Here are two photos of things I like to think about instead of thinking about how I live in a world where people can pay $209 for a piece of cheese while other people starve and suffer.

This


is the exterior of the Milwaukee Art Museum's Brise Soleil. I went walking there yesterday when I took a break from work for a while to walk around in the sunshine. During the entire walk I was blissfully unaware that in less than 24 hours I would wake up and read a news story about how a bunch of stupid selfish mean people were selling cheese for $209 a pound.

And this

is a picture of an elephant I built using "Magna-Tiles" (TM) at the Middleton Public Library on Saturday, when I'd taken Mr F and Mr Bunches there.  We look for things to do for free, like go to the library, because I started a new job in January and money is tight.  Money is too tight for us to pay $209 for a pound of cheese, certainly.  But on Saturday I didn't even think that such a possibility could exist.  $209 for a piece of cheese! What a world we live in! 
Meanwhile, we are waiting to see if the State can give us a grant to help secure our house so that Mr F doesn't climb out the window and run away.  It takes about 2 1/2 years for that to be approved.  Until then, we duct-tape our windows shut and save our money up and don't leave him alone in the house at all, because the other day he tried to do that again.
$209 for a piece of cheese!
Did you know Wisconsin -- home to many cheeses, including the $209-per-piece cheese -- cut food stamps funding? Did you know they did it this year? Did you know that people who were getting as much as $96 per month (!) (they could afford a piece of cheese in just 2 1/4 months!) had their benefits cut to sixteen dollars per month?
I'd go back to bed and sleep this off if I could. But I can't. This is the world we live in.  So I'm just going to look at those pictures as much as I can and try not to wonder whether the beautiful savory melty taste of a $209 piece of cheese would still taste as good in Hell, which is where people who buy that cheese belong.