A somewhat brief post today. We have to grocery shop this morning – soon – and then Don has to go to his doctor’s appointment. He briefly cancelled the appointment over the weekend because he needed a break from social distancing and worrying about masks and COVID, etc. But he woke up this morning with his finger very swollen and painful, so the appointment is back on.

But we have no food in the house, so an early trip to the grocery store is on the docket.

Tomorrow, we vote.

I spent much of the afternoon yesterday text banking for Biden. Then we watched 60 Minutes – frankly, because we wanted to see Trump’s childish fit of temper directed at Lesley Stahl. What a giant baby he is. He is simply incapable of telling the truth and he has to attack whoever calls him on it. Pence is a vacuum, a guy who smoothly talks all around the question and never answers it. Let’s not forget that, in addition to being a petulant brat, Trump is a sociopath – and you could see it in the looks he gave Stahl.

I won’t even talk about the travesty that is going to happen to our Supreme Court today. I can’t go there. So I’ll keep doing what I can up to and including the day of the election.

It’s raining here today and I can’t complain because we need it so much!

I finished Troubled Blood – didn’t want it to end, it was so good – and I decided to re-read Louise Penny’s very first Inspector Gamache mystery, Still Life. Comfort reading.

I hope you taking care of yourselves in this week which will seem like a year. Self-care, my friends. Take time for whatever makes you happy. Find pockets in which you can find stillness. Take walks. Find moments of laughter. (Don made me laugh so much the other night that I was crying! I realized how very much I needed that.) Pray, if you are so inclined. Find some peace.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Good morning.

First off, you are such lovely people and I’m glad you care about us. But you never have to warn us about ladders. No one goes up a ladder here without the other one holding it at the base and monitoring the climb up and the climb down. We are very, very careful.

That being said, losing half a tree and having the branches of the big maple pruned has made a difference in our gutter cleaning schedule. We have only had to clean them once. Yesterday. And we’re done. We used to clean them out 3 or 4 times during autumn. I hated losing half that tree but there’s no denying that it was quite close to the gutters on the back of the house. Anyway, all went well, it didn’t take long. Don also raked a lot of leaves but we have a lot more to go.

I want to recommend something to you; Sir David Attenborough’s A Life on our Planet. It just premiered on Netflix and it is extraordinary. It’s his witness statement as to the state of our planet. He is a longtime broadcaster and natural historian. Over the course of his career he produced Life on Earth, The Living Planet, and several other series about the world we live in. This particular program chronicles the changes he’s seen and witnessed in his 93 years. The destruction of the planet by man, climate change, extinction of animals, the dire state of the ocean, etc. It’s beautifully done and it’s clear that this is his testament, his warning. It’s beautiful, upsetting, and yet, hopeful, because he gives us real steps we can take to change the course we’re on.

Also, I have 20 pages left in Robert Galbraith’s Troubled Blood. At this point I know who the murderer is so I can take a break to write this post. Galbraith is, in reality, JK Rowling. It is such a good read! I have to share this with you because the book itself is 927 pages long and I never, not once, checked to see how much more I had to read or, as is often the case with a large tome, got bored along the way. In fact, I wish it wasn’t going to end! She is such a good writer. It’s a complex mystery and is deftly and skillfully plotted. It’s also character driven, which makes it all the more engaging. This is the fifth volume in the Cormoran Strike series. If you like mysteries and you haven’t yet read any books in this series, you should start at the beginning, with The Cuckoo’s Calling. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

That color! As everything else is dropping leaves, as the fall colors fade, this bush is simply gorgeous. Don’t get me wrong, it’s shedding its leaves, too, but much of it is still beautifully intact.

Don is out raking some leaves at the moment. I’m still feeling a bit under the weather. Yesterday, I realized that I’d reached the end of my rope. I don’t feel well, I’m enraged on a daily basis, I’m text banking, I’m glued to Twitter. It hit me as I was talking to Don – my body and soul need a break. So I largely stayed away from the news yesterday. I listened to music. I read. I even vowed not to text bank, though late in the day, I found myself signing on and doing some texting anyway. That’s what I’m trying to do this weekend: lay low, stay away from the news, listen to music, read. I’ve reached a point where I am emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. Time to surrender for a few days.

Early voting starts today in New York. I’m not up to standing in a long line today but hopefully, we’ll get there on Tuesday. Don has a doctor’s appointment on Monday for a recurring problem with his right pinky finger that has been exacerbated by years of playing the guitar. Whether it’s arthritis, tendonitis, or a sprain, we don’t know. But hopefully, he can get a diagnosis and a plan to ease the pain.

I just now caught Don dragging the ladder towards the house. We talked about cleaning out the gutters today. I just had to get up and tell him not to do anything  until I finished this post and could go out and help him. Oh boy.

And just now I saw him stepping on a rung and had to yell out NO! NO! – It reminds me of having a pet that you have to say no to all the time.

Anyway, as you can see, I have to finish this post in order to keep my husband in line.

We’re hanging in there. I hope you are, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.