Anger.

If anything, becoming a mother has only solidified my pro-choice stance. My pregnancy was planned and desired. I love my child.

But I wouldn't wish pregnancy or parenting on anyone who didn't want it. Nor would I ever want to force someone to carry a child who would most certainly die before or shortly after birth. If I had found myself at 20 weeks, facing an ultrasound of a fetus who had defects not compatible with life, I would have fought very hard to terminate the pregnancy, though I'm not sure what my options would have been in Virginia. The thought of bringing a child into the world only to make it suffer? That is cruel and heartless. If I had a daughter, I wouldn't want her to ever be in the position where she was forced to carry a pregnancy to term.

Dr. Tiller was killed by terrorists. And the gunman wasn't the only one.

NJ--it's not just for garbage barges

Many of you know that explodingcat grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. Several years ago, his parents (empty nesters by then) moved to the NJ side of the river--further south, though, so they're much closer to Philly now.

When I tell folks that we're in NJ, they always assume we're further north. And yes, NJ is a small state by Western standards, but it's also very densely populated and has roads which--when driven--evoke nothing so much as a physical paean to some god of entropy. So even though I'm just an hour or so south of NYC, I'm in South Jersey. Just south of here are the fields and gardens which make NJ sort of the breadbasket of the MidAtlantic region. Tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, sugar plums . . . I've bought a lot of tasty produce in this often mocked state.

Anyhow, I'm in NJ--exit 4, for those who are curious. Yesterday we visited the Philly Zoo. We have a membership, so my only cost is gas, bridge toll (four bucks deducted from my EZ Pass account), and the emotional toll of driving on the Schuykill Expressway.

Today we stayed closer to home and visited the Garden State Discovery Museum. Our local VA Discovery Museum membership allows for reciprocal admission at many museums (ACM and ASTC). We'll probably visit the Please Touch Museum at least once this trip, too. And I might try taking Ronan in to see the Franklin Institute, though I'd rather visit that while grandma or grandpa babysits, to be quite honest. The Museum of Natural History is also an option. I suppose I should see which one is more likely to have something of interest to a two-year old.

Right now, I'm sitting in the living room of their newish townhome. Tom is sitting by another window, working. I'm watching a storm move ever closer. The back "yard" is a few hundred acres of wetland--put into public conservation. So it's a view of scrub, marsh, and trees, with darkening clouds looming to the west. It's kind of nice to sit in the heart of suburbia and see something so wild. Turkeys, foxes, raptors . . . lots of neighbors out back.

Dinner.

Steamed in microwave two minutes:
one small vidalia, cut into chunks
a handful of garlic scapes, cut into small pieces
one yellow bell pepper, sliced

Add to a pan of hot oil (don't pour it in, reuse the liquid in a few minutes). Toss some cleaned snow peas into the steaming vessel--those get one minute in the microwave.

Stir the food around. Add about an inch of grated ginger and two chopped garlic cloves. Stir around some more.

Add the stems of baby broccoli, chopped. Add a half cup of beef broth and a few dashes of vinegar. (Actually, it was one beef stock concentrate packet in a half cup of water). Some white pepper. The blossoms of the baby broccoli and one bunch of yu choi, chopped into 1-2" lengths. Stir around. Add the snow peas and a handful of bean sprouts. Cover for one minute on pretty high heat.

Stir in about a half cup of cornstarch slurry and stir to thicken, take off heat. Season at the table with salt and sriracha. Bemoan the lack of sesame oil in the house. Eat over brown rice. Eat a second bowl over brown rice cake cooked in beef broth, because the rice was leftover and is all gone.

movie time

If anyone wants to be Netflix friends with us, click here. We'll be all buddy buddy forever and ever and I'll totally hold your viewing choices against you. It will be BFF until you diss Biggles: Adventures in Time

Oh, that's Tom's account, by the way. He may or may not know that I'm posting this.