Yesterday: Big warning for a severe thunderstorm with the usual: take cover, large hail, wind damage. Normally not a fan of severe storms, I was nonetheless excited because we would get some desperately needed rain. Thunder in the distance. Skies very dark. More thunder. Lots of humidity.
Nothing.
This is the way it has been for two weeks now. Forecast for rain, sometimes a warning, and then, crickets. Today it is very gray, not as hot but very humid, and what is the forecast? Scattered thunderstorms this afternoon.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
In the meantime, I’ll have to water everything because I can no longer trust the weather forecast.
We watched Maddow last night because we wanted to get up-to-date on the state of the pandemic. It was not good news. As a former Trump official said, “We are in trouble.”
And we are. Normally, we do everything we can to avoid this sort of thing before bedtime, but we really felt compelled to watch last night. I’m glad we did. But it’s utterly heartbreaking and it didn’t have to be this bad.
Let’s see, what else? I started putting together a little kit from the long-defunct House of Miniatures. It’s a desk. The main reason for assembling it is to see how it looks in the Folk Art Dollhouse. Is it too big? Or could I make it work? I’m not sure, but I’ll have a nice piece of furniture either way. I meant to start in on the stonework for the third and final side of the dollhouse but I got to it too late, hence the fiddling with the kit instead.
The garden is beginning to look overgrown and I need to fix that, but it’s been so hot and humid that I’ve been staying inside.
Though I’m usually pretty positive, today is one of those days where I feel depressed and angry and worried and despairing. I’m sure we’re all having those days during this crisis. I want my life to go back to normal but that isn’t going to happen for a long time. If anything, we’re going to be doubling down on our social distancing and self-isolating. It would be far too easy to let down our guard and we can’t do that. We need to have our kitchen door fixed by a carpenter, for example, but that would involve someone coming here and working in our house for a prolonged stretch of time. That’s not going to happen. So we use the front door instead. Every decision is now made with social distancing in mind.
The truth is, as you know, I’m an introvert and a nester, so much of this isn’t any different than my normal everyday life. But the fact that I can’t just pick up and go somewhere in the course of a day is different. I’d like to drop in at a local antique shop. I’d like to browse in a bookstore. Some of those shops are open now and Oblong Books is opening (with social distancing in place) next week. But my immediate reaction to these bits of news is: Nope. I’m not letting down my guard. We’re still in the middle of the first wave of this virus, extended and prolonged because of selfish fools. So, I won’t go to the antique shops or bookshops. I’ll order online. I have enough to read here. I really don’t need to buy anything decorative for the cottage. Those are just activities that bring me joy. And that’s why I miss them.
My thoughts today.
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
