flexagon | Town, crosswords, mosaic

Dealing with my town is a giant pain lately. I've been jumping through hoops for them on a couple of fronts -- it's not easy to get that water bill sent to me for the rental house. And they also really don't want to issue a permit for adding more insulation to my attic; the insulation contractor says they've never run into such troubles getting a permit before. But as the temps are going to rocket into the 90s later this week, I really want that insulation! Sigh. There are other house projects going along that are smoother, like getting new boilers put in the basement at Blue-Green Street.

Annual meeting with my finance guy, and... well, "irrational exuberance" doesn't even begin to touch this market, and yes it makes me nervous. I'd sell everything and stick it all in my mattress, except for that other old saw: the market can remain irrational for a lot longer than I can remain solvent.

I got on a video call with my fellow crossword constructor, Z, and we finalized some clues and submitted a crossword. She mentioned another idea that she'd had, and I got kind of into Python scripting and sent her a spreadsheet of a bunch of possible theme entries for that idea. Then justplainuniverse introduced me to another circus person who has published some crosswords! We are chattering away! And the squirrel also wants to collaborate with me!

I took a class on mosaic making, with Perse and apfelsingail, and made a little mosaic tile. It's pretty, but grouting turns out to be quite a pain, too. Learning, learning.

Speaking of Perse, I just started reading Circe by Madeline Miller, and in that story the goddess Perse is an actual character. So is Helios, the sun god. This is awkward, as I keep imagining my people as I read the book.

I called my mom on Mother's Day, and her husband is getting much better after a surgery so I asked her if she planned to start traveling again. She said she thought her traveling days are over. I want to know why! She's still early/mid 70s and both her own parents lived to be over 90.

I'm planning a birthday thing, for a Saturday that falls between my birthday and the bug's. Organizing things is work, but it will be an excellent stack of exercise + outdoor + social.

Circus was meh this week, training-wise, especially with missing lessons due to a sick coach. But I got a nice "community" feeling when I was there practicing acro on Friday with several people I knew.