Category: Good Things

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Ahhh, Finally a decent night’s sleep

GOPR0058.jpegIt’s been weeks since I went to bed and slept soundly through until morning.

The sleep application running on my phone shows the disruptions and restlessness much more clearly than I actually recall being awake.

It’s amazing how lack of sleep makes ya feel like crap. In my case I start to feel really stupid and have a hard time keeping any single thought in my head. I become scattered and then I get really quiet. 

But last night was bliss!

I went to bed, fell asleep immediately. I woke up to the pink blush of the sunrise across the mountain and actually felt ready to get up and start my day. 

I’ve been doing chores and enjoying them. (God, I must be sick!)

Thursday, Friday, and yesterday I felt poorly. I wondered if I’d caught the Covid Boogyman virus. I had no fever and I could still taste & smell and had no other symptoms. So I took it easy and kept a watchful eye on my stats. With all the media attention and masked up people, it was easy to wonder if I’d caught IT and was I gonna die.

My 80 something year old mother is panicking on the other side of the country for the same reasons. I’d spoken to her on Thursday and did my level best to hide that I wasn’t feeling well.

I did tell her that she should turn off the steady diet of CNN but she was having none of that. She told me that apparently some of my brother-in-laws relatives died of Covid.

They were in their 80s and honestly I question if it was Covid or just old age. I did my best to calm her down. Thankfully, the conversation was short. Between the strain of creating the illusion that I was fine and her going on & on about Covid I was pretty short on patience.

This morning I feel pretty much normal. I’m a little stiff from the lack of activity over the past few days, but my head is clear. (I can add 2+2 without a calculator so that’s a plus.)

Been going through the accumulated email catching up. More properly, I’ve been going through the email and deleting the ton of junk mail that the filters missed. It’s funny, only about 1 in 10 emails actually has anything important in it.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve already gotten through almost all of July. 

Time feels like it’s stopped, but the days on the calendar have flown by. I guess that’s a function of the news not really changing. I mean there really hasn’t been much different since about April. I’m finding it easy to lose days and entire weeks.

Ah well, off to complete some more chores that have backed up.

Hope you’re all having a great Sunday.

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Practically overnight my cucumbers sprouted.

IMG 1420Yippee!

I was getting worried.

So now I have lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. All working toward harvest day.

Now if only I can get the carrots and bell peppers to make an appearance. The carrots are in fact sprouted, but they’re developing at a slow pace. just a few little green threads at this point. The peas have also sprouted another week or so and I’m going to have to come up with some kind of trellis for them.

It’s nice that amidst all the insanity that some things are constants. Gardens still grow and puttering around in the yard in the early morning brings me a great deal of calm and pleasure.

Next on the agenda is the front yard. Over the past few winters, a lot of the landscaping has taken a big beating and I’ve lost a lot of the plants that brightened up the yard at this time of year.

I’m hesitant to put in too much because who knows what the county will decide is “BAD” to have in the yard this fire season. I don’t want to invest a ton of money, time and water only to have some asshole tell me that X,Y, or Z is a fire hazard. 

But I’m thinking about cheap color at least until the fall. It would give me some pleasure and brighten the place up a bit.

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It’s nice to be in my home state

IMG 1244My Brother’s place feels like home. It’s spartan. very little junk, and everything that’s here is something that my brother loves or which has obvious significance.

It’s strange that I feel so at home here, and did so instantly.

My sinuses lost their minds in the hours after landing here. They’ve calmed down considerably and now my skin is relaxing too, it’s the humidity here. 

Ibrothers.jpg.jpeg slept soundly once I fell asleep it took some time for my head to quite due to the  rigors of traveling. Once I went to sleep I slept well and deeply.

My memories of this area are surprisingly good. My brain automatically pointed out poison ivy. I wasn’t even aware that I was avoiding it until I went to reach for some of the berries, then I remembered and thought, “Huh” 

I’m in my home environment the world is right and I’m comfortable.

I’ve had a bit to drink after a day with my brother. Brother(s) actually, I got to spend time wIMG 1249ith the eldest sibling from my Father’s second marriage. he’s only 4 years older than me and looks very good.

I’m smiling a lot for no reason, and it’s not just from the booze. 

Okay, I’ve had too much to drink over the course of the day. But I don’t care.

Spending time with family is like the warmth of a fire on a cold night.

It’s comfortable and good. No-one is trying to outdo the others, we’re just laughing and enjoying being in each other’s presence.

I’ll admit that I was tense about this trip, but that tension was only about the flight and having to deal with the bullshit of security and close confines.

There’s joy in being here and in the company of people who generally think like I do, meaning in my family.

There’s also joy in faith in people generally who might disagree, or potentially take you to task about your beliefs but if it comes to that. Southern politeness and decorum will be followed.

It’s nice to feel that I have freedom of speech again.

I suppose all of this is to say that it’s nice to feel like I belong.

Social rules are those that I remember. I know, perhaps this place isn’t as diverse as other places, but I have to ask… 

Is that so wrong?