Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
saturday in the creek
today was canning, going to the post office to get mail, walking in the forest up the road from my house. saturday slow finally taking a pause from breathless weeks standing in front of rooms and driving long highways. this house is respite – quiet and non-toxic – a chance to fill my lungs with air not saturated with the effluent of fashion and industry.
clove oil and codeine
a terrible toothache has been keeping me in a constant low-level state of annoyance over the past two days – this compounded by the fact i stayed in the city last night due to work commitments in these last few days of working for the union.
i think impacted wisdom teeth are causing the intensive aching in the right side of my jaw. i’ve seen the x-rays of them, and there is no doubt they are growing in all sideways which pushes against the other teeth. last night at jess’s place i was in so much pain that she went out and got me clove oil and codeine which is the only combination working to keep the pain manageable. the last time i talked to my dentist about them he said to leave them alone until they really started to bother and then he would refer me to an oral surgeon (apparently they are too much of a mess for my dentist to deal with). i’m thinking that now might be the time – except we’re about to go on strike….
looking up
I have been working on some new desktop images for the new machine – am hoping to do a series of “tree” desks – using shots and textures from my collection. Here are the first two for download (1024 x 768)
border-crossings
road trip statistics
from/to: vancouver, bc to tonasket, wa to grand forks, bc returning through tonasket
total distance: 1557 kilometres
fuel used: 123 litres (approx)
highways travelled: 1, 3 (CrowsNest), I-97, WA-20
small towns visited: tonasket, chesaw, grand forks, greenwood, osoyoos, keremeos, princeton, hope
number of border stations crossed: 2 (at osoyoos 3 times and at grand forks once)
roadkill encountered: 1 deer, 2 skunks, 1 coyote, a kitten and innumerable squirrels, chipmunks and other unidentifiable rodents
roadtrip booty: 2 large bunches of mountain sage, 25 pounds of field tomatoes, 25 pounds of apples (spartans and golden delicious), 3 field cucumbers, 1 bag of hot hungarian peppers, 1 bag of sweet banana peppers and six ears of fresh corn
each day closer
i have been organizing gypsy-style this week, without a real office and from various points in the city using cel phone and laptop with airport card to download, sift, sort and connect. i don’t suspect next week will be any different.
tonight i am on the late ferry, and tomorrow i will be on the early which makes for truncated sleep, but at least i am buoyed by the flow of energy and comraderie of my fellow organizers – if there is anyone who understands this fluid state between work and organizing, it’s those alongside in the same struggle.
next week i give three strike trainings at three different locations, and if all goes according to schedule i will be walking a picket line the week after that. i don’t think i have ever spoke in front of people as often as i have in the past four days, and until this ends each day will follow a similar pattern – phone, email, meeting, speaking.
Red Cedar 
