons. He stomps in from the backyard.…

  • Cyclosporiasis

    Pre-reading assignment if you haven’t seen the US breaking bowel news: News on the outbreak from Reuters. (Notable for not using the word “explosive”.) I felt pretty lousy Monday afternoon. Headache, nausea, body aches, after a full night awake. Gary was headed to the store and asked if I wanted anything. I sighed “No” like…

  • I had not considered that I might have MS and be old

    I knew a man once who had worked in a nursing home and he reported that aged people with MS really liked quiet corners and spending time alone. I imagine those people were down so many brain cells that the TV room at an old folks home would feel like Dave and Buster’s. I was…

  • TWIL: Mitch McConnell had polio

    When Senator Lindsey Graham died suddenly this morning I turned on the news to check if there was a breach in Senator McConnell’s news blockade, because if both of the President’s right-hand men die in short succession then the opponents on the left will get the side-eye. That was a dizzying string of words, and…