Last week, purpleglitter and I found that the landlord at her old place had murdered a nest of starlings, ripping apart the nest and throwing the babies down to the ground like they were worthless. Just getting their down in, eyes never opened. They never saw the sun. We buried them in the back.

Today, the tree cutters came to the back yard here. Supposedly just to cut the branches overhanging the neighbor's, they instead cut main branches which may have had one or two subbranches overhanging the neighbor's yard, but most of which were not over the fence at all. Renting, I have no real control over any of this.

I don't understand the reason people need heavily nitrogenated death-yards. "Kill everything but grass. A dandelion! Kill it! Kill it! No flowers here! Nature is just weeds. Throw on more chemicals on... pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer... everything! It surely won't run off anywhere. Must have that perfect patch of stale green nothing, because lord knows if anything wild and free grows it'll be anarchy! Nature is ugly and must be controlled, but oh yeah, save the rain forests — nature is only ugly if it's where I can see it."

Tonight I made candles for the first time. I'm very happy with how they turned out. I only made a few, but I learned a lot that should help me make more in the future.

I was just about to take a shower in purpleglitter's apartment, and noticed there had been a minor back-up issue. Mostly dried, and not to bad. Nevertheless, a crust had formed over the drain, essentially sealing it. Not wanting to use anything that might pose a danger to the birds, I decided to use the remainder of the pseudomoonshine I purchased over the summer to clean the tub and unplug the drain. It worked like a charm, however now the house smells like I've just thrown a heavily alcohol-laden party. Ah, well - it will dissipate.

Yesterday evening was a bit of an adventure. purpleglitter bought a huge club chair at the Salvation Army in Saugus on Saturday. There was no way this thing was going to fit in her car. Neither of us could find anyone with an appropriate vehicle to pick it up. Running out of options to get the thing back to Arlington, yesterday she gave in and rented a U-Haul.

However, purpleglitter was very nervous driving it, and I have my vertigo spells - so it seemed a good idea if neither of us drove the thing. We called around to various people who might be able to drive it, but none of them wanted to. Eventually I drove it to Saugus and purpleglitter drove it back. dalious was about to help move the chair into the house, and move it he did. He took it most of the way himself, only requiring assistance to maneuver it through the doorways.

To top off day, purpleglitter was named best employee at her company yesterday. She rocks. Sitting in her new throne with her certificate in hand, she knows she rocks.

Yesterday was wonderful. I couldn't wait until evening, so I took the bus out to Burlington to meet up with purpleglitter for lunch during her break. If it weren't for the infrequentness of the buses, I would meet her for lunch more regularly.

When she arrived home after work, purpleglitter brought me a dozen roses, one for each year we've been together. She took me out to Vinny T's for dinner, which was the perfect choice. Back at her house, we had champagne and chatted away the night. We had planned to watch Tipping the Velvet, but never got around to playing the movie.

Quiet, romantic, happy. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary.

Me standing in front of the pastel I make of purpleglitter for her birthday present earlier this year:


photo by purpleglitter

I realized I never posted a picture of Piglet. Here is one of her next to her Squeaky-bird.

While I was sitting on a bench on the shore Spy Pond last week, I found myself looking down from above at Spy Pond and the autumnal trees of Elizabeth Island. Whether this was some sort of spontaneous out of body experience or a product of dissociation combined with vertigo and a high aptitude for spacial transitioning, I do not know.

Regardless of how I got there, it brought my thoughts to the budgies. The budgies get a lot of out-of-cage time. They fly around a lot in Lake's apartment. But it's not the same. The room has a ceiling and walls. The room has limits and I wish I could give them the sky. They are birds, that freedom is their hatchright. It seems unfair to keep them contained, but there is no realistic other option. To set them free in New England, especially on the dawn of winter, would be to give them death sentences.

We do our best to give them the closest to what they deserve as possible. We try to give them what we hope is a better life than they would have in the wild: providing a constant food supply, healthcare, and freedom from predators. It might not be enough, but it is all that we have to offer.

When my sister (ellynx) was last in Boston, she took me shopping and bought me an amazing silk dress. I wore it for the first time last night.


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As purpleglitter was leaving for work yesterday, she came across Cloe Longfang attacking a blue jay. purpleglitter chased Cloe away and called me. I came out and put the jay in a box and took him out back to purpleglitter's screen-in porch. He was such a beautiful bird and i was so worried about him.

I called an animal rescue. They were very nice, but very busy and didn't make it out to pick up the blue jay until early afternoon. The person who picked up the jay said that he had a broken wing, but the wing was still responsive and he had a good chance at recovery. I hope the jay is alright.