Taking Stock — an idea I gleaned from Pip at Meet Me At Mike’s. From April to Sept., there would be gardening aspects to it.

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Making significant decisions about health insurance, which is a wretched task

Cooking: Wednesday night’s dinner was cheese grits with spicy black beans, scallions, peppers, & tomatoes, and last night I added sautéd shrimp to the leftovers. (Wed:)

Sipping a cheap ($6.99) Tuscan red, Frescobaldi Rèmole Rosso 2017

Reading Americanah (2013) by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Loving it. Thanks to Liz for the recommendation.

Looking forward to either next Tues or Wed. being free of plans

Listening to Ralph McTell again after many years (e.g., Zimmerman Blues, Streets of London, First Song)

Wishing sometimes that I lived closer to art museums

Enjoying fruitcake & eggnog season

Liking that the permaculture group is meeting again after a hiatus

Loving the light some late afternoons:

Buying this wonderful elderberry and honey syrup, and these lovely herbal medicinal teas sold by Unity (NH) Mountain Herbs

Watching a few 50-minute Poirots on dvd, one per evening this week (vol. 4 and vol. 11)

Hoping for impeachment but not expecting it with the Congressional Republicans doing everything they can to hold onto power in the midst of corruption, criminality, and incompetence, even if they have to destroy the republic to do it

Needing to finish a blog post about Shelburne Farms and Shelburne Museum, which I visited on hot days in July

Wearing my usual winter outfit, a fleece top and KÜHL pants (bought on eBay)

Following The Pink Wheelbarrow on Instagram

Noticing the darkening of the days, and birds’ nests in bare trees

Sorting online documents and photos – oy vey

Getting very psyched for our trip south to Jekyll Island and Savannah GA, and Fernandina Beach FL

Saving dream snippets in my head to mull over

Bookmarking: This interview, “Heather Widdows: The Ugly Side of Beauty: The philosopher on how our appearance intolerance hinders ideas and human flourishing” by Regan Penaluna at Guernica, is from January 2019 but I keep it bookmarked for lines like this: “Today, more bodywork [cosmetic surgery and intervention] is required just to be good enough. As more people are having Botox, then everybody has to have Botox. In some circles, the aged face now looks abnormal” and ” I think that the fact that it’s normal to be unhappy with your body, when your body has become symbolic of yourself, is devastating” and ” What if, instead of looking at somebody to see whether they measure up, I looked for the beauty in everybody?”

Coveting these Merino shoes; a pink Keep Calm and Love Santolina shirt; lime sugar skin repair and almost anything from Paris Market

Opening a Curious Elixir #4 made with blood orange, green mandarin, nonalcoholic prosecco, ginseng, turmeric, and holy basil (tulsi)

Giggling: The only thing that really makes me giggle reliably is the NPR show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me

Feeling ambivalent about a lot of things lately

Hearing the cat demanding pâté

Obsessing over Nathan Pyle’s Strange Planet comics

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Featured image: rock + moss I like (17 Nov 2019)