Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Day Eighty-Three

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I’m writing this earlier than usual as it’s going to be a hot one today and I have some work to do in the gardens.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your supportive comments on yesterday’s post. After a long day, I sat here in my chair prepared to write replies as usual, and I confess, I teared up. Bless you for being here.

We did watch about a half hour of Rachel Maddow, but when we switched channels about a half hour into the show, I turned to Don and told him I can’t watch it at night anymore. I can catch up during the day with snippets of the previous night’s show, but I can’t take all this to bed with me. He agreed. And I ended up sleeping very well, as if a load had been taken off my shoulders. The horror show continues and I will stay informed, but I have to take control of my waking hours, deciding just when to expose myself to the news and when to stay away. This is nothing I haven’t said before; in fact, it’s what we’ve been doing, save for the last three days when we broke our normal ‘protocol.’ Lesson relearned. (My life story.)

Nearly done. I should finish today. This puzzle is so gorgeous, it’s been a treat to work on it every day. I’ve always loved Mucha’s work and this one is exquisite.

I ordered three more Inspector Maigret novels. Two arrived yesterday. One will arrive today. They are so well written! They take place in Paris, so what’s not to love? And they’re relatively short, making them the perfect thing for me to read right now. Since Georges Simenon wrote 75 of them, I should have lots of reading matter for the months to come.

I’m so glad we have Andrew Cuomo as our governor. He is being very cautious about reopening businesses. When I see the way other governors ceased lockdown too early (and the numbers are already spiking in those states) I am doubly glad we have Cuomo at the helm. Whenever he does open things up for our little area (not all that far from NYC) Don and I will continue to wear masks, to limit our shopping. Basically, we will continue to do what we have been doing. And of course, we are fortunate that we are at the stage in life where we can do that – that goes without saying.

Okay. Have to go make that second cup of coffee. Don will be returning from his morning walk!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Day Seventy-Eight

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We had a very warm and humid day yesterday with severe thunderstorm warnings. We did get a big old thunderstorm later in the day with sheets of rain blowing every which way. I took this shot after it was over.

You’ll note that the catalpa is finally leafing out. It’s always the last to display its magnificence – maybe it likes having the stage all to itself?

I worked on the puzzle yesterday and got a lot done. I had been reading Twitter and getting more and more angry at the events I referenced yesterday, so I finally pulled myself away and walked directly to the puzzle.

I calmed down immediately.

Know when to pull away. We have been held hostage by a madman for four years. It’s impossible not to let him get under your skin, impossible not to worry about COVID-19, but it is entirely possible to make a deliberate choice to read a book, to listen to music, to do a jigsaw puzzle, to garden, to take a walk, to sing a song, to watch old episodes of Cheers that make you laugh out loud, to cook, to create, to call a friend.

The view as I made our second cup of coffee this morning.

I just finished A Room of One’s Own  and am now reading Maigret and the Old People, by Georges Simenon. Simenon’s Maigret mysteries are so well written. They’re also relatively short, about 150 pages or so. He wrote scads of them and Penguin has been reissuing them with new translations. They were originally written in French.

We’re going to mow the front yard today. You know I love to mow and I actually woke up and got excited knowing this is a mowing day. We’ll tag team. But even if I had to do it all by myself, and that has been the case many times, I’d still be excited.

It’s a gloriously beautiful day out there; blue skies and fluffy white clouds, birds singing, wind chimes moving slightly in the breeze. Good news by the way – my zinnias have sprouted and so have some of the morning glories and moonflowers.

I’m having an “I am blessed” day. Hope you are, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Day Seventy-Seven

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This post is a bit of a mishmash of my thoughts lately.

I just started work on the puzzle yesterday afternoon. I had to move to another chair as the a/c was blowing directly on me.

This is the puzzle I am currently working on:

It’s stunning.

In addition to our crazy day the other day, I’ve been immersed in and enraged by the horrific murder of George Floyd by a police officer. And the woman in Central Park who called 911 on a black man who is a birder because he politely asked her to leash her dog. And Ahmaud Arbery who was stalked and murdered by two white men while he was jogging. And the murder of Brionna Taylor, innocent victim of a no-knock warrant, shot by the police, who, it turns out were searching for someone who was already in custody.

Now there are protests throughout the country. I don’t condone violence, but I see the truth in this quote of Martin Luther King, Jr: “A riot is the language of the unheard.”  He went on to ask, “What is it America has failed to hear?”

I think we know the answer to that.

Armed white men are allowed to storm the capital of Michigan with no police response. Those protesting against the murder of George Floyd are hit with tear gas. What’s wrong with this picture?

If anything, America has regressed. Either that, or it’s always been this way and we were fooled into thinking otherwise.

And, finally, I want to share this message from my longtime online friend Jill (we met through our love of miniatures) about her work in a facility in California during COVID-19. She works in rehab with elderly patients. She was responding to my post in Stories about wearing a mask.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I thought Jill’s perspective, what she has seen, was worth noting. Most of the staff at this excellently rated facility tested positive because of one employee who attended a party right at the beginning of all of this before we knew as much as we do now and before masks had been mandated. By the time her symptoms appeared, she had already infected others. Jill did not test positive. But she’s been off work since April 6th, when the Rehab department closed, and will be returning next week.

Keep wearing your masks. Don and I have discussed this as recently as this morning. We are not relaxing our vigilance in this matter. Stay strong. Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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