June 29
Watching Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo for family movie night.
My hair's gotten so long it's in a ponytail! And using only two clips for the too-short bottom back and one for the too-shirt left side.
June 28: It was the year of science denial
Another late Sunday afternoon at Abington Meeting; blazing sun, majority friendly drivers, a few racists flashng their (metaphorical) asses, and dozens of lantern fly nymphs that I squashed to hell. Last year we saw a dozen adult flies at most, and this year there have been hundreds of nymphs in the garden the last two weeks. Jorj is spraying for them (Purely Green) morning and evening, and says he's seeing fewer and fewer. This afternoon they made me feel like a special nymph trap. They were on my hat, my shoulders, pants, shoes, and — best of all — down my shirt. If the man standing next to me hadn't been stomping for the full hour, I'd have thought I'd brought them with.
The bedtime routine has gotten me down from a Benadryl a night to 1 mg melatonin. At the same time, Jakob is going to bed well after midnight. Primex Garden Center's re-opening has motivated me to get out in the garden again! Earlier in the week some additional herbs were added to the patch, and the pots beefed up with zinnias. Yesterday and today I invested a couple hours in listening to podcasts and weeding, and was reminded at what a good back workout that is. Along with running, I've added more core-strengthening yoga routines to get the back feeling younger.
MontCo just went "green" this weekend, meaning businesses can re-open but everyone should wear a mask and actually stay home. (God forbid we suspend rent and mortgage payments, pay everyone to stay home, and just be safe.) Of course, lots of red states re-opened over a month ago, and it's gone as can be expected:
A re-working of this really shitty graph by Bloomberg comparing reopening rates in Europe and states.
June 16: It was the year of stress dreams
Had my first COVID/impending fascist dictatorship dream last night! First, I found a third mask I'd sewn. Jorj and I were sneaking through the city, avoiding other people, and wound up at a (wedding?) reception with no other people, and were gorging ourselves on the food.
But at least I was sleeping! I'm trying to back off the Benadryl/sleeping pills and get better rest. Overall, results are ehhhh. Here's the routine:
- No social media after dinner, to keep my mind from racing.
- No more than one drink, two on weekends.
- No screen time after 8 p.m.
- Yoga if I don't feel physically tired.
- 2 m.g. melatonin.
- In bed by 9, 9:30 at the latest.
- 15 minutes of mindfulness in bed to calm the mind and have enough time for the melatonin to take effect.
Saturday Pauline and Robb played another Facebook concert, and our friend (and semi-neighbor) Kris joined us. It was like those early Philly days! But earlier! With better wine!
We're trying to get Jakob to spend half the summer productive. Cool classes from school! Do nothing but read! Bike with the friend who can still bike! (Jakob's biking buddy slid on some graven and now can't ride for another four weeks.)
June 10: It was the year we took to the streets
Well, that was a shit start to the month. Quick recap:
Co-worker got kettled on the Vine Street Expressway and tear-gassed. (My protests never got gassed. Did I even protest?) He learned our employer supports the Philly Police Foundation, and led an effort to write a group letter. Some of my Penn friends and colleagues signed too! Now I actually feel like part of the Penn community.
Massive thunderstorms on Thursday left Jorj's Mom without power, but we got lucky. I know a few people who didn't get power until the weekend. (What could we do with all that money we're spending on police and military contractors, I wonder?)
Friday night Pauline and Robb planned to perform on Facebook live, but didn't think it was appropriate. They've pushed back to this Friday for an all-request evening. Get your request in!. Instead we just drank a lot
Saturday we did our second family bike ride of ten and a half hilly miles on Powerline Trail in Horsham. Jorj says our time was ten minutes faster, and I never biked in my granniest of gears, only the next granniest. Drove home quickly to shower, drove back to Hatboro, and were in a birthday parade for Illy who is now twelve. At four I went to Cheltenham's march from Wall Park, along Church Road, up York, and to the Police station, where the Chief of Police said George Floyd's killers were a disgrace to the badge and humanity, which I agree with, but how much time do our cops spend manufacturing crimes (driving around looking for excuses to pull people over, running license plates in parking lots, stopping people running down Greenwood Ave to the train at 7 in the morning to ask why they are running?). Then home and gardened maybe? Certainly haven't cleaned the house in weeks and it shows.
Sunday morning drove up to North Wales for the second week of protesting alongside 2020, only to realize I'd gotten the day of the week wrong (it was the day before), when I pulled in to the lot and it was completely empty. Also forgot my mask and couldn't stop at the cool garden store Jorj had biked past the weekend before rescuing me. That afternoon Jorj and I met Kris and our neighbor Barb at Abington Meeting for a protest/vigil they did in conjunction with a couple other local Meetings, KI, and a church in Chestnut Hill. We got a lot of honks and waves from a lot of Black and NBPOC drivers. They're continuing "unofficially" on Sundays.
At some point I made it to Home Depot (masked!) and bought whatever I could find for the garden, and got that into pots. Tuesday Jake and I went to Target for swim trunks for him. I tried spending frivolously in the season department, but there was no stock. Instead, the cats got new toys.
I've been playing a lot of Elder Scrolls: Blades. I'm level 35 (of 50 for the main storyline) and have to keep improving my armor and weapons (and my town so that I can improve the smithy and enchanter) and improving my skills, or I die quickly and easily. Found weapons really aren't that useful at this level; they're too underpowered, usually a level or two below what I'm at. I get a lot of two-handed and light weapons, which I don't really use.
Sleep is elusive. Resolutions include: No social media after dinner (keeps my brain from racing). Writing stuff down (ditto). No screens after eight (whoops). Trying to move from Benadryl to melatonin.