I’ve spent nearly two weeks in Frankfurt, in part for a medical procedure that was pretty technicolor and then to spend the week before Easter in a greener country than Spain. The weather has been frighteningly good but climate change has been kicked out of my top three concerns by “Am I Violating Anyone’s Copyright in This Collage?”

Yes, alas, the guidelines on copyright in this area are murky. So, sadly I’ve trashed a number of visuals due to keep-me-up-all-night worry. I think I’ve rectified most everything that seemed questionable and in a couple cases walked away with a better piece.

Otherwise, I’ve spent the time struggling with the enormous amount of paperwork involved in being alive, especially filing tax returns for three countries. I feel like I spend 5 full months a year preoccupied with taxes. I try to remember this is not a life-threatening problem, that my health is okay, that I’m not broke, and that there’s only so much I can do to help people I want to help and to prevent things from happening that I don’t want to happen. If I haven’t been a superhero, I also haven’t been a slouch, and I deserve to sit down with my husband and a glass of wine in the late evening to zone out with the Walking Dead.

In my non-existent gratitude journal I’m writing down:
Thank you Bear Review for publishing two poems
Thank you nice lady who helped me with a health insurance problem
Thank you Spotify
Thank you silk thread that is so vibrant and superior for collage purposes
Thank you Fontina cheese
Thank you clothes that can be washed in the washing machine
Thank you forgetfulness for letting those olives in the refrigerator survive until Easter
Thank you Marion Thieme for the collage class in which I had to do things I wouldn’t usually do with materials I wouldn’t otherwise use