Sunday morning. As is, of course. Unless there’s something that just shouldn’t be in a photo, I usually leave things the way they are in real life.
Still feeling a bit under the weather, so I’ve been taking it easy, though I did rouse myself enough yesterday to finish the wood floor in the dollhouse. I haven’t checked on it today, so I’ll take a photo of it for tomorrow’s post. I have two heavy books sitting it to make sure it dries flat.
The two wind events we had earlier in the week have left a lot of the trees in the woods bare. Don took a walk the other day and was depressed by the lack of green. No green canopy, just downed leaves. He put so much work into those paths and the creation of another kind of world, an escape. Seeing it all laid bare was sad. I haven’t walked through the woods yet and now I’m deliberately holding off because I know I will also get depressed.
Too fast. This autumn is moving along much too quickly. In the meantime, we wait and wait to vote. We wait and wait for November 3rd. It’s too much. I don’t want the season to go too quickly but I want to vote and have the election over. I guess you can’t have it both ways.
We had a chat with Little Z yesterday, though he was restless and soon took off for other adventures. I did get to talk to my beloved sister, though. I miss her so much. We’d give anything to hug each other right now.
I’m on page 250 of a 900+ page book and I’m really enjoying it. Don bought 100 Years of Solitude yesterday and read a chunk of it outside on the funky patio. We both love magical realism and that book represents the pinnacle of the genre. For some reason – though I know I had a copy at one point – I’ve never read it. So it’s next on my TBR list.
Okay friends. I have to make our second cup of coffee.
Stay safe.
Happy Sunday.
I I could hold my little boys in Florida…awww…we do Facetime for school several times a day…they had planned to get an RV and come to Indy and camp for our birthdays…just not safe…although I have few friends and acquaintances who isolate…alas…my family does…have a good day…feel better…it will come…the election will come…and whatever happens…we will deal. I continue to pray, hope, wish diligently…we know what we want to happen…however, my prayers are also for a vaccine…a cure…a new normal…whatever that is…the book Don is reading is a good book. Have not read the one you are reading. Despite being an avid reader, I could not contemplate a book of that length at this time…working the jigsaw puzzles and word puzzles, adult coloring, lighter books…teaching etc…helping my stress. I turn on You Tube on the TV with the fireplace app…thunder and rain in the background…turn down the lights…despite the still heat…that helps…prayers dear girl…
I’m sure I’ll be doing more jigsaw puzzles this winter, Brenda. I had to take a break from them, but once we’re stuck indoors, I’ll want to get back to them.
Stay safe.
I must reread 100 Years of Solitude! I loved that book.
I am not an autumn person anymore. It’s so depressing when the leaves fall and the green is gone. I feel for Don. It’s a gardener’s life, work for two seasons of enjoyment! Also, while I love the look of snow, the thought of what snow entails is not something I’m looking forward to.
Would I move to place without 4 seasons? No, absolutely not.
I can’t bear to think about November 3. I’m hoping and praying people will not be fooled by the OM. It would be nice if this was not an electoral college win too.
I wouldn’t give up 4 seasons either. But it’s tough in the winter!
Stay safe, Betsy.
Th highlight of our day yesterday was filling out our ballot and dropping it in the box at Town Hall
HE MUST BE GONE!
Yay! You voted!
Stay safe, Linda.
I’ve had the book, 100 Years of Solitude in one of my bookcases for years, but haven’t read it yet. Speaking of reading, I just tried to get through four fiction books and couldn’t finish any of them. I haven’t found any good fiction yet to really keep my attention. So now I’m back to non-fiction. I’m in the middle of Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. Brian just started The Warmth of Other Suns.
Have a good Sunday and I hope you’re feeling better.
Sorry about the lack of compelling fiction! I’ve gone through stages like that.
Don read The Warmth of Other Suns and loved it.
Stay safe, Melanie.
Its a rainy day and it goes along with my mood I’m afraid. I need to work on some cards I’m making and hope that being creative changes my mood. Sending hugs to you and Don.
Hugs right back to you, Linda.
Stay safe.
I’m feeling very melancholy this weekend. Knowing this is my last hurrah up north where the color is so shockingly beautiful I stop dead in my tracks. Knowing that these days of being out in the open air for any length of time without freezing fingers and toes is coming fast to an end. Knowing no hugs from the grands for longer than I wish. I feel in my own little bubble up here — no news unless I seek it out online; fire in the fireplace; cozy cat; beautiful color all around. And then boom — all gone for nine months. Well, these seven have flown by in their chaos. Maybe the others will too — hopefully with no chaos.
Oh, so sad for Don with the leaves… when they go, they fly so quickly. I hope the day is good to you.
I’m sorry you’re going to have to say goodbye to the cottage. I would find that depressing, too. When I was a kid and we had the family cottage, closing it up was okay because school was starting and that was exciting. Now? Not so much, right?
Stay safe, Jeanie.
jeanie, I always enjoy reading your very-human comments; I try to picture what you describe and I assume you live in a city and go to a country cottage for weekend getaways when it’s not winter; I have distant cousins in Michigan who do this (a lake retreat) and it sounds so wonderful to me, much like the Maine folks have their summer ‘camps’ (I also have an elderly neighbor who has regaled me with tales of being a child in the 1940s, escaping in summers to her grandmother’s somewhat-remote cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; just seemed like she had the wild woods all to herself in those times, and she told me they were so removed from what was happening in world war that they felt like they were on another planet); where I am in SoCalif, lots of people in my more-inland valley city would go to their little beach shacks (15-20 miles away) when I was a kid, so they were great summers for all of us when we’d get invited along or else given the chance to rent one of the little places; alas, in these days all the years later, that stretch of beach has maybe one or two of those sweet shacks left and they’ve all been replaced by (and dwarfed in size by) the mega mansions, built by the wealthy who want that house on the sand and view of the ocean (very expensive real estate) – – I read the stories from readers here on Claudia’s blog and my heart aches for them and you, not being able to be around precious grandchildren; also, from those who live in four seasons with a dread of snow and cold (all the while when my husband and I toy with a permanent move to Wisconsin which ALL of my friends and family are saying DO NOT DO because of the fact that at least I, as a Cali girl, cannot even begin to imagine what ‘winter’ is although my husband does know it, having been raised in the Midwest) … anyway, I just felt like reaching out to you today; I can ‘hear’ your emotion/wistfulness through your words (your ‘bubble’ sounds absolutely perfect; at least you got to enjoy it for awhile); and, by the way, I can’t fasten on to any reading at all, although I do have coming from (the esteemed presidential historian) Michael Beschloss, his “Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America” (also, “The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians” by David M. Rubenstein and “Leadership: In Turbulent Times” by Doris Kearns Goodwin) because, try as I may, I just cannot settle into fiction either right now; maybe later, into the new year, when I feel more calm!
I recently finished The Evening and The Morning, Ken Follett’s new book in the Kingsbridge series. He is a masterful story teller.
I’ve never read any Follett even though so many rave about him. I’ll have to remedy that.
Stay safe, Cindy.
You expressed my sentiments so well. Autumn is rolling on much to quickly. I never look forward to winter but especially Covid winter is not something anybody is anticipating with excitement. I want to vote and the election to be over. I SO BADLY WANT BIDEN TO WIN! But I have the unfortunate reality of living in a very red state, in a very red county, and see the blind ignorance of OM’s supporters. So I worry. I keep telling myself if the worst happens and he wins again, everyday will be a countdown of each day closer to him being gone for good. I am sorry if that is unthinkable, but I have to have a way to cope as these times can be so distressing.
Jan, I live in Indiana…imagine how red it is.
Oh I can imagine. I am in Tennessee.
Hope you feel better today. We woke up to SoCalif sunshine with less-hazy sky than the ever-present smoky one although you could really smell the smoke in the damp night last night. Hard to believe we’re still getting wildfire smoke, in and out of air-quality alerts. And now we’re in for really-hot days again starting today and 100s-temps like Tues-Weds. (Where are the Santa Ana winds? Very aware we haven’t even started yet with them.) I haven’t seen a full sky of clear blue for a really-long time. And we’re so dirty from smoke, ash, dust and drought. Brown mountains and foothills and canyons. They held on to ‘green’ for as long as they could. We need rain like you can’t wrap your head around.
I will be so glad for Nov 3. I’m sure it’ll still be a nail-biter between then and January. We need to get Joe Biden in there so that, once and for all, we can have a national plan about the dangerously-escalating coronavirus. Among 1000 other things.
We don’t have our ballots yet. Need to go retrieve on a post office early-morning run; had planned tomorrow, not realizing the post offices were closed for “Columbus Day” (I wonder if they’ll rename that holiday or if the holiday will simply be eliminated?). Have decided to use the ballot box (right outside the door of our City Hall/city offices) which is anchored to the ground securely. City Hall is open again; there are people right inside that door. We’ll do it on a weekday (business hours for the City when somebody’s around including customers); like next week for sure and no later than Oct 15.
My husband didn’t get the call to be a poll worker. We’re really stymied, because he’s a seasoned poll worker. Apparently, wondrously, there was a large surge of volunteers. He’s called and called to see why he wasn’t chosen; no answer back. It would have happened by now. So, all of our planning (including renting of a trailer/motorhome he could live in, to keep separately from me for Covid-protectiveness), in the dumper. He’s almost hurt; he really wanted to participate. Usually each election, they are begging him to work the polls. I told him he can’t take it personally; he knows he did fine on his interview. As an aside, because he has a rarer blood type, he usually/regularly donates blood (and has done so, all of his life, as a volunteer, not for money) but has also suspended that during the Covid crisis, again to not be out there in the world. This rags on him all the time although the blood bank has been very understanding (he’s high risk but I am REALLY high risk, so everything is about staying home if at all possible). All of this is making him feel, I dunno, like an underachiever?
Frankly, I’m relieved; it was a 3-month commitment with the County Elections office. But dear husb ; he’s been a bit aimless, having to give up being a census worker to protect me; now not being chosen to be a poll worker. He’d really wanted to do something/anything, feeling it was so essential and his patriotic duty. I’ve mentioned to him what you and Don are doing (we still have three weeks, and every week counts!). What he’s done instead in the meantime is get behind the city council race with endorsement of one particular candidate who is someone we know (well, we know her parents and grandparents); she’s young with a great education, aiming for a political career and is a third-generation citizen in our small town; we have her big sign on our lawn. We need hometown folks to step up and run our troubled council, so it’s a good thing she threw her hat into the ring. Our little city needs some youthful vigor, enthusiasm and rejuvenation. It’s so hopeful to see the younger generation want to get involved!
My husband’s already been out three times to stores this morning and I get concerned about Covid exposure but at least it’s still before noon although it’s the busier weekend. Annoyed I am, that the local pharmacy insisted we come in-person, into the store, to sign for one drug (which has never happened before; I protested loudly; we do everything online and by phone with them, since March, trying to stay out of the germs). Anyway, this cascaded into another trip to the grocery store (since he was out anyway) for what my husband forgot on Friday; then a second trip right on the heels of today’s earlier one for what he forgot THIS time. If I don’t give him a list, this is what happens!
Looking forward to phone calls with friends and family this afternoon in lieu of seeing them, hugging them. Sigh. Glad you got in a talk with precious Z. However abbreviated it was!
Glad you are feeling better, Claudia. Physical and mental exhaustion really take a toll. You know how to be good to yourself, so go be good to yourself!
I’ve already voted and am waiting for my children to vote so we can take the ballots to the drop box by our local library branch.
Meanwhile, I’ve volunteered to sew 4-bottle wine totes from feed bags for an organization dedicated to helping abused, neglected, and hurt horses. It’s called Big Bay Ray, and the wine totes and grocery totes are sold to provide funds to direct rescue organizations. It is currently partnered with Univ of Calif, Davis, which has a world class vet school, to rescue and treat domestic and wild animals harmed by the California wildfires.
sorry to hear that you and don have both been down. hope you both feel better soon in every way.
i dread ice, sleet, packed-down (slippery) snow. dread it! members of my family have been seriously hurt in the past by falls on that stuff and i broke a wrist a few years ago. no more! (please, God?!) fluffy and falling snow is beautiful, though, and i love how fresh the air feels in winter. but that can wait a good long while!
glad you have some books in the lineup and tv shows, too. so do i (thanks for the suggestions, brendab), also yarn, paints, cross-stitch projects and that feels good. winter prep. :)
looking forward to seeing your latest work on the dollhouse. no pressure, though.
soon we will be able to vote … 23 days.
i pray for our country … the best thing i can do … but the waiting and worrying about the outcome is hard!
been a beautiful day here … weather-wise, for getting some stuff done and especially for being able to spend (socially-distanced) time with some members of my family. we went on another long drive in two cars with phones on speakerphone so we could talk. drove north and west and east, saw lots of colorful trees, went to and through a wonderful park to see some bison. couldn’t find the elk. lots of twisty, hilly (for iowa) roads in that park … reminded me of heading to asheville, north carolina … beautiful! and then we drove to the largest lake we have around here (it’s made from a former rock quarry … found a bunch of heart-shaped rocks that several of us collect). need more time and days like that!
i am beyond-ready for hugs, too. the closest physical contact i’ve had in seven months has been holding my father’s hand on father’s day, my parents’ wedding anniversary and yesterday (each time i wore a new glove and mask, stuck my arm out through my car window opened just enough to get my hand through). need more time and days like that, too.
hope you’ve had an easy day and will have a good night ahead.
stay safe and be well!
kathy in iowa
It’s such a hard time for everybody. And moving into winter can be challenging even if the best of times. Today is quite chilly here and rainy, and I can’t stop thinking about those dreary Monday songs: Monday Monday, Rainy days and Mondays always get me down, and there are more. I really need some upbeat music. I heard that the first Broadway show planned post-Covid is the Music Man with Hugh Jackman. Wouldn’t that be a treat? Great music, and he has such bright enthusiasm. Maybe I’ll listen to that soundtrack if I can find it with good old what’s his name–something Preston? Take care Claudia and Don.