Thursday Thoughts - A picture of you, holding a picture of me in the pocket of my blue jeans

1. There have been a few beauts this week that came just when I thought that the winter skies have not been giving the magic.

2. Just yesterday I was also saying shelling has been for shit and I was blessed with a whelk day. I got a big bag full of them at lunch. The first photo is a big ass whelk sitting on seaweed from the night before, which should have told me good things were coming. 

3. Poor Bruce is Fat Guy in a Little Coat. He is huge for a pug - tall and solid - and it's hard to get coats to fit him.

4. Not much doing around here this week. Work, reading, getting outside when weather allows. I need fresh air every day.

5. Republican run states are making changes to voting laws with surgical precision to restrict access to voting - we're not talking about anything new related to changes made due to covid, we're talking about removing access that has been standing for eight years in Montana and just insane shit in Georgia - and it is the responsibility of Congress and the federal government to ensure everyone in the country has voting access. All suppression bills are predicated on lies of election fraud, perpetuated and spread by Fox News et al propaganda machines, fed to people already feeling like the white way is closing. Protecting voting rights is non-partisan. Expanding voting rights is non-partisan. Don't wave your flag as a patriot if you support voter suppression. I know Fox allows you to think those things can coexist but they actually cannot. Zero elected officials in the republican party supporting protecting voting freedoms is a departure from how the entire party has functioned and voted in the past. This is a problem for ALL citizens. Call your Senators today and ask them to support the passage of the John Lewis Freedom to Vote act and suspending the filibuster to make this  happen. 

6. Back to being bored with cooking and food. MFD threw this together this week - shrimp, broccoli, pasta, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese. What are you eating? 

7. I finished a stellar book and the next one is mediocre at best so I'm experiencing a book hangover. One of Philly's indie bookstores - Joseph Fox Books - is closing after 70 years and I am sad. Please please buy from local independent bookstores, and if you can't get there, please buy from them online or via bookshop.org and choose them as the beneficiary. Amazon does not build community. Local bookstores do. If you used to work in a city and are now WFH, if you can shop and eat in the city centers to support those businesses who rely on office workers to stay open, please do. 

8. My favorite is waking up to a Please Do the Near Impossible in a Short Amount of Time ask via email. Isn't it everyone's? Insert upside down smiley face

9. Reminder via mirrorsreflectyou

10. This made me laugh.

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Jolene by Ray Lamontagne