Well, it looks like we have a date to start allowing patrons into the library. It isn’t 100% firm but it’s the first time a date has been floated. August 1st, just a few weeks away. My only hope is that the rising tide of cases, and they are already on the rise, will kill this horrible plan.
My son’s school is saying they will be open in some hybrid fashion, having half the students attend at a time. What an utterly FUBAR situation. It will a hellscape of chaos for working parents for sure and I’ve been to the school, seen their narrow halls and small classrooms, there is no way, even with half the kids, that they can maintain social distance. And who is doing all the endless extra sanitizing? The overworked teachers? With what money will they pay for extra janitorial hours? Oh, or will they task the kids with cleaning? That will go well! Again, my only hope, for not having to switch my son to a virtual school, is that they come to their damn senses because of the increasing cases.
This was in my feed yesterday from a poster called Zac Bears “Massachusetts is approaching an “R” of 1 for the coronavirus, meaning exponential community spread will restart! Wear a mask, stay within your bubble, and take all precautions. We aren’t immune from irresponsibility in other states!” And here is a link to what that means: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/covid-19-what-is-the-r-number/ My MIL is in Florida and the hospitals are just about at capacity with this nightmare. We joke with her; “don’t get sick! don’t get hurt!” But it isn’t a joke at all. The worst thing that could happen to her is anything that would cause her to need to go to a hospital.
My work is asking us to self-monitor for Covid symptoms and not come in if we have any… completely ignoring the vast numbers of asymptomatic carriers who can spread this thing. I am disheartened, I am depressed, I am stressed out as much as I can stand to be. And I am being asked: “What concrete steps can we take that would make you feel safe at work?” I don’t have an answer that keeps the library open. I think we should all be in lockdown, at home except for essential trips for food, medicine and the like. I think that is the only way we contain this. I think it is the only path to safety. I don’t want to go out in public, too many people refuse to wear masks, it isn’t safe. And now we have the CDC changing their guidelines because of the temper tantrums coming out of the WH. So we can’t even trust the CDC… at a time when we desperately need trustworthy information.
It’s a weird week so far. My son dropped out of my Pathfinder game, for many reasons, including the fact that he’s in so many games he can’t keep his characters straight anymore, makes me sad.My Director let us know the library is opening in some capacity on August 1st which I find greatly disquieting. A coworker then questioned the need for all of us to stay 6 feet apart all the time, terrifying. On the plus side, I have 2 new players joining my game and that should be a lot of fun.
Side note: I woke up with no inspiration or motivation to bake this morning so there are no muffins. Alas. Perhaps, if it stays cool long enough, I will bake cookies or something later. It’s probably ok to take a day off now and then. Though there is value in habit and inertia is definitely a thing. If I don’t bake today will it be weeks or months until I get back to it? I hate to lose the momentum but I’m tired and stressed today. Probably partly the Benedryl, it does a number on me.
I’m reading Among the Fallen; by N. S. Dolkart now. I’ve barely started and it’s already lovely. I want to sink into it but I can’t seem to focus. My TBR (to be read) pile is just ridiculous and I’m expecting more books any day now. I’ve been watching movies more than I’ve been reading lately, I blame the Benedryl, thank you So Much, Allergies… I watched Rocketman, The Color out of Space, and Doctor Sleep. I actually enjoyed them all. Rocketman started out very surreal and continued to occasionally stray into a dreamlike quality, but it was compelling and the music was great. I thought all the acting was excellent and the story, at times, heartbreaking. The Color out of Space, a Nick Cage movie so my hopes were not high, but it ended up being quite a solid movie. There were odd moments, odd patches of dialog, typical “humans don’t talk like that” moments that happen in almost every horror film, but overall it was creepy and became atmospheric and deeply disturbing. I did get the feeling that there was probably a fair bit of film on the cutting room floor that would have brought the movie up to a higher level though. The hydrologist could have been a more fully-fleshed character if given a little more screen time and I feel like they cut some stuff they thought wouldn’t fly because of how people feel about certain animals. Definitely one of the best depictions of actual Lovecraftian horror I’ve seen and one of Nick Cages better movies. Doctor Sleep was my favorite of the 3 and a great film just flat out. Great acting, cool bad guys, I’d say it’s Stephen King at his best but I haven’t read the book yet so I’m not sure how true the rendition is. A great movie, see it, see all of them, they are all worth at least a few hours of your time.
The morning is slipping away from me. I should probably be cleaning something, or planning something, or, at the very least, be painting something or creating something. I need more time out in my fort to destress and unwind. Now that I work 2 nights a week and we’re still gaming 4xs/week, I feel like we’re always so busy. If I could drop a game I would but it isn’t looking like a very good option. I’ll have to find some other way to loosen up my schedule.
I baked scones yesterday. With rose petals and pine nuts. I think I’m allergic to pine nuts now. I still don’t feel right. I can’t take more Benedryl because I have to go to work later. Today is going to be less than ideal. Oh well. Anyway, the scones were pretty and quite tasty. I’ll probably have to make coffee cake muffins again this morning instead. Bummer.
This morning I am baking a sour cream streusel coffee cake and it is taking FOREVER. The recipe said 35-40 minutes and it’s been an hour and counting. Oh! I just realized why! My pan is 8″x8″ not 9″x9″…. yep, that’ll do it. It smells so good I can’t believe it. We are going to demolish this thing. I predict a lot of burned mouths due to impatience.
Yesterday’s “allergy scones” (delicious if dangerous) & today’s coffee cake
Verdict is in. Husband gives the coffee cake 10/10 and I think it would be if it were 100% cooked which I don’t think it is…. I will use a 13″x9″ pan next time and bake it for probably about 20-30 minutes. I think it’s worth saving. We’ll see how it goes over with the offspring in a bit, they are all still sleeping. I’m a little bummed the middle isn’t quite cooked. Presumably I didn’t insert the toothpick far enough in? Rookie mistake and you hate to see it.
In other news, my state is going to “stage 3” of reopening today, despite the fact that it hasn’t been long enough for us to see how stages 1 & 2 are affecting infection rates yet. *sigh* We have gotten some calls at the library from patrons who are upset we haven’t opened our doors yet, one said they were going to complain to someone. My Director has said we will not open until our plexiglass shields are installed but I fear she may cave to pressure as people keep barrelling forward. I will quit if it comes to it. Gods, I hate that I have to even consider that. I am watching my friends starting to go out to eat in outdoor seating, resuming getting haircuts, even massage, and I can’t believe it. It seems so clear that the guidelines we are being given through official channels are inadequate, I don’t know how people aren’t seeing that. We wouldn’t have the infection rates we’re seeing if the virus was carried on droplets that are gone in 15 minutes, scientists are telling us it is actually airborne, meaning it can hang there in the air, floating, for far, far longer than 15 minutes. They found Covid-19 in air samples from that cruise ship 17 Days after everyone disembarked.
There are also continuing stories of people attacking store clerks etc, forcibly removing their masks, even breaking their arms. I don’t like thinking that that happens to anyone, let alone that it could happen to me, I wish everyone could just keep it on the road and behave. I like to think of the library as a peaceful place, a relatively quiet & civilized place, a place where assaults don’t happen. But they do. Libraries are for everyone, so we get all kinds, some of bigoted and violent and they absolutely, if they follow library rules while in the library, have the right to check out materials, use computers and so on. I like to think maybe those types will learn something when they visit, that they might gain a broader perspective. That is certainly my wish for them. And yet, because of those types, I am forced to assess the risks to myself in simply going to work amid this pandemic. Once the doors open how safe will I be? Only as safe as the most selfish, deluded patron allowed through the doors lets me be.
So where is the other side of this? I mean, what will the other side of this be when we get there? Do things ever really go back to normal again? Just as they were, as far as handshakes, hugging, attending events, and so on goes? The shocking swiftness of the spread of this disease makes me think we would be unwise to ever return to what we used to call “normal.” If the next disease to spring into being is as contagious as this one, has a similar, long incubation, but also has a higher death rate like some others we’ve seen, say 30%? It will be an unstoppable, global calamity. I’m not freaked out about that idea, I’m just looking at what we’ve got in Covid-19 and thinking about other related infections like MERS. We may or may not see a disease that is that “perfect storm” of highly contagious, stealthy, and deadly, but we certainly cannot rule it out. What am I hearing this morning? Bubonic plague in Mongolia? Brain eating amoebas in Florida? Is anyone keeping track of the giant murder hornets in the Northwestern U.S.?
This is why I hide my poor, tired brain away, it’s hard to hold onto any kind of metal balance if one stays adequately informed about the world. So I paint, and I bake, and I read, and, most of all, I game. I become other people, in other worlds, I stride around like a badass and conquer all my problems head on. It’s nice when problems are imaginary and can be solved with a few good die rolls. I wish I could bring about world peace & social justice with a few natural 20s in diplomacy. I wish I could conquer world hunger by creating a gathering of Druids who could travel the world creating adequate food and clean water for everyone. Crazy diseases? Meet these fine clerics of Iomedae or Desna! Boom! Solved. I wish. So, I keep hiding in my little home life, in my books and games and such.
So, I’ve been having a very fun week cooking and such. I have learned to make muffins, which I now like, apparently. I made chocolate chip coffee cake muffins and peanut butter muffins with peanut butter chips, both delicious. I made mint chocolate chip ice cream yesterday, came out pretty good and I know what I’ll do differently next time so, I’m counting it a win. This morning I got up and made donuts for the first time. I made cinnamon & sugar, vanilla glazed, and chocolate glazed. All good! My husband has declared them preferable to commercial donuts.
After eating some fresh, warm donuts this morning he said; “Wow, it will be so much easier to stock up for the next shut down. You’ll just need a bunch of basic supplies and you can make whatever you want from them.” He then compared me to the astronauts on the space station somehow, which I think is something of an exaggeration….
I am attempting to propagate my peppermint plants into more peppermint plants. My goal is a vast, unstoppable supply of fresh mint. Normal people could just toss a mint leaf in their yard and it would be overrun with mint in a month. For me this is not so. I must work at it, try, fail, try again. Eventually I got 2 types of mint to take hold in my yard. It took me 3 years. I could still easily wipe it out making tea so I’m trying to get some real, strong patches of it developed. We’ll see.
Peppermint on the left, spearmint on the right.
There exists a real chance that we demolished the mint ice cream without getting proper pics, something I will remedy with batch 2, coming soon to a goofy blog near you!
I found a recipe online for mint chocolate chip ice cream that uses fresh mint and does not require an ice cream maker! (I don’t have one and I prefer gadgets that are multi-purpose) So this morning I went out and harvested a bunch of peppermint from the yard and attempted the recipe for the first time. I was so excited I forgot to take many pics but here’s what I’ve got:
Mint fresh from the garden, ice cream step 1, & mint froth!
Now the ice cream is all put together but I rather suspect the chocolate chips all sank to the bottom. I think I will try mini-chocolate chips, if I can get any, and whipping the cream a little stiffer next time. I will post tomorrow and let you know if this worked and how it came out. So Exciting!
If I can make ice cream… I have the Power! The means of production are in my hands! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
When I was a kid iced tea was this sugary stuff in a canister that we weren’t allowed to have. I went through a phase where I drank a fair bit of it in my 20s but as it is basically non carbonated soda with only one redeeming value: caffeine, I gave it up even before I gave up soda. It’s like an optional level of growing up to give up food that isn’t really food, to start wanting to eat things that actually make you feel good and are full of nutrition and not just sugar, fat & salt. I still indulge in food that doesn’t have much to recommend it, I just try to choose it consciously and not by default.
At some point after giving up sugary, canister iced tea, I found myself needing an ice cold drink on hot days that wasn’t just water. I started making mint tea sweetened with a little maple syrup and it was a hit with my family and with people wherever I brought it. Then I started making an unsweetened mint tea using half spearmint and half peppermint and my family absolutely loves it. This year I am making iced teas with various mint leaves, dried citrus peels and/or dried citrus slices, dried roses, dried apple slices w/cinnamon and so on. I feel 100% free to experiment, to try and succeed or fail, to make mistakes and discover wonderful new things I want to keep in my life. A few years ago I decided, and I’m quoting here: “Fuck it. I am not getting any younger, my life is rolling on by at a steady pace, and I am tired of being afraid to fail. I am tired of talking myself out of things without even trying. I am tired of feel so very STUCK. So this year I am just going to go for it, just whatever I feel like I might want to try, I am just going to try and not listen to my brain telling me it won’t work.”
So that’s what I did. I started small. I watched shows I thought I might not like, I tried recipes I wasn’t sure I could manage, I read books I thought might go over my head, and I tried making things I thought I might not be able to successfully make. I failed to push past my fear of doing a craft show, twice, maybe more than twice, it’s hard to recall. I still haven’t done that, but now I haven’t been producing crafts like I used to so… I DID open an Etsy shop and sold some things for a little while. Definitely didn’t make any money but it was still something of a learning experience. I saw a job for a library assistant and ignored the fact that I wasn’t qualified and actually sent in a resume’. I got an interview and I got the job! About 1 1/2 years later I saw a job posting for a teen librarian, something I did not get the schooling for and librarian schooling is serious, wow, major degrees for it and often for very good reason. But, this was a small, rural library and the expansive and detailed knowledge that might be very necessary in a populated city isn’t as critical. So I applied, sent in a resume’ and cover letter telling myself the worst that could happen would be no reply. I got an interview and I got that job too!
The lesson in this ramble is: GO FOR IT! You might get a wonderful surprise! But, having gained my dream job, I now experiment mostly on a smaller scale, with recipes, art, and that sort of thing. So, Iced tea: Play with it! Have fun! Use your favorite fruits and herbs to create your own signature blends! BE YOU. Put something you thought up out into the world. Anyway, here’s some pics of my “process.”
That was yesterday’s tea and below is today’s still in progress. I opted to pick mint fresh from the yard for today and skip the dried apple I used yesterday. I also made the blend a lot stronger with more dried orange slices and roses.
I’m a librarian, I read a lot, well, I read as much as I can in between all the other things I need to do, have to do, and like to do. I finished a book last night and looked around to see which one I want to pick up next and found that I am reading quite a few at once right now. Typical, I switch books as my mood changes unless one really grabs me. That used to happen all the time, now it’s rare, but it’s such a delight when it happens.
I just finished Vagabonding; by Rolf Potts and Mark of the Demon; by Diana Rowland and I enjoyed them both. Vagabonding is a sort of travel book that encourages you to wander on a more long-term basis. It’s well written, full of tips, hints, and encouragement for would be vagabonders. I sincerely hope to be able to follow its advice one day. Mark of the Demon is one of those rare books that grabbed me and made me read it. I read the first few chapters a while ago and had to put it aside, I think it was the pandemic that distracted me, I picked it up again a few days ago and just flew through it. It is part detective story, part urban fantasy, with a dash of sex/romance. It is a terrific read and, happily for me, the start of a series. I loved it enough that I ordered the next 3 books in the series before I’d quite finished the 1st. Diana Rowland is a treasure! And to think I only discovered her because of the dragons in her yard. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/12/19/neighbor-anonymously-called-christmas-dragons-her-yard-demonic-so-she-put-more-up/
I’m currently just barely started on The Color of Law; by Richard Rothstein and very excited to read So You Want to Talk About Race; by Ijeoma Oluo which arrived in the mail yesterday. I’m doing my best to educate myself about racism and what we can all do to end it and build a better world. If anyone has any suggestions of helpful books on the subject, especially those by people of color, I would love to hear about them. Please leave a comment!
These 3 books ^ are all relating to the Summer Reading theme for 2020 which includes fairy tales and folk tales. I had really hoped I’d be done reading them ages ago but even with the lockdown I didn’t get them read. How to Fracture a Fairy Tale; by Jane Yolen is, unfortunately, not a how-to book. It is a collection of fractured tales that is perfectly wonderful, I had just hoped it was a ton of advice and examples of how to actually fracture a fairy tale. I’m running a writing contest for the teens at my library this summer and I did not examine this book before buying it. I’m a little bit impulsive and quite whimsical at times. The Witch Must Die; by Sheldon Cashdan is a book that examines and dissects the meaning behind fairy tales. So far it is interesting and I am learning that there is practically no end to the number of fairy tales I hadn’t heard of before picking up this book. Fairy House; How to Make Amazing Fairy Furniture, Miniatures, and More From Natural Materials; by Mike and Debbie Schramer is exactly what it sounds like. Filled with tons of colorful pictures it is a delight to the eye. Though some examples can be very specific, and might use materials not everyone can find, they still function very well as inspiration for one’s own creations. I am hoping to make great use of this book for my own projects this Summer and, hopefully, with the teens for a Fall workshop, pandemic permitting.
These 3 ^ are books I’m reading in a determined, not to say desperate, attempt to overcome my longstanding status as a blight Druid who tragically loves plants and wants to be a regular Druid. I love books on urban farming and small space gardening even though I live in a rural area because I am almost completely hopeless at growing food. Books on urban farming tend to be much more cheerleader-y and encouraging to people who don’t think they have the space or talent to grow anything so, obviously, they are my go-to.
And these are books involving a spiritual path that I find fascinating and compelling but that is not my own specific path. I find myself in the awkward position of being a solitary Norse Pagan, a path not best suited to being solitary. So I find comfort in books about Wicca which is much more commonly pursued alone. The Earth Path; by Starhawk is, so far, quite good. I find much of value in her writings in general and when I started reading this one there were fires devouring parts of Australia and California and the book opens dealing with fire season in CA so it felt ridiculously relevant. The other 2 deal with herbs, plants and place and are part of my frustrated Druid recovery issues.
I read Silent Hall; by N.S. Dolkart some time ago. I absolutely loved it. Somehow I managed to miss that 2 more books were released in the series, which I think is a trilogy and therefore complete now, and now I have these 2 on my teetering TBR pile. (To Be Read) The special thing about these 3 books is that the author held a drawing to give away a few sets of his books to celebrate Father’s Day and his 11th wedding anniversary and I won one! They are all signed and I couldn’t be more excited to find out what happens to the little band of heroes I grew to love. I can only speak to book one which was very much a coming of age fantasy adventure with an interesting cast of characters who set out to save the world or the kingdom against pretty impossible odds. It’s been a couple of years and the details escape me but my enthusiasm remains high. I may actually re-read book to catch hold of the thread again. N.S. Dolkart is an author I expect great things from.
So, that ought to keep me out of trouble this summer! Plus I’ll be fitting in the ‘Demon’ books I’ve got coming in the mail … somehow. That may involve losing some sleep to reading time but I expect it will be well worth it. What are you reading this Summer? Let me know!
I keep mentioning drying roses for tea and it probably sounds a little weird. Flowers aren’t much used for food around these parts but many are edible. Roses, all types that I know of, are safe to eat or make tea with. That doesn’t mean you want to use the ones from the florist though, those are likely to have been sprayed with pesticide. But if you have roses growing in your yard and you don’t use poison on your lawn or other plants, those are probably fine. I have a mad, rambling little rosebush/vine that is producing like crazy and it is looking like I will have more roses than I need this year. *happy dance*
Say you want to gather some roses for tea and you have access in your yard, or through a lovely friend with some in their yard, what do you do? What is the process? It’s simple!
Pluck as many nice, full blossoms as you need. (open flowers, leave all partly open blossoms and all buds)
Gently rise each blossom under cool water.
Shake the water off each blossom and place in a bowl.
Line a baking tray w/parchment paper.
Set the oven to 170F. (or lower, that’s as low as mine goes.)
Again, shake each blossom and place face down on the lined baking tray.
Place tray in oven and gently dry for 20 minutes.
Check every 15-20 minutes until they are thoroughly dried out. This can take a while depending on humidity and other factors. Mine have been taking up to 90 minutes with the humidity we’ve had lately.
Alternatively, you can dry them on bamboo trays in the sun. (if it isn’t humid or rainy) Do everything the same but place the flowers face down directly on the bamboo trays, cover loosely and lightly with cheese cloth, and place in direct sunlight. (I dry mine on our deck when I can.) It might take a couple of days depending on your climate, bring them in at night and put them back out in the morning.
When roses are dry, gently remove them from the paper or tray, they may stick a little, and pop the dried blossoms into dry, air-tight bags or jars.
They are now ready to use to make your own tea blends. I make a blend of roses, mint, dried apple, and a bit of dried citrus peel, usually orange or clementine. Delicious, but you can play around and try other flavors. I’m allergic, but I know a lot of people like roses with dried strawberries and a bit of black tea. You can make your hot teas into iced teas for hot weather too. I like to make an iced blend of peppermint and spearmint, (1/2 & 1/2) by making a really strong pot of it hot, steeping at least 20 minutes, and then pouring it into a 2 quart pitcher filled to the brim with ice. It is utterly refreshing on a hot day. Maybe this year I’ll add some roses.
Pics of my very simple process!
I also crumble the petals of some of the dried blossoms and run them through my coffee grinder to make rose powder. You can use it to color and flavor breads and cookies and things. I haven’t used it yet but I plan to experiment with it as soon as I can. I am expecting great things! ^_^
Cooler weather means baking and more cooking in general. I made chocolate chip coffee cake muffins for breakfast this morning. Muffins for motivation! The boy needs to start getting the computers processed for his dad this morning. My poor husband, he just cannot do it all, there is too much. Thankfully the school agreed to pay our lad to clean them up and process them through. Gives the boy something to do, some structure for his days for a while , and gives him the boost of earning some money. I think I will make the weird bean soup for lunch again. I made it last week and it was a hit so maybe it will be again.
Yesterday I got a fair bit accomplished despite spending the day waiting for the doctor to call which they never did. I did a ton of cooking and prep, did laundry, dishes, got the groceries and such, cleaned the yard and told the lad that I am bloody tired of cleaning up dog droppings in all the places I have repeatedly told him Not to walk her. Basically, anywhere we are likely to walk is not a great spot, especially as we walk in our own yard in the dark sometimes. I picked and dried a ton of roses, made rose powder which is basically dry, pink food coloring with a sweet, floral flavor. I’m hoping for a big crop of mint too, but we’ll see.
Been trying to bolster my husband’s morale. Trying to get him to see that, in my opinion, he doesn’t have to be trapped by his job. He can embrace the idea of “fuck it” and go for what he wants. I know he’s right that we need insurance and that we wouldn’t last long without him having a steady income, I know, it’s 100% practical. But, he shouldn’t hate his life, you know? I’m not saying he just yell; “I QUIT!” and storm off, fun as that would be, I’m saying work on a real escape plan. He’s applying to places and that’s awesome, but if we drop one of our games he could use that time to work on a creative project that could be an outlet for him, that might or might not become anything in the future… but it might, and he will never know if he doesn’t try. What if he kept this job and was able to make a little money on a side project? What if that side project lead to another and another? Even if completely breaking free of regular work doesn’t happen, being able to make some money at fulfilling, creative work would shift the dynamic for him. He might feel freer to pursue a job with less hours, for less pay, maybe we could still get employer insurance until the broken health system gets fixed.
Even though it’s probably a silly dream, I think about us living a smaller, more flexible life. What if we could get our expenses down and our savings up to the point where we could live on a very small income? What if I could sell paintings and handicrafts, work at the library part time. Maybe he could work part time sell some of his creative projects? What if we could grow a lot of our own food? I know there would be a lot to think about, I get how impractical I am. But if we just stay on the well-worn path… where the hell does that get us? I’m tired of being fenced in, stifled, trapped on a crazy hamster wheel of boredom and frustration. I think my husband is WAY more tired of it than I am, I think I’m more tired of watching him deal with it. The craziness of modern life, the hurry, hurry, hurry, the full to bursting schedules, the lack of community, it’s all awful and soul-deadening. There is a way, or there are a million ways, to break free and I am going to find one that works for us.
Reality bites, so I will create a new one. It will be more beautiful and creative and fulfilling. A life worth living, where we make memories and have experiences worth talking about. I want us to both have the time and freedom to learn new skills as we want and need to. I want my sweet, hardworking husband to have enough free time that he isn’t paralyzed by choice anymore. He was working full-time (40-60 hours/week) while going to school 1/2-time (10-20 hours of work/week) for over 6 years. During that time he lost the ability to … know what he wants to do at any given time. He had so little time to call his own, he never made a choice, he’d end up scrolling FB, staring at TV or spending hours on a video game only to regret it later. I think any of those things has their place but he was falling into them by default and feeling like he wasted what little time he had. When school ended he was unable to figure out what to do with his free time for quite a while. We eventually settled into tabletop gaming, a little reading and such, but these are sort of default settings for us. With the extra workload the pandemic has forced on him he’s overwhelmed again. I just want him to have the ability to relax, unwind, let go of the stress and do something that makes him happy. I’d love it if he could be rewarded, get that insane morale boost of having his creativity valued by others.
How crazy is the world right now? It’s almost a sincere question because I am trying to keep my head down and not look at the news because I’m trying to preserve my sanity. Some stuff still gets through and a lot of it is depressing and enraging and horrifying in the extreme. I don’t hide from the news all the time, just when I need a break.
I’ve been reading a book called Mark of the Demon; by Diana Rowland and I’m really enjoying it. I ordered the next couple of paperbacks in the series because I had a Barnes & Noble gift card. I’m reading tons of other stuff, The Color of Law; by Richard Rothstein, The Witch must Die; by Sheldon Cashdan, plus many more and I’m still waiting for my copy of So You Want to Talk About Race; by Ijeoma Oluo. But Markof the Demon is my escape read at the moment so it’s getting gobbled up in a hurry.
The other ways I’m distracting myself from reality are working on a project that may or may not be anything at all, work and the Summer reading preparation that is swallowing me whole, replacing instacart shopping because gods, does instacart SUCK. We had good luck with them for a few months but when they fail they fail BIG. Wasted my entire day dealing with it and I’m DONE. We did the curbside pick-up at Hannaford’s for the first time today, it went well so I’m hopeful. It was also way cheaper! We grabbed the farmshare on the way home so the fridge is full to bursting and I will be committing acts of vegetable preparation and loads of cooking in the next few days.
My roses have gone ballistic! I harvested at least 150 blossoms this morning. At this rate I will have enough for tea all year long. I just need another couple of harvests like that. Since we finally have rain, the mint should start going crazy too. Yay! I need a lot of mint to keep me in tea through the winter. I still possess exactly zero apple trees though and that is sad. I bet they take forever to get established and get going too. I’ll have to look into it. I am not good at growing plants for food. I do okay with house plants but I’ve been frustrated for decades at my inability to get even the hardiest herbs to grow. But I DO have mint now. It’s a ray of hope that I am determined to capitalize on. The golden raspberries look like they will do well this year, as do the wild blackberries. What can I say? Little dreams keep me going through the dark times.
Everything else is continuing on as normal. We’ve got 4 or 5 RPGs going at the moment so that keeps us busy. The kids are all staggering along doing their best to keep occupied and sane too. I look forward to a day when we can do regular stuff like run out and get yummy soft-serve ice cream, or stop by a store to pick up that one thing we forgot, or maybe get haircuts or something. It’s so weird right now and it seems even weirder with people rushing to get back to normal. I hope things will start truly improving soon but I don’t know. I keep dreaming of tornadoes.
Gen-Xer Remix 