Life in the Incremental Lane

My life far out of the fast lane

Through most of my life, I have been an incrementalist. A little bit here, a little bit there, eventually the work gets done, the house gets clean (LOL), the garden gets tended. In my younger days, I have attempted the all or nothing strategy, but when gardening I would end up with severe back pain after six hours of cutting and hauling and digging and planting, and spend the next day on the couch. I would look at the immensity of an art/writing project, and it would never get started.

Let’s face it. I’m not a high energy person and even though in my 20’s and 30’s I tried to act as if I was, I really wasn’t. I’m more the lazing elder tabby, sleeping 16 hours on a pillow in the studio than the turbo kitten bouncing off the walls and climbing the drapes.

Strange Bedfellows (aka Two Cats who can’t stand each other)
Mixed Media Pencil/Watercolor
11” x 14”

There is a lot to be said for the incremental lifestyle. Things DO get done. Changes do happen

Believe me when I say that I have sympathy for people who embrace the whirlwind philosophy. It’s just that whirlwinds invariably leave some debris and wreckage in their wake. I have a accomplished far more by showing up in my studio and garden, every day a couple hours here, a couple hours there, than I did by pushing myself to exhaustion.

In this election season which feels like it has lasted 8,465 days, we have a choice between incremental improvement: the hard, steady work of making things better for as many people as possible or the chaos of a whirlwind that claims it alone can make us great.

There are a number of people who I previously considered friends, to whom I can no longer talk. It’s not that they support TFG. (I stopped talking to those people more than 8 years ago, LOL). But when then barely audible chatter he’s too old! we need someone more progressive! he’s participating in genocide started, and after the disastrous debate became the shriek of BIDEN MUST STEP DOWN! and I asked, “Who would replace him? How would this be brought about?” they got mad and said I was attacking them, so we quit speaking.

I would have supported Biden until the end. I think he is a marvelous president, and has accomplished far more that I imagined was possible. He is wise and experienced. He put his head down into the harness and got to work on the first day in office. Those who had gotten used to TFG continually congratulating himself on how marvelous he was (note: he wasn’t) totally missed the quiet, incremental sound of work getting done once Biden took office. Of course, one of the wisest things he did, was choose Kamala Harris as his Vice President, and she has been quietly, incrementally getting stuff done, all around the country and the world, for the last three and a half years.

Reflections of a Distant Past; 1978
Oil on panel
12”x24”

I believe Kamala Harris will be a great president. I believe Tim Walz will ably assist in the diplomacy required by the office. (He’ll probably also bring the best hot dish to the State Dinners) For those who are willing to risk chaos by waiting for perfection, please take my number out of your contact list. Perfection does not exist. It is a fairy tale, told by those who have something to gain from the chaos.

If you haven’t already done so, please check your voter registration to make sure your state isn’t playing footsie with your ability to vote. Vote early if you can. And if I haven’t already made made myself crystal clear, I hope you’ll be voting for Harris and Walz, as well as every Democrat in a down ballot race in your area.

Stay ‘tooned for my annual October event, an Encore Presentation of everyone’s favorite classic, The Wizard of Wu!

Thanks to all my new subscribers and followers. It’s nice to think someone is listening as I scream into the void!