I slept in this morning because I had problems falling asleep last night. Note to self: no more staying up late because of the Olympics. I regret to say that I have become that person who doesn’t do well if her daily routine is thrown off. I’m grateful I got some sleep, but here I am at 9 am, still groggy, still barely awake, trying to compose a post.

But it’s beautiful outside; very sunny and bright. My view to the right from my blogging chair in the  den? Flowers – all of the flowers at the back of the big garden bed; brown-eyed susans, tall David phlox, along with the sunlight drenching the leaves of the catalpa.

I’m very, very grateful for this house and our property and the gardens I have built up over the past 15 years. I’m grateful for mama robin who is feeding two babies all by herself and for the babies that are getting bigger every day. I’m grateful for all the bird nest adventures we’ve had this spring and summer; three nests, three broods.

My list could go on and on but I’ll stop there. In the midst of the madness of this world, I have to stop sometimes and concentrate on the good. It isn’t always easy. Will we ever work again? I don’t know. Don asked that question yesterday. Just when we think we might be coming out of this pandemic, selfish people who refuse to get vaccinated help fuel a fourth wave. The ramifications of that are enormous. Too many people will die needlessly. Needlessly. Too many people will be forced to cope with more lockdowns, children are at risk, families once again unable to see each other, businesses going under. All of this, why? Because a simple vaccine that will save lives has been politicized. I look at my smallpox vaccination scar from childhood, clear evidence that vaccines work. But we live in a world of conspiracy theories, of cult-like lemmings, ready to go over a cliff just to spite those who have real expertise and who are trying to save them.

I predict – and I hope I’m wrong – that theaters will be impacted by this once again. As will television and film. So, the question “Will we ever work again?” is real. I hope we do. We need to work. Don, especially, needs to work. He desperately wants to work.

Anyway, nothing I’ve said here is new, but it’s now been a year and a half since either of us has worked, longer for Don because he hadn’t worked for a few months before the pandemic started. I had just finished a coaching job a couple of weeks before lockdown.

Okay. Enough complaining. I confess we have lived in a world for the past five years that I don’t understand, don’t want to understand, and am bewildered by. And it just seems to get worse.

I haven’t painted in a few days – maybe I’ll feel motivated later today. I’m reading a lot and that’s a good thing. I received three beautiful portraits of the dogs in the mail and I’ll share them with you when my laptop comes back and I can take proper photos of the artwork. I miss my laptop! But I do know that Apple received it yesterday and the repair work is in process, so hopefully, I might get it back by the end of the week.

I also got a notice in the mail that the miniature show I attend most every year (near Hartford) is back and will be held in September. I really want to go. Masked, of course. Fingers crossed that I can.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.