While Florida battens down the hatches and evacuates ahead of mad bad Milton, it is perfect weather in the northern Chihuahuan desert. With the afternoon high only 90 F (32 C) which might be a tad warm for some, but is truly pleasant after the brutal heat of the past summer, the outdoor brunch deli is once again open. On today’s menu: falafel with an ad libbed version of baba ghanoush, avocado and apple slices.
It did occur to me that it might be a bit insensitive for me to be eating an eggplant meal in front of the still living sibling of the One Who Became Baba Ghanoush. But I did it anyway. At least I’m not eating the neighborhood cats and dogs. I’m really proud of the way this Japanese eggplant has recovered from it’s summer of neglect.
While I was eating, I noticed something decidedly unseasonal: Coyote Ugly is putting up a flower bud! I succumbed a few months ago to a sale catalogue. Five new colors of Iris germanica were introduced to the garden in late August. They are meant to be rooting and settling in. Coyote Ugly is also meant to be a mid spring bloomer, not a rebloomer. I checked. I guess the disruption of being a mail order bride has caused a bit of disorientation and this unseasonal blooming. I can empathize.
A local hardware store is having a buy one get one free sale on paints and stains. I stocked up on raw materials for cool season home maintenance projects. Ha! What a perfect day, I thought as I stashed my loot!
Then I went to vote. Because I am going to be an election worker on November 5, I wanted to get my voting done ahead of time. Early voting began yesterday in my state.
Not only are this year’s (free) I Voted stickers AWFUL, (I mean that design! So cluttered!) but the election worker who gave me my ballot asked me what nationality I am. She didn’t ask anyone in front of me or anyone behind me this question. The other election worker was not asking voters about nationality either.
It was my accent. If you are a regular reader, you will already know how much I am triggered by the “where are you from” racist, xenophobic and othering questions which I get from total strangers. All. The. Time.
BUT at the election station “what nationality are you?” is questioning my right to vote, thus can be experienced as voter intimidation.
I came home and emailed a few people about my not so happy voting experience : the New Mexico Secretary of State who oversees elections in the state (got assigned a service ticket number…), the county clerk who is responsible for elections in my county (who responded rapidly but chided me for not speaking to her in person), and a few local election watchdogs who might or might not be interested.
And again I will say: dear USA people, please STOP asking someone who presents as different from yourself, where they are from.
Enough already and a big booooo to the mechanic who did a great oil change and maintenance service on Red Pony then accused me of being “an Elon Musk” this afternoon. TF with that. Don’t even ask about how we got from my joking about wanting a 1975 Ford Mustang softop, to him associating me with that weirdo. Hint: it had to do with making assumptions about my accent and him saying people “from across the pond” like Ford vehicles.
Way to ruin a day: from a potentially blooming Coyote Ugly to just plain coyote ugly.
Sigh.
Now excuse me while I chew off a limb.
.
Comments