This maple is behind the house. Isn’t it glorious?

It’s colder now and I suspect our warmish fall temperatures are gone. Today is sunny and beautiful, so I can’t complain.

Both of us were tired yesterday, having stayed up way too late on Thursday night. So we took it easy, but we did do some exploration on the property, trying to find the pipes that mark the property line. We have a new neighbor moving in to the south of us. Our elderly neighbors that lived there previously have moved south to be with their children. Anyway, this guy stopped by the other day and wanted to post no trespassing signs on his property (due to the people from the large campground nearby that trespass on his property.) He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t putting anything intrusive up that we’d see from our property.

That set us off on a bit of an exploration, but I think it will be better to wait until early winter when a lot of the vegetation is gone. One pipe has always been clear; it’s between our property and our neighbor’s to the north. Don found the pipe that’s at the other corner and I’m happy to say that the old stone foundation there is on our property. I always thought it might be our neighbor’s. I love that foundation. Anyway, it was fun. The remaining pipes are at the back of the property and some of that is overgrown, so, again, we’ll wait until winter. I hope this made sense! (I also found the surveyor’s drawing of the property after digging through the drawer that holds all the house/mortgage stuff.)

We’ve been keeping track of the news. I watched Nicole Wallace and Rachel yesterday. The reckless behavior, the arrogance of not wearing a mask and the flaunting of that choice, the decision to gather people together outdoors in order to celebrate the hurried nomination (during the middle of an election process that has already begun) of someone unqualified for the Supreme Court; those attendees jammed together with no social distancing and the vast majority not wearing masks – all of it carries a cost. And we’re seeing it. I’m not sure I believe this is karma. Rather, I believe these are direct consequences of willful ignorance and arrogance, of deliberately misinforming the public, of worrying more about a campaign than about lives. The list of those who have tested positive after attending the event in the Rose Garden is getting longer by the minute. None of that had to happen. They have endangered the employees of the White House, the Secret Service, every attendee at a rally, family, friends, supporters.

Not to mention the millions of people who can’t be rushed to Walter Reed, who don’t have the resources to be treated, who are facing the real possibility of losing their health insurance if this woman is confirmed, all those who died alone without the presence of a loved one, all those who, for whatever reason, believed him when he said the virus was nothing to worry about and proceeded to act accordingly.

So yes, I guess you could say it’s a karmic payback, but it’s really a direct result of their actions.

It’s terribly sad and enraging at the same time.

Stay safe.

A brief statement on the latest news: We have reached the point in a presidency that has been full of lies where one of my first responses to the latest news was to doubt it. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but when the boy cries wolf repeatedly…well, you know how that tale goes.

The recklessness of OM and his administration is well documented. Crying hoax, making fun of those wearing masks, downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus. Just this week, the T family took their masks off at the debate despite the request from the Cleveland Clinic to wear them, OM went to fundraiser in NJ yesterday despite knowing Hope Hicks had tested positive. How many people at the White House have been endangered? How many people at the Fund Raiser, the debate?

I don’t wish anyone ill, but I will admit I don’t feel a lot of empathy at the moment. Over 200,000 Americans are dead because he was more worried about his reelection campaign than he was about the welfare of the people he had pledged to protect. And he spread and continues to spread disinformation about the virus.

Okay. Moving on.

The top of the back forty. Yesterday was beautiful and the fall color was extraordinary. I’ve taken lots of photos and I’ll share them with you over the next few days. It’s raining today. We need it, so I welcome it. But it feels damp and cold!

The Zoom meeting with former students and Rick was wonderful. It started at 9 pm and it went on until well after 11:00 – way past my bedtime. It was so wonderful to talk to them. We shared memories of Ben. We caught up with each other. I’m so proud of these people, these extraordinary human beings. They’re out there doing wonderful things. They’re smart and compassionate and loving and just plain good people. And we laughed a lot. I brought Don in for the last part of it, as he knows all of the students.

Then the news broke about Hicks having COVID, so we were up way later than we usually are.

During the day, I worked on the floor for the dollhouse.

I’m doing wide plank floors with craft sticks. I have some wide plank floors in the bedroom of Hummingbird Cottage. This is slow, painstaking work. I stain each stick separately as I learned long ago that assembling the floor, glueing it down, and then staining it can cause it to warp. So, it’s one at a time. I have to cut off the curved ends of the sticks and measure and cut each plank separately. This took me a few hours. I like thick wood floors. I think they look better – there’s a texture there that you can’t get with a thin laminate or veneer. More later today.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

October. Time seems to be going by quickly. On the other hand, it seems to be dragging (in terms of the election.) I will say that in the space of about a week, the property has been completely transformed. We had a heavy rain the other night and there are fallen leaves everywhere. The change to autumn wasn’t even slow and gentle, it was jarringly fast.

It’s pretty out there, I’ll give you that.

I got some sleep last night so I’m feeling a bit more coherent.

I’ve had two text banking sessions for the Biden campaign, one yesterday and one the day before. I feel very good about it. Most people either ignore the texts (I am guilty of this myself) or respond politely, but I did have a few troublesome replies. It’s a lot easier via text than phone, which is what Don is doing. But it’s extremely well organized by the Biden campaign. I’m very impressed. And everyone on the team is so helpful.

We got our flu shots a couple of days ago. It’s the first time for me, though Don has had them before. We just went to our local supermarket/pharmacy and it was completely safe. Done.

I was asked to join a Zoom session this evening with several students from San Diego. They feel the need to talk about our dear Ben and his passing, to mourn together. It will be good for all of us. We’re all reeling from this loss.

Let’s see, what else? We ordered heating oil this morning. Our relatively balmy temps will end today and we’ll be in the sixties, with colder temps at night. I guess summer is officially over, though my zinnias and morning glories are still blooming. There was one new balloon flower the other day, beautiful and large and a complete surprise, right in the midst of the yellowing leaves of the plant.

I’m almost finished with The Library Book  by Susan Orlean and then I will start in on Troubled Blood, the new Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling.)

A little work on the dollhouse floor is on the docket for this afternoon.

That’s it, my friends. I’m trying to rest and stay relatively relaxed and peaceful. It’s a challenge, but working on the dollhouse will help.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.