A package arrived yesterday from Sarah at Landau House.

A set with Art Nouveau covers.

Vintage classics.

Agatha Christie.

An illustrated (on the inside pages as well as the cover) Sleeping Beauty,  and a gift from Sarah – Persuasion  by Jane Austen.

Her books are beautifully done. I’ve had some problems with mini books in the past – too big, too awkward, out of scale. These are perfect.

I quickly put them in the bookcase so I could see them all together:

It’s fiddly work, getting them all in there. I have lots more to go, but every time I add something new, I get excited.

I’m starting to want to live in this little space. I would also like this piece of furniture in my real house, please.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Everything is starting to fade and I suppose these will, too, but right now, they’re as vibrant as ever.

We have so many leaves to rake. It’s daunting. Don make take a stab at some of them later today. I may or may not join him, depending on how I feel.

I find I can’t think of much else but the election right now. I do make myself read my novel, but too often I’m checking the news when I should be escaping. Both Don and I have accepted the fact that for the next however-many days, our focus will be on the news and, of course, doing our volunteer work for the campaign. Don is making lots of calls (he’s very good at that) and I am texting. Every once in a while I encounter a rude MAGA via texting and that person behaves in just the way you’d imagine. But most of the time, it’s positive and rewarding. Texting doesn’t officially start until 4 pm and I keep monitoring replies up until 9 pm. By the way, I’m not texting on my phone, I’m using a program that is on my computer so it’s much easier than it sounds. I don’t know about you, but texting on my phone is always frustrating. I hit the wrong letter or symbol, auto-correct takes over, and it takes me three times as long as it would if I was typing an email. This texting is nothing like that.

Don just got back from the grocery store and I’m about to make our second cup of coffee.

I don’t think I’ll watch the debate tonight, simply because I can’t abide one second of that man. Don probably will because he can distance himself from the whole thing better than I can. If only we had a mute button for OM all day, every day. Better yet, prison.

And prison for Rudy Giuliani, as well.

New York starts early voting on Saturday. We will probably go on Monday, to avoid the weekend voters. We can’t wait to finally cast our ballots.

Thanks so much for all your comments yesterday. Sharing together is powerful.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

I’ve got nothing.

I had to resort to taking yet another photo of the McCoy/music cabinet that is directly across the den from where I’m sitting.

I haven’t been feeling tip-top, so I’ve been resting. I also texted for Biden for four hours yesterday. And then I ate dinner with my husband and watched The Great British Baking Show  and Rachel Maddow, whereupon I was enraged. And so it goes. Every day.

Among so many atrocities, so many despicable acts committed by this administration, the one that haunts me the most is the separation of families at the border. Children yanked away from their parents. Children in cages. And now we learn that 545 children are still separated from their families because those families can’t be found, most of the parents having been deported to Central America.

This is a stain on the soul of this nation, one that will never, ever go away. Stephen Miller, Rod Rosenstein, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, HHS – everyone who sat in that room and voted for this policy and then enforced it cruelly  – each of them should be tried for Crimes Against Humanity at the Hague.

I’m a nonviolent person, always pushing for peaceful resolution, for protecting the lives of humans and animals. However, in this case, I find a firing squad sounds about right.

They have lost any sense of morality, any humanity. They’ve sold their souls.

I weep for those children. I weep for all the good people trying to find families in Central America in the middle of a pandemic. I weep for the parents and siblings who wonder if they’ll ever see their children again. I weep for our country.

All it took was four years to turn this country into something unrecognizable. Actually, it only took a year. In a pilot program in 2017, they started separating families at the border in El Paso. Then the “zero tolerance” policy was enacted in 2018.

I’m going to say it, loud and clear. I hate this man. I hate this administration.

I know I’m supposed to love and not hate. I know I’m supposed to have compassion for my fellow man. It took a long time – four full years – for me to use that word. But that’s how I feel and I’m going to own it. My previous word of choice, “despise,”  isn’t strong enough. Neither is “abhor” or “detest” or “revile,” though I feel all of those emotions.

No lectures, please, on this. I am a good person. I try to live a spiritual life. But some things are beyond the pale. I used to say I hated the actions taken, but not the person. Now I don’t even say that. Hopefully, at some time in the future, I can separate the actions from the person.

But not now.

They are beyond redemption.

In the meantime, I want each and every one of them, and that includes every member of the GOP who enabled and supported this monster, to spend the rest of their sorry lives in infamy, shunned by society, and prosecuted for their crimes.

Thanks for reading this, for your patience. All I can think about is those children.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.