When we buried Jonathan in the pit near the propane tank, I decided to plant a tree over him, but I couldn’t decide what kind of tree I wanted. I really miss the crepe myrtles which are so commonly seen in the New Orleans area, and I’ve seen some beautiful ones in the nearby town of Hoquiam. But when I talked to a nursery about it, they told me it takes about three years for them to get established, and even a single hard winter in that time can stunt or even kill them. The lady told me that if I wanted a southern flowering tree that would grow well here, I should consider a magnolia. Grace liked magnolias very much, and when I mentioned to Chekhov that I was thinking about getting one for the spot, he immediately told me that he had seen them at Home Depot in Aberdeen and offered to buy one for me. So on Sunday the 19th he brought it in his van and we planted it together; it wasn’t difficult because the soil over the grave was still very loose, and it only took a few minutes of fairly light effort to clear a properly-sized hole for the root ball. Yellowbird is an avid gardener and advised me to water it every day without rain until the rainy season starts again in October, but luckily we’ve had several rainy days in the past week (unusual for this time of year) so that took care of the watering on those days. Then on one of the days I was watering it last week, it occurred to me that the area beneath the tree would be a fitting place for most of Grace’s ashes; I’m going to give the tree a few months to be sure it’s taking well, then I’m going to do a little ritual on the Day of the Dead to bury the ashes. And from now on, I will think of her every time I see it bloom.
Posts Tagged ‘holidays’
Diary #839
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged Day of the Dead, holidays, Sunset on July 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Magdalene’s Day 2026
Posted in Holidays, tagged Catholicism, holidays on July 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Every year on her feast day, I honor St. Mary Magdalene; even though the Church does not officially recognize her as the patron of whores, she certainly is in the public imagination. And if beliefs have power, that recognition of sacred whoredom in the minds of millions has far more metaphysical and philosophical weight than any official Church designation.
Bluebird
Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged adolescence, animals, blogging, Bluesky, dehumanization, fantasy, fascism, Google, holidays, illegal aliens, internet, language, left-right myth, libraries, politicians, propaganda, psychology, racism, robots, sporting events, surveillance, Thanatopsis, Turkey, Twitter, Vermont, Washington DC on July 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I used to try to explain when a young or pre-menopausal woman makes some sort of confident statement about what she will be like post-menopause. Now I just shrug and say, "You'll find out soon enough."
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-17T17:21:31.990Z
It's always amusing to me when a paywall demanding I provide my personal information is followed almost immediately by a popup admitting they will sell that information to anybody who wants it.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T18:46:19.972Z
"Mmmm, a meat-free savoury loaf!" said no hungry person ever.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T18:57:53.004Z
The best part of this algae bloom is, it only needs to stay in place for two more weeks from today to achieve maximum humiliation value for Trump and the whole MAGA movement. After the 4th, it can vanish overnight; what will be remembered is the perfect metaphor for the semiquincentennial.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-20T17:51:22.612Z
5 million djinn and imps working 24/7 can build Baghdad in ≈ 6 months. Now just imagine what the world looks like when we have 10 billion of them by 800. Now imagine the year 1000. Amazing abundance for all!
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-21T17:27:00.933Z
I don't generally call attention to toxic filth from Twitter, but if you're still on Twitter at all you may want to look up this sewer outlet which calls human beings "farm equipment" just for the pleasure of blocking it.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-23T17:52:42.652Z
"It’s Donald Trump’s violent, pawing need, not to win, but to be *seen* to have won. To see *himself* as a winner or, when observable reality disagrees, to declare war on reality. It’s the president’s shrieking demand that everyone else join him in waging war upon a mirror."
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T16:58:10.225Z
Why are the US media and Democratic politicians so averse to recognizing that SCOTUS judges can be impeached?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T18:01:45.727Z
A new dimension of "throwing like a girl".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T03:27:07.509Z
This is actually a good way to deal with drive-by commenters on social media."This is stupid!""OK."They don't know how to continue when you refuse to give them the theatrical conflict they crave.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:12:37.049Z
Maybe they're all ninjas, disguising themselves by becoming blades of grass.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:06:43.769Z
Musk is a Bond supervillain. Zuckerberg is a Batman supervillain.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-30T07:37:56.774Z
Well come ON! If you looked like that, you'd be depressed, too.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T17:52:32.638Z
THANK YOU.It's rare to see *anyone* who grasps this nowadays, even though it's right there in the name of the movement.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T17:43:57.214Z
The Trump regime keeps people from entering the US "because of who they are" all the time.Monkey see, monkey do.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-04T17:43:32.766Z
Without a doubt, it would have to be the guy who said that any female character in a fantasy story with extraordinary powers was a "Mary Sue".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T19:08:47.786Z
Another American institution destroyed by private equity: http://www.salon.com/2026/07/03/h…
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T17:02:26.485Z
As a former reference librarian, I can tell you what people did before Google. (HINT: it wasn't sitting around helplessly wishing for the information.)
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T07:57:06.570Z
I spoke with Mitch McConnell for twenty minutes this morning. He told me he had meddled in things that man must leave alone.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T08:13:53.616Z
Reminds me of this argument which anyone who knew teen boys in the late '70s & early '80s will remember:Boy 1: Rob Halford is not gay!Boy 2: Dude, he's gay. Look at his costumes.Boy 1: Leather is tough, not gay!Boy 2: What about gay leather dudes?Boy 1: They stole that from bikers!Boy 2: …..
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-11T18:16:55.618Z
Every so often the very first tweet I see from someone is so absolutely, moronically authoritarian, I block them instantly to spare myself from ever seeing another violently-stupid utterance from them.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T17:12:55.939Z
"Verify your age"Fuck you! In my day, computers didn't talk back or make demands. And we watched TV by attaching the set to an antenna.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-13T17:03:24.239Z
So very many words to say, "I don't understand the concept of hubris and anyone who tries to explain it to me is Satan."
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-14T17:41:15.926Z
"The alternative would be to admit that we as a nation have done what we have in fact done, which is install a demented narcissistic madman as president."
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-15T17:58:14.068Z
Partisanism is a form of brain rot. Today's example: claiming the increasingly-totalitarian Trump regime is "anti-government".If Trump's metastasizing police state is "anti-government", I shudder to think what a "pro-government" regime would look like.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-16T17:03:55.420Z
People used to think I was kooky for refusing to eat green, leafy vegetables and uncooked or undercooked food.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-18T03:39:10.780Z
My favorite Sanders tell is how his refrain used to be blaming "millionaires and billionaires" for everything until someone correctly pointed out that SANDERS is a millionaire, at which point he switched to just blaming "billionaires".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-19T16:53:53.906Z
Diary #836
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, holidays, psychology, Sunset on July 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »
My friend Sophie is very ill, so a little over a week ago she asked if I’d sit her dog Hallie. Though Hallie is a great big bitch and has a few odd personality quirks, she is a frequent visitor to Sunset and mostly knows how to behave herself out here. Also, Axel is her buddy and she generally follows his lead, so sometime after sunrise I let them out, then go back to bed and let them in again when I get up around 9. They’re both older dogs (Axel is 10 and Hallie 11 or 12), so about three hours of running around in the dewy, dewy grass is generally sufficient exercise, and they mostly just lounge and nap the rest of the day. Alas, it was different on the night of the 4th; though Trip prefers to spend 95% of his time outside, he is terribly afraid of fireworks, so as soon as they start he wants to be inside. But even inside, he gets spooked when the noise peaks, so on Saturday night the only way to keep him from running around, knocking breakables over, was to invite him onto the couch where I could pet him while assuring him that Danger Man would protect us from the scary noises (in all seriousness, I think the TV sound helped drown out the pops, cracks, and booms). Axel jumped up right beside him, which meant Hallie spent the next several hours in an elaborate dance: stand around looking forlorn until I tell her to lie down, then look at me as though she doesn’t understand until I point to the easy chair. Then get in the chair; lie contentedly for about 15 minutes; get up to wander around aimlessly until I tell her to lie down; lie on the floor for about 10 minutes; get up again and wander around aimlessly a bit more; then go back to looking forlorn and start the cycle again. Oh, well, it was only one night; the rest of the time, dogsitting is an easy way to help a friend, and barely even impacts my schedule.
Independence Day 2026
Posted in Current Events, Holidays, Tyranny, tagged fascism, holidays, politicians, Washington DC on July 4, 2026| 1 Comment »
The saddest thing about the collapse of the US empire is that instead of a dignified decline or a catastrophic collapse, we had to endure the spectacle of the White House being turned into the White Trash House.
The World of Throwback Thursday
Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged activism, blogging, censorship, consensual crime, cops, fascism, games, holidays, law, lawheads, LGBT rights, politicians, psychology, universal criminality, weaponry on July 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I liked Pride so much better when it was one day celebrated by grass-roots organizations than a whole month ballyhooed by major corporations with rainbow-hued consumer goods, and with hypocritical expressions of solidarity from politicians and cops.
– “June is Tweeting Out All Over”
One…aspect of my neuroatypicality…[is] that…[I] spend [a lot of] time composing and performing a kind of music only I can hear.
– “The Music in the Numbers”
Unfortunately, societies’ tendency to self-lobotomize into stagnation and decay is something that will almost certainly never be solved.
– “The Eternal Frontier”
The only moral form of warfare is War of Assassins, in which the only combatants and the only legitimate targets are the rulers, their henchmen, and their agents. – “War of Assassins“
Litha 2026
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on June 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The apparent path of the sun reached its northernmost point at 8:24 UTC today, marking the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and the shortest day of the year & first day of winter in the Southern. May all of your plans come to fruition in the fullness of time, and Blessed Be!
In Memory of Grace
Posted in Biography, Holidays, tagged Grace, holidays on June 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
From here on out, I intend to commemorate Grace’s birthday with a depiction of an eternal flame, symbolizing my undying love for my departed best friend, who would have turned 68 today.
I love you, sweetheart, and I always will.
This Too Shall Pass
Posted in Biography, Diary, Philosophy, tagged drugs, Grace, holidays, psychology, Sunset, Thanatopsis on June 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Trauma, like everything else, is typically effaced by time. The anniversary of the events of Memorial Day, 1995 still affected me deeply at the 24-year mark, but once I moved to Sunset full-time the following year, those old serpents began to grow quieter; last year they were overshadowed by the death of my best friend, and this year the anniversary was marked by little more than unpleasant memories despite spending it alone, which in the past was a bad idea. The weathering away of the aftereffects of trauma appears to have been mostly the result of a combination of time, therapy, and daily cannabis usage, but I can’t discount the contributions made by age, wisdom, and perspective. Those who fear mortality are fixated on the fact that all good things die, ignoring the fact that bad things do as well. Spiritual immaturity obsesses about the former to the exclusion of the latter, but the insight which comes in the fullness of time, assuming we allow it to, brings the realization that this is not only as it should be, but as it must be. And, if we’re fortunate, the recognition that this is not only good, but beautiful.
Throwback Thursday and the Ballerina
Posted in Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged blogging, cops, fantasy, Follow Your Bliss, holidays, imaginative fiction, language, McNeill's Law, psychology, teachers, video, violence vs. sex workers, Who in Review on June 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The naive believe that “child predators” are creepy dudes who hang out at playgrounds; in reality, they are largely people in positions of authority over their preferred targets. – “Follow Your Bliss (#1242)”
The more fantastical a world, the more important it is that it doesn’t contradict itself if an audience is to accept it. – “The Buffyverse, Part Two”
This is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”; it is a day to celebrate the triumphs of criminalized human beings against a society that would rather we didn’t exist.
– “Whores’ Day 2024”
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