Puzzle progress (taken on a cloudy day, soon to be rainy.)

We spent the evening watching the news once again. We’ll take a break from that tonight because neither of us sleep well afterwards. But we wanted to know just what was happening. And now we do.

Not that I have to explain myself, but I will. At this point in time, after 5 years of daily lies, misdeeds, making money off the presidency, grifting, cheating, applauding the actions of dictators and fascists, defending white nationalists, locking up children in cages at the border, separating families, most of whom will never find their children again, calling Mexicans names,  taking money and benefits away from the poor and middle class and giving them to the wealthy, eliminating anyone from his cabinet and staff with the integrity to challenge him, eliminating agencies – among them the one that was sorely needed during this virus, lying about everything including his failure to do anything about the coronavirus until it was too late, denigrating women, giving cabinet posts to those who are unqualified, the Central Park Five, accusing President Obama of being born in Kenya, calling people names, inciting violence repeatedly, taking our country to the lowest point possible with his actions, discriminating against blacks when he and his father owned apartments in NYC, defending his buddy Jeffrey Epstein, spewing bile each and every day on Twitter….I could go on and on, this is just off the top of my head…

At this point, after all we know, after all we knew in the beginning of this endless assault on everything we hold dear, including the Constitution, after the complicity of the GOP: if someone is defending this administration and the actions of this vile and despicable racist, abuser of women who has been accused of rape at least three times, malignant narcissist, serial liar and carnival barker who has failed at everything in his life – my response is ‘Goodbye.’ If someone is repeating blurbs and phrases from Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or information from questionable web sites without doing a modicum of research, goodbye. I have no patience or tolerance for any of it anymore.

Yes, we should love our fellow man. But that doesn’t mean I have to hang out with everyone, especially those who espouse beliefs that I find abhorrent.

I say all of this because I had to ask someone to leave the blog yesterday because of a comment that was made. I had to deal with a lot of that in 2016 and I tried to be tolerant until I could no longer do so. The things some people were posting made my skin crawl. They were eventually blocked. I thought that was over, but it seems it is not.

This blog is my home. I’ve worked over 12 years to create it, to nurture it – every day. I would not invite someone into my cottage who had those views. This cottage is a place of peace. And my ‘home’ here on the Internet is, too.

I am not perfect, but I do know what is right and wrong. I was raised by parents who taught me well.

If it’s morally wrong, I don’t want it here. And yes, that decision is made by me, based on my deeply rooted beliefs. It’s my blog.

I apologize that I’m posting a bit late today. Don had to make a run to the store so I had to disinfect everything.

If only I could disinfect the White House as easily.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

The clematis is blooming like crazy! Such a gorgeous flower and a nice splash of color at the front of the house. I think they’re equally pretty when just about to open:

There’s your dose of pretty for the day.

We spent the evening with the news and with Rachel Maddow. We have a desperate fool in the Oval Office who is inciting violence, who is determined to start a civil war, and who now wants to bring in the military to harm American citizens. That is what a fascist dictator does. It’s certainly what his buddy Putin does. Putin, who Trump spoke to right before his phone call to the Governors.

Tear gas for a photo op. Tear gas trained on peaceful protestors. His phone call to the Governors was, to put it mildly, insane and rambling.

I don’t know what else to say except that we have sunk about as low as we can as a nation.

My heart is heavy, dear friends. I know you feel the same.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Let’s do a quick recap of yesterday: we worked outside in the heat and humidity for about three hours, then prepared to drive to Lowe’s for curbside pickup of the air conditioner that we had to buy (unplanned $$$). Before we left, Don tried starting his car again (it hasn’t been starting consistently) and it started, so I suggested dropping it off at the service station on the way to Lowe’s. He did. (More $$ for repairs on the horizon) And he spoke with a mechanic who wasn’t wearing a mask; fortunately Don was. Then we got in the car, drove to Lowe’s and waited for an employee put the A/C in the trunk of my car. It didn’t fit. Normally, we use the CR-V for this kind of thing. So we tried to figure out how to secure the lid to the trunk so we could transport the unit. We had no other options. After several ideas (none of which worked) Don thought that we could probably make it home with the trunk open because the A/C unit was wedged in and wasn’t going anywhere. I drove slowly in the parking lot and the lid seemed pretty secure. As I headed for the exit, I picked up a bit of speed (we were watching the trunk lid in the rear view mirror) and all seemed well.  After I got on the main road, Don told me to stop because he couldn’t find his glasses. Long story short, we retraced our steps, looking everywhere for his glasses, along the road, in the parking space, in the trunk, under the seat of the car. We never found them. He thinks he put them on top of the car, forgot about them, and they fell off. It was strange that there wasn’t a trace of them anywhere. We even  went inside Lowe’s to see if anyone had turned them in. Don wears progressive lenses and so we had to order a new pair over the phone. ($$$$$)

At the end of the day, I was in a very bad mood. Don needs to be more attentive and present because he is forgetful – a lot. He’s always been that way. He’s working on that, per my tersely worded suggestion.

Anyway. I didn’t get around to answering comments and if you don’t mind, I’ll not answer yesterday’s comments. I’ve read them. But I have to write out some checks today (oh, joy) and deal with the annual ant invasion and, most importantly, remind myself of my blessings, which is always necessary, but especially so after a day like yesterday. (Don being at the top of my blessings list.)

Forgot to show you the fern! She’s back where she belongs and is doing well.

Happy Thursday.