Courtney Barnett - "Avant Gardener"

At the concert on Monday I failed to capture Courtney Barnett singing "Avant Gardener," so here is her video, plus lyrics. This is my favorite song of hers! Such intelligent songwriting is rare.

Brief Australiana: Forty degrees Celsius equates to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, so very hot. Triple-zero is the emergency number, equivalent to 911. Weet-Bix is a whole-grain wheat breakfast cereal.

[Verse 1]

I sleep in late, another day

Oh, what a wonder, oh, what a waste

It's a Monday, it's so mundane

What exciting things will happen today?

The yard is full of hard rubbish, it's a mess and

I guess the neighbours must think we run a meth lab

We should amend that, I pull the sheets back

It's forty degrees and I feel like I'm dying

Life's getting hard in here so I do some gardening

Anything to take my mind away from where it's supposed to be

The nice lady next door talks of green beds

And all the nice things that she wants to plant in them

I wanna grow tomatoes on the front steps

Sunflowers, bean sprouts, sweet corn and radishes

I feel proactive, I pull out weeds

All of a sudden, I'm having trouble breathing in

[Chorus]

I'm having trouble breathing in

I'm having trouble breathing in

I'm having trouble breathing in

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 2]

My hands are shaky, my knees are weak

I can't seem to stand on my own two feet

I'm breathing but I'm wheezing, feel like I'm emphysem-ing

My throat feels like a funnel filled with Weet-Bix and kerosene and

Oh no, next thing I know, they call up triple-0

I'd rather die than owe the hospital 'til I get old

I get adrenaline straight to the heart

I feel like Uma Thurman post-overdose and kick start

Reminds me of the time when I was really sick and I

Had too much pseudoephedrine and I couldn't sleep at night

Halfway down High Street, Andy looks ambivalent

He's probably wondering what I'm doing getting in an ambulance

The paramedic thinks I'm clever 'cause I play guitar

I think she's clever 'cause she stops people dying

Anaphylactic and super hypochondriactic

Should've stayed in bed today, I much prefer the mundane

I take a hit from an asthma puffer

I do it wrong, I was never good at smoking bongs

Back at the Montessori School For The Fall Semester

I'm back at the Montessori School for more thrills and spills with the young crowd.  There has been much new construction over the summer - new classrooms, new landscaping, new furniture arrangements, new software - and it will take some getting used to.

The kids are getting taller.  I even remember some of their names.

On Tuesday, my first day back, I was sent out as an instructional assistant to a classroom of kindergartners.  The kids were fun as always, but there is also a sense of the repetitive with the littles.  The kids were being slowly familiarized with the school's method of assigning work and having the school's representatives check on the results.  I was paired with a somewhat cantankerous four-year-old with attention issues and a pacifier.  It's hard to outwit such a child, and keep them from making too much noise, but I tried.

With other teaching assistants, I supervised kindergartner lunch and watched the kids play.  Several kids were trying to find suitable roles for helping the adults.  One girl I recall from last school year, almost too ethereal to be on this plane of existence, assigned herself the task of catching kids coming down the slide so no one would get hurt.  She was just trying to help.  We'll all get through recess together.

Afterwards, at my lunch, I found a convenient picnic table for my sandwich.  Away in the distance, from the playground swings, I heard a familiar voice: "Hey, Old Man!  Old Man!  Look, there he is!"  It was one of my biggest fans among the older students.  I jumped up, theatrically ran around in a little circle, then ran away, and hid.  There will be time enough for him later.

In the afternoon, I watched the kindergartners at recess and also after school.  I talked with a new teaching assistant and compared notes with an older one.  I supervised play and started to become familiar with some of the new kindergartners.  One girl left without her bracelet and I hope to return it to her sometime soon.  I was so tired, and I began making mistakes.  It was time to go home.

On Wednesday, I was assigned to be Substitute Teacher for one of the Upper Elementary teachers, on a short day.  I worry about being Substitute Teacher, because there is a lot than go wrong, but the long-time instructional assistant, and another instructional assistant assigned to one student, knew exactly what to do, so there were few difficulties.  It also helped that I already knew about a quarter of the students from playground and lunchroom and classroom supervision last school year.  The biggest problem of the day was an unexpected fire drill.  All the classes filed out onto the playground.  I did not have the sense to bring the class roster to take attendance, but the instructional assistant did, and so that was good.  No one was lost.

A lot of work coming up this school year!

Sacramento's Light Rail and the Sunday Evening Freight Train - August 23, 2026

Watching trains at the X Street crossing near 19th Street, in Sacramento, California.

 

Courtney Barnett "Creature of Habit" Tour - Encore Songs - August 24, 2026

Great concert! Australian Courtney Barnett's songs are clever and fun.

Encore of Courtney Barnett's "Creature of Habit" Tour, Sacramento, California, August 24, 2026. 

First song is "Canned Tomatoes (Whole)," with opening act Zoh Amba sharing the stage with Courtney Barnett. 

Second song is a real favorite, "Pedestrian at Best." 

Third song is "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party."

 

Also, "Another Beautiful Day."

Courtney Barnett "Creature of Habit" Tour Came To Sacramento - August 24, 2026

Opening act Zoh Amba. 

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Speed Bumps and ICE - A Community Meeting with Rick Jennings' Representative

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Final Performance of This Production of "Grease" - Woodland Opera House - August 22, 2026

 Great show! Lots of final-show energy.

Final bows.

Final bows.

Looking out over the waiting crowd from the stage door after the show.

Director Erik Catalan and Rachel Rycerz (Miss Lynch).

Pet-Sitting For Gabe and Eleanor

(August 14-17) Two dogs, two cats.

Blue

Molly

The Dude Just Showed Up

{Introduction: This post gathered more comments - more heated comments in the right-wing sphere - BY FAR, than any Facebook post I've ever posted. I probably deleted a thousand comments, but there were still about four thousand comments to go, until I pulled the plug on them.  Such asses they are!] 

Tonight (August 20, 2026), this dude showed up at the anti-ICE protest at the John Moss Federal Building in Sacramento. I can’t decide whether this dude is the most-pernicious kind of right-wing troll or maybe an unusually-naive right-winger. Who knows, maybe both? 

This dude seemed to think he could quietly protest on behalf of ICE in smug serenity across the street from the anti-ICE protest without significant challenge. Not going to happen! Said he was a 21-year-old Hispanic. Just sad. Show some pride, dude! 

Those of us on the left -all liberals, in general - are famous for our tolerance, but in a post-Renee-Good/Alex-Pretti world, that’s gone. We treated the dude as a hostile party, as we needed to. This isn’t debate club. On the street, the rules of the street apply. We would have talked more amiably with him if he had shown a bit less complacent hostility with his protest, but nope! 

Dude talked about reappearing at the Howe at Arden protest. Sigh. Like we have anything more to discuss. Maybe I’ll tolerate him there if he carries my signs. Otherwise, talk to the hand!