I couldn't sleep last night, couldn't write, couldn't put a paragraph together, couldn't not think about the general fuckery in the world.  I know I am lucky.  I don't live in Ukraine or Gaza, my home is not being bombed or reduced to rubble and I am very thankful for that.  But I do live in a country that borders on the US which is now being run by ignorant monsters, and it worries me.  

Canada is small, population wise.  We make up 0.5% of the world's population and come in 37th in the world for population.  The US is the 3rd largest country in the world, by population.  We are small and and as a result, our economy is small.  This morning 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods (except oil, that's only 10%) were instituted by the US.  Overnight our friend and ally, our major trading partner, has turned on us, in an effort it seems, to destroy our economy.  trump will destroy his own economy in the process but is sadly too stupid to understand that.  And the people running the show, the billionaires, we need to call them what they really are, oligarchs, will not really be affected by any of this, except maybe to pick up more businesses at rock bottom, going out of business prices.

There is little I can do about this.  I can and will boycott American made and produced products as much as possible, but as you can see by the numbers, Canada is only a small blip in the grand scheme of things.  There are a lot of things we don't manufacture here, why would we, when the US produces them, but Canadians are banding together to find locally made and Canadian made products.  

But enough about trump and his twats.

I start a photography course this evening, my husband bought it for my Christmas gift.  I'm quite nervous about it because it's the technical side of photography which I know virtually nothing about.  I have to look at my camera manual for god's sake!  For those of you who don't know, I have ADHD and manuals and me just have a hard time.  Nursing school was no different for me.  I learn best by watching and doing, so I'm hoping for a lot of that, plus I'll ask lots of questions (Mary I'm looking at you).  Once the first class is over, I'm sure I'll feel better.  I'll have a better understanding of what's expected of me.  The unknown is always scary.  See above.

I'm hard at work in my pottery classes.  We have two more classes for making things, and then the last two classes are for glazing.  I'm going to take the same class again for the spring session.  We have such a lovely, young instructor.  She's kind, encouraging, and full of ideas.  I made my second slab vase yesterday and it was so much easier and better looking than the first one I made.  Improvement is satisfying.  The women in the class are lovely and encouraging too, and we talk which I love.

I've been stress cleaning which is good, at least the house will be clean.  When I can't control anything else in the world, my bathroom will be clean.  I'm also off to Ikea to buy a shelving unit for my front window.  Heidi no longer needs to be crated (she used to chew everything but has stopped) and I have more room in the living room which means the couch doesn't have to be up against the window and I can put some plants there.  Plants make me happy and I need some more happy right now.