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.
I’m all for comfort reading right now, but Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti is what I’m reading now—there are so many of them! Yay!
In the real world, we are so overbooked with doctors and procedures that we can hardly concentrate on other things. A biopsy later in the week should finally tell us something about the chemo that is in our future. I can’t believe that a single year can be so horrendous! This is not what I wanted for our next adventure.
Hope Don’s visit with the doctor goes well and sees him on the mend.
Hope things get better soon for you, Shanna.
Dee Dee
Thank you, Dee Dee 💕
❤️
💕
I’m reading the newest Louise Penny book. It’s like connecting with old friends. I too like you, am reading it slowly to make it last. We are entering into this last endless week like a herd of turtles but with hope in sight. Thanks for all you share and stay safe!
Thank you as well, Janet.
Stay safe.
I love that series, too. Just don’t have any unread copies on hand!
I can’t imagine what you and Fred are going through, Shanna. So much worry, on top of everything else this year has served up. Know that you are in my prayers. Much, much love.
Stay safe.
💕
xo
hej, shanna.
ongoing prayers for you and your husband … including that you both feel well, get well soon and stay strong, comfortable and have plenty of treats, books, whatever brings comfort, distraction, enjoyment … whatever you all need. also that you hear the best, easiest news for treatment, etc. and for election results a week from today!
kathy in iowa
Thanks, Kathy 💕
I add my good wishes to those of others, Shanna.
Hi Claudia, I finally picked up Still Life and am almost finished with it. I tried listening to it via Audible but when I don’t connect with the narrator I tend to give up listening, but reading Louise Penny is really a treat.
In contrast I am listening to Hamnet via Audible and I absolutely love the writing, the prose, all of it. The narrator is Ell Potter and her voice is just mesmerizing, it takes you right there, right to the moment. I don’t want it to end.
So glad to hear you’re enjoying Louise Penny and Hamnet. Hamnet has to be one of my favorite books ever. Lap them up!
Stay safe.
Yes, also hope Don’s medical appointment goes well too. It’s funny you should refer to OM as a giant baby because that’s exactly what effigy flew as a barrage balloon over London during his visit to the UK a couple of years ago. I don’t know if you heard about it. London’s Mayor at the time, Sadiq Khan had to grant permission for it to be in the skies over the city and he did so as there’s no love lost between them.
It was hilarious!
In retaliation OM supporters paid for giant balloon of Sadiq in a yellow bikini as he had banned advertisement billboards of a woman wearing one asking “Are you beach body ready?”
When asked what he thought about the balloon, Mr. Khan said “I don’t think yellow is my colour”
Brilliant answer.
Stay safe
I remember that effigy. We have it here, too! Sadiq is so cool!
Stay safe, Dee Dee.
Needing to find peace as this last bit leading to the election is stressful to say the least. OM last night…what a baby is right. I despise that man with all that is in me. Moving on to something soothing today. Take care.
I detest, despise, abhor, revile and hate him. All of the above.
Take care, Linda. And stay safe.
Yes…self care in these last few days is definitely high on my list. We watched 60 Minutes last night. Nice performance from the Toddler-in-Chief, wouldn’t you say? Oh my…what a contrast with Biden! There can be no other choice.
Hope the doctor appointment goes well for Don. I like the concept of comfort reading. Reading slowly, savoring every word. I know that’s going to catch on with this group of like minded readers! Stay safe!
As different as night and day. More accurately: As different as insane and sane.
Comfort reading is on the docket for the next however-many weeks until we see him LEAVE.
Stay safe, Donna.
I hope Don’s appointment goes well and he can get some treatment.
I’ve spent the weekend away from the news and social media, I’m finding it all to much and I don’t live in the US. Today I’m telling myself, one more week. I pray this awful situation for you and, let’s face it, the rest of the world is resolved.
I have to thank you for the Louise Penny recommendation. I’m now on the 3rd book and trying very hard to read slowly but it’s not easy!
Take care Claudia and Don.
Yes. He absolutely impacts the entire world.
So glad you’re enjoying Louise Penny. Savor them. That’s what I try to do – take my time and enjoy every word!
Stay safe, Fiona.
Isn’t he just the most reviled person on earth??! What a fu…ing child. Fingers crossed, it’s almost over.. Leslie Stahl handled herself so professionally. She made a total fool out of him & his childish behaviors.
Have a good day!
He looked like the narcissist that he is. She’s so classy and he has absolutely no class whatsoever.
Stay safe, Priscilla!
hope by now (about 4:15 pm your time) you both are relaxing at home, that don’s appointment was helpful and you found what you needed/ wanted at the store.
glad you’re getting some rain. we’re having our third measureable snowfall (last night through today) and it’s not even november yet. :o
the gingko tree down the street is dropping its leaves today so i called my sister and she drove over with our father. to see a ginko lose its leaves in basically a day is kind of magical to me, but the best part is that after a quick check on things (how we’re feeling, etc.) and because i had a brand new plastic poncho i could put on (to cover clothes and my coat worn in crowded stores) … i got to hug them!!!!! :) we stood under the falling leaves and falling snow and it was beautiful and my first hugs in over seven months felt so good so i am crying right now just telling you about it. my day is made. thanks be to God. :)
hope you, don and everyone else have a good night and stay safe.
kathy in iowa
So glad you got to hug them! Wonderful.
Unfortunately, Don’s news wasn’t good. He has very, very bad arthritis in the finger with virtually no cartilage in the top joint. This means there’s nothing that can be done about it, but to bandage it and take pain medicine. For a guy who plays guitar, this is tough news. I don’t know what he’ll do, but he’s currently being a trooper, though I know he’s very upset.
Thanks Kathy.
Stay safe.
sorry that the news today about don’s finger wasn’t better. arthritis is awful. i hope and will pray that medication (and other strategies that may be available) brings relief so he can continue to do something he loves.
kathy in iowa
xo
Wishing Don good luck with his appointment. Since I turned 70 this year it seems every other week or so I have another doctor’s appointment! Not a thrilling retirement so far but at least I am lucky to be safe at home. Stay safe and stay strong, Claudia. Soon we will know the results and I hope we will be celebrating! Please, please, please!
Thank you, Ellen.
Stay safe!
Oh, I am so sorry to hear of Don’s diagnosis. Arthritis is brutal. I’m glad he is taking it well and taking time to ponder.
You are so right about self care these last days. I am so very worried about all of this. I simply can’t believe how relatively close the numbers are as we see how totally different the 2 candidates are. It seems to me that Biden should be leading by 30 points or more, and not just 7 or 8. I don’t understand. I keep seeing projections, and it is the (stupid, awful, ridiculous) Electoral College that worries me. We could again win the popular vote and have the EC snatch it away. As someone said last night….”He wants another 4 years? He couldn’t even do 60 minutes!!” How disgusting was that display?
He’s ‘fake’ taking it well. Trying to put on a good face. But I can tell he’s very depressed.
Yes, I don’t know why he has any support at all. It’s insane. Don is quite worried about the Electoral College as well.
He is disgusting – and that’s being kind.
Thanks, Chris.
Stay safe.
Hope you dress warm and prepare for the vote. My husband and I waited in line this morning from 7 till 10 but we voted. Long Island weather was damp and in the 50’s and it takes it toll on me. When we got home I stood in a hot shower for twenty minutes and spent the rest of the day in my fuzzy robe. Everything aches. I wonder if warm paraffin hand baths would help with Dons arthritis. It helped with mine. Good luck and stay safe.
It’s damp here as well but no rain until tonight. We’ll dress warm, take hand sanitizer and a book to read.
Thanks, Maria.
Stay safe.
I hope all went well with the doc for Don today and you are settled in. I’d like to say “try to get away from politics for a day or two” but that is impossible. Himself is coming to Lansing tomorrow — I will watch our Covid numbers in two weeks. We cannot lose this election — and the win has to be big.
It didn’t go well for Don.
I wrote about it a bit in today’s post.
Thanks, Jeanie.
Stay safe.
Thanks for the well wishes to your readers. Is not my best time; my sore arm, which I hurt last week, is really a bother and I’m tired of the pain, which seems to make me more despondent. I did watch 60 Minutes, knowing I’d be disgusted, which I was of course. But it was about the only news show I watched on TV all weekend and as I looked at my channel line-up with all the ones set to record this week, I felt despair, like I know I need to watch and keep informed this week, of all weeks, since we’re just days away from the election, but feeling a sense of dread and just really fatigued from the awful, awful news of the world with politics and Covid. Every day, the numbers for Covid cases/hospitalizations is getting so much worse and worse; we’re better off right now in California than other states, but we know it will change again. There is no life unaffected by this pandemic. People sick, dying, grieving; lonely; exhausted workers; frustrated students & teachers. All parts of society. I get too angry with those who won’t heed advice like mask-wearing/distancing; so selfish; only thinking of themselves.
So, my husband and I decided to get the dog’s annual immunizations a little earlier than scheduled. Will do that tomorrow. I have a follow-up med appt this week. Another day for mail & errands. Maybe one brief grocery trip for perishables. My husband is thinking to get his hair cut even though he could go for awhile yet. But basically preparing to really shut down, just close the door and keep it shut; keep home even more, as Nov-Dec looks to be ugly. I want the calendar cleared for as much as is possible.
I’m thinking that before the week’s out, I need a drive; anything to distract me from sameness and also arm pain. See the world again (from the safety of the car). I did catch part of a segment on, was it the CBS Sunday Morning show yesterday; can’t remember already; but it was about self-nurturing and I think finding our patience, and the concept/practice of ‘forest bathing’, renewing the soul outdoors. (Forest bathing; it sounds … I dunno; special.) And I know for so many that it’s just not possible depending upon their circumstances, but I’m thinking if you could even sit by a sunny window and feel the rays, or finding a way to look at falling snow as beautiful; maybe just sitting still and holding a soft pebble in your hand; we need natural things and not just the confines of our four walls. Of course that’s just a repeat statement from most anytime over the past eight months; I think we’ve all tried just about everything to stay sane. But our senses are dulled.
I’ve been trying to listen to the wind rather than to curse it as I usually do. It’s a fairly significant Santa Ana wind condition for us today in the state’s south. Not a screamer; more of a howler, whooshing down the chimney and rattling the doors/windows; tearing the new tarps we just put on our outside sheds. It’s sunny and dry but we’re not hot, which is the weird thing; still in the 50s outside this morning as late as 10am. Even now after the 5pm-hour, it’s only about 74 degrees with the afternoon sun in our little back-porch ‘room’ (windows open). Wind is dying but it’ll come back in the night/wee hours. At least for the first time in a long time, it’s clear out there, no smoke, no haze, no fog, no clouds. So, there’s that …
Here’s the thing when you temporarily avoid the ‘news’: I didn’t realize that ‘way south of me in Orange County, we had terrible wildfire start up yesterday in Orange County of Calif (Irvine; Yorba Linda; I’m sure you recognize those names, Claudia; less than 100 miles from where you and Don lived in San Diego); I guess, on the one hand, I went into denial thinking that SoCalif could be spared from bad fire this season.
And back to watching Rachel on Monday night and the other nightly news shows on TV, could I be more disgusted with McConnell, to hear him quoted as saying something akin to the (‘ceremonial’) swearing-in of the new justice, “Well, the Democrats can’t do anything about THIS for a long time now.” With my always-naive self (and I admit I don’t know about the Supreme Court like I should) saying indeed TO myself, ‘It’s the high court of the land; it shouldn’t be partisan.’
Trump, McConnell, Graham; could they just leave? Could they please just GO AWAY. I picked a party when I got the right to vote in my teens. But I didn’t ‘hate’ the other side. With these guys, though? They can make a Democrat absolutely abhor a Republican.
And Trump with these comments about “Covid, Covid, Covid; after Nov 4 (if I’m elected), you won’t be hearing about it” (‘Covid, it’s all you hear about in the news’, or whatever he says), could any monster be more cruel in saying such things, with the front-line workers worked to the bone, the hospitals full, so many loved ones dying, so many loved ones gone; it’s unbelievable, from any human being, to hear such words; the total and complete absence of empathy (and instead snide and snarling, hurtful mockery). Frankly, it’s INhuman. Absolutely no respect for the heroes and the dead. No acknowledgement of the fear and dread of Americans when it comes to Covid (and everything else that’s wrong), none of us knowing who’ll be next to get the raging, uncontrolled virus, our lives already turned upside down. Yet his Number One job is to protect the American people who he’s supposed to be leading with dignity, compassion and skill.
What a nightmare four years. As said before, we knew it would be bad when he got unfairly elected; how could any of us know it could be THIS bad with him, beyond what we could conceive. He can’t possibly get another four years; he just can’t. Like some of the readers are saying here, I’m feeling uneasy. Biden isn’t a shoo-in. We need a landslide with the vote. We have to get back what’s right in this country; what is knowledgeable and sensible leadership; to get a firm grip on this virus, not ‘surrender’ to it. God help us all. I don’t know how anybody can’t be glued to the election returns on Tuesday, a week from today, although we know it’ll probably take days (I hope not weeks) for the true winner to be named. How could a presidential election become a matter of life and death, but it has …
We will definitely be glued to the election returns, Vicki. Truly a matter of life and death.
Stay safe.
This is turning out to be endless. Very, very discouraging. And all because of Trump and the idiots who won’t wear masks.
Stay safe.
Jim Jordan’s nasty “Happy Birthday” tweet to Clinton was one of the more discouraging moments yesterday. Knowing others feel as I do is balm, at least, because my morning walk through our rural neighborhood with our dog means spotting mask-less neighbors wearing their MAGA hats. I hope Don’s finger soon improves. My diabetic husband has been having trouble with a toe, necessitating frequent treatments to his podiatrist.
I was so enraged by that tweet. He’s a moron, of course, and an immature, spiteful moron at that.
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe!
I just caught up with all the comments and realized that my “good wishes” for Don proved insensitive, as he’s had bad news. Rheumatoid arthritis took away my ability to play violin with the local symphonic orchestra. I’m glad he has you to understand how devastating this can be.
Oh don’t worry about that! I didn’t think it was insensitive at all!
I’m sorry that arthritis has impacted your life, Linda.
Stay safe.